Dual monitors and fullscreen fiasco, is there a work around?

Hallo RevChris - In System Preferences - Monitor - Arrangement (might be different because I have german version). I use the separate aarrangement and told, the monitor is located at left side.

Need to test, but when I correct remember, the bigger screen can be arranged as primary (with dock and so on ), but I will update tomorrow

Glennies response is different thing, because I would never let a customer see my Finder, even the structure and so i do not have that experience he had.

I arrange my desks and application in that way, that customers only see what they should see

Then, an application in Full Screen is added as a separate desktop. The other applications on the screen are still there.

all other polemic expressions - no need to answer. And yes, if an application is on the second screen, then it should be FullSize on that screen.

Ronald

OK. After reading this last message about an app full-screen on a projector and notes/docs on another monitor, I have to ask: What is the definition of full screen?

As far as OS X Lion (and Mountain Lion) is concerned here's what "full-screen" means - and this is what we have problems with:

(Source: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4530)

I think i might have a solution to this issue well it worked for me , I recently bought a new screen for my iMac and was having the fabric cloth issue.

To rectify it i bought a program off the Mac AppStore called Better Snap Tool, this tool is similar to a Windows feature in which you snap the window to the right side and it takes up half the screen on the right etc snap to the left it takes up half the screen on the left etc, however if you snap the screen to the top it full screens the app without using the arrows in the top right hand corner, so you are free to put on desktop 1 whatever you wish. I think you might have to do a bit of tinkering for it to display in full when you snap to the top or oit could be the default I cant remember. Above is my result.

In short

Download Better Snap Tool from Mac AppStore (maybe tinker with the settings)

open a program you want to full screen and drag it on to monitor 2

snap it to the top and watch it full screen

open another program on monitor 1snap it to the top and there you have it two apps open full screen

I recommend seeing if it is possible to get a trial of this software maybe from there website as i will not be held responsible for anyone trying this method then finding it doesnt work for them and leaving them out of pocket

The fact that we have to pay and copy Windows functionality for this is absurd I know.

Microsoft doing it right on Apple for once. Look, I can use two screens and everything! 😀

btw feedback left. Fully expect it to have no effect as they have made up their minds already.

EDIT: someone has an active imagination, reporting that last post!!

I've been trying to figure this out for so long. I fixed the problem found from another site.

I also work on my main screen and want to watch movies as background.

Copied from another link:

OS X's full-screen mode has had gradual improvements since its introduction a few releases ago. In Yosemite, it became more deeply entwined with Spaces and a primary “zoom” method: click the green button in a window by itself, and the app or window switches to full-screen mode. (Hold down Option to revert to the old action, which is to zoom the window to fit the display better.)

Until Mavericks, full-screen mode worked with only a single display on a Mac with other monitors, besides other quirks. Preston Hiers seems to be encountering one of these:

Going into “full-screen” mode on my apps causes my second display to go black. It just started doing this today after I did a restart. I am using a new 27-inch iMac running El Capitan. I have had my computer for over a month and never had this problem before.

It’s related to Spaces, which has been a thorn in my side for years. Spaces lets you create multiple desktops and that includes an option to set each display to be a separate space. You have to have that box checked in the Mission Control system preference pane to use apps full screen on different monitors at the same time.

Spaces is a finicky beast. I was long unable to get this mode to let me stick apps on my office Mac with two displays to my preferred monitor. El Capitan fixed this for a while, but then I’m back to where I am. When I launch apps any given morning, they appear arbitrarily on my first display or second, regardless of where I assigned them.

From what I can tell from others’ troubleshooting of this blank-second-monitor issue Preston is having, it’s tied to the same feature. You can try unchecking the Displays Have Separate Spaces box, then logging out ( > Log Out account name), log back in, check the box, log out, and back in. This might clear the state. Rebooting might help, too. But it’s clearly a bug—you didn’t trigger a feature unintentionally.

