Alt+click-drag window resizing on a Mac? (Similar to X-Windows)

Question

Is there a way I can get this behavior on Mac OS?

alt + right-click-drag will resize the window, relative to where you've clicked within the window and the window's center
alt + left-click-drag will move the window, regardless of where you've clicked within the window.

There's a Windows port of this behavior as well: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/DLL/wm.aspx

I use it all the time on my work Windows machine. Biggest missing feature for me since I moved to Mac. : ( If I can't find a solution, I'll have to write my own. : ) — Aaron F., Oct 09 '09 at 00:11
A considerable list of window management options is discussed at http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/9659/what-window-management-options-exist-for-os-x — duozmo, Oct 28 '12 at 16:43
Not really an answer to the question, but if you move the mouse to the right/left edge until you see the horizontal resize icon, then dragging *vertically* will allow you to move the window instead of resizing. Same goes for the bottom edge + horizontal drag. The advantage is that it does not require installing anything extra. — ccpizza, Mar 22 '16 at 10:49

score 45 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 07 '22 at 08:14

45

Easy Move+Resize is a free and open source tool that does exactly that. I tested it first on El Capitan (update from 2022: it still works on Monterey).

Cmd + Ctrl + Left Mouse - anywhere inside a window, then drag to move

Cmd + Ctrl + Right Mouse - anywhere inside a window, then drag to resize

edited Jun 07 '22 at 08:14

jasonology

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answered Apr 18 '16 at 15:18

grebulon

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Just tried it. Works great. Just wish the icon had a little better resolution. – Saad Malik Apr 28 '16 at 23:07
Yes, download the latest release and run. Very light and simple. – Jesse Pepper Oct 26 '16 at 07:28
A bit hard to resize windows on the touchpad: (1) hold configured modifier key(s) (2) I have to use two-finger tap (3) continue to press down one of the fingers to really "click" (in the bottom of the touchpad) (4) add the third finger tap and move it so the window is resized (Old MacBook Pro Retina, El Capitan.) – mike_k Jan 07 '17 at 10:19
You're right @mike_k, it's not perfect – grebulon Jan 08 '17 at 08:07
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@mike_k this is probably not meant for touchpad. – Ondra Žižka Nov 20 '17 at 21:07
@grebulon Works great. I configured it with the `Alt + Left/Right` without the need of the `Ctrl` key, just like on Linux. Thanks man :-) ! – SebMa Jul 10 '18 at 12:08
This is the bloody dream!! Thank you whoever wrote this and thank you Grebulon for letting us know about it :D – Jamie Hutber Aug 29 '18 at 10:32
@mike_k check my post below for a fork on this one that solves it for you. – mwm Mar 18 '20 at 22:59
Thanks for the tip, still works great in Feb 2022, on Monterey. – user207863 Feb 18 '22 at 13:17
@user207863, Of course it does. I use it all the time! From some reason Apple doesn't find it important enough to remember the position of windows on different screen setups. And they also don't think it's important to validate that windows open INSIDE the screen area. – grebulon Feb 19 '22 at 18:29
Nice! Thank you this still works! >> MacBook Pro M1, Ventura 13.4.1 (c) (22F770820d) – Lorgen GR Magpantay Aug 17 '23 at 08:18

score 39 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 09 '22 at 08:46

39

BetterTouchTool lets you do this. It's quite handy!

In BTT's prefs, click on the Settings button, the three dots at the top right.

Then select the "Window Snapping and Moving" item in the sidebar.

Tick the tickboxes for the keys you want to hold down for Moving and Resizing.

I selected all three: move, resize, and FN.

When I hold Function+Control the focused window will move when I slide around on the trackpad.

When I hold Function+Option the focused window will resize when I slide around on the trackpad.

I tested this on my macbook pro, OS X 10.6.5.

Note that you may get this message first time you try to actually move or resize a window:

message window if you haven't already enabled the Accessibility API

Click "Launch it for me!", then check the box for "Enable access for assistive devices" - you're in business.

edited Jun 09 '22 at 08:46

jasonology

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answered Jan 04 '11 at 19:21

svec

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Thanks for this. It's not quite what I was looking for, but it certainly is less work (no clicking to move/resize!) And it's free!!!! – codekoala Mar 22 '12 at 21:42
moving windows without a click is quite unusual, but maybe it's just a matter of habit. thanks for the detailed answer – Boycott Russia Oct 18 '12 at 10:20
Alt drag works on BTT but at least on Catalina window movement is not smooth. There used to an application called Zooom which was the best but was discontinued and doesn't work now. – trinth Oct 22 '19 at 16:03
This tool is even better than Alt Drag. Movement is smooth on Ventura (M2 Pro). It lets you set conditional macros for both kb and mouse, going in the AHK territory somewhat (eg, you can set scroll to adjust volume when hovering over the main bar). BTW, you can disable the built-in behavior and instead set the click to enter/exit drag and move. It also supports Fn (you can map CapsLock to Fn in the system settings), so it doesn't block other modifiers for regular apps. – mtman Apr 07 '23 at 16:42

score 20 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 02 '19 at 10:25

20

I found this the other day, might be useful:

Although not Alt + left-click-drag but this would give you Ctrl + Cmd + Click natively (High Sierra or later), no 3rd party app required:

Run this command in terminal to enable Ctrl + Cmd + Click in any window to move. Restart after.

