I struggled to juggle multiple apps on my screen until the thought occurred to me to get a second monitor. For example, I could research on one screen while writing on another — no more constant app switching. I never thought to consider that Windows might have a tool that makes a multi-monitor setup unnecessary, especially for my kind of workflow.

Windows has been improving the way users multitask on the system. Luckily, Windows has a hidden suite of tools with a feature that allows me to create custom window layouts that mimic multiple monitors — FancyZones. Now I can divide my screen as efficiently as possible to ensure that multitasking is a breeze. I don’t think I’m getting a second monitor anytime soon.

Limited screen real estate can be a problem

Snap Assist helps, but it’s also limited

You know the drill when working with multiple apps on a single screen. This usually turns into a round of constantly pressing Alt + Tab to switch between two windows instead of viewing them side by side. If you’re working with three or more apps, you can press Win + Tab to open Task View and switch between apps that way. However, this is a tedious process that requires unnecessary button presses and clicks.

Doing things this way can create a hidden workflow that disrupts your concentration due to the constant window switching. It can be tiring mentally, too, since doing this requires your brain to refocus. So, every time you Alt-Tab, you’re paying some sort of attention tax. This hurts productivity and can lead to errors and missed details.

Fortunately, Windows has Snap Assist, and it allows you to snap windows to various positions on the screen without any setup. The easiest way to use it is to just drag the window to the part of the screen you want to snap it onto. Alternatively, you can use the Win key and the arrow keys to snap them instantly to different locations, or hover over the maximize button and select where you want them to go.

The problem with Snap Assist is that the layouts are predefined. You’ll quickly hit limitations if you need custom sizes, spacing, or complex layouts. For instance, you cannot create a three-column window layout using Snap Assist, meaning you will have to resize the windows manually. FancyZones lets you overcome these constraints by giving you an infinite workspace to define the layout you need.

Getting started with FancyZones is easy

Just pick a template, and you’re good to go

FancyZones is part of PowerToys, a suite of tools that helps Windows users enhance and customize their experience for enhanced productivity. Once you download and install it, you can enable FancyZones by going to Windows & Layouts -> FancyZones and toggling Enable FancyZones.

From there, you’re free to create almost any layout you can imagine by dividing your screen into zones. So if you have a specific multi-monitor setup in mind, this is where you’ll create it by clicking the Launch layout editor button. This will launch the FancyZones Editor.

The first thing you’ll see here are templates that you can use right away. For instance, my favorite is the Columns template that helps me when writing articles. It allows me to place Chrome in the left zone for research and quick fact checks, VS Code in the middle for writing in Markdown, and Notepad on the right for quickly jotting down notes and saving links.

You can customize a template by clicking the pencil icon in the top-right corner of its card. This allows you to adjust things like the number of zones and the distance between them. However, this customization is limited.

After you pick a template and close the editor, hold Shift and then click and drag an app window. You’ll see the zones appear on the screen. Just drop a window into one of them, and it will fit itself inside it. Do this until you fill all the zones with the desired apps. Using FancyZones is that easy.

Creating your own layouts isn’t that hard either

This is the key to mimicking multi-monitor setups

If you want to go nuts, you can click the Create new layout button in the bottom right. From there, you can create either a grid or a canvas-style layout. The former divides zones into rows and columns, while the latter stacks them on top of each other. I’ll talk more about the grid style because that’s the one I use.

Once you create a grid-style layout, you’ll see the three-column layout by default — this is your starting point. As you move your cursor within the zones, you’ll see a horizontal bar. When you click inside a zone, it splits into two horizontal zones. Holding the Shift key and clicking a zone will split the zone vertically.

You can then adjust the size of the zones by moving the sliders between them. Selecting a slider between two zones and pressing Delete will merge the zones. That’s all the basics you need to know about creating a custom layout in FancyZones.

After you’re done creating your layout, click Save. You’ll be able to select the newly created layout in the Custom section of the editor. If the layout doesn’t work for you, you can come back and edit it extensively — you’re not limited like you are with templates.

Switching layouts on the fly

You can’t do this with physical monitors

One thing I love about FancyZones layouts is that you can assign shortcuts to them. When you click the pencil icon in the layout’s top-right corner, you can select a number between 0 and 9 in the pop-up that appears. For example, choosing 1 sets the shortcut to Win + Ctrl + Alt + 1.

So what I went ahead and did was create several layouts for my different workflows. I primarily do three things on my computer: writing, coding, and drawing. In this way, FancyZones allows me to quickly switch workflows without having to rearrange windows every time I need to switch a task.

Another thing I love about FancyZones is that when you open a window, it can snap to the zone where it was last placed. This isn’t enabled by default, so you’ll need to turn it on. To do that, go to Windows & Layouts -> FancyZones, scroll down to Windows -> Window behavior, and tick Move newly created windows to their last known zone.

Some scenarios call for a second monitor

Here’s the truth — multi-monitor setups provide dedicated workspaces for the apps you’re using. FancyZones just cannot replicate some setups. For instance, the fact that you have to squish windows together means it’s not ideal for live streaming with a dashboard and chat window. However, for workflows like mine, multiple monitors would be nice to have, but they’re overkill.