Mac Full Screen Two Apps Rating: 9,3/10 5989 reviews

Mar 22, 2016 How to Use Full-Screen Apps in Mac OS X. Click on the green circle on the top left of the application window to enable full-screen mode. It says that ctrl + arrow key, whether it be left or right, will switch 'spaces'. 'Spaces' are your full-screen applications you have running. You can use cmd + tab to switch the focus window that will appear at the top, but it didn't seem to work for full-screen apps as quickly as the ctrl + arrow key.

Enter Split View

Split View requires OS X El Capitan or later, and the steps differ slightly based on which macOS you're using. If these steps don't work, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, click Mission Control, and make sure that “Displays have separate Spaces” is selected.

macOS Catalina

Mac Full Screen Two Apps
  1. Hover your pointer over the full-screen button in the upper-left corner of a window. Or click and hold the button.
  2. Choose ”Tile Window to Left of Screen” or ”Tile Window to Right of Screen” from the menu. The window then fills that side of the screen.
  3. Click a window on the other side of the screen to begin using both windows side by side.

Other macOS versions

  1. Click and hold the full-screen button in the upper-left corner of a window.
  2. As you hold the button, the window shrinks and you can drag it to the left or right side of the screen.
  3. Release the button, then click a window on the other side of the screen to begin using both windows side by side.

Work in Split View

In Split View, you can use both apps side by side, without the distraction of other apps.

  • Choose a window to work in by clicking anywhere in that window.
  • Show the menu bar by moving the pointer to the top of the screen.
  • Swap window positions by dragging a window to the other side.
  • Adjust window width by dragging the vertical line between the windows.
  • Switch to other apps or your desktop with Mission Control, or use a Multi-Touch gesture such as swiping left or right with four fingers on your trackpad.

Exit Split View

  1. Move the pointer to the top of the screen to reveal the window buttons.
  2. Click the full-screen button in either window. That window exits Split View.
  3. The other window switches to full-screen view. You can switch to the full-screen window with Mission Control, or use a Multi-Touch gesture such as swiping left or right with four fingers on your trackpad.

The full-screen mode on many native Mac applications is great. It takes full advantage of most Mac Retina displays, and it gives you the maximum working space. It also diminishes distractions by hiding the Dock and the status bar. If this is a look you like, you can follow the steps below to make sure some applications always open in full-screen mode on your Mac.

Step 1: Enabling Resume

Macs actually have a featured called “Resume” that allows apps to save their state on close. When reopened, the application will launch itself in the same state. This means reopening any documents you had open and placing windows in the same location as they were on close. This will also capture window settings like full screen mode settings and other options.

Jun 07, 2018  If an app on your Mac stops responding and you can't quit the app normally, use Force Quit to close the app. To quit (close) a Mac app normally, choose Quit from the app's menu in the menu bar, or press Command (⌘)-Q. If the app doesn't quit, follow these steps to force the app to quit. How to force an app to quit. Aug 26, 2019  Sometimes software can prevent your Mac from shutting down properly. Occasionally your Mac will notify you that “Application blocked shut down” and sometimes you won’t see any errors at all. First, try closing all of your applications by right-clicking (or two-finger clicking) on their icons in the dock, and choosing “Quit.” You can force quit any apps that aren’t responding or won’t close. If you cannot quit an app with force quit or Command-Option-Escape, you can turn to Activity Monitor, which allows you to force quit any frozen apps. Step 1 Open Activity Monitor in Application Utilities. Step 2 Find the app that won't quit in the process list and select it. Step 3 Click the X button in the upper-left corner. Can't shut down mac because an app won't quit.

Make sure the box next to “Close windows when quitting an app” is unchecked. This will allow Resume to function, permitting the app to reload its previous status.

Step 2: Configuring Apps to Open in Full Screen Mode

Once that’s set, you can set up the apps that you’d like to have open in full screen mode. For example, if you want to have Safari in full screen, you would do the following.

1. Open Safari.

2. Set Safari’s window to full screen by clicking the green button in the upper-left of the window.

3. Quit Safari without closing the window you just set to full screen mode. It’s very important that you don’t close the application window before quitting the app. You can quit an app from the menu bar, by right-clicking on the app’s Dock icon, or by pressing Command+Q.

When you reopen Safari, it should still be in full-screen mode. If you want other applications to also open in full-screen mode, you’ll need to open those applications separately and follow the same steps there.

This setting will only hold for Mac apps that open in Full Screen mode, not simply apps that make their windows larger. For example, Photoshop doesn’t have a full screen mode: instead, it makes the window take up the available monitor space. Safari, on the other hand, has a true Full Screen mode, hiding the menu bar and creating its own Space for the application to occupy. You can tell the difference by looking at the green button’s icon. If it has two arrows, as above, that’s a true Full Screen app. If it has a plus symbol (+), that’s just maximizing the app’s size.

You’ll also want to adjust how to quit applications. If you close windows before quitting an application, then those windows will not be saved. Some users, especially those that migrated from Windows, may have developed the habit of closing application windows before quitting the application. Make sure you stop doing this.

Mac Full Screen Two Apps Free

Step 3: Opening Apps at Startup with Login Services

You can also launch applications at login so that they’ll be full screen and ready for you when you open your Mac. Of course, you may also have to navigate out of the windows if your last application opened in full-screen mode. Give it a try and see how it works for you. If it imposes a lengthy startup time on your Mac, you may want to limit the number of apps starting at launch.

1. Open System Preferences.

2. Select the “Users & Groups” pane.

3. Click the “Login Items” tab.

4. Click the “+” button at the bottom of the list of applications.

5. Select the application you wish to have launched at startup.

Step 4: Quitting Correctly

For these changes to actually matter, you’ll want to make sure that you’re shutting down your Mac and closing your applications correctly.

You also have the option to reopen all the applications you have open at the time you shut down your Mac or log out. At the shutdown confirmation window, be sure to check the box that says “Reopen windows when logging back in” before clicking Shut Down or Log Out.

When quitting apps, don’t close the application’s windows before quitting. Leave the windows open, then quit the application via your preferred method. When you reopen the application, it will open with the same window state. This means that full screen mode will be engaged. It will also open the documents that were open previously, allowing you to quickly pick up where you left off.

Also: Setting Up Spaces for Multi-Monitor Users

In addition to the steps above, you’ll also want to optimize your workspace for full screen applications. If you have more than one monitor, that means you’ll need to set up separate Spaces for each monitor. Otherwise, you’ll end up blacking out the other monitor when you set an application to Full Screen, which probably won’t improve your productivity.

1. Open System Preferences.

2. Choose “Mission Control” from the top row.

3. Check the box next to “Displays have separate Spaces.”

This won’t have any affect if you don’t have more than one monitor. But for dual monitor users, it will prevent you from blacking out your second screen when you set an application to full screen mode. Instead, you’ll be able to continue working with other apps on the adjacent monitor or monitors.

Setting Each App

The first setting, regarding closing windows when quitting apps, will affect every application on your Mac. However, it won’t automatically make every app open in full-screen mode. You’ll need to set that up individually within each app. Other apps will, however, open in the last state you left them in. If you don’t like this behavior, you can close windows before quitting certain apps. This will allow you to set some applications to open in full screen mode as you desire, rather than applying a global system preference.

How To Make Mac Full Screen

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