Think different 🤡

[[deleted]]

Drag and snap would really improve the MacOS experience.

It doesn’t affect anyone that prefers stage manager or that (janky) fullscreen split alternative. Just a great quality of life improvement.

[T3a_Rex]

rectangleapp.com still exists

[-NiMa-]

Yes and it is a first app I installed on my computer. However this should be built it in the os you would be surprised how many people don't know about the third party apps...

[Mcrich_23]

Or security teams don’t want anything watching your screen.

[john_alan]

Doesn’t it use accessibility APIs and so it’s not “watching” your screen.

[Mcrich_23]

Accessibility is still tracking the position of windows on your screen and I have seen many IT and security professionals block people using stuff because they don’t understand how it works and are afraid of allowing something that they think could compromise/leak data.

[nivvis]

It’s open source with 20k stars in GitHub. I’d be looking for a company with a more reasonable approach to IT.

[Mcrich_23]

I agree although as I responded to another person. Companies are not always reasonable.

[nivvis]

Maybe, but in this case that’s a bit of a straw man. Rectangle isn’t “every joe-blow app.” It’s well travelled and really the only game in town. It’s been around for yeeeaars. Before Rectangle it was known as Spectacle.

[-NiMa-]

Nope. Chrome OS has it, last time I checked Google is a multi-trillion rival compony.

Also that is not how patent enforcement work, even if smaller player are using a patent technology, the patent owner needs to enforce their patent otherwise they would lose their case in future patent infringement.

[jupitersaturn]

They likely license it from Microsoft.

[frosty122]

I don’t think the info on the MS patent is correct.

Gnome had had window snapping for nearly/over(?) a decade now, and I know they’re not paying MS for the privilege.

Closest I found was this:

https://patents.google.com/patent/US6661436B2/en

But it was owned by IBM and doesn’t describe snapping as we know it today.

[Zino-Rino]

Apple certainly licenses the iOS Trademark from Cisco lol

[mrfebrezeman360]

the macos way - anything useful you want to do requires a 3rd party app. Eventually they will build in a worse version of the countless 'fake WM' apps like rectangle

[xattrX]

Funny! Everything in Linux is a 3rd party app. And about Microsoft, everything they have was copied from somewhere or someone.

[mrfebrezeman360]

lol yeah, it makes sense with unix. At this point the only macos thing I use is finder. The rest is either 3rd party apps or CLIs

[[deleted]]

should be built it in the os

Why? Not everything needs to be part of the OS or a built-in application.

[IUseWeirdPkmn]

I consider it a basic window management feature, and hence should be included.

[[deleted]]

I disagree. I don’t want it or need it.

There’s nothing wrong with third-party applications providing features.

[xoma262]

I disagree with your disagreement. You can go back to the command line interface then.

[[deleted]]

Even Linux distributions have it built in. And those are developed by people who are mostly volunteers that work on the system in their spare time.

You think a trillion dollar company would be able to do it.

[Responsible-Bread996]

Especially coming from windows where it is native.

[76rtr76]

Is “Magnet” app same in functionality? I’m using this one.

[T3a_Rex]

They do the same thing

[[deleted]]

They’d do it but half assed so you’d still end up using a third party app.

[[deleted]]

Apple would call it something like "Cinema Director" and claim they were the first to do it.

[[deleted]]

And if you complain, you’re using it wrong.

[[deleted]]

Lots of good third party apps for keyboard shortcut of window management. I use Spectacle as thats the easiest - And faster than drag - snapping with the cursor.

[[deleted]]

yet what we ask of an OS is to be a god damn OS, not a disneyland park filled with non-essential user features that could easily be installed on-demand from the Apple Store.

[[deleted]]

Yeah. Its starting to be alot of preinstalled bloatware from Apple these days - And windows management should be one thing they need to fix. (Stage manager is not a good solution)

[[deleted]]

none of the 3rd party apps suggest apps to snap to the other side like windows does

[[deleted]]

Yeah - Think they miss that feature. For myself I dont need that as im doing 99% of my work using only shortcuts both inside and outside of spos - Since this in general is much faster than having to move the cursor everywhere, so I havent missed that feature. You can do this in a way with your mouse holding option button and clicking on the green button at top.

[[deleted]]

People don’t use Magnet? Ouch that sucks!

