Lattika Download
Chapters
  1. Help index
  2. Getting started
  3. Snapping windows with the mouse
  4. Layouts
  5. The layout editor
  6. Keyboard shortcuts
  7. Window memory
  8. Rules for apps
  9. Workspaces
  10. The Shortcuts app and automation
  11. iCloud sync
  12. Trial, buying and licenses
  13. Troubleshooting
  14. Frequently asked questions

Chapter 2 of 13

Snapping windows with the mouse

Snapping means dropping a window into a zone. Lattika does not take over the drag; macOS moves the window as usual, and Lattika resizes it when you let go.

Shift-drag

  1. Hold Shift.
  2. Drag a window by its title bar.
  3. As soon as the window has moved a few points, the zones of every display appear as translucent rectangles. Each one shows its number and, if it is big enough, the size a window will have in it.
  4. Move the pointer over a zone. It lights up, and a small label near the bottom of the screen says Drop in zone 3.
  5. Release the mouse button. The window moves and resizes to fill the zone.

The zone that counts is the one under the pointer, not the one under most of the window. If the pointer is between zones or outside every zone, nothing is highlighted and releasing the button leaves the window where macOS put it.

You can press Shift after the drag has started. If you release Shift while still dragging, the zones disappear and the window drops where it is. Press Shift again and the zones come back.

Lattika snaps the window and remembers the zone (chapter 6). It does not move the window again on its own unless window memory, a rule or a workspace asks for it.

Spanning several zones

A window can cover several zones at once. Keep Shift held and add Control. Every zone the pointer crosses is added to the selection, and the label changes to Span zones 1 + 2. Release the mouse button and the window fills the rectangle that covers all selected zones.

While Control is held, moving over a gap does not clear the selection. Release Control and the next zone you cross replaces the whole selection again.

If the selected zones do not form a rectangle, for example two diagonal corners of a 2 × 2 grid, the window covers the rectangle that encloses them, including the zones in between.

Dragging between displays

The zones of every display are shown at the same time. When the pointer crosses into another display, the selection starts over there. Dropping a window on another display snaps it into that display's layout.

Choosing the keys

Settings › Zones › Drag to snap has two options.

  • Show zones while dragging with: Shift (the default), Control, Command, or Always, no key needed.
  • Span several zones with: Control (the default), Shift, Command, or Off.

Option is not offered because macOS uses Option-drag for its own window tiling.

Pick two different keys. If both settings use the same key, every drag with that key held spans zones and there is no way to select just one.

Always shows the zones on every window drag. To move a window freely in that mode, drop it with the pointer outside every zone, or hold no key and drop it in a gap. If you find the zones distracting, keep a modifier instead.

Lattika and the tiling built into macOS

macOS 15 and later can tile windows when you drag them to a screen edge, or when you drag with Option held. Lattika does not turn that off, and the two do not get in each other's way as long as you drop windows away from the edges. If you drop a window right at the edge of the screen with Shift held, macOS may tile it first and Lattika then moves it into the zone, which looks like a short flicker. To avoid it, turn off System Settings › Desktop & Dock › Drag windows to screen edges to tile, or drop the window a little further from the edge.

Lattika's default key is Shift precisely so that it does not overlap Option-drag.

Which windows can be snapped

Lattika moves standard windows: documents, browser windows, chat windows and the like. It never snaps dialogs, sheets, palettes, utility panels, the Dock or menu bar windows. Full-screen windows cannot be moved by Lattika; take the app out of full screen first.

Excluded apps

If an app should never be snapped, add it in Settings › Excluded Apps. Click Add App and pick one of the running apps, or Choose Application… to select any app in Applications. Windows of excluded apps are ignored when you drag them and by the snap shortcuts, and they are not placed by window memory, rules or workspaces.

To remove an app from the list, select it and click Remove, or right-click it.

If it does not work

  • No zones appear. Check in order: the Accessibility permission (chapter 1); whether the trial has ended (chapter 11); whether the app is in Excluded Apps; whether you are dragging a standard window by its title bar. The zones appear only once the window has actually moved, so a click without movement shows nothing.
  • The zones appear but the window does not change size. The app refused the size. Many apps have a minimum window size, and some fixed-size windows cannot be resized at all. Lattika tries twice and then gives up. Chapter 12 lists known cases.
  • The window ends up slightly smaller than the zone. Same cause: the app clamped the size. Try a bigger zone.
  • The window snaps and then jumps back. The app restores its own frame after Lattika moved it. Snap again, or add a rule (chapter 7) so Lattika places it when it opens.
  • The wrong zone lights up. The zone under the pointer counts, not the window. In layouts where zones overlap, the smallest zone under the pointer wins.