How to unstack windows

You can switch between three modes:

• $mod+S for stacking mode
• $mod+W for tabbed mode
• $mod+E for standard mode (aka splith/splitv - the one you seek)

More info on the User Guide.

Answers here are correct but you need to make sure you're switching modes from the same window where you started it. For a simple test, do the following.

• Open two windows in tiled mode
• $mod + s on window1
• Switch to window2
• $mod + e on window2 # Doesn't work
• $mod + w on window2 # Doesn't work
• Switch to window1
• $mod + e on window1 # Works!
• $mod + w on window1 # Works!

$mod+e should switch to tiling mode again.