The best window layouts for an ultrawide monitor on a Mac

Updated 2026-09-18 · 5 min read · by Okie Dockie

Why halves do not work on a wide screen

A 34-inch or 49-inch ultrawide is roughly two ordinary monitors side by side. Split it in half and each window is as wide as a whole regular display: a web page ends up with long lines of text, and a document leaves a large empty margin. The space is there, but halves do not use it well.

The layouts that do

• Three columns — the natural choice for most ultrawides. Browser, editor and chat or email, each at a readable width.
• Four columns — for the widest screens, or for reference material you glance at: docs, a terminal, a calendar and a music player.
• One left, two right — one large main window, with two smaller ones stacked beside it. Good for writing or coding with a preview and a reference.
• Four quarters — still useful on a tall ultrawide when windows need height more than width.

Snapping to them

macOS 15 and later can tile a window to halves and quarters, but has no three- or four-column layouts. Okie Dockie adds them:

1. Drag a window by its title bar to the top edge of the screen.
2. A row of layouts appears: two side by side, three columns, one left and two right, four quarters, and four columns.
3. Drop the window onto the part of the layout you want it in.

From the keyboard, Control-Option-3 tiles your three frontmost windows into columns and Control-Option-4 does four.

Filling the rest of the screen

After you drop the first window, Okie Dockie lists your other windows for each empty part of the layout, so a three-column screen is arranged in three clicks rather than three drags and resizes. It is part of the free version, and works the same way on every display you have connected.