# 4 Way Split Screen Mac: Quarters A 4 way split screen Mac is four quarters. Halves, the no-shortcut Quarters layout, why there are no equal thirds, and a readable alternative. A 4 way split screen Mac is four windows, one in each corner. On macOS 15 or later, hover the green button and choose Quarters under Fill & Arrange, or drag each window into a corner. There is no keyboard shortcut for four windows. macOS cannot make three equal columns. ## Four quarters Window tiling, from macOS 15 Sequoia through Tahoe 26 and Golden Gate 27, uses halves and quarters. 1. Leave full screen. 2. Drag one window to each corner, and let go when the highlight shows. Hold Option while you drag if you want the highlight sooner. 3. Or hover the green button and choose Quarters, so macOS places all four. Window → Move & Resize lists Halves and Quarters as well. Hold Option over the green button if a layout is missing. The windows do not stay linked. Move one and the others stay. Open a fifth and it covers them. Close one and the corner stays empty until you drag something into it. Four quarters leave no gap unless you turned on "Tiled windows have margins" in System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Windows. Turn that off if the panes are already tight. On a large display, four quarters can work for a calendar, a chat and two dashboards you only glance at. On a 13 or 14 inch MacBook, a quarter is usually too small to read or type in. Some apps also refuse to shrink that far, and spill over the neighbour.
Diagram of the Quarters layout: Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Left, and Bottom Right.
Diagram of Quarters. Apple names the corners Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Left, and Bottom Right. There is no shortcut for this layout.
## Three windows, and thirds Fn-Control-Option-Shift-Left Arrow is Left & Quarters. That is three windows: the active window takes the left half, and two others take the quarters on the right. The Right, Top and Bottom variants rotate the same shape. It looks like a four-way split until you count. macOS has no equal thirds. A third of the screen is not in Apple's layouts. [Rectangle](https://rectangleapp.com/) can snap to a third if that is the size you want. The two-window shortcut, Fn-Control-Shift-Left Arrow, is still the right tool when you only needed a pair. Steps are in [how to split screen on a Mac](/guides/split-screen-mac). The rest of the keys are in [split screen Mac shortcut](/guides/split-screen-mac-shortcut). On macOS 14 Sonoma there are no quarters. Split View is two full-screen apps and stops there. ## When four panes are too small Stop putting every window on screen. A scrolling strip keeps each window at a width you chose, in a row past the edge of the display. You see one or two at a usable size. The others are a swipe away. [Ribbon](https://meetribbon.app) is that strip, on Apple silicon and macOS 14 or later. When you do want four windows at once, Command-Control-4 lays them out in a grid. Command-Control-\ puts them back on the strip. The price is $17 for one Mac, $39 for three and $59 for five. ![Ribbon's layout board. The four-window grid is one of the arrangements.](/media/screenshots/01-layouts.jpg) ![The same windows back in a strip, with the next column cut off at the right edge.](/media/screenshots/02-strip.jpg) ## FAQs ### How do I put four windows on a Mac screen? On macOS 15 or later, drag each window to a corner, or choose Quarters from the green button under Fill & Arrange. There is no keyboard shortcut for that layout. ### Does Left & Quarters make four equal windows? No. It makes three: the active window takes a half, and two others take the quarters on the opposite side. ### Can a Mac split into three equal columns? Not by itself. macOS tiles in halves and quarters. Equal thirds need an app such as Rectangle, or a one-shot layout from a window manager. ### Why are four quarters hard to use on a MacBook? Each pane is a quarter of an already small screen. A scrolling strip keeps one or two windows at a readable width and puts the others beside the screen.