How to move and resize windows with alt + LMB/RMB

In KDE you can resize the window by pressing the ALT key and using LMB if you want to move the windows or RMB to resize it. This is a nice feature b/c you don’t have to be precise with the placement of the mouse (currently you have to get withing a few pixels of the border if you want to resize).

Hi @alextrune! Welcome to the community! Please have a look at the introductory posts in the #start-here category if you haven’t had a chance to do so.

Are you asking how to do similar things in Gnome or did you want just share with us this neat trick from KDE land? :wink:

You can move your windows in a similar fashion in Gnome as well, but you need to hold [Super] (or [Windows]) key while using LMB. The key you need to hold can be configurable from the settings, I’m not sure.

Trick with RMB and windows resize I couldn’t reproduce, I happen to use from time to time another way instead (though a bit more involved):

  • call window context menu by either right-clicking on a window title or by pressing [Alt]+[Space.]
  • click or select with cursor keys Change size menu entry. Window has to be not-maximized for this entry to be active.
  • now you can change window size either using your cursor keys or using you mouse (without clicking or holding any mouse button). Press [Enter] or click to accept the new size.
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Window resizing in GNOME Shell

Defaults

Shortcuts: Super+MiddleMouseButton

See also: Move and resize windows

Customization

  • Mouse button: RightMouseButton
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences resize-with-right-button "true"
  • Modifier key: Alt
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences mouse-button-modifier "<Alt>"

See also: GNOME Tweaks > Windows

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I never knew this about resizing. Since I generally use KDE, this is actually super useful for me!!

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