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Platform .NET 9 License

ScreenGrid - Window Manager

Download Installer   Download Standalone   Download Small

A lightweight, open-source window-snapping tool for ultrawide monitors on Windows. Hold Shift while dragging any window to see a customizable grid overlay, then drop onto a zone to snap instantly.

Built for displays like 5120×1440 where Windows' built-in snap (halves/quarters) leaves too much wasted space.

ScreenGrid overlay demo

⬇️ Download

Download the latest release - no build tools needed.

File Size Description
ScreenGridSetup.exe ~66 MB Installer - installs to Program Files, adds to Windows startup, creates Start Menu & optional desktop shortcut. Includes uninstaller.
ScreenGrid-standalone.exe ~70 MB Portable single-file exe, no .NET required
ScreenGrid-small.exe ~200 KB Portable single-file exe, needs .NET 9 Desktop Runtime

Recommended: Use the installer for an automatic startup experience.

Features

  • Shift + Drag to activate - zero interference with normal window management
  • 11 built-in grid rows: Halves, Thirds, 4:3 (left/center/right), Quarters, Fifths - each with a ½-height variant
  • Height splits: top/bottom halves for partial-height zones
  • Scroll to page through grid variants (2 rows per page) with dot pagination indicators
  • Custom grids - create any ratio (2:1, 3:2:1, 16:9, etc.) via the built-in editor
  • Save / Load grid layouts as .screengrid JSON files
  • Customizable colors - per-element RGB sliders for zone, highlight, and snap preview colors with real-time preview
  • Full-height snap preview with pixel dimensions shown on hover
  • Smart window filtering - only activates for real app windows, ignores games and fullscreen apps
  • DPI-aware (PerMonitorV2) - works on mixed-DPI multi-monitor setups
  • Click-through overlay - never steals focus or interferes with your drag
  • System tray only - no visible window, runs silently in the background
  • Run at Startup toggle - enable/disable from the tray menu or via the installer
  • Windows installer - proper install/uninstall with auto-startup support
  • ~200 KB framework-dependent exe (or ~70 MB self-contained)

Quick Start

Option 1: Download a Release

⬇️ Download the latest release and run the .exe. It sits in your system tray.

Option 2: Build from Source

Prerequisites: .NET 9 SDK, Windows 10+

git clone https://github.com/TtesseractT/ScreenGrid.git
cd ScreenGrid
dotnet run -c Release

Usage

Action Result
Shift + Drag a window Grid overlay appears
Scroll wheel while overlay is shown Page through grid variant pairs
Hover over a zone Zone highlights, full-height snap preview shown
Release mouse on a zone Window snaps to that column (full height)
Release Shift while dragging Cancel - overlay hides, no snap

System Tray Menu (right-click)

Option Description
Create / Edit Grid Open the grid editor to add, remove, reorder rows
Load Grid from File… Import a .screengrid JSON layout
Reset Grid to Defaults Restore all 5 built-in grid rows
Run at Startup Toggle Windows startup registration (checked = enabled)
How to use Quick usage guide
Exit Close ScreenGrid

Custom Grids

Right-click the tray icon → Create / Edit Grid to open the editor:

  • Use preset buttons to quickly add common rows (Halves, Thirds, 4:3, etc.)
  • Click + Custom… to enter any ratio - e.g. 3:2:1 or 16:9
  • Reorder rows with ▲/▼ - top row appears at the top of the overlay
  • Rename rows to anything you like
  • Click Apply & Close to activate immediately
  • Click Save to File… to export and share your layout

Grid configs are stored as simple JSON:

{
  "name": "My Layout",
  "rows": [
    { "name": "HALVES", "ratios": [1, 1] },
    { "name": "HALVES ½H", "ratios": [1, 1], "heightRatios": [1, 1] },
    { "name": "Wide + Sidebar", "ratios": [3, 1] },
    { "name": "THIRDS", "ratios": [1, 1, 1] },
    { "name": "16:9 Split", "ratios": [16, 9] }
  ]
}

Default Grid Layout (5120 × 1440)

The overlay shows 2 rows at a time. Scroll the mouse wheel to page through all 11 rows.

 Page 1 (scroll ↑↓ to change)
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  HALVES (full height)                                        │
│  ┌────────────────────────┐ ┌────────────────────────┐       │
│  │     1/2  (2560px)      │ │     2/2  (2560px)      │       │
│  └────────────────────────┘ └────────────────────────┘       │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  HALVES ½H (top/bottom split)                                │
│  ┌───────────┐ ┌───────────┐                                 │
│  │ 1/2 Top   │ │ 2/2 Top   │                                 │
│  ├───────────┤ ├───────────┤                                 │
│  │ 1/2 Bot   │ │ 2/2 Bot   │                                 │
│  └───────────┘ └───────────┘                                 │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

