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save not working when external monitor set as primary

I have a new 16" MacBook pro running Monterey 12.0.1. I find that if I set my external monitor to be the main display, then the "Save" menu does not work. (I experienced this with Brave Browser and bbedit; I have not tried it with other apps.) The monitor is connected via HDMI to a USB-C adapter.


Once it stops working, changing back to my laptop as the main display does not fix the problem. I have to restart. This seems like a bug.


My workaround is to set my MacBook screen as the main display, but I'd rather not do that.


I haven't tried connecting the HDMI cable directly to the HDMI port because I switch back and forth with a work laptop that does not have an HDMI port.




MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 12.0

Posted on Nov 21, 2021 6:52 PM

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5 replies

Nov 22, 2021 1:03 PM in response to foundart

Hello foundart,


It seems like you're experiencing issues saving documents in some apps when using an external monitor, is that correct? We'd like to help.


You mentioned that the Save menu doesn't work, can you let us know more about that? For example, do you experience an issue when you try to save documents using the steps in the "Save documents" part of this link? Create and work with documents on Mac If so, do any specific errors appear when you try to save documents?


Are you able to test the issue in other apps and let us know if it happens with Apple applications, as well as the apps you mentioned?


If the issue is that apps stop responding or don't work as expected, these steps may help: If an app on your Mac stops responding, closes unexpectedly, or won’t open


Thanks!

Nov 27, 2021 6:37 AM in response to foundart

foundart,


Thanks so much for letting us know more about the situation. We'd like to confirm a few additional details.


Have you always experienced this behavior, or did this begin recently? If the behavior didn't happen initially, were any changes made to your device or its settings before this began?


To help narrow this issue down more, can you let us know if you experience the same behavior in safe mode? How to use safe mode on your Mac


Thank you!

Nov 22, 2021 10:29 PM in response to Brittany1416

Hi Brittany,


Here is more detail about the problem: When I use the File -> Save menu (or the CMD-S shortcut) for a new file, the Save File dialog box does not open, so I am not able to specify a file name and save the document.


The only way I found to get rid of the problem was to make my laptop screen the main display and then restart the computer.


Changing the main display without restarting did not fix the problem, nor did simply restarting the computer without changing the main display.


Regards,

Art





Nov 30, 2021 11:49 AM in response to RwwL

Same issue here as well. Started with upgrade to monterey. experience it especially in MS Office products, Matlab, and others. But it does not affect all installed software packages. Furthermore, if for those affected products I try File -> Open... usually the entire app freezes and the only remedy is a force close.

save not working when external monitor set as primary

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