I just posted a link below but see if this helps. Worked for me once I changed the settings in

Preferences>MISSION CONTROL>

Than log out or reboot computer. Boom should now have your second screen working with no blackout.

http://www.macworld.com/article/3056641/macs/how-to-avoid-a-blank-second-display -when-using-full-screen-mode-in-an-os-x-app.html

tyronecapetown wrote:

Yeah just tried now watching a movie on our external hdmi setup office TV, and used to be able to output fullscreen to it, now cant. Wow, cant believe this is happening, any ideas?

Yes, don't just post here, report it to Apple. Can't stress that enough. These are user forums, and whilst Apple may moderate them at times the only way to be sure you're being heard by the right people is to use the official feedback form.

Palmerjared,

You must be really ticked off having 3/4 of your monitors rendered useless. Only 2/3 of mine turned grey, so I guess I'm lucky? ;-)

Apple Engineering doesn't read these discussions, so I would encourage you to report this through the feedback page at http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

If you feel passionate enough, you could do what others have, and that is sign up for a free Developer account (using your Apple ID), and report it through their Bug Reporting system.

If you don't want to use VLC, you can use Quicktime 7, which is also still useful for some other things which don't work with QT10. So this is why apple still offers it to download:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL923

Open the Settings of QT7 and go to Fullscreen section. Here you can click on the display which you want to use for fullscreen.

The downside: QT7 seems not to support the hardware decoding faetures of new processors/graphic cards for h264 decoding. So on my brand new MBP13" playing a 720p Video in QT10 uses only 6% of one processor core. But in QT7 it uses about 75%. This means the computer consumes more energy, the battery power is eaten up more early and possibly the fan moves faster (louder).

Realy hope apple will fix the usabilty problems in lion fast.

Those new fuction that just leave a way the profesional just pis me off. Any way for those of you that made a clean install or bought a computer with lion on it juste download Quicktime 7... it still have the old full screen option and all the classic fuction that were relly important like export(not share..) import image sequence...

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL923

Submit your feedback folks and maybe they will listen and change it...

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

I just did, if all the folks complaining about it submit feedback you would think Apple would consider changing it. Bassically as we know full screen mode zooms off to a new space and greys out the rest of the monitors attached. If you could hold down the option key when you click on the full screen tab in an app then be able to select which one of your monitors you would like to have the app run on that would be better but to me it still would not be perfect. I have four monitors running.

The best fix for this issue that Apple could do would be to not create a new space when you go into full screen mode, instead place the app on the montor you want it on then just click full screen and it then goes full screen on that monitor while leaving your other screens alone, no new space and no greyed out monitors. I'm not sure why they choose to do it the way they did, true it works nicely for single monitor setups but not for multi monitors. One should have the option to run full screen apps the way they want to. You may want full screen on two monitors and then perhaps the third screen you just want to run another app as is. This method would allow you to have multipe spaces running multiple full screen apps.

The obvious work around is to just not use full screen mode, it only works with some apps like quciktime 7, VLC can still run full screen without effecting the other monitors. The only time it is actually usefull is when you watch a movie in quicktime X and full screen mode turns the other monitors black, but that is only good if you are only watching a movie and don't want to be distracted by other stuff on the other monitors.

joe! yeah I was also thinking that it could be done while holding option down so the normal function could be on and then if you are trying to rearange the screen but didn't want to go through mission control, holding option down while over a certain monitor to only swipe through that monitor is a great idea (instead of having to swith them off or on.)

You should submit feedback, feel free to use my diagram as a reference and add in your own thoughts.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

welcome to the discussions! this is a fun link but it's not really something I would do. I just want apple to fix this obviously old un thought out section of their OS called Spaces/mission control or update it so everyone, not just those with one small screen, can use.

People say it's for power users, but I think it's a gimmick and looses functionality once you have multiple monitors since you basically are just separating work flows, not incorporating them or including them. Think Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde. Both were the same person but never knew what either was up to when the other was around. So Dr. Jeckel (desktop 1) had no account of seeing what Mr. Hyde (desktop 2) was doing even though they were the same person.

