Working with a report on one side and source material on the other is a common setup. Getting there by dragging window edges with the mouse rarely lines up exactly, and you redo it each time a window gets moved.
TL;DR: Win+Left or Win+Right snaps a window to half the screen; Win+Up and Win+Down resize it.
The shortcuts
- Win+Left / Win+Right snaps the active window to the left or right half of the screen. Report on the left, reference on the right.
- Win+Up makes the window bigger. On a window that's snapped to one half, the first press moves it to the top quarter of the screen; press it again to fill the screen.
- Win+Down restores a maximized window to its previous size.
All of these were pressed and checked on Windows 11.
Filling the other half
After Win+Right, Windows shows a list of your other open windows on the empty left side. Click one and it fills the left half immediately. This is Snap Assist, and it means you only need one shortcut to set up a side-by-side view.
When it helps
Comparing two documents, copying numbers from a PDF into a spreadsheet, reading a ticket while writing code, or keeping a meeting window open next to your notes. Any task where your eyes go back and forth between two windows gets easier when both are fully visible.
On a wide monitor, quarters are useful too: a half-screen window plus two quarter windows lets you keep three things in view without overlap.
Common mistakes
The shortcut acts on the active window. If the wrong window moves, click the one you meant first, then press the keys.
Win+Up on a half-snapped window doesn't maximize right away; it goes to a quarter first. People often assume it didn't work and give up after one press.
If Snap Assist doesn't appear, snapping options may be turned off in Settings under multitasking.
For more control
If the half and quarter layouts aren't enough, Microsoft's free PowerToys includes FancyZones, which lets you define your own layout grid. For most two-window work, the built-in shortcuts above cover it without installing anything.
Written with AI assistance. The shortcuts were tested on Windows 11.
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