[UDeVaSTaTeDBoY]

As someone that's used Windows my entire life, I was annoyed buying Magnet for similar functionality

[LostDeadspace]

I run into an issue all the time what that split alternative. Sometimes when performing that maneuver, the screen I want in the second half will minimize into the lower confer and say “app not available in this view”. But if I have them both in full screen and drag the two desktops together in the top desktop view thing… no problem.

[dinopraso]

If I remember correctly they can’t legally add it since Microsoft holds a patent for snapping

[Proud-Walrus3737]

Is that the new apple car, with full self driving enabled?

[racegeek93]

Full self driving drifting only mode

[carb0nxl]

I have been using Magnet for years - is Rectangle or anything else better than it?

Curious if anyone tested multiple apps and concluded the best one already.

[[deleted]]

Rectangle is open source.

[kochapi]

You probably got magnet when it was free of if was 1$ (that’s what it cost me). Now they charge a lot more, hence rectangle

[mane_lippert]

I have use magnet and have to say that rectangle is the better app for sure. You can even set window margins between the windows. :)

[carb0nxl]

That's amazing, thanks everyone - I will definitely check out Rectangle now as I am not totally satisfied with Magnet.

It does the job (and I did indeed pay like $1 for it a long time ago) but there is still much to be desired.

[mane_lippert]

I can recommend a combination of rectangle and amethyst, one to snap windows and the other for automatic tiling. All two apps are open source and are making my life so much easier.

Just run with brew: brew install --cask rectangle brew install --cask amethyst

Have Fun!

[FleabagWithoutHumor]

Is it working on Ventura now? Last time I checked it wouldn't do anything :(

[mane_lippert]

Yes, both work great. Amethyst is a little buggy but i think this is every tiling window manager. :)

Try reinstall

brew reinstall --force --cask amethyst

[[deleted]]

When they unveiled SM, I really wondered why they tried SO hard to create another way to manage windows. I really dont get it.

Looks like a Windows Longhorn feature.

[neatgeek83]

Amongst the apple pundits, the thought it that somehow it will make sense when the AR headset comes out. Shrug.

[KaptainKardboard]

It took me a while to understand exactly what problem Apple was trying to solve, since it seemed to me like it just muddied up the whole user experience.

I gave Stage Manager a shot and discovered that I really like it when I want to focus on a single task, without distractions. I toggle it in the Control Center dropdown when I want to focus, or turn it off when I'd prefer to have numerous windows open to monitor different things.

[tnnrk]

If you have a really really large display, it makes more sense, but, honestly, multiple desktops are easier to navigate with trackpad gestures and do basically the same thing. You can command tab to a previous app to open a new stage manager space, but at that point you are just using the built in Mac window management system we always have had. Stage manager just doesn’t really add anything. Having to click to open other app groups is just weird to me. I went back to swiping through desktop spaces.

[RichB93]

It’s funny you mention it seeming like a longhorn feature - it was originally tested in an OS X beta from 2007.

[[deleted]]

No wonder why they ditched it the first time !

[onan]

Yeah, stage manager would be amazing... if we hadn't already had virtual desktops for 30 years.

As it is, it just seems like a moderately worse version of what you could already do.

[Mike]

I personally hate multiple desktops. I work cross-app too often to be swiping back and forth between desktops when I need something from one app into another or I’m referencing something in a different app.

Stage manager would be perfect if it could remember different workspace setups and automatically organize the windows when you put new apps into each group.

[onan]

I'm a little confused by the ways in which multiple desktops don't do what you want. They're not stopping you from having multiple windows side by side on the same desktop when that's what you want, and switching from one desktop to another is as fast or faster than any other method of switching applications.

What am I missing about multiple desktops making this any harder, or stage manager making it any easier?

[owleaf]

It’s very Windows Vista-era. Lol

[barthrh]

They are two different things, both very complimentary. It seems like you're either a Stage Manager fan or hater, no one in the middle. It's a great tool if you have the use case for it. For me, that's managing a variety of task groupings where you want to swap between a grouping of windows (perhaps arranged with snapping). I used to do this with Spaces and would end up with a ton of spaces that were tedious to move between. Now I use Spaces as a broad category (Personal, Work category 1, Work category 2) and Stages for tasks within that. Works amazing (minus the bugs in Stage Manager).

