The menu bar panel
Click the Shoji icon in the menu bar to open the panel. Press Esc or click anywhere else to close it.
The icon itself tells you the state at a glance: filled panes while Shoji is tiling, outlined panes when tiling is off, paused, or waiting for permission, a license or setup. A small mark on the icon means Clean Space is on.
Status and the main switch
Section titled “Status and the main switch”At the top: the Shoji name, a colored dot with the current status, and the switch for automatic tiling.
| Dot | Status | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Green | Tiling 3 windows | Everything’s working. In focus mode it reads Focus mode · 3 windows. |
| Orange | Paused while Stage Manager is on | See Pausing. |
| Orange | Waiting for setup to finish | Finish the welcome tour to start tiling. |
| Grey | Automatic tiling is off | You turned the switch off. |
| Red | Needs a license | Activate Shoji with your key. See Buy and activate. |
| Red | Needs Accessibility access | See Allow Accessibility access. |
When something needs doing, a card appears under the status with a button: Grant Access, Activate or Continue. If another app is using Secure Input (a password field, for example), a card explains that shortcuts are paused until it’s done. When an update is ready, a card offers to show what’s new.
Layout preview
Section titled “Layout preview”A miniature of the screen your pointer is on, with each tiled window’s app icon where Shoji put it. The active window has an outline. In focus mode the zoomed window is marked Focus and the others are dimmed.
If you’ve resized windows on that screen, a Reset sizes button appears on the preview.
Windows on this screen
Section titled “Windows on this screen”Choose how this screen lays out its windows, Grid or Columns, and how many tile on it, from 1 to 4. The preview changes as soon as you pick. A tall screen always stacks its windows in rows, so the Grid and Columns choice is off there. The screen keeps its choice, even after Shoji restarts. See How tiling works.
Quick switches
Section titled “Quick switches”- Retile arranges the windows again right now.
- Borders shows a colored border around tiled windows. See Borders, glow and gaps.
- Hover focus makes a window active when you rest the pointer on it. See Focus.
No peek mode and Clean Space
Section titled “No peek mode and Clean Space”- No peek mode fades every window except the one you’re working in. While it’s on, a slider sets how dark the others get. See No peek mode.
- Clean Space makes the screen you’re working on plain for sharing or presenting. See Clean Space.
The app in front
Section titled “The app in front”Tile app name keeps the app you’re using in the layout. Turn it off to leave that app’s windows wherever you put them. See Floating and excluding windows.
Settings and shortcuts
Section titled “Settings and shortcuts”Settings opens Settings (⌘,). Keyboard shortcuts opens the list of every shortcut in Settings; a warning shows on it when another app is using some of Shoji’s shortcuts, and it reads Off when you’ve turned them off. See Keyboard shortcuts.
Footer
Section titled “Footer”Send Feedback (report a problem or suggest an idea, by email; see Troubleshooting) and Quit Shoji. The tour and About are in Settings.