Bring Misplaced Off-Screen Windows Back to Your Desktop (Keyboard Trick)
If you've ever hooked up your laptop to a secondary monitor and then disconnected without remembering to move the windows back to the primary desktop, you've probably encounted this problem:
The application is running. You can see it in the taskbar, but you can't see it on the screen, because it still thinks it's running on the secondary monitor. You try and use right-click, Move, but that doesn't do anything, and the window doesn't move anywhere. You end up rebooting and cursing Microsoft.
There's a simple trick to get around this. First make sure you've alt-tabbed to the window, or clicked on it once to bring it into focus. Then right-click on the taskbar and choose Move
At this point, you should notice that your cursor changes to the "Move" cursor, but you still can't move anything.
Just hit any one of the arrow keys (Left, Right, Down, Up), move your mouse, and the window should magically "pop" back onto the screen.
Note: For keyboard savvy people, you can just alt-tab to the window, use Alt+Space, then M, then Arrow key, and then move your mouse.
This should work on any version of Windows. It's really amazing how many people are not aware of this little trick.
Thank you soooooooo much for this tip! I had a program that I couldn't use at all because of this problem - even reinstalling didn't help. Now it's good to go
!
This is one of those tips that will make you look like a top-notch uber-geek to your friends and family.
This is such a great tip - but really - it has to be top 5 peeves about how utterly STUPID windows is. This just doesn't happen on a Mac because it's smart enough to realize that oh, hey, you unplugged the monitor so let me move the window for you so you can use it. There are a million nice little things the Mac does like this so my tip to fix this problem is - dump Windows.
Thanks for this tip. I use a multiple monitor setup at home, with different sized monitors, and a lot of software tries to place auxiliary windows mostly off the screen. This will help a lot.
What's REALLY amazing is that this bug still exists. Let's say there is some legit reason why the windows can't be auto-moved to the remaining monitor (which there isn't, based on how the Mac handles this situation). Shouldn't we still be able to right-click, "Move", and then move the window with the mouse? It's stupid that the keyboard is necessary here.
Not to take anything away from the trick; I've been using this in XP for a long time, and it works great. I was just hoping MS would fix it in Vista… guess not.
This happened on my Mac powerbook just today and I can't make it work with this windows trick - any ideas?
This happened to my MS Photo Editor, and it was really annoying because I can only view it in maximized mode, and thus only look at one photo at a time. Thank you so much for this tip!!
Unfortunately this does not work for all Windows Apps.
Some don't show the "Move" Item in the Menu. For instance Skype shows this Behavior and I have no chance to see the Main Window again without attaching another Monitor. Photoshop: The same…
Henry
Thanks for posting this trick. Just in time as this has been driving me nuts lately.
In reply to Henry, I've noticed that PSPad also does not have the "Move" option in the menu. Arggg…why? Is it so hard to implement standards?
"It’s really amazing how many people are not aware of this little trick."
Seriously? This is a really arcane sequence of things to do..I don't know how anybody figured this out in the first place. Seriously though, the window manager should refuse to draw windows that are completely off of any active display.
Even though Skype does not have the option when you right-click the window in the taskbar, on Win XP and version 2.5 you can still get the move options by doing an alt-space and M. Not sure if there are OS/skype version combinations that do not work, but I would not rule it out without trying.
Oh, thank you! You are great and wise!
Here's another case where it doesn't work… Dreamweaver MX, so now I can only run it maximized… Even if you re-boot… I think I need to dig for the registry screen location startup…
Even nerds like me can learn new tricks every day! I knew about the move menu, but never thought I would be able to use it without the mouse.
There is a jug of beer waiting for you in Australia if you ever get here.
I just did the trick with Vista. Works Fine. Thanks!
Thanks, at times, even an computer literate needs such tips to help us out.
I guess that you also could use tile/cascade windows (right click on taskbar)
Going crazy over this….thanks for sharing
This was frustrating me because windows xp did this to my "display options" window. Which deosn't even appear on the taskbar. so i got stuck using my tv as my primary monitor (doh!). even worse, i'm in the middle of some torrents and didnt want to restart. Thanks for the help, I'm actually a little upset that i forgot how to do this in the first place.
I don't even know where to start … THANK YOU!
I have this problem but only with Skype. was fine until recently, and using a second monitor (plasma TV) seem to have uncurred this problem. I have tried this tip, but strangely for Skype only, I have no move option on right-click from tool bar. On maximise I can see skype shooting offscreen to the left. Any other ideas ?
M, your not doing the tip right, I also had no "move" option on the right click in my toolbar. You need to click the running program in your toolbar once to make it the active program, then hold ALT and press spacebar, this will pop open the move dialog and allow you to select it. After choosing move, press your left arrow and move your window to the correct monitor.
Good to go!
Thanks for the tip, this was driving me crazy for about a week, I was considering re-formatting just because I use this one program every single day and I couldnt access it.
when i move mode and press the arrow it does not work! and allso the keyboard does not work propelly. when im trying to press "I K L O P N M U" Numbers comes up. now im using on scren keyboard. please help me someone
THANK YOU THANK YOU!
One more reason to hate Windows: They really need to make tricks like these more well known. Thank God for Google.
Neat trick. Thanks.
For windows that do not show in the taskbar I use a little freeware prog called forceWindowsVisible (Google for it to find download). It lists all windows so there are lots that you will never normally see. The ones that are "showing" are highlighted in blue. If they are not on the scree just click twic and they appear.
Thanks Barryvc!
This program is awesome, worked great to fix my problem. A note for others, the spelling is different when searching so here's the link.
http://www.compendiumdev.co.uk...../index.php
Thanks to everyone!
