How to Split a Screen On Windows 11 Using Snap Layout

Before we answer that question,

Tell us –  As someone who juggles between windows for reference, are you tired of switching between windows/ apps by pressing Alt+Tab? Wouldn’t something like putting two or more windows next to each other and then referring to the contents help you skyrocket your productivity? It would, right?

Enter the snap layout functionality in Windows 11? Let’s give you a glimpse of a real-life problem –

You are working on a blog for which you have opened two or more reference websites. To get a better understanding, you decide to open a tutorial on YouTube. Here you have one window that has your Google Docs opened and the other window that has a reference website. After a while, you feel like watching a video corresponding to your website.

An “Alt+Tab” in this case wouldn’t be very convenient because you wouldn’t want to shuffle between your doc and the reference website and then jump on the video and or, so on and so forth.

Here’s a more convenient way and we bet you’ll fall in love with it –

If you have switched on to Windows 11, you can split screens in Windows and snap them against each other.

Note: Depending on the screen size of your display, your chosen Scale & layout, and Display resolution (each of which can be chosen by Settings > System > Display) you will either be able to see four layouts or six layouts options. On a Windows laptop with a 15.6-inch display, here is how you can likely get a 6 screen snap layout. Here the maximum number of windows you can snap to each other is 6 – Keep the Scale in the Scale & layout 100% and choose your 1920 X 1080 as your Display resolution. Also, choose Landscape as your Display orientation> Your settings should look something like this –

Consider the example of a display that offers 4 snap layouts, you can snap up to four windows as you can see from the screenshot below –

Also Read: How to Split Screen on Windows 10 PC

How To Split A Screen With The Help of Snap Layout

Let’s dive deep into how to split-screen on Windows 11 – it could have as many as six windows side by side. For tthis post, we shall be considering the 4-layout scenario.

1. To pop up the snap layout option, move your cursor over the square-shaped maximize button on a Windows which is opened. You can also press the Windows+Z key combination to open the snap layout option.
2. Now, each of the layouts snaps your window at a location you have clicked on. It is important to note that you need to select the window that you want to snap in a particular location.
3. How does snapping work and what each of these layouts implies –

Let’s take an example of a display with four layouts where layouts are numbered as 1,2,3 and 4 –

Also Read: How To Take a Screenshot on Windows 11

Layout No. 1:

This layout is ideal if you have two or more windows opened next to each other. So, if you select the very first position in the first layout, your active window will be snapped in the position shown in the layout in the screenshot below –

You can now fit in the second window of your choice in the second place of the first layout.

Layout No. 2:

In the second layout, the left window gets a bigger space whereas the second window would align to the right but it will get a smaller space.

Again, this layout is ideal if you have two or more windows open.

Layout No. 3:

The third layout is suitable when you want to snap 3 or more opened windows. The active window on which a position is chosen gets the place as shown in the screenshot below. Let’s take a different position for our active window this time.

As you can see from the screenshot above, the moment you click on the shown position, the other two positions will prompt you to select a window that can take the space. If there is a window that’s already opened at a position, you’ll be prompted to fill in the blank space. The first window, however, gets the maximum space whereas the other two are distanced equally one above and one below.

Layout No. 4:

In the fourth layout, you can snap four windows next to each other. All four windows will get equal space.

Also Read: How to Transfer Files Between Two Laptops Using Wi-Fi in Windows 10

A Keyboard Shortcut That’ll Help You Split Screens Fast In Windows 11

In the screenshot above, I wish to swap the position of the window where YouTube is opened with the window that has the editor opened. For that, I can click on either window (to make it an active window) and then press the shift+an arrow key. For instance, if I wish to move YouTube to the right, I’ll press the shift+right arrow key combo.

What if I have chosen the layout where I can snap four windows together and where I want to shift the selected windows down. Consider this screenshot –

To move the blue-colored window and swap its position with the one down, I’ll have to press the shift+down arrow key. This is fun to do, play around with this shortcut and share your experience in the comment section below.

Wrapping Up:

Now that you know how to split-screen in Windows 11, needn’t restrict yourself to one Windows. What we mean is to use this power to consume and enjoy more content, And, if you feel like a superhero now, do drop in a smile in the comment section below. For more such content, keep reading Tweak Library.