macOS Sierra: The Missing Manual

Split Screen Mode

Once Apple gave us Full Screen mode, the next step was obvious: split Full Screen mode. In this arrangement, two windows fill the screen, edge to edge and top to bottom. Just as in Full Screen mode, the menu bar, Dock, and all other cluttery extras are hidden to maximize screen space; the only difference is that two apps are now sharing that big monitor canvas.

This combination works very well when you want to keep a continuously updating app visible—Twitter, Mail, or FaceTime, for example—while continuing to do work in a second app. It’s also handy when you’re referring to one app (a recipe in your web browser) and making notes in another (an ingredients list in Notes).

Once again, though, Split Screen doesn’t work in all apps—only the ones that work in Full Screen mode.

Starting Split Screen Mode, Method 1

There are two ways to get in and out of Split Screen mode, but this one is quickest:

1. Click-and-hold the green button at the top-left corner of Window #1. (See Figure 6-9, top.)

   Nostalgia Corner: Window Layering

   MacOS takes a layered approach to your programs’ windows. They’re not all in front or all in back; it’s entirely possible to wind up with the windows of different programs sandwiched and layered, front to back.

   Suppose, for example, you have Microsoft Excel in the foreground but Word in the background. If you click within a visible portion of a background window, ...