How to group windows on a Mac
macOS has four different features that could each be called "grouping windows", and they do four different things. Here is what each one actually does, where it stops, and what to reach for when the thing you want is several windows behaving as one.
Short version. Spaces group by desktop. Stage Manager groups by set. Native tabs group by app. Tiling groups by position. Nothing built in groups windows from different apps into a single tabbed window — for that you need a utility such as Tack.
What "group" means depends on what you are trying to fix
Most people who search for this have one of three problems: too many windows on screen at once, the same few windows needed together for one task, or one project's windows scattered among everything else. The built-in features each solve one of those, and the fastest way to pick is to name the problem first.
| Feature | What it groups | Windows visible at once | Mixed apps | Where it stops |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spaces | A whole desktop | All of them | Yes | Switching hides everything on the other desktop |
| Stage Manager | A set of windows | The set, side by side | Yes | Arranges windows; does not combine them |
| Native tabs | Windows of one app | One | No | Only apps that opted in; only within that app |
| Tiling | Positions on screen | Two to four | Yes | Costs screen space per window |
| Window groups (Tack) | Any windows you pick | One, with tabs | Yes | Third-party; needs Accessibility permission |
Spaces: group by desktop
A Space is a separate desktop. Open Mission Control (⌃↑, or swipe up with three fingers) and click + at the top right to add one; swipe left or right with three fingers to move between them. Drag a window to the top of the screen in Mission Control to move it to another Space.
This is the right tool when the problem is separation: work on one desktop, personal on another, and never see both. It is the wrong tool when you need two of those windows together, because everything on the other Space disappears when you switch. Assigning an app to a Space — right-click its Dock icon, Options, Assign To — keeps its windows there permanently.
Stage Manager: group by set
Stage Manager (macOS Ventura and later) is turned on from Control Center or System Settings › Desktop & Dock. Your current windows sit in the middle; everything else waits as thumbnails on the left. Drag a thumbnail into the centre and it joins the current set; that set is now what appears whenever you come back to any of its windows.
It solves "I need these four together" better than Spaces does, because the set comes back as a unit. What it does not do is combine anything. Each window keeps its own frame and its own place on screen, so four windows in a set still take four windows' worth of desk. On a laptop screen the set usually overlaps and you are back to clicking through a pile.
Native tabs: group by app
Since Sierra, macOS can merge an application's windows into one window with tabs: Window › Merge All Windows. It works in Finder, Safari, TextEdit, Terminal, Mail, Maps and any app whose developer enabled it. Set System Settings › Desktop & Dock › Prefer tabs when opening documents to Always and new documents open as tabs by default.
This is the only built-in feature that actually turns several windows into one, and if all your windows belong to one app it is the answer. The two limits are that the menu item is missing in most third-party apps — the feature is opt-in and Electron apps, most editors and design tools skip it — and that it never crosses apps. There is no setting that puts a Terminal tab beside a Safari tab. Why the menu item goes missing, in detail →
Tiling: group by position
Hold ⌥ and hover the green button, or drag a window to a screen edge on Sequoia and later, and macOS offers to fill half or a quarter of the screen. Utilities like Rectangle, Magnet and Raycast do the same with keyboard shortcuts and more layouts.
Tiling is grouping by geometry: these windows go here, those go there, all visible. It is ideal when you genuinely need to see two things at once — a reference beside what you are writing. It is the wrong shape when you need five things in rotation, because five tiles on a 14-inch display are five postage stamps.
Grouping windows from different apps into one
The gap in all of the above is the one Windows users notice first: nothing lets you take a browser window, a terminal and a notes window and make them one tabbed window, the way Groupy does on Windows. That is what a window-grouping utility adds.
With Tack, you drag one window onto another, hold for half a second until a blue outline appears, and release; the two windows now share one frame with a tab strip above it, and the same works for windows of any apps. ⌃⌥⌘G opens a picker if you would rather choose from a list. Click a tab to switch, or drag one off the strip to detach it. Keyboard shortcuts for cycling and jumping to a tab are in Settings, off by default so they do not shadow the app you are working in. Move or resize the group and every member follows.
Grouping by hand is one way; grouping rules are the other. A rule matches an app or a window title and auto-groups its new windows or excludes it, and rules sharing a group label keep windows of different apps together in one group — Tack creates the group itself when its windows appear. Nothing is automated until you write a rule.
It is not a layout manager. Nothing else on your desktop moves, Spaces and Stage Manager keep working as before, and ungrouping puts the windows back exactly as they were. It needs the Accessibility permission, because moving another application's windows is only possible through that API.
Try Tack free for 14 days → The full app, no account, no card. Then $39.99 once for up to 3 Macs.Which one should you use?
- Keep work and personal apart — Spaces, with apps assigned to each.
- Bring the same few windows back together for a task — Stage Manager sets, if your screen is big enough to see them all.
- Several documents in one app — native tabs; set "Prefer tabs" to Always.
- See two things side by side — tiling.
- Several windows from different apps as one tabbed window — a grouping utility.
These combine. A grouped set of project windows on its own Space, with a reference tiled beside it, is a perfectly ordinary setup.
Common questions
Can you group windows on a Mac without extra software?
Yes — Spaces, Stage Manager, native tabs and tiling are all built in. None of them puts windows from different apps into one tabbed window; that is the one case that needs a utility.
Does Stage Manager group windows?
Into sets that appear together, yes. Each window keeps its own frame, so it arranges rather than combines.
Can Chrome and Terminal share one window?
Not with anything built in, which tabs only within one app. A window grouping utility does it regardless of which app owns the window.
Is grouping the same as tiling?
No. Tiling shows several windows at once, each in its own region; grouping shows one at a time in a shared frame, with tabs to switch. Tiling spends screen space, grouping saves it.