Switching between applications is only one part of Windows. It’s easy to forget about all the different parts of Windows that are hidden away or not mentioned until you start to explore them. Windows has never been known for its vast customization options, and while you can use the Snap Windows setting in the Multitasking settings, Windows does not let you fully customize them. One of the main reasons why users flock to Linux is that Windows feels too restrictive and it does not have to be that way.
PowerToys for power users
In this How-to, we will show you how you can customize the window-snapping feature by using the help of the PowerToys program. PowerToys is an open-source software developed by Microsoft developers, enabling some crucial features in the Windows operating system.
With the help of Microsoft PowerToys, power users may fine-tune and optimize their Windows experience for increased productivity and customization. PowerToys offers many customization and efficiency-improving options but today we will focus on FancyZones for its customization feature for the window snapping layout. Using FancyZones, you can customize the layout pixel by pixel to suit your needs.
Customizing the snap window layout in Windows
Step 1: Install PowerToys
FancyZones is a feature that comes with PowerToys, so we shall install it first.
You can install PowerToys by clicking here.
PowerToys is developed by Microsoft itself for power users. PowerToys is available for Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Step 2: Navigate to the FancyZones menu
FancyZones gives users plenty of options to customize their window layouts. Enable it and all the other options that you find interesting.
Step 3: Visual customization
You can customize FancyZones to your liking and start using Windows with better, more personal customization.
- Color customizing
You can change the colors of the customized window layout, its borders, and the colors of the numbers showing them if you choose to enable it.
Step 4: Layout customization
Click on the layout editor and select from the options or go to Create New Layout to completely customize your window-snapping layout. For example, you can have a game in the middle while having OBS next to it with Twitch chat if you are a streamer. For better productivity, you can have one column for reading and one for writing.
You can set up multiple layouts and switch between them according to your current task.
Step 5: Disable the original snap windows feature
You can now disable Windows’s own window-snapping feature from Settings > System > Multitasking.
Step 6: Snap your windows!
You can now use your customized snapping windows by grabbing a page or a program and dragging it while holding the SHIFT key.
