How to resize a window

Updated: 12/05/2021 by Figurer Hope

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

Annotation

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

Basic resize in Windows

As you can run into in the image below, at that place are 2 buttons for resizing a window automatically.

  • Minimize - Clicking this push 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 between full and near full (not maximized) screen.

Windows window resize

Custom resize in Windows

When the upper-right section of the window looks like Resize panel in Windows., your window is now in "resize mode," pregnant you can apply the mouse cursor to make the window any size yous want. To do so, motility the cursor to any border or corner of the window until a double-headed arrow appears. When this pointer appears, click-and-elevate to make the window larger or smaller. If this double-headed arrow does not announced, the window cannot exist 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, motion the cursor to the left or right edge of the window until information technology changes to the double-headed arrow. To make the window vertically bigger, do the aforementioned thing at the top or bottom of the window. To resize horizontally and vertically at the aforementioned time, use 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 seven, Windows 8, Windows x, or Windows 11, yous can utilise Windows central keyboard shortcuts to resize and arrange windows on your reckoner. For example, pressing the Windows primal and left arrow key resizes the window to fit the left one-half of the screen. Pressing the Windows fundamental and the right arrow key resizes the window to fit the right one-half of the screen.

A window can be resized using a series of keyboard shortcuts. Below are the steps for resizing a window only using the keyboard.

  1. Press Alt+Spacebar to open the window's carte du jour.
  2. If the window is maximized, arrow down to Restore and printing Enter.
  3. Press Alt+Spacebar once again to open the window carte du jour, arrow downwardly to Size, and printing Enter.
  4. Printing the up or down arrow central if you want to resize the window vertically or the left or right arrow primal if you want to resize horizontally.
  5. In one case an pointer key is pressed, you can printing the same or opposite pointer key to continue resizing the window.

How to resize a game window

Playing a figurer game nearly probable defaults to a fullscreen way that prevents the game from resizing. To resize a game window, the game must beginning be capable of playing in a windowed mode. If available, the setting is establish in the game's video settings and may be labeled as borderless fullscreen, window mode, or a checkbox. Once in a window style, information technology may be possible to resize the window using whatever method mentioned on this page. However, keep in heed that some games but have a window mode for functioning reasons and may nevertheless 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 circumvolve), which looks like a nuance, collapses the window to the Dock.
  • Maximize / Resize - Clicking this button (green circumvolve), which looks like a box or ii boxes, toggles the window between full and nigh total (not maximized) screens.
  • Custom size - Outset, make sure the window is not maximized. And then, hover your mouse cursor over the corner, bottom, or top of the window. Click-and-drag to resize the window.