osx - What keyboard shortcuts move, resize, and maximize windows under Mac OS X?

22
2013-10
  • Philip Durbin

    I just checked http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table%5Fof%5Fkeyboard%5Fshortcuts but the following "Window management" entries are blank for Mac OS X:

    • Move the focused window
    • Resize the focused window
    • Maximize the focused window

    Are there really no built in keyboard shortcuts for these in OS X? I do this stuff all the time with GNOME under Linux.

  • Answers
  • John Gallagher

    Personally, I prefer Size Up - it has a huge array of options for auto resizing with a single keypress including quarter screen, maximise and moving windows between monitors and even Spaces.

    http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/sizeup/

  • Bobby B

    Following along with the idea of windowflow - check out it's parent project Optimal Layout. I tried sizeup for a while and was actually trying to find a replacement for it when I found Optimal Layout.

    It is by far the best OSX keyboard based window manipulation app I've seen yet! Rocks...

    http://most-advantageous.com/optimal-layout/

  • alexoviedo999

    If you consider yourself a "hacker" you may consider Slate. Slate is like Bettertouch or Sizeup on steroids. Here is the github repo.

    There is a learning curve but it is very powerful and customizable. There is a great write-up on how to set up and use it.

  • Russell Davis

    I've tried the other third party apps here and have found Moom to be the best:

    http://manytricks.com/moom/

  • Philip Durbin

    Spectacle hasn't been mentioned yet. "Move and resize your windows with ease." -- http://spectacleapp.com

    It's open source: https://github.com/eczarny/spectacle

  • Indrek

    See the following AppleScript for the popular (and free) Mac OS X keyboard/mouse shortcut program QuickSilver that will get you a keyboard shortcut for the green zoom button. When you install that and use it with Quicksilver, you'll be able to customize your keyboard shortcut.

    tell application "System Events"
        if UI elements enabled then
            set FrontApplication to (get name of every process whose frontmost is true) as string
            tell process FrontApplication
                click button 2 of window 1
                --button 2 is the green "zoom" button for all applications
                --window 1 is always the frontmost window.
            end tell
        else
            tell application "System Preferences"
                activate
                set current pane to pane "com.apple.preference.universalaccess"
                display dialog "UI element scripting is not enabled. Check 'Enable access for assistive devices'"
            end tell
        end if
    end tell
    

    Source: http://snippets.dzone.com/posts/show/1026

  • Graham Perrin

    SizeWell

    Features and ease of use are combined in a way that I can't find in any alternative software.

    I use it with Mountain Lion.

    Downside

    SIMBL (required by SizeWell) is not recently updated.


  • Related Question

    osx - What Is the Keyboard Shortcut for Moving to Last Message in Mac OS X Mail.app?
  • Philip Durbin

    I'm on Mac OS X 10.5.8 (Leopard).

    In Mail, I have the first message in my Inbox selected and I'm trying to navigate to the last message using my keyboard.

    In Thunderbird, I just hit the End key, which for me is "Function-right arrow" because I'm on a MacBook Pro.

    In Mail, with the first message selected, if I hit "Function-right arrow" (i.e. End), the scroll bar moves down, allowing me to see the messages at the bottom of the list, but the first message at the top of the list is still selected. What I want is for the last message to be selected.

    I've tried lots of key combinations and searched for the answer but haven't been able to find it. Please help. I posted this originally at discussions.apple.com but the only advice I received was to file a bug with Apple, which I did.


  • Related Answers
  • Chealion

    Type option-down arrow and keep it pressed for > 1s. The same goes for going to the top of the mail list, but type option-up arrow.

  • Daniel Beck

    In Lion, it's fn + and fn +