MacOS – Window Stacking on OS X

macmacos

I have a MBP with retina display and run OS X Mavericks.

My problem: imagine I have two applications open

  • a document viewer sized half-screen (filling the left side of the screen). Call this "Window A".
  • an editor with two windows: one is full-screen because it contains really long lines (Window B) and the other is half-screen (filling the right side of the screen) (Window C).

I want to read the document and take notes on it in the editor, but when I give focus to half-screen-sized editor window, the document reader is hidden behind the full-screen-sized editor window.

Is there a way to make the stacking order independent of the app?

That is, when Window A is focused, I can still see Window C. When Window C is focused, Window A is behind Window B. I want to be able to view Window A and C at the same time even in Window C is receiving keyboard input.

Best Answer

This might not suit your needs, but what about adding a new space and put your fullscreen window over there. It's very fast to switch the spaces using the multitouch abilities of your trackpad. I use this feature a lot when working on multiple documents.