Window Management: Sequoia × Raycast Comparison

Window management is finally native to macOS, starting in macOS Sequoia. We went over all of the new features and compared them to what Raycast has had for a while. Here's why we believe our offering is much better!
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Full Window Management Guide → • Full Guide to Window M...
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[@etiennelenhart]

I love Raycast's Window Management, easily my most used extension. Only thing I'm missing is gaps in custom Window Layouts. Please consider supporting this.

[@raycastapp]

Thanks for the suggestion, we will consider it!

[@rmasoni]

I found the default gap between windows so charming in Sequoia. Didn’t know Raycast also had that! I’ll try it out.

[@YunikMaharjan]

can you please add an option to move current app to the next/previous desktop?

[@raycastapp]

It's already there! Try searching for Next Desktop. Here's a deeplink: raycast://extensions/raycast/window-management/next-desktop

[@YT_Zorro]

Forgive me if i'm misunderstanding what you are asking for but there are options for 1. Next Display 2. Previous Display 3. Next Desktop 4. Previous Desktop Displays are your physical monitors and desktops are your macOS virtual desktops

[@YunikMaharjan]

@@YT_Zorro next/prev desktop only switches to the next desktop and does not move the app itself

[@BrunoReisVideo]

@@YunikMaharjan i think this might be a Sequoia bug. I'm gonna report this to the team

[@heavenmx]

Please please add an option to snap the windows with the mouse, that's the only thing I miss from other apps and the new native one

[@FBracht]

I did NOT know you could use Quicklinks in Window Layouts! This changes everything! I thought you could only set an app for each "section" of the layout, and it would be opened and/or resized to that portion of the screen. But if I can also set what CONTENT I want displayed on them, this makes it 1000% more powerful to me.

[@raycastapp]

We added that in the second iteration of Layouts. So powerful! 💪

[@MostachoIrregular]

Have you ever thought of having a one-time payment version of Raycast? I understand that AI, Cloud save and others imply recurring costs to the team. But I was sad when I found that the Window Management feature was also behind the subscription paywall. I would gladly pay for the "full software" but I don't want another subscription .

[@raycastapp]

We hear you, but unfortunately there are no plans for a one-time payment version at the moment. It’s worth noting that Custom Window Commands and Layouts are indeed a pro feature, but the 50+ regular Window Management commands are and will remain 100% free! 😊

[@MostachoIrregular]

@@raycastapp I am a fan of those. I know there's a lot of good stuff in the Pro version, but it's too much for me to pay monthly. Thanks for the quick response though.

[@igrb]

Raycast's window management changed how I use my computer, happy to see small company apple learning from yall. They still have a lot to learn tho

[@BrunoReisVideo]

small fruit company

[@_ped_]

great comparison!

[@raycastapp]

thanks boss

[@RustyBrakes]

The main thing I miss from the way Microsoft does tiling is the following: 1. Send a window to left of screen 2. Press shortcut again (when its already at left) and it'll send to the monitor to the left So one hotkey can intuitively "push" windows around, i dont need to memorize too many hotkeys

[@raycastapp]

That's a different but interesting approach to cycling! In Raycast, you can use the same hotkey to cycle through different sizes rather than positions. I'll run that to the team as a suggestion, though 💡

[@Goodpsychiatry]

Great vid! Still use raycast for quick typing for windows management. Way easier for me than going to the mouse/trackad. I've seen that you guys use Arc in a few videos. How do you like it? I've been considering moving away from Chromium-based (currently running Brave) because of the upcoming v3 changes, and maybe returning to Safari. Do you guys have any thoughts on this and plan to stay on Arc or switch? Appreciate you all and the constant use of Raycast

[@BrunoReisVideo]

i like arc but i'm not a super power user or anything. tbh it doesn't make that much of a difference to me and it's laborious to change browsers, so i'll stick with what i got mainly cause it's cute 😅

[@cranfktubner7677]

Great reminder thank you 👍 I'm looking forward to the day we have the virtual desktop support 😅

[@ololadeagboola]

That shortcut to get to keyboard shortcuts at 4:13 - I cannot find that direct command on my Raycast. How did you set it up?

