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In Windows 7, it's possible to do various resize operations by dragging windows: drag window to top of screen, and it'll be enlarged to fill the whole screen. Drag it to the left edge and it'll cover the left side (50%), same for right edge. Also, bonus points: resizing window to top of screen keeps width but changes height to cover screen from top to bottom. In addition to those, keyboard shortcuts with Win are available.

As far as I understand, OS X does not support this. Is there third-party software for Maverics (10.9) with similar feature set? I don't mind paying a bit for it (say, less than 20€ ($27)).

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4 Answers 4

Reset to default
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There is a great app for this called BetterSnapTool ($1.99). You can set up your own keyboard shortcuts, drag windows to the side of your screen, or use their context menu to resize windows.

It even handles multiple monitors and allows you to specify an "active area" between two screens, so you can snap to all four edges even though you have a extended desktop.

The app can be completely customized using the preferences. The (initial) setup might some minutes, but the advantage is that you can create the perfect workflow for yourself.

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  • Why the down vote? This is still beta so if you don't like my answers please at least tell me why so that my next answer is more to everyones liking...
    – Spade
    Feb 11, 2014 at 13:12
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Cinch offers a far simpler implementation of the Windows 7 snapping feature.

I personally had Cinch since before I knew of BetterSnapTool, and I admit would have been attracted by to BetterSnap by the lower price. It does have a free trial, but so does BetterSnapTool.

If you are not at all interested in the option to configure your experience by app, and don't mend spending $5 more for Chich... well, its an option.

There are also SizeUp, and Divvy, which are $13 and $13.99 respectively both with free trials.

SizeUp, similar to BetterSnapTool, has more options, particularly appealing is to move the divider, "Feeling like its a 70% / 30% day?"

And Divvy implements a grid system upon your windows.

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1

Slate

Slate is my own preference, after using Divvy for a long time.

The reason I like it is that it's very customisable, but it's really only a recommendation for people willing to get their hands dirty writing a config file by hand (there are templates to help, but you're not just using a "nice" simple preferences GUI).

That said, its very customisable, so you can set up arbitrary absolute/relative placements, keyboard shortcuts, different actions depending on what monitors you have, and default placements for new windows based on their application/title (e.g. so your email client always comes up on the right-hand monitor at work).

You can chain commands together, and I've recreated most of the Win-key + direction abilities (with Command key), kind of mixed with an Ubuntu manager I once saw (uses win+keypad directions including diagonals for corners, and 5 for centre-placement without resizing).

The downside is Slate isn't really designed for mouse usage, it's all about the keyboard shortcuts (at least as far as I've used it to date).

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Spectacle free

I've been using this app for the last couple of days.

  • Free!

  • Open Source

  • Comes with an impressive array of shortcuts:

    enter image description here

  • Doesn't support dragging windows into zones to resize them, but I find the keyboard shortcuts to be more than enough.

  • Keyboard shortcuts can be customized for each action

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