Get More Out of Your Monitor

Staff Resources · Tech Tips

Get More Out of Your Monitor

Those big monitors are great — but only if you’re using more than one window at a time! Windows 11 has a built-in feature called Snap that lets you instantly arrange 2, 3, or even 4 windows side by side. No dragging and resizing by hand. Here’s a quick guide.

The Easiest Way: Hover Over the Maximize Button

No shortcuts to memorize — just point your mouse and pick a layout.

1. Open any app

   Outlook, Excel, your browser — anything with a window.

2. Hover over the Maximize button

   That’s the square in the top-right corner of the window. Don’t click — just hover.

3. Pick a layout

   A menu of layouts pops up. On our wide monitors you’ll see extra options, including three windows side by side — a great fit for a 49″ screen.

4. Click where you want the window to go

   The window snaps right into that spot.

5. Fill the remaining spaces

   Windows then shows your other open apps (Snap Assist) — just click the ones you want to fill the rest of the layout.

Keyboard Shortcuts (Even Faster)

Once hovering feels slow, these do the same thing without leaving the keyboard.

Three More Handy Tricks

• Drag to snap: Drag a window to the top-center of the screen for the layout menu, or to the left/right edge to snap it to that half.
• Resize everything at once: After snapping, hover on the line between two windows until a thick bar appears, then drag — both windows resize together.
• Snap groups: Once you’ve snapped windows together, hover over any of those apps in the taskbar and you can bring the whole group back at once.

How-To Videos (2–4 Minutes Each)

• How to snap your windows in Windows 11 — official Microsoft video
• How to Use Snap Layouts in Windows 11 — step-by-step training tutorial
• Microsoft’s written guide to Snap Layouts — prefer reading? Start here.