# Stop Mac from expanding windows to full screen **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 10, 2019, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-mac-from-expanding-windows-to-full-screen/829259 "2019-02-10T02:37:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2019, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-mac-from-expanding-windows-to-full-screen/829259/1 "2019-02-10T02:37:33Z")
I just got a new Mac with the latest OS and there are some “features” that really annoy me. The touch bar is for shit, but I found a program to disable it. I’ve managed to turn off most of the really annoying things about the touch pad and “haptic clicking.” But there’s one thing I haven’t been able to remedy–when I click and hold on the top of a window to move it, the window sometimes expands to full screen and sometimes shrinks. I played around with it and I can’t figure out what action does what; searching for an answer hasn’t turned up a solution. Please help. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2019, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-mac-from-expanding-windows-to-full-screen/829259/2 "2019-02-10T03:36:53Z")
I don’t know on a Mac, but on a PC, if you drag a window to the top of the screen, it maximizes it. ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2019, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-mac-from-expanding-windows-to-full-screen/829259/3 "2019-02-10T19:38:13Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > But there’s one thing I haven’t been able to remedy–when I click and hold on the top of a window to move it, the window sometimes expands to full screen and sometimes shrinks. Are you accidentally double-clicking on the title bar of the window? By default, that zooms the window. This is controlled via the Dock preference pane for some reason. You can set double-clicking the title bar to minimize or to zoom, or you can turn it off so it does nothing at all. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-mac-from-expanding-windows-to-full-screen/829259/4 "2019-02-11T00:30:56Z")
> [@Topologist](#): > > Are you accidentally double-clicking on the title bar of the window? By default, that zooms the window. This is controlled via the Dock preference pane for some reason. You can set double-clicking the title bar to minimize or to zoom, or you can turn it off so it does nothing at all. No, I disabled that. This is specifically when I’m repositioning a window. I click and hold at the top, then drag. Sometimes this causes the window to go fullscreen and sometimes not. If I click hold and drag again, the window will get smaller–but not always the same size or shape it was before. ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-mac-from-expanding-windows-to-full-screen/829259/5 "2019-02-11T01:16:10Z")
Sorry, then, that’s not behavior I’ve ever seen myself or read about. My next guess would be some third-party software that’s enabling the behavior, but you say it’s a new Mac, so I assume you’d know if you installed something like that. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-mac-from-expanding-windows-to-full-screen/829259/6 "2019-02-11T01:36:25Z")
> [@Topologist](#): > > Sorry, then, that’s not behavior I’ve ever seen myself or read about. My next guess would be some third-party software that’s enabling the behavior, but you say it’s a new Mac, so I assume you’d know if you installed something like that. Yeah, this is behavior I’m unaware of or heard of, either. Like you said, double-clicking enables that behavior, so I’d wonder if it’s something with the mouse and an intermittent connection or a wonky button. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-mac-from-expanding-windows-to-full-screen/829259/7 "2019-02-11T01:42:58Z")
Mac OS used to have a single size box in the lower right corner, but at some point, they put in a similar kind of sizing as Windows, where you can do it from any edge. Is it possible that you are hitting the sizing edge of the drag bar, and that dragging the edge too far up causes full screen? ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-mac-from-expanding-windows-to-full-screen/829259/8 "2019-02-11T19:44:06Z")
Okay, I figured it out (I think). If I click and drag a window and bump into the line at the top with all the drop-downs, it resizes to full screen. Dragging slightly down from the top resizes to previous. If I drag to the right or left and my cursor hits the edge of the screen, it resizes smaller, and reverts to its former size when I drag it back toward center. The left-right thing isn’t terrible now that I know what’s happening, but I don’t like the resizing full screen. The only thing I’ve installed is BetterTouchTool to disable the touch bar. You can modify the trackpad with BTT, but I haven’t done so. I’m surprised no one else has experienced this–it doesn’t seem like a bug, nor do I think it’s because of BTT. It’s another “feature,” it seems. ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-mac-from-expanding-windows-to-full-screen/829259/9 "2019-02-11T23:26:22Z")
That behavior is not normal Mac behavior, but does look exactly like Better Touch Tool’s “Window Snapping”. Try disabling BTT’s Window Snapping and see if it continues. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-mac-from-expanding-windows-to-full-screen/829259/10 "2019-02-12T00:52:30Z")
That did it. Thanks, **Topologist**. I went through all the advanced settings and disabled anything else that looked like it might annoy me. Is there a better program than BTT for hiding the touch bar? My problem with it was that I kept hitting the escape “button,” which I think is not movable. I do wish I could have brightness and volume controls on the touch bar, as long as I could put them (and only them) in the middle or right of the touch bar. ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-mac-from-expanding-windows-to-full-screen/829259/11 "2019-02-12T03:46:45Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > Is there a better program than BTT for hiding the touch bar? That someone else will have to address. I have access to a Mac with a touchbar, but I’ve only used it for brief periods of time and didn’t find it bothersome, so never really investigated ways to control/modify it. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-mac-from-expanding-windows-to-full-screen/829259/12 "2019-02-12T03:49:37Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > … on a PC, if you drag a window to the top of the screen, it maximizes it. That drives me up a wall. I am constantly undoing the full screen thing I accidentally triggered when I tried to make the window a little larger. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-mac-from-expanding-windows-to-full-screen/829259/13 "2019-02-13T13:30:13Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > That drives me up a wall. I am constantly undoing the full screen thing I accidentally triggered when I tried to make the window a little larger. You can turn it off. I always do. On Windows 10: Open the Settings app from the Start Menu, and go to System. Click the Multitasking tab on the left, and disable “Arrange Windows automatically[…]”, which I believe is the first option in the Snap section. On Windows 7, 8, or 8.1: Open Control Panel from the Start Menu, and go to Ease of Access. Select the option about changing the Mouse. Check the “Prevent Windows from being automatically arranged[…]” box. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-mac-from-expanding-windows-to-full-screen/829259/14 "2019-02-13T18:25:47Z")
I miss the old MacOS “zoom window” behavior. Don’t ^#!!@@ maximize the damn window, just resize it to fit the contents!