The preferences window is deliberately small: shortcuts, snap areas, gaps, a handful of behaviour switches, and import or export of the whole configuration. Two options are worth changing on day one — launch at login, and the repeated-execution behaviour that decides what a second press of the same shortcut does.
The shortcut list
Most of the window is a list of commands beside their bindings. Click a binding to change it, and it applies at once with no confirmation and no restart.
Two buttons deserve attention. One restores every command to its shipped default, which is immediate and unconfirmed — export first if there is any chance of regret. The other switches between the recommended default set and the layout inherited from Spectacle, which matters to anyone migrating from that app and to nobody else.
Commands you never use are better cleared than left bound. A shorter list is easier to hold in memory, and it frees combinations for other software.
The setting nobody understands
An option controls what happens when the same shortcut fires twice in a row, and its label refers to moving a window to the adjacent display on repeated left or right commands. The wording describes one of its two modes rather than the choice being made, which is why people toggle it, observe something unexpected, and toggle it back.
Unchecked, a repeated press cycles the window through widths: half, then two thirds, then a third. Checked, a repeated press sends the window to the next display instead. Both behaviours are useful and they are mutually exclusive on the same keystroke.
The choice follows the desk. On a single screen, cycling is clearly the more valuable of the two. On a multi-display setup where a separate next-display shortcut is already bound, cycling remains the better answer, and the display behaviour is worth having only for people who never learned that shortcut.
Gaps
Tiled windows sit flush against each other by default, and a gap setting inserts a margin between them. This lived in Terminal for years before moving into the settings window, so older guides still describe it as a hidden preference.
A few points of padding is enough. The benefit is not decorative: a visible seam separates two applications whose backgrounds look alike, and the sliver of desktop that appears keeps drag-and-drop to Finder available. Large gaps waste screen space that the tiling was meant to reclaim.
Snap areas and per-app exclusions
Drag-to-edge zones are configured here, individually rather than as a single switch, and the whole feature can be disabled while shortcuts continue to work. Anyone whose native macOS tiling is fighting the same gesture will spend time on this section.
The more valuable control is the list of applications to ignore. Adding an app un-registers the window shortcuts while that application is frontmost and restores them on switching away, which resolves collisions with IDEs and design tools without moving a single key. It is the least discovered option in the window and the one that solves the most common complaint.
Import, export and the rest
The configuration exports to a JSON file and imports back, which is how a tuned setup survives a new Mac. Do it once when the bindings settle rather than promising yourself you will remember them.
Beyond that the window holds housekeeping: launch at login, which should be on before anything else; update checking; and an option to hide the menu bar icon for people who keep a tidy bar. The free window manager for macOS keeps everything else in a standard preferences file, so a full backup already covers it.
Anything not present in this window has not been forgotten. The interface is small on purpose, and a wider set of behaviours is adjustable from Terminal for people who want them. Both are documented alongside the download on the official Rectangle site.
Frequently asked questions
Where are the settings stored?
In a standard macOS preferences file inside your home folder, which means Time Machine and any full backup include them already. The export button exists for deliberate transfers rather than for safety.
Why is the preferences window so small?
By design. The app does one job and exposes the options that job needs, which is why it stays out of the way once configured. Deeper adjustments live in Terminal rather than cluttering the interface.
Do I need to restart the app after changing something?
Not for anything in the settings window — changes apply immediately. Terminal-level preferences are the exception, since those load when the app starts. The Rectangle app reads them once at launch and not again.
Can I sync settings between two Macs?
Not automatically in the free version. Export the JSON file, put it somewhere synced, and import it on the second machine. Details for both Apple silicon and Intel builds are on the Rectangle Mac site.
