How to save and restore your window layout on a Mac

Updated October 2026

macOS remembers windows app by app, but not your desk as a whole: which app sits on which screen, at what size. If you rebuild the same arrangement every morning, you can save it once and bring it back in one step.

What macOS can do on its own

• Mission Control and Stage Manager group windows, but they don't save where the windows are.
• Window tiling in macOS 15 and later snaps one window at a time to a half or a quarter of the screen.
• Some apps reopen their windows where they were if you turn off “Close windows when quitting an application” in System Settings, Desktop & Dock. That works per app, and only on the same display.

Save a layout with Cue

1. Arrange your windows across your screens the way you like.
2. Press ⌥⌘S. Cue saves each window's app, screen, size and position as a scene.
3. Press ⌥⌘1 to bring it back at any time. Up to nine scenes sit on ⌥⌘1 to ⌥⌘9.

What else it does

• Hold ⌥ and press ⇥ to switch scenes the way ⌘⇥ switches apps.
• Give every desktop its own layout. Cue can create the desktop and open the apps it needs.
• Apps that are missing are opened when you apply a scene.
• Rules apply scenes by themselves: when displays connect, when an app opens, or a minute before a meeting.

Cue for Mac

One keystroke. Every window in place, across all your displays.

Try free for 7 daysBuy Pro for $8

Every feature for 7 days, then $8 once. macOS 14 or later, Apple Silicon and Intel.

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