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JDHenderso

Q: How do I change new docs from opening in the upper left of my Desktop?

When I open a document, invariably, the window with the doc opens up in the upper left of my Desktop.  Can I change that location?

Mac mini (Late 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Jan 22, 2016 2:18 PM

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Q: How do I change new docs from opening in the upper left of my Desktop?

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  • by den.thed,

    den.thed den.thed Jan 23, 2016 7:28 AM in response to JDHenderso
    Level 7 (27,560 points)
    Jan 23, 2016 7:28 AM in response to JDHenderso

    Some things like App's and Finder windows can be trained over time to reopen in a certain place. However I find that even that is hit and miss after shutting down and starting back up.

     

    The best way to maintain all window locations is to only sleep and wake the system.

  • by Lanny,

    Lanny Lanny Jan 23, 2016 7:59 AM in response to JDHenderso
    Level 5 (7,952 points)
    Desktops
    Jan 23, 2016 7:59 AM in response to JDHenderso

    What applications are you using? What kind of documents are you talking about?

  • by JDHenderso,

    JDHenderso JDHenderso Jan 23, 2016 8:18 AM in response to Lanny
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 23, 2016 8:18 AM in response to Lanny

    Preview seems to be the main culprit.

  • by VikingOSX,Helpful

    VikingOSX VikingOSX Jan 23, 2016 3:36 PM in response to JDHenderso
    Level 7 (20,904 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 23, 2016 3:36 PM in response to JDHenderso

    Although the Preview preferences list has settings in it for open and save dialog sizes, it does not appear to have a setting for initial display location. Thus, one gets to drag the window to a new location if upper-left is a long reach. Or one can electronically disappear the window in its default location, and snap it out to center screen, as I have done in the following AppleScript. This was tested on El Capitan 10.11.3, and I am using a 24 inch display. Assumption: Preview window and image are open, whether on top or under other windows.

     

    -- move default Preview window to mid-screen.

     

    if application "Preview" is running then

         tell application "Finder" to set visible of process "Preview" to false

         tell application "Preview"

              tell front window

                   -- preserve image size from {x, y, w, h} in bounds

                   set {w, h} to {item 3, item 4} of (bounds of it as list)

              end tell

         end tell

     

      tell application "Finder" to set the position of application process "Preview"'s front window to {700, 250, w, h}

      activate application "Preview"

    end if