[@raycastapp]

You should be able to find it under the System Settings group in Extension settings ⚙️

[@MrBionik6]

Nice comparaison. What is that "Hyper" key you pressed at 6:33? How to have that?

[@MrBionik6]

Just discover there is an app called "Hyperkey" that does just that. Pretty sure you're using the same. I'll be able to add some cool cool keyboard shortcuts to various Raycast actions. Thank you so much 🙏🏽

[@BrunoReisVideo]

@@MrBionik6 that's exactly the one I use! a little bird told me some people in the Raycast team might be working on some hyper key thing.. who knows if it's a trustworthy bird

[@raycastapp]

Check out one of our latest videos about Advanced settings! Something in there for Hyper key enthusiasts 😉

[@MrBionik6]

@@raycastapp Ah ah, just saw it. I hope we'll get a native implementation in Raycast without relying on an external app.

[@onafanewlevel]

Can you update the clipboard history so it doesn’t record whenever I copy passwords from the passwords app when in its in menu bar form? Thanks!

[@raycastapp]

Thanks for pointing that out, I’ll pass that on to the team!

[@raycastapp]

This update in our roadmap now, but meanwhile, you can add the Passwords app as an exception in Clipboard Manager settings to avoid the behavior you described.

[@simonpedersen5648]

With Window Layout, can I have these 4 apps open and arrange on desktop 2 and these 2 other apps open and arrange on desktop 1?

[@raycastapp]

Window Layouts don't support Spaces yet, but there is support for multiple monitors.

[@collinbell9355]

custom layout has a bug - submitted a bug, not sure if it was understood. Would be great if y'all could look at this. tldr; 1. add an app, define dimension, position, and offset 2. go back into the custom layout - you CANNOT edit it for the existing settings for that app you added..... Maybe I'm missing something.

[@collinbell9355]

I would also suggest a change to display 1 and 2 to Menubar and other. This way settings are tied to the main display and not the Left Right relationship of displays. Since my laptop display will ALWAYS be smaller than my external display it makes more sense to define Menu Bar/Main and other. Reference, you know how you can move the menu bar in native Display settings from one display to another? Custom layouts should appy to the Main display and not 1 and 2 because if I change work locations my external display may be on the right or left - different from what I have at home versus the office. Make sense?

[@techtipsuk]

Never find that I need to use this, the only one I use is to make the current Window a specific size.

[@raycastapp]

"Every so often" use cases are just as valid 😄

[@michaelbeasley4923]

Thanks Bruno!

[@m4saurabh]

I wish macos exposes it's window management api and raycast can hook into it, because while raycast window tiling works very well, it does not have any animations.

[@raycastapp]

The animations are nice indeed

[@Harshabalakrishnan]

Gonna try to check raycast because of this, nice video!

[@raycastapp]

Welcome!

[@dansegal5]

It's weird, I update to sequoia and tried apple new window management, I'm also using external mechanical keyboard and by default it work using option + arrows, no Fn key at all

[@BrunoReisVideo]

that's odd! i tried it here and it doesn't work

[@corvacopia]

Please add support for the function key for keyboard shortcuts! I want to use the default Mac shortcuts for the Raycast commands images of the Mac ones, and it is just another key that can enable a much broader utility of shortcuts

[@raycastapp]

Passing that on to the team 🫡

[@jensumland]

Can you share the balanced window details :) ?

[@BrunoReisVideo]

60% W, 80% H, -2.5% Y Offset, Center position. it's what works for my specific monitor setup 😄

[@jensumland]

@@BrunoReisVideo Many thanks. By the way, first Sequoia move, disable naitive window management, Raycast always wins ❤

[@sudo-ud4zt]

Great vid, thanks! Where can I get me that tshirt though? I have to have it!

[@BrunoReisVideo]

hah, thanks! it's from a verrrry old Uniqlo collection 😅 sorry to disappoint

[@sudo-ud4zt]

@@BrunoReisVideo Thanks so much, that's all the info I needed to find it - SPRZ NY!

[@xcrap]

You guys are fisty, lol :)

[@raycastapp]

That’s mostly Bruno!