A Mac window setup for writers
Draft, notes, sources, and the temptation of everything else. A calm Mac layout for writing that keeps research close and distractions off screen.
Writing needs two things that pull against each other: quiet, and your sources close at hand.
Full screen is half an answer
Full screen hides distractions, and hides your notes too. Every quote you check means leaving the draft.
Draft in the middle
ClutterFreeMac's Focus layout is close to how writers already think: the draft takes most of the screen, centred, with a slice of the notes on one side and the sources on the other. Swipe and the notes become the big one; swipe back and you are in the draft.
- Turn on Dim other windows in Settings so only the draft is bright.
- Keep mail and chat at the far end of the row, where you will not see them by accident.
- Pause the window manager with
⌃⌥Pwhen you want everything back the way macOS had it.
More on staying with one thing in a deep work layout.
Questions
What is a good writing setup on a Mac?
The draft large and centred, notes and sources one swipe away, messages out of sight.
Read next
- Guide
A Mac window setup for researchers and academics
Papers, notes, a reference manager and the draft. A layout that keeps sources beside your writing, with the rest of the reading list one move away.
Read › - Guide
A Mac window layout for deep work
Focus modes silence notifications, but the windows are still there. How to set up your screen so one task fills your view and everything else waits.
Read › - Guide
The best window layout for two monitors on a Mac
Two screens, twice the room for clutter. Layouts that work, the Mac settings that matter, and how to give each display its own row of windows.
Read ›