Coming from Windows

FancyZones, on Linux Mint.

On Windows you drew zones once, held Shift while dragging, and every window had a home. Linux Mint has nothing called FancyZones. It has most of the pieces, though, and the missing ones are a different way of thinking rather than a missing feature.

See what maps to what Rebuild your layouts

FancyZones: zones you draw

You design a layout of zones, then move windows into them one by one: Shift and drag, or Win+arrows. The layout is a target. What ends up in it is your decision, every time.

greenTile: a layout that fills itself

A preset is assigned to a monitor and a workspace. Windows that open, close or come back are fitted into it. You still drag and swap when you want to, but you do not have to.

What you are leaving behind.

FancyZones is part of Microsoft PowerToys, the open source toolbox for Windows. Its features are the reason zone layouts are hard to give up:

Layouts with zonesBuilt from templates (columns, rows, grid, priority) or drawn by hand in two editor styles: Grid, which splits and merges cells, and Canvas, where zones may overlap.
A layout per monitorDifferent monitors can run different layouts, and a default layout applies when the display setup changes.
Drop a window into a zoneHold Shift while dragging and the zones appear; the zone under the pointer lights up. Holding Ctrl while dragging spreads one window over several zones.
Layout hotkeysWinCtrlAlt+a number applies a saved layout to the active screen.
New windows go where they belongMove newly created windows to the last known zone puts a new window back where that application sat before.
Rules that surviveExcluded applications, gaps around zones, and keep windows in their zones when the screen resolution changes.

What Cinnamon does on its own.

No extension needed. These are the defaults on Linux Mint 22 with Cinnamon 6.x, taken from Cinnamon's own settings schemas.

Halves, from the keyboardSuper+← pushes the focused window into the left half, Super+→ into the right one, Super+↑ and Super+↓ into the top and bottom half.
Quarters, by combining themPush left, then push up: the window takes the upper left quarter. Pushing in the opposite direction untiles it again. Cinnamon's window manager Muffin supports this; the keyboard reference in the settings just does not mention it.
Halves and maximise, with the mouseDrop a window on a vertical screen edge and it covers that half. Drop it on the top edge and it maximises. This edge tiling is on by default.
MaximiseAlt+F10.
WorkspacesFour of them by default (up to 36). CtrlAlt+←/→ switches, CtrlAltShift+←/→ takes the focused window along.
Hot corners, switched offThe four screen corners can run Expo, Scale or show the desktop, but every one of them ships disabled. If you miss the Windows corner gestures, this is where to switch them on.

Everything above is about the window you are pointing at. What is missing is the part FancyZones was really for: a layout that exists before any window does, and windows that find their place in it.

The mapping.

Left column: what you used in PowerToys. Right column: what it is called here.

	FancyZones on Windows	Cinnamon, with greenTile
A layout of zones	Zones from a template or drawn by hand, per monitor.	A preset: columns painted on a 6 × 4 grid, each column holding one window or a stack, widths free. Assigned per monitor and workspace.
The layout editor	`WinShift`+` opens the editor.	`SuperCtrlP` opens the preset panel. Sixteen editable starters are already there.
Putting a window in a zone	`Shift` while dragging, then drop into the highlighted zone.	Drag a window over another window's edge: a preview shows the new column, stack or row, and the drop lands there. Neighbours make room.
Jump to a saved layout	`WinCtrlAlt`+number applies a layout to the active screen.	Presets are applied from the panel or by assignment; the column hotkeys `SuperCtrl`+`3` and `SuperCtrl`+`6` set equal columns on the spot.
New windows remember their zone	Move newly created windows to the last known zone.	Auto mode: with `SuperCtrlA` on, a window that opens is fitted into the layout a quarter second later. Close one and the gap closes.
Surviving a display change	Keep windows in their zones when the screen resolution changes.	A preset belongs to a monitor and is found again after a replug. After a Cinnamon restart, windows come back in the order you left them.
Exceptions	An exclude list per application name.	A never tile list by window class, title or app id, plus `SuperG` to let the focused window float. Dialogs float on their own.
Space around zones	Space around zones, in pixels.	Gap between windows, 0 to 48 px. The screen edges stay flush.
One window over two zones	`Ctrl` while dragging merges the zones under the pointer.	The opposite direction: the preset already says it. Drag the handle between two columns to merge them into one wide column, 1 : 2 : 1 and so on.

Rebuilding your layouts.

Half an hour, if you had three or four layouts on Windows. Start with the one you used most.

Install greenTile from the release zip, restart Cinnamon, switch it on in the Extensions manager.
Paint your most used layout in the preset panel (SuperCtrlP): columns on the 6 × 4 grid, the handle between two columns to merge them into a wide one. A layout like one wide column left, two stacked right is three clicks.
Assign it to the monitor and workspace you want it on. Other workspaces keep their own preset, so the same monitor can work differently depending on where you are.
Turn on auto mode (SuperCtrlA) on that workspace. This is the FancyZones habit replaced by something better: you do not drag a window into its zone, it is already there.
Fill the never tile list with the apps that should stay out, the same way you excluded applications in PowerToys.
Keep two keys in mind for the days you want to rearrange by hand: SuperG floats a window, SuperCtrl+arrow swaps it with its neighbour and walks on to the next monitor.

What has no equivalent.

Not everything comes across, and it is worth knowing which parts before you start:

Overlapping zones. FancyZones Canvas allows zones that overlap and windows that share space. Here a layout is a grid: cells share edges, they do not stack.
Zones that span monitors. FancyZones can treat all monitors as one large screen. greenTile works per monitor — dragging a window to the other screen retiles both, but there is no single layout across both.
Zone-based keyboard navigation. Win+arrows stepping through zone by zone has no mirror image; the nearest thing is swapping with the neighbour (SuperCtrl+arrow) or setting a different preset.
Windows-only muscle memory. The Win key is Super here, and Cinnamon keeps its own keys for workspaces. Ten keys in total are documented on the home page.

The idea you keep is the one that mattered: you decide once how the screen is divided, and afterwards the windows obey.

Install greenTile What Cinnamon does on its own