Skip to main content

How to split your screen on Windows 11

Windows 11 took what was best about splitting your screen in Windows 10 and made it even better.

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

5 minutes

What You Need

With new changes, Windows 11 is an even more powerful operating system for productivity. The ability to snap windows in various configurations is a powerful one, making multitasking a breeze and managing multiple applications much more efficient.

Using Snap Layouts

Snap Layouts are a new way to initiate Snap Assist and they're even more powerful than the old methods. They allow you to easily pop windows into a variety of useful layouts that make displaying and working with your windows easier than ever before.

Step 1: Simply hold your mouse over a window's minimize/maximize button. A grid will appear, giving you six different options for arranging up to four windows.

how to split screen on windows 11 snap layouts overlay
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Step 2: Select one of the options and the display will split and display your other available windows. In this case, we selected the two-window layout with one side wider than the other.

how to split screen on windows 11 snap layouts selection options
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Step 3: Once you've selected the other window(s) that you want to split, your screen will show the windows in your chosen configuration.

how to split screen on windows 11 snap layouts results
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Manually using Snap Assist

Windows 10's methods for accessing Snap Assist have carried over to Windows 11. There are two ways to manually initiate Snap Assist.

Step 1: You can simply drag a window to either side or use the Windows key along with the right arrow or left arrow key and you'll get the option to select another window.

how to split screen on windows 11 key right options
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Step 2: Select the window you want to display, and your screen will orient itself accordingly.

how to split screen on windows 11 key right results
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Step 3: You can resize the windows by simply selecting the middle bar and dragging.

how to split screen on windows 11 resize
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Step 4: Note that if you drag a window into one of the corners, you'll get the option to place up to four windows.

how to split screen on windows 11 snap assist multiple
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Step 5: Once you've selected your second window, you'll be presented with the option to select the third. The same goes for selecting a fourth window if you have that many to place.

how to split screen on windows 11 snap assist second window selected
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Step 6: Here we've selected three windows to display.

how to split screen on windows 11 snap assist three open
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Step 7: When you have windows arranged via Snap Assist, you can choose whether to open a single window or a group. Just hover over a snapped window's icon on the Task Bar and you'll get a choice to open the individual window or the group it belongs to.

how to split screen on windows 11 snap assist group selection
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Turning Snap Assist on and off

If Snap Assist is causing you problems, then it's easy enough to turn it off.

Open the Settings app and go to System Multitasking. Open the Snap Assist option and you'll see a toggle to switch it on or off. You can also select various options to customize Snap Assist to your needs.

how to split screen on windows 11 snap assist options
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Editors' Recommendations

Mark Coppock
Mark has been a geek since MS-DOS gave way to Windows and the PalmPilot was a thing. He’s translated his love for…
How to calibrate your monitor to make it better for free
Calibrate your display to get it looking just the way you like it
LG 32UD99-W review full

Have you ever bought a new monitor and thought it looked a little lackluster right out of the box? It might need calibrating. This is a problem faced by even some of the best monitors where their colors just aren't as rich as they should be, or maybe the monitor is too bright or sharp.

Calibrating your monitor can fix these problems and more. Here's how to do it.

Read more
What does printer spooling mean, and how to fix it on Windows and Mac
Canon Pixma G4270 is a MegaTank all-in-one inkjet printer.

The computing industry is flooded with obscure technical terms like printer spooling. Spooling happens automatically in the background, and you might never notice this feature as long as it keeps working properly. But since you're reading this article, something has probably gone wrong with printing on your machine, and you need to fix this mysterious spooler problem.
What does printer spooling mean?
Printer spooling has been around for decades and is a bit like thread spooling or cable spooling. If you have more than you can easily handle at once, you wind it on a spool and remove only what's needed for the job at hand.

Since most printers can only receive one document at a time, your computer's operating system uses a print spooler to arrange documents in a queue. Printers have a limited amount of memory, so a single long document might require spooling. In that case, it will be split into two or more documents in the printer queue.

Read more
‘Compact Mode’ can’t fix the Xbox app. Here’s what could
Asus ROG Ally with the Windows lock screen.

Microsoft is testing out a new "Compact Mode" for its Xbox app on Windows 11. The mode is currently available to Xbox Insiders, and it shrinks the sidebar in the Xbox app to provide a clearer view into the main window.

It's not a big deal on its own, but it's clearly a move by Microsoft to make Windows 11 easier to use on devices like the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go. It's a step in the right direction, but we need more radical changes to the Xbox app if Microsoft has any hope of making it a destination for not only Xbox Game Pass, but handheld PC gaming devices.
Do it my way

Read more