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Settings Reference

Every BetterStage setting in one place. Open Settings from the menu bar icon or with Cmd+,. Settings are grouped into five tabs.

General

Core behavior settings that control how BetterStage starts and responds to window focus changes.

Launch at Login

Default: off

Start BetterStage automatically when you log in to macOS. Uses the native SMAppService launch-at-login mechanism.

Auto-switch on Focus

Default: on

Automatically switch to a stage when one of its windows gains focus. For example, if you click a window that belongs to Stage 2 while Stage 1 is active, BetterStage switches to Stage 2 automatically.

Menu Bar Style

Default: multi-square

Choose between multi-square indicators that show all stages as small squares in the menu bar, or classic text that displays the active stage name.

Bento Box

Configure the automatic tiling grid. When auto-tiling is enabled on a stage, windows are arranged into a grid layout automatically.

Auto-tiling

Default: off

Enable Bento Box auto-tiling for new stages. When enabled, windows added to a stage are automatically placed into the tiling grid. This is a default for new stages — each stage can override it individually. When auto-tiling is active on a stage, snap zones are disabled for that stage.

Grid Columns

Default: 16

Number of columns in the tiling grid. Must be an even number between 2 and 16. Even numbers ensure windows can be split symmetrically.

Grid Rows

Default: 10

Number of rows in the tiling grid. Must be an even number between 2 and 16.

On vertically rotated monitors, columns and rows are swapped automatically — for example, a 16 × 10 grid becomes 10 × 16.

Gaps

Default: 8px

Pixel gap between tiled windows. Set to 0 for edge-to-edge tiling, or increase for visible spacing between windows.

Snap Wheel

Configure how the snap wheel is triggered and whether snap zones are active.

Snap Wheel Trigger

Configurable

Choose how to activate the snap wheel overlay. Available triggers:

  • Middle click on a window title bar
  • Ctrl+Opt+Click on a window title bar
  • Force click on a window title bar
  • Ctrl+Opt+Right-click on a window title bar
  • Long press on a window title bar

Snap Zones Enabled

Default: on

Enable keyboard and edge-drag snap zones. When active, dragging a window to the edge of a screen or using keyboard shortcuts snaps it to predefined zones (halves, quarters, thirds, etc.).

MonitorsPro

Control which monitors participate in stage management. Requires BetterStage Pro.

Excluded Monitors

Default: none

Select which monitors to exclude from stage management. Windows on excluded monitors remain visible at all times, unaffected by stage switches. See the Monitor Management page for details.

Shortcuts

Customize key bindings for snap zones and navigation actions. Click any shortcut field and press your desired key combination to rebind it.

The Shortcuts tab shows a list of all available actions with their current key bindings. Built-in shortcuts include:

  • Opt+1 through Opt+9 — Switch to stage 1–9
  • Opt+Shift+1 through Opt+Shift+9 — Send focused window to stage 1–9
  • Opt+Up Arrow — Open the Stages Bar
  • Opt+Left / Opt+Right — Previous / next stage
  • Opt+B — Toggle Bento Box for the current stage
  • Opt+Down — Retile the current stage

Snap zone shortcuts (left half, right half, quarters, etc.) are fully customizable from this tab.

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