windows 8
I'm trying Windows 8 and I want to test the new snap feature where you can have two metro apps side-by-side.
However, it doesn't seem to work. I place my cursor on top of the screen, and drag left or right, but all it does is move the current app around, and when I release my mouse it always goes back to the original, single-app view.
So how do I properly use this feature on a desktop?
NOTE: this can be done without editing the registry, at least as of July 2014, by going to the PC Settings app from the Start Screen (the toggles are found under PC and Devices > Corners and Edges). Charms remain accessible by hovering in the bottom right corner.
You can, by making the appropriate changes in the registry, as follows:
Disable Charms Bar corner activation
To disable the activation of the Charms bar when you move your mouse to the top or bottom right corner of the monitor, you need to get your hands dirty in the Registry.
Press Windows-r and type regedit in the run box and then enter to load the Windows Registry editor. Accept the prompt that appears. Use the left sidebar menu to navigate to the following key in the Registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell
Right-click on ImmersiveShell and select New > Key. Name that key EdgeUI. Right-click on EdgeUI and select New Dword (32-bit) Value and name it DisableCharmsHint. After you have created the value, double-click it and change its value from the default value of 0 to 1.
This disables the corner mouse over interface on the right side. If you ever want to enable the feature again, simply change the key back from 1 to 0 to do so.
Disable Apps Bar corner activation
If you have skipped the above paragraph go back and follow the instructions to create the EdgeUI key in the Registry. Right-click EdgeUI afterwards and select New Dword (32-bit) Value from the context menu and name it DisableTLcorner. Double-click the new entry and change the value to 1 from its default value of 0.
If you ever want to restore the corner activation, simply switch the value back to 0 to do so.
In Modern UI apps, there are often important actions and options in menus on the top and bottom of the screen that only show up when you right-click. One of those options lets you go back to your library.
If you have a touchscreen or a touchpad, swiping in from the top will also reveal these menus.
Best Answer
You have to drag the app to the left or right until you see a vertical dividing line appear in the background. Once you see that, you can release the mouse button and it should be snapped to that side of the display.
However, this feature requires at least a 1366x768 screen resolution. If your screen's resolution is smaller than this, Windows disables the ability to snap metro apps. The recommended way to get it is to increase your screen resolution in order to take advantage of this feature.
However, allegedly you can do a quick modification in the Windows Registry to force it to be enabled, regardless of your resolution. As always, proceed with caution, and keep backups, since you can break your Windows installation if you change the wrong thing. Also, this is not intended behavior, so your apps may not display properly with this change. If you want to try this, though, I put the steps, below.
Note: I haven't tried this, myself. These steps come from this guide.
regeditand press Enter. It'll open the Registry Editor. Go to following key:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell\ImmersiveShellkey, create a new keyAppPositioner.AppPositionerand in right-side pane, create a new DWORDAlwaysEnableLSSnappingand set its value to1.That's it! There's also a registry trick at that link which explains how to trick Windows 8 into thinking you have that screen resolution, even if it's lower. It apparently causes Windows to downsample the App, effectively scaling it to your screen size. You may (or may not) need to take advantage of that trick as well. Caution applies here, just as above, as you're editing the Registry.