One of my favorite features of Windows 7 was the ability to use the Windows key + arrow keys to arrange windows. Win+Left would make it take up the left half, win+right the right half, win+up maximize, etc.
Now, with Windows 10, those same keys just make the windows go absolutely crazy and I can’t figure out any rhyme or reason to it. Win+left: sometimes it’ll go to the left 1/2, sometimes it’ll jump over to the right side instead, sometimes it’ll take up only a quarter and jump back and forth between the halves… and frankly it seems like ALL the arrow keys do that unpredictable shuffle thing now. I hate it.
I just want the Win 7-style behavior back. Is that possible?
It’s a Microasoft axiom, applicable to Windows, Office, and any other product - if the feature is useful or essential for the product, Microsoft will either delete it or hide it in the next version.
For what it’s worth, it seems to work as expected on my Windows-10 system.
I believe these keyboard shortcuts are part of the “Aero Snap” feature. It may be worth checking whether the feature is enabled: Settings -> System -> Multitasking, top three options.
I have W10 and those keys work consistently as expected for me, so this is a not a design change. (In addition there is the new virtual desktop feature, CTRL-Windows-arrow which I find invaluable.) I don’t recall ever having to set any options as **scr4 **describes but it is worth a try.
We Mac users don’t have to put up with that kind of nonsense!
Apple just changes the keystroke or the button or menu behavior so you have to relearn all your learned workflow behaviors, or discontinues the product altogether, usually just before changing the hardware or software architecture so that you won’t be able to run the existing product on any later Macs that you buy. :smack:
Window Snapping
Windows 10 offers improved support for Snap — known as “Aero Snap” on Windows 7. You can now snap windows vertically — one on top of each other, instead of side-by-side — or snap windows to a 2×2 grid.
Windows Key + Left – Snap current window to the left side of the screen.
Windows Key + Right – Snap current window the the right side of the screen.
Windows Key + Up – Snap current window to the top of the screen.
Windows Key + Down – Snap current window to the bottom of the screen.
Combine these shortcuts to snap into a corner — for example, Windows Key + Left and then Windows Key + Up would snap a window into the top-left quadrant of the screen. The first two keyboard shortcuts aren’t new, but the way they work with the 2×2 snapping feature is.
(You can also use the mouse — drag and drop a window to the left or right edges of your screen, or drag and drop them into one of the four corners to snap into quadrants.)
It doesn’t say what happens when you do repeat Windows+Left twice in a row, but I guess that’s an undocumented feature. Here’s what I get:
Start with window at full screen
W+Left: move to left half of screen
W+Left: move to right half of screen
W+Left: reduce to partial screen somewhere in the middle
W+Left: move to left half (repeat the cycle)
I get a similar cycle with W+right.
The behavior is consistent (I am not documenting W+up and down but it’s repeatable) but now I see why you’re frustrated. It’s not at all intuitive when you repeat.
It’s not just the repetition, it’s that depending on how a window got snapped in the first place, its counterpart may or may not work. For example, right now I have a window snapped to the left half and I want to move it to the right half, but Win+Right does not work. It does absolutely nothing. If I push Win+Up, it becomes half the size instead of full-screen. To get it to move to the right, I have to push Win+Left again – absolutely counter-intuitive. I hate Microsoft sometimes.
In other words, despite all the OP’s and others beefing, this is no change in PC behavior over the last few years. This is just something they’d never noticed before which is therefore new to them.
If you want to see something interesting, do Win-arrow repeatedly on a multi-monitor system. It’ll scroll around the possibilities on one screen and then the other.
You know… I didn’t believe you guys, but then I booted up Win 7 and tried it, and you were right :eek: I don’t know how I never noticed that. Well then, I suppose I have to take it all back… sorry Microsoft, I was just an idiot all along!
Edit: Still, though, I would really like to find a way to fix this so that left always go to the left half, etc. Know of any third-party utilities that can override the default behavior?
