Tag Archives: arrange

fixed : use Window Tiling to quickly arrange windows on-screen

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Question :
Is there a way to quickly arrange the active windows of various apps on my macOS screen ?


Answer :
Yes, since macOS 15 Sequoia you can do this with the Window tiling option.

The main ways to use Window Tiling are :
1. using the on-screen buttons
2. using keyboard shortcuts

-1-
Window Tiling buttons
The Window Tiling buttons appear in a popup-screen when you hover the cursor over the GREEN button that’s top-left in every window, be it a Finder-window, an App-window, a Settings-window or any other on-screen window.

NOTE : there’s an extra option (almost hidden) here : the “Move to iPad”-button that enables you to move the active window to your iPad if it’s in the direct vicinity of your Mac (and connect to the same iCloud account)


-2-
Keyboard shortcuts
By pressing various key-combos on your keyboard you can also move the active window(s) – the primary 1, 2 or even 3 windows – to the desired half or quarter of the screen …and still leave the top menu bar and The Dock visible.
These are the main keyboard shortcuts for Windows Tiling :

[fn]+[CTRL]+[F] = FILL the entire screen with the active window
[fn]+[CTRL]+[C] = CENTER the active window in the middle of the screen
[fn]+[CTRL]+[R] = RESTORE to the previous window location(s)

These are the keyboard shortcuts for filling only one half of the screen :

[fn]+[CTLR]+[RIGHT] = fill the RIGHT half of the screen with the active window
[fn]+[CTLR]+[LEFT] = fill the LEFT half of the screen with the active window
[fn]+[CTLR]+[UP] = fill the UPPER half of the screen with the active window
[fn]+[CTLR]+[DOWN] = fill the LOWER half of the screen with the active window

These are the keyboard shortcuts for filling both halves of the screen :

[fn]+[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[RIGHT] = fill the RIGHT half of the screen with the active window AND the left half with the secondary window
[fn]+[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[LEFT] = fill the LEFT half of the screen with the active window AND the right half with the secondary window
[fn]+[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[UP] = fill the UPPER half of the screen with the active window AND the lower half with the secondary window
[fn]+[CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[DOWN] = fill the LOWER half of the screen with the active window AND the upper half with the secondary window

And these are the keyboard shortcuts for filling one half and two quarters of the screen :

[fn]+[CTRL]+[ALT]+[SHIFT] +[RIGHT] = fill the RIGHT half of the screen with the active window, the left top quarter with the secondary window AND the left bottom quarter with the tertiary window
[fn]+[CTRL]+[ALT]+[SHIFT] +[LEFT] = fill the LEFT half of the screen with the active window, the right top quarter with the secondary window AND the right bottom quarter with the tertiary window
[fn]+[CTRL]+[ALT]+[SHIFT] +[UP] = fill the UPPER half of the screen with the active window, the left bottom quarter with the secondary window AND the right bottom quarter with the tertiary window
[fn]+[CTRL]+[ALT]+[SHIFT] +[DOWN] = fill the LOWER half of the screen with the active window, the left top quarter with the secondary window AND the right top quarter with the tertiary window

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : place a picture behind an Excel chart or graph

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Question :

I am using Excel (from Microsoft Office) and I want to put the chart I’ve just made on top of a picture. How can I do that ?

Answer :

In Excel v14 (from MS Office 2011 for Mac), this can be done like this :

1- create the chart

2- select the chart area (you will see a bold, light blue frame around the entire chart area), then click the “Charts>Format”-tab (the purple tab in-between the green tabs), then in “Current Selection” click the “Format Selection”-button

3- in the window that opens select “Fill”, then the “Solid”-tab, and set the “Color:”-dial to “No Fill” and click “OK”

4- select the chart itself (inside the chart area – you will see a black lined square with light blue dots on the corners around the actual chart), then again, click “Charts>Format”-tab (the purple tab in-between the green tabs), and again, in “Current Selection” click the “Format Selection”-button

5- in the window that opens, again select “Fill”, then the “Solid”-tab, and set the “Color:”-dail to “No Fill” and click “OK”

6- then de-select the chart

7- in the upper Excel menu bar that’s fixed in the Finder, select the “Insert”-tab, and from the drop down menu that appears, select “Photo > Picture From File” and in the “Choose a Picture”-window that appears, select the image you need and click “OK”

8- the image will appear on top of your chart, now first resize it (by dragging the light blue corner-dots) and place it over your chart area

9- select the image (again, if it’s not already selected), click the “Format Picture”-tab and remove the background color(s) of the image if you need (using the “Remove Background”-option from “Adjust”)

10- then, also in the “Format Picture”-tab, select the “Reorder”-option from “Arrange”, and select “Send to Back” from the 4 options that appear in the pulldown menu ; your image will now be behind your chart

11- for fine-tuning, if needed, you can now resize or rearrange the image and the chart until the align exactly as you need them to

12- if you want the Excel-cell-grid behind your chart to disappear also, select the area of cells behind and around your chart and select WHITE (or any other color you need) from small triangle-shaped arrow just next to the “Fill Color”-button (the paint bucket icon)

That’s it !

Enjoy !

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