What keyboard shortcuts move, resize, and maximize windows under Mac OS X?

Question

I just checked http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_keyboard_shortcuts but the following "Window management" entries are blank for Mac OS X:

• Move the focused window
• Resize the focused window
• Maximize the focused window

Are there really no built in keyboard shortcuts for these in OS X? I do this stuff all the time with GNOME under Linux.

Answer 1

Spectacle hasn't been mentioned yet. "Move and resize your windows with ease." -- http://spectacleapp.com

It's open source: https://github.com/eczarny/spectacle

Answer 2

Not built in, but you can install 3rd party software.

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/26411/mercurymover

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/30591/right-zoom

Answer 3

I haven't tested in other versions, but in OS X 10.9 (Mavericks), you can use the Voice Over Utility to move and resize windows.

1. Enable Voice Over in the Accessibility control panel.
2. Click "Open Voice Over Uitlity"
3. Click "Commanders" in the left panel.
4. Select "keyboard"
5. Select "enable keyboard commander"
6. Add a new commander.
7. Specify any keyboard key not already in use.
8. Choose the command: Size and Position -> Start Moving Window
9. Select with window to be moved
10. Hold down the right option key, and press the key selected in 7.
11. Move the window with the cursor keys.

Answer 4

Personally, I prefer Size Up - it has a huge array of options for auto resizing with a single keypress including quarter screen, maximise and moving windows between monitors and even Spaces.

http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/sizeup/

Answer 5

The best answer is to create a keyboard shortcut in System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts.

Then add Chrome or whichever and in the name exact as it appears enter: Zoom.

This is the critical part...

The shortcut has to include the Shift key. When you want to fully maximize the window using the keyboard and mouse you can do so by holding down the Shift key and clicking the Green Maximize/+ button in the browser toolbar.

I assigned my shortcut to be Command+Shift+Return and it works like a charm.

System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts

Answer 6

Following along with the idea of windowflow - check out it's parent project Optimal Layout. I tried sizeup for a while and was actually trying to find a replacement for it when I found Optimal Layout.

It is by far the best OSX keyboard based window manipulation app I've seen yet! Rocks...

http://most-advantageous.com/optimal-layout/

Answer 7

With VoiceOver enabled (Command-F5), you can use the move window keyboard shortcut.

• Control-Option-Accent (`) move window with arrow keys (or using Shift-Arrow to move just a bit)
• Shift-Control-Option-Accent (`) displays the Window Resize Options menu

Using the Window Resize Options menu, you can move the window to sections of the screen (e.g., centre screen, top left etc.).

Answer 8

I've tried the other third party apps here and have found Moom to be the best:

http://manytricks.com/moom/

Answer 9

If you consider yourself a "hacker" you may consider Slate. Slate is like Bettertouch or Sizeup on steroids. Here is the github repo.

There is a learning curve but it is very powerful and customizable. There is a great write-up on how to set up and use it.

Answer 10

See the following AppleScript for the popular (and free) Mac OS X keyboard/mouse shortcut program QuickSilver that will get you a keyboard shortcut for the green zoom button. When you install that and use it with Quicksilver, you'll be able to customize your keyboard shortcut.

tell application "System Events"
    if UI elements enabled then
        set FrontApplication to (get name of every process whose frontmost is true) as string
        tell process FrontApplication
            click button 2 of window 1
            --button 2 is the green "zoom" button for all applications
            --window 1 is always the frontmost window.
        end tell
    else
        tell application "System Preferences"
            activate
            set current pane to pane "com.apple.preference.universalaccess"
            display dialog "UI element scripting is not enabled. Check 'Enable access for assistive devices'"
        end tell
    end if
end tell

Source: http://snippets.dzone.com/posts/show/1026

Answer 11

I have a utility called BetterSnapTool running on my OSX 10.9.4 MacBook. This is a very nice tool that mimics the behavior on Windows 7 of snapping a window to the top, left, or right sides if you drag a window to one of these sides with your mouse. Within BetterSnapTool there is an "Extras" tab and on this panel is an option for "Move Windows". Here, I've chosen CTL and OPT and now when I depress these keys I can move any window under my mouse cursor. BetterSnapTool is rated 5 stars in the Mac App Store application and costs $1.99.

Answer 12

SizeWell

Features and ease of use are combined in a way that I can't find in any alternative software.

I use it with Mountain Lion.

Downside

SIMBL (required by SizeWell) is not recently updated.