QuickLayout User Guide
QuickLayout restores workspaces without owning document content: preview every window change, save an undo point, apply, and verify the result.
Getting Started
- Grant Accessibility when QuickLayout asks to inspect or arrange windows.
- Choose Save Current and select the apps and windows that belong together.
- Preview every proposed move, resize, launch, and skip.
- Apply the layout; QuickLayout records an undo point first.
- Use Undo if the verified result is not what you expected.
Tip: Complete one successful manual Apply before enabling automatic Apply for that layout and display profile.
Interface Overview
| Area | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Layout collection | Saved layouts, search, compatibility, favorites, display profile, Apply, and status. |
| Capture and Editor | Included windows, names, schematic displays, target frames, and layout options. |
| Preview | Before/after plans, moves, resizes, launches, skips, capability, and confirmation. |
| Menu Bar | Compact access to layouts, chooser, Gather, Grid, Undo, automation, Settings, and Quit. |
| Settings and History | Hotkeys, automation, appearance, privacy, updates, transactions, import, export, and recovery. |
Save → Preview → Apply → Undo
QuickLayout never closes or quits applications, never captures window contents, and verifies supported window movement through macOS Accessibility.
- Save Current: Capture selected app windows as private schematic layouts without taking screenshots.
- Preview before Apply: Inspect moves, resizes, launches, skips, display changes, and unsupported windows.
- Transactional Undo: Save the affected window state before every arrangement and restore only what QuickLayout changed.
- Menu Bar and shortcuts: Reach Save, Layout Chooser, favorites, recent layouts, Gather, Grid, Undo, automation, and Settings.
- Gather and Grid: Recover off-screen windows or place the frontmost window into a chosen display region.
- Capability honesty: Show Accessibility, full-screen, Spaces, Stage Manager, tabs, and per-window limitations explicitly.
Note: QuickLayout is macOS-only and distributed directly because standard App Sandbox restrictions prevent honest implementation of its core Accessibility workflow.
Settings
Open Settings to review the following app-specific controls:
- Hotkeys, Menu Bar, chooser, Gather, Grid, and launch behavior
- Automation triggers, notification/confirmation policy, and display profiles
- Accessibility, privacy, retention, import/export, history, and recovery
- Appearance, direct updates, license recovery, diagnostics, and compatibility
Trial, Free, and Pro use the same functional feature set. Pro removes mobile ads and the daily desktop support reminder.
Keyboard Shortcuts
On Apple platforms, use Command where the app maps a displayed Ctrl shortcut to the platform primary modifier. The in-app shortcut page remains authoritative.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Cmd + Shift + L | Open QuickLayout |
| Control + Option + S | Save Current |
| Control + Option + L | Open Layout Chooser |
| Control + Option + Z | Undo |
| Control + Option + G | Gather Windows |
| Control + Option + Space | Open Grid |
Tips & Tricks
Complete one successful manual Apply before enabling automatic Apply for that layout and display profile.
Use Preview after connecting or disconnecting a display.
Use Gather before manually hunting for an off-screen window.
Keep important document-save workflows inside their original applications; QuickLayout manages frames, not content.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to check |
|---|---|
| Accessibility is not ready | Open the requested macOS settings, grant access, return to QuickLayout, and run the live capability check. |
| A window is skipped | Review whether it is full-screen, non-resizable, on another Space, app-internal, or missing the required Accessibility action. |
| A display changed | Open Preview and map the layout to the current display profile before Apply. |
| A shortcut does not register | Check for a macOS conflict and assign another combination; QuickLayout never replaces a conflicting shortcut silently. |
Privacy
- QuickLayout reads window metadata and frames, not screenshots or document contents.
- Layouts use private schematic rectangles and app labels.
- Accessibility is requested only for window capture and arrangement.
- Direct distribution uses signed, notarized releases and verified update metadata.
Your responsibility: Use QuickLayout only on Macs and application windows you are authorized to control.