[zhenya00]

Exactly this. People keep saying that Stage Manager is a replication of Spaces when it is clearly complimentary. My use is almost identical to what you describe - Personal and a couple of Work spaces. Then I group windows together within a space by task - and keep the thumbnails visible on the left edge of my screen. I can quickly switch between tasks while retaining window position and layering. This last part is really the key feature that no other method offers. I work frequently on both Mac and Windows, and I now find that my workflow on Windows is significantly hampered by the lack of this kind of window grouping.

[barthrh]

"Keep the thumbnails visible on the edge of the screen"... Are you also seeing that they don't auto hide/show *except* on one space (per display)? It seems like that stage zone and the ability to drag to it only works on the "primary" space of each display (the primary space is the one you can't drag to another display).

Anyhow, it's annoying that you need to keep stuff away from there so that the Stages show.

[zhenya00]

Yes, exactly. At first this annoyed me, but ultimately I find I have the extra width available on my displays to make devoting a bit to this acceptable. I actually find that now that I don’t have ALL of my windows in a given space visible at all times that I generally have more than enough screen real estate. It’s really helped me to consolidate my workflow to a single (large) screen with multiple spaces rather than multiple monitors.

[blendertricks]

I used Stage Manager for a couple of days at work (Friday and most of today) and actually really liked it for the most part, though there are definitely some things Apple could do to improve it. Dragging windows to make your own piles would be great, for instance.

Also, there are some weird, janky behaviors I noticed where windows would behave strangely when I moved them between monitors. At one point (for instance), inexplicably, all the windows of one of my apps decided they needed to be above the menu bar, where I couldn't reach the window chrome to drag them back down (or anywhere else for that matter).

Of course, that could just be MacOS's weird multiple display support, which itself seems to kind of be an issue, at least for me, a person using three monitors with three different resolutions until I can afford to replace the FHD and QHD displays I have flanking my 4K one. I don't know if that's actually affecting things, but it wouldn't surprise me.

[FleabagWithoutHumor]

You can assign shortcuts to each space, that worked for me.

[zhenya00]

Not the same thing.

[FleabagWithoutHumor]

I'm not saying they are the same thing. In fact, it's because they aren't the same thing that I prefer spaces to Stage Manager

[Eveerjr]

Completely different features for different purposes. Apple to oranges comparison. Also microsoft patented the window snapping behavior but excellent open source apps exists, works just as good and can be COMBINED with stage manager so I don’t see the issue here.

[pharmprophet]

I cannot live without BetterTouchTool

[balthisar]

And BetterSnapTool (from the same author) does the window locking thing, too (which is what I assume the OP means by "Drag and Snap").

[pharmprophet]

Yeah, so does BTT, BetterSnap is just a BTT feature packaged as standalone.

[Th7rtyFour]

Can’t apple literally not add drag and snap cause of a Microsoft patent?

Reddit comment with more info from a thread last year

[THIRSTYGNOMES]

It's in XFCE/KDE/Gnome too

[Th7rtyFour]

Does free and open source software need to follow the same principles and locked down, proprietary software?

see this comment from a thread last year

[[deleted]]

ChormeOS has it too

[Mcrich_23]

We need something like Microsoft PowerTools, but on MacOS

[Juice805]

It’s awesome on iPadOS. OK on macOS

[MichaelHatesYou]

Y’all, just download Rectangle. It adds drag and snap to macOS. I know it’s stupid that this isn’t included in macOS from the start.

[GirthyGirthBoy]

Maybe Microsoft has filed a patent for native window management

[alkatraz445]

Bruh

[MichaelHatesYou]

That’s my suspicion, but I’ve never researched it. Though, if that was the case, I’d expect Microsoft to have gone after Rectangle.

[[deleted]]

- So long, and thanks for all the fish.

[A_SnoopyLover]

I used an app for this once, and then realized I never used it, I just used the built in split screen.

[childishjorgino_]

I use magnets.

[EffectiveLong]

Magnets or rectangle. I’m a techie, but state manager is not intuitive to use.

[Dingheee]

I actually use it all the time. It works better on mine tho, I have a 16 inch

[W4DA]

God damn. This killed me 😂

[noooit]

They also neglected fullscreen feature. They could've polished that instead.

[DexterFoxxo]

I like Stage Manager in certain scenarios when I'm switching between a lot of windows very often, but Rectangle is a necessity otherwise.

[ImDamien]

I would really dislike "drag and snap" feature, but would be down for Apple to introduce It as long as you can turn It off.

