Multitasking is essential for a modern-day computer user. Windows do a great job in providing a split-screen environment to multitask with ease. We can switch and work between tabs smoothly and at speed without any restrictions. This article will guide you on how you can split your screen for multitasking in Windows 11/10.
How to Split Screen in Windows 11/10
Windows 7 first introduced a vastly improved screen snapping feature, and over the years, it has just got better. With modern versions of Windows, you don’t have to limit yourself to a maximum of two windows taking up the first half of your screen; you can even have four windows taking up each quarter if you need to multitask actively.
- Snap Windows
- Snap Assist
- Using the Keyboard Shortcut
- Splitting more than two tabs
- Split between two monitors
- Using PowerToys FancyZones
This works on all versions of Windows 11 and Windows 10.
1] Snap Windows
It’s an advanced version of the Snap Assist feature of Windows that allows you to choose between different layout types and not between four quadrants of the screen. It is available in Windows 11. This works any window and application.
The snap layouts appear when you hover over the maximize button of any application. You can over any of them, select a section where you want the application. Next, it will prompt for the next open application, and so on, until the layout is filled.
You can also view the snap layouts as you move your mouse on the app from the taskbar. It also supports snap assist, i.e., screen edge snapping, and can automatically size to fill available space.
2] Snap Assist
The Snap Assist feature in Windows 11/10 makes choosing open windows easier when arranging windows on your computer screen. It makes it easier for you to decide which applications to include on your screen. To use it, follow these steps:
- Select your desired window to snap in the half screen, then hold and drag until the edge of the screen.
- You can see an outline showing how much space this window will take if you decide to snap it. If you are satisfied with the position and size, let go of your mouse from the window, and it will place itself in that outlined area.
You can further select which app you want in the remaining space of the screen or leave that space empty; you will see an option in that remaining space regarding the windows already open, and you can click on any to snap it in the remaining half of the screen.
3] Using the Keyboard Shortcut
If you want to make snapping your windows in different screen parts even faster, you can use the keyboard shortcuts available.
- Split window to left or right half: Win + left/right arrow
- Split window to corner/quarter of screen: Win + left/right arrow then up/down arrow
- Make window fullscreen: Win + up arrow until fullscreen
- Expand ¼ window to ½ window: Win + up/down arrow
To use the keyboard shortcut for more than two windows at a time, first, snap the active window to the left or right by holding the Windows key and the Left or Right Arrow keys. Hold down the Windows key and press the Up or Down Arrow key to move the snapped window into a corner.
4] Splitting More than Two Tabs
With Corner Snap, you can snap up to four windows on one screen if you have a large or high-resolution display.
- Using your mouse, drag the first window into a corner.
- Put your second window in any other corner beside the corner of your first active window. You don’t need to choose a specific corner.
- Repeat Step 2 for the remaining two corners, if necessary.
5] Split between Two Monitors
With two monitors, dragging a window to the edge will cause it to be carried to the edge of your second screen instead of the first. This is an excellent solution if you want to snap your windows on the second monitor anyway, but how would you snap to the first monitor if you have dual monitors?
You can resolve it by dragging the window /slowly/ to the edge of the first screen. The window will snap to the corner or edge of the screen when you let go of the mouse button after you see the snap outline appear for that window.
6] Using PowerToys FancyZones
The FancyZones feature allows you to split windows into different groups, such as vertically or horizontally. To do this, follow the steps below:
- Download and Install Microsoft Powertool from here.
- Run the setup as administrator and select FancyZones from the left column.
- Click on the ‘Launch layout editor’ option.
In this section, you can choose how many windows your screen is split into, their layout, how much space is between them, and so on. Splitting more than two windows may not require a resolution of 1440p or higher, but you’ll still get the most out of it if using it on a 1440p screen.
How to Play YouTube Video in Half of the Screen?
The long form of the question is—How can you maximize a youtube video in Windows so that it fills up one entire half of the screen when you have side-by-side windows or split screens?
That is not possible. There is a problem with videos being in landscape mode, which is wide and tall. If the screen is divided vertically, each will be in ‘portrait mode’ — taller than wide.
It would never be able to fill the full height of the half-screen even if you try to stretch the YouTube video manually. Furthermore, full-screen mode on Windows works precisely that way – it takes up the whole screen. In full-screen mode, there is no option for making it take up half the screen.
That said, Windows 11/10 allows you to split the screen in two ways: if you drag a window to an upper corner, it will occupy only 1/4th of the total screen area. Dragging the window to the side of the screen causes it to go full-height and half-width.’
How Important Is It to Be Able to Split the Screen on a Desktop Computer?
Excellent use of a split-screen is to compare two documents or images side by side or place a rubric or other guide alongside a document you are analyzing or grading.
Trying to manually resize windows so that each takes up exactly half the screen can be tedious. Thanks to the cutting edge of modern operating systems, it is easy to “snap” an application to fill exactly half the screen.
How to Split Windows Horizontally on Windows 11/10?
If you have an ultrawide monitor that you use vertically, you might want to split your apps vertically; well, you can’t do this directly from Windows inbuilt snapping feature. For this, you would like to use PowerToys FancyZones to customize your split-screen layout.
