Having a dual monitor setup on your Mac serves as a major boost to your productivity. You lot waste more than time than you may think sorting and arranging app windows. Doubling the infinite for those windows means you'll spend less time dealing with them and more fourth dimension getting your piece of work done.

Setting upward your Mac with dual monitors is easier than ever. Simply making the best use of them is another problem altogether. So nosotros've gathered some of our favorite tips to help y'all brand the most of multiple Mac monitors.

one. Make Yourself at Domicile by Arranging Your Monitors

Past default, macOS will usually configure your second monitor to show the same verbal contents equally the offset, which is known as "mirroring." This is handy if you're showing a presentation to a grouping of people, but isn't useful if you desire more than room for your windows. Fortunately, turning it off is simple.

Open Arrangement Preferences, go to Displays, then select the System tab. Uncheck Mirror Displays to extend the desktop to the second monitor instead. This will permit you lot to display different windows on both monitors, which can help improve your productivity.

You can also choose your monitors' arrangement hither, including which is on the left and right. Depending on how you've physically set them upward, you lot may even desire to drag 1 monitor icon on top of the other. The arrangement of your monitors will permit you to easily movement your mouse cursor between the screens. Simply elevate your cursor to the edge of i screen in the direction of the other monitor, and the cursor volition automatically movement to the other screen.

Arranging dual monitors in macOS preference

Another configuration you should make is choosing your primary monitor. To do this, just drag the white bar at the summit of i of the screens in the Displays section to the monitor you lot adopt.

Don't come across one of your displays listed? Find out how to troubleshoot issues with multiple Mac monitors.

2. Put Your Dock in the Correct Place

Most Mac users with dual monitors like to have their Dock on the bottom of the aforementioned screen as the carte du jour bar, but that doesn't mean you accept to practice that. You can instead motion it to the side of the screen. If your main display is on the left, putting the Dock on the right side volition place it on the secondary monitor.

To adjust the position of your dock, open System Preferences, so select Dock. Here, yous'll meet the Position on screen item, where you tin can choose Left, Bottom, or Right. Y'all can also cull whether to automatically show or hide the dock every bit you prefer.

Dock Settings in macOS

iii. Go Even More Room to Piece of work With Virtual Desktops

It'southward possible that even with your Mac running multiple monitors, yous'll nonetheless need more than room. Y'all could start arranging windows meticulously, or you could utilize another feature built into macOS: Spaces. This is Apple's accept on the virtual desktop, which lets you organize windows beyond multiple groups and switch between them at volition.

Multiple virtual desktops in macOS

Space can be a problem when your Mac has a second monitor, though. Opening an app in total-screen, for example, might cause one of your monitors to go blank. This doesn't indicate a problem with your monitor—it's just how Spaces works by default. This is easy to change, though, so you can always get full utilise out of your Mac'due south dual monitors.

Open System Preferences, then locate the Mission Control section. Here, make sure to cheque the selection labeled Displays have split up spaces. If y'all're using a newer version of macOS, this may exist enabled by default, but older versions ordinarily don't come up with it enabled.

Mission Control in macOS

iv. Take an iPad? You've Got Some other Monitor

Spaces can help y'all get some of the benefits of a second monitor without actually owning one. That'southward not the only mode to get extra room to piece of work without plunking down cash on an extra monitor, though. If y'all accept an iPad, y'all can use that as a 2d monitor for your Mac besides.

Preferences for macOS Sidecar

There are a few ways to practise this. One is Duet Display, an app that runs on your Mac and your iPad, letting you lot use the latter as another monitor. This will price you $9.99, but information technology also works with Windows, so information technology's a peachy value.

However, if you're running at least macOS 10.15 Catalina, you've got another option that'southward free. Sidecar is a feature built into macOS, kickoff with Catalina, that lets you lot pair your iPad equally a 2nd monitor. We've got a guide to assistance yous use your iPad as a second monitor with Sidecar for more details.

If you're coming from Linux or Windows, yous may be used to sending apps to dissimilar monitors with keyboard shortcuts. On macOS, y'all're fairly limited when it comes to these shortcuts. But BetterTouchTool tin hands remedy this situation.

This app originally aimed to power up your trackpad, but it besides lets y'all do more with the keyboard. Actions include moving a window to the next monitor, centering an app on a given monitor, and more. You can assign these options to any primal combination y'all like.

Controlling windows with BetterTouchTool

BetterTouchTool is extremely powerful and tin can do much more than than what's mentioned here, so it'southward easily worth the $7.l the developer charges for a license. That said, information technology'due south likewise available equally role of a SetApp subscription, which costs $10 per month for a bundle of useful apps. If you're curious, we've put together a listing of apps that make a SetApp subscription worth the cost.

6. Stretch Your Wallpaper Across Monitors

This is more than of a matter of personal sense of taste. Some people want to see a single, unbroken image stretching across multiple monitors connected to their Mac. If you use a flat color instead of an prototype, or just prefer the same epitome displayed on all monitors, you don't demand to bother.

Making a wallpaper span multiple monitors with Fresco

The bad news is that at that place's no method built into macOS that stretches wallpapers across dual monitors. The good news is that there are plenty of tools, similar Fresco and the simply named Multi Monitor Wallpaper, that can practise this for you. Just install one, run it, and choose your wallpaper.

Working Smarter on Your Mac

Hopefully, these tips and powerful utilities help you utilize your extra screen space finer. A second (or third) monitor is a great style to increase productivity, no matter what kind of work you do. It's worth investing in one if you lot oasis't done so yet.