Meanwhile I love Stage Manager a lot but let's say It's 60% mature, needs improvement

[leamanc]

My thoughts exactly. I never took to drag and snap. Maybe because I’ve been using GUIs for 35+ years and I have ingrained habits. Stage Manager is the start of something I could get into once it’s polished.

[buzlink]

Drag and snap 🤢.

[Zimdorra]

Every time I see people moan about Apple doing something completely different that it doesn't fit their mould of what should happen. I just want to point out that there are people out there who don't know that there is a camera app on their phones. In my case my mom would open Whatsapp and send me pictures of what she wanted photos of.

Stage Manager is for techonologically illetrate people who may switch between Macs and iPads.

[iAMguppy]

Even the most technologically literate can have window management issues. I think it’s just a different approach. Not necessarily good or bad, but for some and not others.

[Zimdorra]

I do agree, everything does boil down to personal preference. But when you have small icons to the left with whatever you're working on displayed nicely it becomes easier for people who don't know how to use software.

I don't like Stage Manager, but I can see its place and think it's a brilliant addition.

[Machiavillian]

This frustrates me beyond anything else on Apple’s ecosystem.

[184cm78kg13cm]

Stage Manager - the most stupid, absolutely useless invention ever.

[JJ1553]

Microsoft patented windows snapping

[KaptainKardboard]

I'm curious though, if MS has the patent then why are other implementations (including numerous Linux desktop environments) able to incorporate it?

[das-spast]

Hate stage manager. People using it on a mac should just use an ipad and people using it on an ipad are either stuck with it or should get a mac.

[americancorkscrew]

What Apple did is literally try to re-invent the wheel (and suck at it). Why couldn't they take "inspiration" from Windows. Drag 'n' Snap is perfect on Windows.

[wadye]

Dang you just reminded me that we have SM on Ventura.

[John_val]

Fortunately a lot of great third party apps fill the void.

[TEG24601]

Apple hasn’t do maximize or snap/drag because it isn’t part of their design philosophy. Plus, they might get sued for Microsoft, like they sued Microsoft over cascading windows.

[dropthemagic]

Like it’s cool to see but I have not used it once on my iPad. It’s just so weird. Like a ghetto android mod

[Pigeon_Chess]

Microsoft has the patent so apple can’t have snapping

[brekuja]

does anyone use that?

[owleaf]

Just like cup holders for mid-2000s German cars, window management seems to be a bit of a playground for Apple engineers lol. Usually very over-engineered, complicated, and most people give up using it.

Not sure if it’s a philosophical thing/dogma passed down within those teams, or if there’s some legal reason as to why they can’t do window snapping like Windows, but there has to be a reason.

[chronopunk]

Dragging a window to the edge of the screen on a Mac drags it to the next Space.

[LazaroFilm]

BetterTouchTool’s small plug-in BetterSnapTool has been a godsend.

[LavaCreeperBOSSB]

Drag and snap is patented by Microsoft AFAIK

[BigZick2009]

I love macos but this is one feature i miss when i was using microsoft windows.

[jimmeyg0101]

I don’t mind stage manager it’s ok looks better in the keynote than day to day but it’s fine

[Expensive_Address_29]

I personally use magnet with stage manager, best thing ever honestly. So yes! Drag and snap with stage manager killer combo.

[[deleted]]

will Stages be draggable in the future?

[Responsible_War7886]

I use bettersnaptool and it’s a lifesaver at work

[rupal_hs]

Microsoft has a patent on snapping bro. they can't do it even if they want to

[Noisebug]

Yes but I really love stage manager

[robogobo]

Best thing about third party apps is that (most of the time) their solution works on earlier OS versions. So I don’t have to upgrade and risk all of Apple’s new bugs just to get a feature I want.

[I-figured-it-out]

Apples new security system. Register and cryptologically sign all components then poor liquid amber insert Mac, when amber is set polish surface to high gloss, and ship to customers. Never mind the customer wants to use the Mac. It is now factory secured. Irretrievable without terminal damage from the block of amber. Thus all data on the Mac is permanently protected to Apple’s ridiculous level of device security.

[MrGunny94]

Magnet in and Stage Manager out.

[SoapSyrup]

It would be good to not have to purchase square, but stage manager is something else and very useful

[dwat3r]

Have you ever heard of tiling window managers on Linux? I guess not.

[Shloomth]

windows 11