How to resize a window

Resizing a window can be useful in many situations. For instance, when you need to fit more than one on the same screen. The following sections show you how to resize a window in using both Windows and macOS.

A window that is maximized cannot be resized. Furthermore, certain types of windows cannot be resized at all.

Basic resize in Windows

As you can see in the image below, there are two buttons for resizing a window automatically.

• Minimize — Clicking this button, which looks like a dash, collapses the window onto the Taskbar.
• Maximize / Resize — Clicking this button, which looks like a box or two boxes, toggles the window between full and nearly full (not maximized) screen.

Custom resize in Windows

When the upper-right section of the window looks like , your window is now in «resize mode,» meaning you can use the mouse cursor to make the window any size you want. To do so, move the cursor to any edge or corner of the window until a double-headed arrow appears. When this arrow appears, click-and-drag it to make the window larger or smaller. If this double-headed arrow does not appear, the window cannot be resized.

The below animation shows a double-headed arrow on the bottom, left, and corner of a window and how it resizes a window. To make the window horizontally bigger, move the cursor to the left or right edge of the window until it turns into the double-headed arrow. To make the window vertically bigger, do the same thing at the top or bottom of the window. To resize both horizontally and vertically, use one of the corners of the window.

How to resize a window using the Windows key and keyboard

If you are running Microsoft Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10, you can use Windows key keyboard shortcuts to resize and arrange windows on your computer. For example, pressing the Windows key and the left arrow key resizes it to fit only the left half of the screen. Windows key and the right arrow key resizes the window to fit the right half of the screen.

How to resize a window using Windows menus

A window can also be resized using a series of keyboard shortcuts. Below are the steps for resizing a window only using the keyboard.

1. Press Alt + Spacebar to open the window menu.
2. If the window is maximized, arrow down to Restore and press Enter , then press Alt + Spacebar again to open the window menu.
3. Arrow down to Size.
4. Press the up or downarrow key if you want to resize the window vertically, or the left or right arrow key if you want to resize horizontally.
5. Once an arrow key is pressed, you can press the same arrow key or the opposite arrow key to resize the window.

How to resize a game window

When playing a computer game, it most likely defaults to a fullscreen mode that prevents the game from resizing. To resize a game window, the game must first be capable of being played in a windowed mode. If available, the setting is found in the game settings and may be labeled «borderless fullscreen» or «window mode» or be a checkbox. Once in a window mode, it may be possible to resize the window using any of the methods mentioned on this page. However, keep in mind that some games only have a window mode for performance reasons and may still not support the ability to be resized.

How to resize a window on a Mac

A Mac window can be resized using the mouse and the buttons located in the upper-left corner of the desktop.

• Minimize — Clicking this button (yellow circle), which looks like a dash, collapses the window into the Dock.
• Maximize / Resize — Clicking this button (green circle), which looks like a box or two boxes, toggles the window between full and nearly full (not maximized) screen.
• Custom size — First, make sure that the window is not maximized. Then, hover your mouse cursor over the corner, bottom, or top of the window. Click and drag to resize the window to the size you desire.

How to resize Windows 10 partition without losing data

by John, Updated on: March 1, 2021

This article introduces how to resize partition in Windows 10 (32 & 64 bit) without losing data or reinstalling OS/programs. Resize volume with Windows 10 Disk Management and free partition editor.

C drive out of space is common issue in Windows 10 computers, no matter you use desktop or laptop, SSD, mechanical disk or even RAID arrays. The fast way to solve this problem is resizing partitions to increase C drive free space, but to many computer users, it is not an easy task to resize Windows 10 partitions. In technical forums, many people ask similar questions such as: «is it possible to re-size disk partition without reinstalling OS, my c drive is full but there is plenty in D«, «Is it safe to resize my Windows 10 drives, will it cause data damage?«

In this article I’ll explain why disk partitions can be resized, and how to resize partition in Windows 10 with built-in Disk Management tool and free partition editor software.

Why disk partition can be re-sized?

A partition (also called as drive or volume) is just part of entire hard disk and there could be many partitions in a disk. Many people use partition C for Operating System, create separate partitions for programs and personal files. Before saving files to a partition, it must be formatted with a file system. The common file system in Windows computer is FAT32 and NTFS. Take MBR style disk as example:

1. Operating System read the parameters in MBR (master boot record) and then it knows how many partitions in this disk, and the start/end position of each partition.
2. From DBR of each partition, Operating System gets the list of all files in this partition including name, create date, type and many other parameters of each file.
3. From the parameters, Operating System can locate the data area.

To change a file, Operating System simply modify the data area and then update the associated parameters in DBR.