 Page 2
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  THIRDS (full height)                                        │
│  ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐          │
│  │    1/3       │ │    2/3       │ │    3/3       │          │
│  └──────────────┘ └──────────────┘ └──────────────┘          │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  THIRDS ½H (top/bottom split)                                │
│  ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐                            │
│  │1/3 Top │ │2/3 Top │ │3/3 Top │                            │
│  ├────────┤ ├────────┤ ├────────┤                            │
│  │1/3 Bot │ │2/3 Bot │ │3/3 Bot │                            │
│  └────────┘ └────────┘ └────────┘                            │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

 Page 3
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  4:3 LEFT                                                    │
│  ┌─────────────────┐ ┌────────────┐                          │
│  │       4         │ │     3      │                          │
│  └─────────────────┘ └────────────┘                          │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  4:3 CENTER                                                  │
│  ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────┐                     │
│  │    3    │ │      4      │ │    3    │                     │
│  └─────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────┘                     │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

 Page 4
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  4:3 RIGHT                                                   │
│  ┌────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐                          │
│  │     3      │ │       4         │                          │
│  └────────────┘ └─────────────────┘                          │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  QUARTERS (full height)                                      │
│  ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐         │
│  │   1/4    │ │   2/4    │ │   3/4    │ │   4/4    │         │
│  └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘         │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

 Page 5
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  QUARTERS ½H (top/bottom split)                              │
│  ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐                         │
│  │1/4 T │ │2/4 T │ │3/4 T │ │4/4 T │                         │
│  ├──────┤ ├──────┤ ├──────┤ ├──────┤                         │
│  │1/4 B │ │2/4 B │ │3/4 B │ │4/4 B │                         │
│  └──────┘ └──────┘ └──────┘ └──────┘                         │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  FIFTHS (full height)                                        │
│  ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐      │
│  │  1/5   │ │  2/5   │ │  3/5   │ │  4/5   │ │  5/5   │      │
│  └────────┘ └────────┘ └────────┘ └────────┘ └────────┘      │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

 Page 6
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  FIFTHS ½H (top/bottom split)                                │
│  ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐                │
│  │1/5 T │ │2/5 T │ │3/5 T │ │4/5 T │ │5/5 T │                │
│  ├──────┤ ├──────┤ ├──────┤ ├──────┤ ├──────┤                │
│  │1/5 B │ │2/5 B │ │3/5 B │ │4/5 B │ │5/5 B │                │
│  └──────┘ └──────┘ └──────┘ └──────┘ └──────┘                │
│                         (last page shows single row)         │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Full-height rows snap windows to the full height of the work area. ½H rows split each zone into top/bottom halves for partial-height snapping.

Publishing

Framework-dependent (~200 KB, requires .NET 9 on target)

dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --no-self-contained -p:PublishSingleFile=true -p:EnableCompressionInSingleFile=false -o ./publish-small

Self-contained (~70 MB, no .NET required)

dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained -p:PublishSingleFile=true -o ./publish

Installer (~66 MB, includes auto-startup)

Requires Inno Setup 6:

# First publish the self-contained exe (above), then:
& "C:\Program Files (x86)\Inno Setup 6\ISCC.exe" installer/ScreenGridSetup.iss
# Output: installer-output/ScreenGridSetup.exe

Run at Windows Startup

Option A: Use the installer (recommended)

Download ScreenGridSetup.exe — during installation, the "Run at startup" option is checked by default.

Option B: Toggle from the app

Right-click the tray icon → check Run at Startup. This writes to HKCU\...\Run (current user only, no admin required).

Option C: Manual shortcut

  1. Press Win+R → type shell:startup → Enter
  2. Create a shortcut to ScreenGrid.exe in that folder

Architecture

ScreenGrid/
├── App.xaml.cs                 # Entry point, tray icon, WinEvent hook, drag tracking
├── OverlayWindow.xaml.cs       # Full-screen transparent overlay, grid rendering
├── GridEditorWindow.xaml.cs    # Grid editor UI (add/remove/reorder rows, height ratios)
├── CustomRatioDialog.xaml.cs   # Dialog for entering custom ratios
├── GridConfig.cs               # Grid layout model, JSON serialization
├── GridZone.cs                 # Individual snap zone model
├── NativeMethods.cs            # Win32 P/Invoke declarations
├── StartupManager.cs           # Windows startup registry management
├── ScreenGrid.csproj           # .NET 9 WPF project
├── installer/                  # Inno Setup installer script
└── tests/                      # xUnit test suite

Key Win32 APIs:

  • SetWinEventHook - detects window drag start/end system-wide
  • GetAsyncKeyState - polls Shift key state at 60 fps
  • GetCursorPos - tracks cursor position during drag
  • MoveWindow - snaps the window to the target zone
  • DwmGetWindowAttribute - compensates for invisible DWM borders
  • GetMonitorInfo / GetDpiForMonitor - multi-monitor and DPI support

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

MIT - free to use, modify, and distribute.