# to add
defaults write -g NSWindowShouldDragOnGesture -bool true

Run this command in terminal to remove this functionality. Restart after.

# to remove
defaults delete -g NSWindowShouldDragOnGesture

sourced from http://www.mackungfu.org/UsabilityhackClickdraganywhereinmacOSwindowstomovethem

answered Aug 02 '19 at 10:25

Richard

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This is the right answer. No third party software needed. Just a simple change in some config. – meh Aug 20 '19 at 13:24
Agree. This works with Catalina, the latest MaxOSX version, as I type this. – Rafe May 28 '20 at 18:03
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Disagree. Doesn't cover resizing – Alexandre G Apr 07 '21 at 05:27
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great solution, but you need to restart the app for this hotkey to work – JLarky Dec 08 '21 at 22:15
Note, this is actually a duplicated solution. – Andrew Jul 31 '23 at 03:27

score 3 · Answer 4 · edited Sep 25 '21 at 06:16

3

https://github.com/finestructure/Hummingbird is open source software with paid version for support.

Installing instructions:

brew tap finestructure/Hummingbird
brew install --cask Hummingbird

edited Sep 25 '21 at 06:16

Aulis Ronkainen

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answered Mar 18 '20 at 22:57

mwm

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Saw this when it launched and didn't realize it was open source. Thanks for the tip! – David Gay Apr 16 '20 at 19:57
This is the best option IMO as of Aug 17, 2020. Best successor to Zooom I've seen yet. Has key customizability and is pretty fluid in movement. – trinth Aug 17 '20 at 17:05
FYI, this is a fork of "Easy Move + Resize" which uses only the modifier keys instead of modifier+click. It does _not_ support using modifier+drag to resize/move like the original. Pick your poison. – Tullo_x86 Oct 20 '21 at 20:31
This worked great for me -- I was able to set modifier keys to both move and resize windows, just like I did with BetterTouchTool/BetterSnapTool in the past. – Evan Wondrasek Mar 26 '22 at 03:47

score 3 · Answer 5 · edited Oct 28 '12 at 16:36

3

Tried them all and they are not as good as Flexiglass.

Afloat doesn't work with all applications (Firefox is one of them)
Zooom doesn't allow you to use the right click button

edited Oct 28 '12 at 16:36

duozmo

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answered Aug 29 '12 at 21:35

Haytham Elkhoja

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score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 08 '10 at 21:36

Try holding fn + option and then move your mouse (10.6.4 2010 MBP)

My old mac used to do it using just option key along (10.6.2 MBA)

Oh and try the window snapping function on BetterTouchTool. If you've not used that app, its the greatest thing to happen to Apple Trackpads (and Magic Mouse) > lets you configure over 40+ different gestures to lots of different commands!

And its free too

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 22 '19 at 16:04

0

There is also Maxsnap (10 USD), which I found to be smoother in movement than BTT.

answered Oct 22 '19 at 16:04

trinth

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score -1 · Answer 8 · edited Nov 20 '17 at 19:55

-1

With the Afloat utility installed, holding control+Command moves a window.

edited Nov 20 '17 at 19:55

Ondra Žižka

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answered Jun 15 '10 at 13:38

Wuffers

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Please elaborate - I'm not seeing that behavior. – JRobert Jun 15 '10 at 14:09
Hold command and control and you can drag a window from anywhere, can you not? – Wuffers Jun 15 '10 at 15:16
No on my 10.5.8 box. Nor do I find a system preference for it. Perhaps it was introduce in a fairly recent version of the OS or you have some helper wingding installed... – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten Jul 08 '10 at 21:57
Never mind, I apologize. It was with a third-party utility called Float. – Wuffers Sep 17 '10 at 23:37
@DanielBeck: I updated my answer accordingly, thank you! – Wuffers Jan 04 '11 at 22:19
Seems like the website is gone. – trinth Oct 22 '19 at 16:05

Alt+click-drag window resizing on a Mac? (Similar to X-Windows)

8 Answers8