How to resize a window

Updated: 12/05/2021 by Estimator Hope

Resizing a window can be helpful in many situations. For instance, you tin resize a DOS command window or resize two program windows to fit both windows on the same screen. The following sections bear witness you how to resize a window in Windows and macOS.

Notation

A window that is maximized cannot exist resized. Furthermore, sure types of windows cannot be resized at all.

Basic resize in Windows

Equally you can run into in the image below, there are two buttons for resizing a window automatically.

  • Minimize - Clicking this button, which looks like a dash, collapses the window to the Taskbar.
  • Maximize / Resize - Clicking this push, which looks like a box or two boxes, toggles the window betwixt full and nearly total (non maximized) screen.

Windows window resize

Custom resize in Windows

When the upper-right department of the window looks like Resize panel in Windows., your window is now in "resize way," meaning you tin can utilize the mouse cursor to make the window any size you want. To practice so, move the cursor to any edge or corner of the window until a double-headed arrow appears. When this arrow appears, click-and-elevate to make the window larger or smaller. If this double-headed arrow does not appear, the window cannot be resized.

The animation below shows a double-headed arrow on the bottom, left, and corner of a window and how information technology resizes a window. To make the window horizontally bigger, motility the cursor to the left or correct edge of the window until it changes to the double-headed pointer. To make the window vertically bigger, practise the same affair at the top or lesser of the window. To resize horizontally and vertically at the same fourth dimension, employ one of the corners of the window.

Resizing a window

How to resize a window using the Windows key and keyboard

If y'all are running Microsoft Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, or Windows eleven, you lot can use Windows primal keyboard shortcuts to resize and adjust windows on your estimator. For case, pressing the Windows key and left arrow key resizes the window to fit the left half of the screen. Pressing the Windows cardinal and the right pointer primal resizes the window to fit the right half of the screen.

A window tin exist resized using several keyboard shortcuts. Beneath are the steps for resizing a window just using the keyboard.

  1. Printing Alt+Spacebar to open the window's menu.
  2. If the window is maximized, pointer downward to Restore and press Enter.
  3. Press Alt+Spacebar once more to open the window carte du jour, arrow down to Size, and printing Enter.
  4. Press the upward or down arrow primal if y'all desire to resize the window vertically or the left or right arrow key if yous desire to resize horizontally.
  5. Once an arrow fundamental is pressed, you can press the same or opposite arrow central to continue resizing the window.

How to resize a game window

Playing a computer game near probable defaults to a fullscreen fashion that prevents the game from resizing. To resize a game window, the game must outset be capable of playing in a windowed mode. If bachelor, the setting is found in the game's video settings and may be labeled as borderless fullscreen, window mode, or a checkbox. Once in a window mode, it may be possible to resize the window using whatever method mentioned on this page. However, keep in heed that some games simply accept a window mode for functioning reasons and may still not support the ability to be resized.

How to resize a window on a Mac

Buttons used to close, minimize, and maximize a window in macOS.

A Mac window can be resized using the mouse and the buttons in the upper-left corner of the desktop.

  • Minimize - Clicking this button (yellow circle), which looks like a nuance, collapses the window to the Dock.
  • Maximize / Resize - Clicking this button (greenish circle), which looks like a box or two boxes, toggles the window between full and most total (non maximized) screens.
  • Custom size - Get-go, brand sure the window is not maximized. Then, hover your mouse cursor over the corner, bottom, or height of the window. Click-and-drag to resize the window.