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…
I love Macs. But here are 5 reasons I keep coming back to Windows
windows 11 taskbar third party app pinning

Thanks to the massive success of Apple Silicon, Macs have become increasingly tempting. Plenty of folks are heading back to the Mac for the first time in years, and in doing so, making the dramatic switch from Windows 11 to macOS.

When it comes to these operating systems, though, they're not equal across the board. And in the end, here are the five things that keep me coming back to Windows 11.
Device support

Read more
Common Microsoft Teams problems and how to fix them
A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Microsoft Teams was introduced in 2017 as a unified communication and collaboration platform aimed at helping businesses and organizations get things done. Microsoft leveraged the company's existing Office software experience and created a unified experience between Teams, Office 365, and Skype for Business. However, as with all software, things don't always go according to plan. Sometimes you can run into Teams problems.

We're big Teams users here at Digital Trends -- it's our go-to communication and meeting tool -- and we've come across a few issues ourselves over the years. In the event you're having Microsoft Teams issues, here's how to fix some of the most common problems.

Read more
This simple keyboard shortcut could save you when installing Windows 11
The Command Prompt on screen during Windows 11 installation.

I install Windows 11 a lot. Be it for a clean slate on a PC that's acting up or a brand new PC, anyone who tinkers with computers will find themselves interacting with the Windows installer quite a bit. And it's far from perfect.

Over the past year, it's gotten worse, too. This is because Windows 11 now requires you to connect to the internet before proceeding with installation. If you don't have a connection (or another issues occurs, as I'll get to in a moment), you're out of luck. You're stuck. Thankfully, there's a Windows 11 shortcut that can crack open the installer and give you a lot more power: Shift + F10. 

Read more