I would rather something more like fantasia where I could make apps line up in an order I choose in a screen I disgnate for that role and still being able to see content in my other screen.

I personally wish they fixed Spaces back in SL days since it's introduction in Leo. to have it as is in Lion with Thunderbolt displays coming to fruition and people already using multiple monitors, I would think the logical step is to cater towards those with multiple monitors since they spending more money for products they don't need, giving function instead of taking it away.

As it stands, I would suggest that no one get a thunderbolt cinema display until we figure out how apple is going to solve this issue with Spaces as well as full screen apps!

imagine your $999 being used as a fabric graphic instead of allowing you to quickly access other information without having to move through things screen by screen. I digress. The more complaints we send the more people we get on board with this the better. send messages to Apple, we can make a change this time.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

I held my tongue since Leopard days. Lion is too far down the rabbit hole to not be addressing this sort of issue. We've been quite long enough! let us not be satisfied, let us be activised !

I am a long time unix (x-windows) and MS Windows user now in the process of converting my digital life to the Mac world (starting with MacBook Pro 13" early 2011 model). I elected to run OS X Lion because

a) I was entitled to a free upgrade

b) I had NO dependancies on any applications that were not compatible with OS X Lion, and

c) I figured, why not use the latest and greatest OS given Apple has this great reputation for rock-solid and sensibly functional operating system releases.

I have to say that my experience with Apple, AppleCare, MacBook Pro and OS Lion are all pretty darned good EXCEPT for this fiasco of dual monitors and fullscreen!

The fact that if I use the "feature" of OS X Lion of putting an application into fullscreen it has the obvious negative effect of rendering the other monitors useless is indeed just plain silly. If I make an app go full screen it should go full screen on the monitor it is on and leave all other monitors unaffected. Simple.

Many have raised their voices about this. TheSmokeMonster has expressed well a model of what should/could be the case.

I have added my voice to the feedback on this rather silly design decision/oversight/mistake in OS X Lion and to ask Apple to remedy it via http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html and I encourage others to do so as well. I hope the observation that has been made that Apple listens will in fact prove true.

Work arounds are just that - helpful (thanks contributors!) - but they don't really provide the missing functionality that should be native to the OS.

To those who say this is not needed or are critical of we who want the behaviour and functionality we are describing (fully functoning monitors when an app on one goes full screen) I ask "If this were to be incorporated into the OS would you lose any of the functionality you enjoy?" If so, then by all means explain it for the benefit of all so that we can understand your point of view.

Thanks

Lance has definitely clarified what this issue is (not hardware, but software).

given what you are telling us, it sounds like the store employees didn't know what you were talking about.

It's funny that they don't have any computers connected to a second monitor though. One can speculate but that's not why we're here.

As to the 15" with TWO display adapters, I don't believe him. He's outright lying unless he's talking about DisplayLink drivers using a usb to video out (which has horrible support for lion at this time) and or a thunderbolt display that he daisy chained a second monitor to. In no way does his MBP out of box have two display ports.

He may have been referring to the dongles.

If you could, go back to the store with your MBP and tell them you want to plug it into a thunderbolt display. Then hit the Lion Fullscreen mode and show them what you are talking about.

You could have also brought up these forums which describes the issue in detail.

lastly, there is a difference between fullscreen in lion and the fullscreen feature that is in lion. He might assume you meant hitting the green button in the window to make it stretch the size of the screen.

He also might have said, it works fine, but didn't mention the fabric background that takes up his second monitor (which is the issue here)

Me: late 08 MBP with miniDisplayPort connected via HDMI to LCD tv and also a USB to DVI adapter connected to a samsung syncmaster. (I have a similar setup, I assume, to the one person you talked to, but I do not have function in any of the other monitors as they turn into fabric once I fullscreen.

I don't know what you were trying to prove to them, they're workers, not the people who make the products. And on that note, we're users like yourself, not experts 😉

if you want to tell apple you wose about Fulscreen and Lion send feedback.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html