Using dual windows at a time on your Mac device cannot only boost your productivity but eliminate the efforts of switching between them back and forth. You can continue with your work while you play a video on the second window or use the second window as an assistant for your primary tasks.
The reasoning above is only to blow an idea about the benefits of using a split-screen. While you could, at first, only use the feature on Windows, you can now avail this feature on Apple’s macOS as well. Today, therefore, you’ll be learning how to split screen on Mac through our guide.
Using split-screen on macs is quite easy, and while we’ll get to elaborating on entering the split-screen mode on macs, we’ll first determine the version of macOS your MacBook is running for now.
If your MacBook runs Catalina or recent versions of macOS, there is a different method to enter split-screen mode on your Mac. However, there is a different method in case you have a MacBook that is powered by the macOS versions older than Catalina. Needless to say, we will look at both methods, so that you have diverse solutions in order to make the most of your MacBook, regardless of its macOS version, efficiently.
How to split screen on Mac running Catalina or later versions of macOS?
- There are three buttons, red, yellow, and green at the top-left corner of all the windows opened in macOS; hover over the green button or click and hold on it.
- This will trigger a dropdown, offering you some options including:
- Enter Full Screen
- Tile Window to Left of Screen
- Tile Window to Right of Screen
- While you may enter full screen, for now, you are learning to enter the split-screen mode, you can enter it by choosing the ‘b’ and ‘c’ options.4. As you choose, the selected window will shrink to the respective side of the screen.
5. Do the same with other windows or click on it, the purpose being its movement to the vacant side of the screen.
How to split screen on mac running the macOS versions older than Catalina?
To enter split-screen on MacBooks running the macOS versions older than Catalina, follow the instructions below:
- Spot the green button at the top-left corner of the window, click and hold on to it.
- The window will shrink, which you can drag to the right or left side of the screen, releasing the button afterwards.
- You can then do the same with another window or click on it to let it fill the vacant side of the screen.
How can you exit split-screen on macs?
It is probably simpler than entering split-screen on macs because you only have to do the following, and you’ll be out of the split-screen mode.
- In the split-screen mode, the toolbar won’t be visible to you, you will have to drag your pointer to its position, and it’ll become visible again.
- From the toolbar, click the green and the full-screen button and you’ll exit the split-screen mode.
- One window will minimize, while the other would maximize, it’s up to you to change their size or keep using them the same.
What to do if you can’t split screen on mac?
Before we get to what you should be doing in such a situation, let us tell you that this will work with all the versions of macOS.
- The first thing you’ll do is head to the ‘Apple Menu,’ and select ‘System Preferences.’
- From there find and click on the ‘Mission Control’ setting.
- There you will see an option named ‘Displays have separate spaces.’
- See if it is selected or not; if it is not, select or enable it.
- You should now be able to enter split-screen mode on your mac.
Few tips on split-screen mode
Working in split-screen mode is as exciting as entering it, here’s how you can make the most of your time in split-screen mode.
- You can swap the positions of both windows by dragging one to the other side.
- There will appear a vertical line in between the windows, you can adjust the width of both windows dragging that back and forth.
- You can either click on a particular window to select and work on it or use the ‘Command’ + ‘tab’ combination to do the same.
Conclusion
As we hope and you learn how to split screen on Mac, your productivity will definitely improve with this hack and you’ll have more fun. Barring moments of intense focus where you need to have your entire efforts concentrated on one task, the split-screen option can be very helpful and entertaining.