Application windows moved off screen

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Level 1

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Application windows moved off screen

I have two displays at work, so it frequently happens that I wake my MBP and connect a second monitor. (The built-in display is the main one, and I'm using the Mavericks default of having a different workspace per display.) A few times a month, once I log in through FileVault2, certain apps will be missing all of their windows which were on the built-in display. It doesn't matter if there are 20 windows open in, say, Safari. If I had all 20 open on the main display, then all of them will be hidden. (If one window was on the external display, then that window will be available as normal and won't have moved at all, even if the rest of the app's windows are gone.) They'll be listed in the Window menu, and they will respond to keyboard shortcuts. I can close them with Cmd-W, for example. If I press Cmd-N, a new window will show up in the correct position on the main display and I will be able to use it fine. When I use Shift-fn-F10 to invoke App Expose, I'm able to see all the windows on the main display, and they fly in from the left, where the secondary display is positioned—but they're never visible on that dispaly. If I select one from Expose, they all fly back to the left and I'm left again with no visible window.

When the app is in focus, I can actually see the shadow of the right side of the window(s) darkening the left edge of the main display, and I can even RESIZE the topmost window on the stack by placing the mouse cursor in the shadow and dragging to the right when I get the resize cursor. Unfortunately, this doesn't get me any closer to recovering the windows, because they have been shifted up by 150px or so, and thus the toolbar (which I could use to drag the window around) is hidden above the top edge of the screen.

When this problem strikes, it affects many open apps, but seemingly not all of them. Safari, Terminal and Mail are frequent sufferers. I can restart the app to get the windows back.

Is anyone else seeing this? It might be related to this thread:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5516275

However, I haven't noticed the windows being resized at all.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9), External Samsung SyncMaster 2243

Posted on Dec 3, 2013 6:37 AM

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Answer 1

nkocharh Author

Level 1

10 points

Dec 3, 2013 6:43 AM in response to nkocharh

Don't know why I didn't think of this before, but I just realized that I'm able to use Window > Zoom to recover the foreground window, if it's in this state. Unsurprisingly, it appears on the secondary display. This despite the fact that the window was originally on the main display, before it was moved and hidden.

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Answer 2

lytsrc

Level 1

0 points

Mar 21, 2014 1:34 AM in response to nkocharh

Just thought I'd share another way to get the windows back into view. Slighly less clicking if you already use Three finger drag.

Instructions:

Place pointer on edge of window. The pointer will turn into a double sided arrow.
Place 3 fingers on trackpad and drag.

Prerequisits:

Must have access to any edge of window in question
"Three finger drag" must be enabled. (System Preferences > Trackpad > Three finger drag)

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Answer 3

Jan 28, 2014 4:48 PM in response to nkocharh

I have this problem too. I only have a single monitor. In every case it is after I wake the machine when I have not used it for a while OR someone else has logged into the computer. I switch the monitor resolution using System Preferences > Displays. Then force the display to a scaled size that is not native then I restore the size back. then I can move the window back into view.

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Answer 4

Aug 14, 2014 7:31 AM in response to nkocharh

Using the "Zoom" is genius and works great! A quick note: I found that in some cases after I'd use zoom, I also had to resize the window before clicking to full screen (➕), in some cases more than once, to make sure it wouldn't go back to the not-plugged-in, "phantom" extended display.

3-finger dragging works too, but only if (as lytsrc said) you have "3-finger-dragging" enabled, and only if you use the SIDE edge (with the "<->" cursor). The diagonal-double-arrow just resizes the entire window and it stays firmly in the void. It took me two tries to figure out why it wasn't working, but I never use 3-finger dragging and I could barely see the side of the purgatorial window (while the corner was easily visible), so I think the problem is pretty clear here... a little information is a dangerous thing in the hands of an idiot (hello.).

Another option, though admittedly a bit obvious, is to plug your external monitor back in and move all the windows to the primary display (i.e., the laptop's screen); then close each program so the last window open is not shown on what will become unusable desktop "dead" space (when you unplug the external monitor). It is a laborious process and invariably I forget some program, get phantom display issue, and have to use 'window > zoom' anyway. But, moving windows to the primary display before you close them is an easy preventative measure.

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