Turn Off/On Window Snap

Written by Eric Wyatt (last updated October 19, 2020)

Windows 8 introduced users to Snap, or Snap behavior. Snap allows for your windows to be organized on your screen, via either mouse, keyboard, or the Snap Assist feature, and have them "snap" to certain areas of your screen. This can be and was designed to be a help to users who want to display the content of their screen in a certain way.

While Snap can be helpful, at times it can be a bit annoying, such as when you specifically do not want the window to "snap" to a predefined size or position. This is the case with a Windows user who wrote that they were trying to position some windows and it would automatically snap to full screen because they had moved a window too close to the top edge. (This caused Windows, in an attempt to help, to assume that they wanted to snap the window to that size.) To turn Windows Snap behavior off, follow these steps:

  1. Press the Windows key and type (without quotes) "multitasking settings", then press Enter. This opens the Multitasking section of the Settings dialog box.
  2. Click on the switch under the "Snap Windows" heading. This turns off the Snap feature. (See Figure 1.)

    3. Figure 1. The Multitasking section of system settings.

  3. Close the Settings dialog box. Your change takes place immediately; no need to restart or anything.

Those simple steps allow you to turn the Snap windows setting on or off. You may find times that you do prefer to have the Snap setting turned on. If you repeat the steps above, in step 2 simply turn the setting back on.

 This tip (13791) applies to Windows 10.

Author Bio

Eric Wyatt

Eric Wyatt is a swell guy (or so his friends tell him). He is a formally trained designer and branding expert, bringing a wide range of skills to his Tips.Net articles. ...

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