To resize partition in Windows 10 computer, it is much easier if it doesn’t require moving files of this partition. In this case, the partition tool just modify the parameters of start and end position of this volume. But if file moving is required, it is much more complicated, besides updating partition position, the partition tool also move location and update parameters of all file in this volume, so it cost much longer time if there are large amount of files.

Windows 10 partition resizing tools

There are two kinds of tools to resize volume in Windows 10: built-in Diskpart command or GUI Disk Management and 3rd-party partition manager software.

Some people like to use Windows native tools thinking they have best compatibility, but it’s not true. I’ve encountered the issue at least 3 times that Disk Management destroyed my drives when shrinking partition. Be careful when there are many partitions including Logical drive on a disk.

Third party software is much more powerful and it’s much easier to resize partition for Windows 10/8/7 computers. However, few partitioning software are safe enough. Therefore, before resizing partition, you’d better make a backup and run the safest program. Otherwise, your system and partitions may be damaged.

Better than other tools, NIUBI Partition Editor has unique 1 Second Rollback, Virtual Mode and Cancel-at-well technologies to protect system and data. In addition, it has Hot-Resize technology to help resize disk partition without rebooting and advanced file-moving algorithm to help resize partition 30% to 300% faster.

How to resize partition in Windows 10 using Disk Management:

Windows 10 Disk Management has no «resize volume» function, partition resizing is realized by Shrink Volume and Extend Volume. Note: only NTFS partition is supported. FAT32 and EFI partition can’t be resized by this native tool.

To shrink a volume:

1. Press Windows and X on keyboard and select Disk Management from the list.
2. Right click the partition and select Shrink Volume.
3. In the pop-up window, enter the amount of space and then click Shrink to execute.

To extend a volume:

1. Right click this drive in Disk Management and select Extend Volume.
2. Simply click Next in the pop-up Extend Volume Wizard window.
3. Confirm the operation and click Finish to proceed.

To extend partition in Windows 10 Disk Management, your disk partition layout must meet the requirements:

1. There must be adjacent Unallocated space on the right of this drive.
2. If there’s no such space, you must delete the right partition to get contiguous Unallocated space.
3. On MBR style disk, Free space deleted from Logical drive cannot be added to any Primary partition, even if it is right adjacent.

Windows 10 has another native tool — Diskpart to help change partition size. Diskpart is a command line tool, although it works in different way, it has same limitations with Disk Management. Learn how to extend partition with diskpart.

If you want to extend C drive by shrinking D or any other partition, it is impossible with Disk Management or diskpart command. Because, Shrink Volume can only shrink a partition (such as D:) towards left and make Unallocated space on the right side, but to extend C drive with either native tool, Unallocated space must be on the left side of D. This is the reason why Extend Volume is disabled for C drive after shrinking D.

As you see in the screenshot, Extend Volume is also disabled for E drive, because Unallocated space is on its left side.

Resize Window 10 volume with free partition software

To resize partition in Windows 10 without losing data, NIUBI Partition Editor is better choice. Both NTFS and FAT32 partition can be resized. Unallocated space can be generated on either left or right when shrinking partition. This space can be combined to any contiguous and non adjacent partitions on the same disk.

Download this program, you’ll see all storage devices with partitions structure and other information on the right, available operations to the selected disk or partition are listed on the left and by right clicking.

How to resize partition in Windows 10/8/7 laptop/desktop with NIUBI:

Right click a partition (here is D:) and select «Resize/Move Volume«, you have two options in the pop-up window.

Option 1: If you drag left border towards right in the pop-up window,

Then partition D is resized and 20GB Unallocated space is made on the left.

Option 2: If you drag right border towards left in the pop-up window,

Then Unallocated space will be made on the right side of D drive.

If you want to extend C drive partition, follow Option 1 above to make Unallocated space on the left side of D. Then right click C: drive and select «Resize/Move Volume» again, drag right border rightwards to combine this Unallocated space.

Then two pending operations are created on bottom left, you need to click Apply on top left to take effect.

If you want to extend partition E, follow Option 2 above to make Unallocated space on the right of D drive. Then right click E: and select «Resize/Move Volume» again, drag left border leftwards to combine the Unallocated space.

If you want to shrink E to extend non adjacent partition C, follow the steps below:

1. Shrink drive E: and make Unallocated space on the left side.
2. Move Unallocated space from right side of drive D: to the left.
3. Add Unallocated space to C drive.

To move Unallocated space from right to the left, right click drive D: and select «Resize/Move Volume», drag the middle towards right in the pop-up window:

Watch the video guide how to resize volume in Windows 10 (32/64 bit):

Besides resizing partition for Windows 10 laptop and desktop, it helps you move, merge, copy, convert, defrag, wipe, hide partition, scan bad sectors and much more. There’s free edition for Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP home computer users. Except 1-Second Rollback technology and bootable media builder, it is the same with paid Professional edition.