Green button zoom to "Full Screen" not filling the screen.

Question

Green button zoom to "Full Screen" not filling the screen.

I only recently discovered that "alt + click green button" zooms window to fill screen without switching over to full screen mode. I just wiped and reset my Mac, and now the zoom feature will make the window taller but won't fill the window. Is there some setting to change how the zoom window feature works to fill the screen?

I really like going "Full screen" without going to "Full Screen Mode" because I don't want it to make it's own space which messes up some shortcuts (ctrl + 1 to get to space 1 etc.)

I'm an m1 MacBook Air, MacOS 12.0.1 Monterey, and I've noticed this in most applications, but let's say Safari and finder specifically.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 12.0

Posted on Dec 12, 2021 7:52 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,158 points

Dec 12, 2021 8:28 AM in response to RNW-struggles

Zoom is not full screen nor is it the Windows Maximize command.

Originally designed, Zoom would toggle between the user set size and the smallest window that could contain the content.

In many apps, the content is tall enough to fill the screen, but not wide enough. So, you might get a window that runs from top to bottom, but not side to side.

The actual size is determined by the application as it responds to the system with the "size" of its content. There is no global way to set it to use a different size for the minimum content size.

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Answer 2

Dec 12, 2021 9:06 AM in response to Barney-15E

Thank you, I had a hunch this might be the case. Disappointing but makes sense. I wish there was a "full screen" that didn't create it's own space. Time to look for 3rd party window manager...

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Answer 3

Dec 12, 2021 9:15 AM in response to VikingOSX

That's a new shortcut for me thank you. I'm trying to figure out how to have the window fill the screen without the weird side-affects of Apple's "Full Screen Mode" where it creates a new space, and you can't stack any other windows on top of it, and any shortcuts you have mapped to Desktop 1, Desktop 2 etc... don't work to get you to the newly created "Safari Desktop" or "Finder Desktop". It looks like it may require a third party solution.

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Answer 4

Dec 12, 2021 8:19 AM in response to RNW-struggles

If your M1 Air has a globe icon and fn key, and you are in an application the permits toggling enter/exit full screen, then press the globe button and F to do so.

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Green button zoom to "Full Screen" not filling the screen.

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