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    Windows 11 Snap Layouts: Arrange Multiple Windows Side by Side for Better Focus

    Snap Layouts in Windows 11 lets you organize open windows into grids on your screen so you can work with two or more programs at the same time.

    4 min read 5 stepsApril 20, 2026Verified April 2026
    1

    Open the Snap Layout menu

    ~28s
    Open any app or window. Move your mouse pointer to the square maximize button in the top-right corner of the window — between the minimize button (dash) and the close button (X). After hovering for about half a second, a small menu appears showing different layout options as colored rectangles.

    Quick Tip

    Quick Tip: You can also press the Windows key and the letter Z at the same time to open the Snap Layout menu for the active window, which is faster than reaching for the mouse.

    2

    Choose a layout zone

    ~18s
    In the Snap Layout menu, move your mouse over the layout that shows two windows side by side. The specific zone you want this window to go into will highlight. Click it. Your window snaps to that position on the screen and fills that zone. The rest of your screen goes slightly dark.
    3

    Fill the remaining zones

    ~24s
    After snapping your first window, Windows shows thumbnail images of all your other open windows on the empty part of the screen. Click the thumbnail for the window you want to fill the other zone. It snaps into place. You now have two windows visible at the same time.

    Warning

    If you have no other windows open, Windows may not show the thumbnail picker. Open a second program first, then arrange both using Snap Layouts.

    4

    Resize snapped windows

    ~16s
    After snapping two windows side by side, you can adjust how much space each one gets. Move your mouse to the vertical divider line between them. The cursor changes to a double-headed arrow. Click and drag the divider left or right to give more space to either window.
    5

    Use Snap Groups to return to your layout

    ~29s
    Once you have snapped windows into a group, hover your mouse over the taskbar button for one of those apps. You will see a small preview that shows all the windows in that snap group together. Click the group preview to restore all the windows to their snapped positions at once — great for returning to a work layout after a break.

    Quick Tip

    Quick Tip: To unsnap a window, drag it by its title bar away from the snapped position. It will return to a floating, normal-sized window.

    You Did It!

    You've completed: Windows 11 Snap Layouts: Arrange Multiple Windows Side by Side for Better Focus

    Need more help? Get Expert Help from a TekSure Tech

    Snap Layouts is a feature in Windows 11 that helps you arrange multiple open windows on your screen at the same time. Instead of switching back and forth between programs, you can see your email on one side and a document on the other, or have a web browser in one corner and a video call in another. This is especially helpful if you have a large monitor or if you frequently reference one window while working in another.

    In older versions of Windows, you could snap windows by dragging them to the edges of the screen. Windows 11 improved this with a visual menu that appears when you hover your mouse over the maximize button — the square icon in the top-right corner of any window. This menu shows different layout options that you can choose with a single click.

    Common layout options include: two windows side by side (each taking half the screen), three windows across, or a mix of a large window on one side and two stacked windows on the other. Once you choose a layout zone for one window, Windows automatically prompts you to choose which other open window fills the remaining zones.

    Snap Groups is a related feature — Windows remembers which windows you snapped together and treats them as a group. If you hover over that group in the taskbar, you see all windows in the group at once. This is useful when you switch away to do something else and want to return to your previous working arrangement.

    Snap Layouts works best on screens 13 inches or larger. On very small laptop screens, fitting two windows side by side can make text too small to read comfortably.

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    Official Resources

    Microsoft SupportHow-To Geek — WindowsGCFGlobal — Windows Basics

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    Windows 11 Snap Layouts: Arrange Multiple Windows Side by Side for Better Focus — Step-by-Step Guide | TekSure