Doesn't work with DREAMWEAVER MX ….
Managed to get Dreamweaver back onscreen by editing the following registry value:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Macromedia\Dreamweaver 6\Settings\MDIWindowPlacement
is there a way to get windows to prevent off-screen dragging like osx does?
in osx when you try and drag a window off-screen it "sticks" to the edge of the screen… windows stupidly allows you to drag windows completely off-screen… it's annoying.
found a program that does this perfectly!!! it's called allsnap
http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~iheckman/allsnap/
Used the alt+space then M and the arrow keys to get my exposure control window back on screen … works like a charm.
People should also try right clicking on the Start taskbar and choosing Cascade Windows… worked on most situations.
Used the alt+space then M and the arrow keys to get my exposure control (3ds max 9/2008) window back on screen … works like a charm.
People should also try right clicking on the Start taskbar and choosing Cascade Windows… worked on most situations.
If you right click on a task bar icon, and the MOVE option is gone, chances are the programmer(s) removed it. The "System Menu" can be changed by a programmer. So they can completely remove it, remove some, add stuff, etc. Also, a programmer (if they want to) can detect if the window is off screen and could compensate. Just thought I would give everyone a "programmer's" perspective on this as to why it won't work on some apps.
Just came across this thread and figured I'd post a potential alternate solution, at least for Windows Vista w/ Aero.
http://insentient.net/ — This is a program called Switcher, a free application for Vista. It works a little bit like Expose for the Mac: by triggering a configurable keyboard and/or mouse short-cut, all open windows temporarily resize themselves. Thumbnails of all are visible. Click the window you want and everything restores itself, that window selected.
Although I agree: this is the stupidest Windows bug in the world. Why isn't the window bound to the mouse cursor when I first click "move"? Isn't that what the move cursor MEANS? Grrrrr *furls brow*
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!
@obvious: You're talking rubbish.
It does happen on a Mac. I've got that problem right now, which is why I'm searching for a solution(!)
Looks like I'll just have to delete the plist file for the app to bring it back… I thought there might have been a nice Windows-like trick to bring it back, but alas no.
DAmn greatly appreciated, started getting on my nerves!
Very impressive. Also very obscure and beautiful.
The real question is "Why did Microsoft allow this to happen at all, ever?"
Who could ever use a feature like this?
If the window is maximized off-screen, you have to right click the taskbar button and then choose Restore. Then you can right click the taskbar button again and choose Move. Tap one of the arrow keys, and then move the mouse.
Geoff
Perfect solution. Thanks!
If only I had found this 5 years ago! Awesome tip, thank you so much!
-Matt
Thanks for the solution.
I'd tried using the right mouse click on the focused window but then the "North, South, East, West cursor" that appears doesn't move the window, or disappears if you right mouse click of the top of the window, presumably because the window you want to move is off the screen.
Thanks - this helped A LOT !
I have this problem with firefox running on win xp. None of the options here seem to help at all. I never have the move command on the dropdown menu. alt+space and alt+tab do nothing. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Otherwise kill me now, don't make me beg.
Alternative is to install Multi-mon taskbar,
and use the Ctrl+Alt+arrow keys to move between monitors!
Thank you! This worked like a charm. I would have never figured it out if it weren't for this blog and Google's search xD
Bookmarked, and added to stumbleupon.
I also use a laptop with an external monitor hooked up ~half the time, but the problem I run into is subtly different than the one described here. The program (generally Adobe products) opens on the screen, but it will place palettes and "Save As" windows off screen. When the palettes are missing, I can close and restart the program to fix things, but when it happens with the save windows things become more difficult. Any suggestions?
Thank you so much for the info. I was going crazy trying to get the window back. THANK YOU!1
Thanks for the tip!
I used this trick just now and I am a hard core web progammer and computer consultant. Windows has so many caveats that no one person would ever know them all.
Why can't Windows assemble in tabbed versions so no one window is ever completely covered by another? Nvidia had an application that accomplished this and you could move the layout around anyway you wish so the windows would be different color tabs and arrange along the side , top, or bottom of the screen but the application itself was so resource intensive that I had to uninstall it.
Fantastic tip! Saved me a lot of time, effort and cursing! Thank you so much.
Thanks so much! Worked like a charm!
freaking simple and brilliant!
This trick is pretty funny. With all the positive responses in the comments, I thought it might be worth writing a tiny AutoHotkey script. Unfortunately, I can't test it properly since I only have one monitor, but if anyone is willing to do so and report back, I'd be more than glad to improve it or add features. The script can be downloaded from here:
http://showallwindows.sitadella.com
Source here:
http://www.sitadella.com/softw.....indows.ahk
Regards,
Erik
Trusting as I am I decided to give your app a try. Last time I downloaded something like this resize windows or someting; it was riddled with viruses.Your mini-app seems to work fine and I will try it from my office with two monitors and feedback again.
I would think Windows would be smart enough to rearrange open windows including browser and application according to monitor setting changes, but sadly no.
Can you apply a keyboard stroke acivate the application?
Thanks for the app.
Xzone9: If you think there are any viruses or malware, you can download AutoHotkey from www.autohotkey.com and compile your own version from the source code I linked to. You could also easily create your own keyboard shortcut, but that will require you to have the program running in the background all the time. I don't know how frequent this problem is for people?
One solution is to download the EXE I linked to and put the file in your program files directory, then create a shortcut to the EXE file, right click the shortcut and select properties. On the window that pops up there's a field that allows you to assign a keyboard shortcut. This solution won't require you to have the program "running" in the background and you can easily change the keyboard shortcut to whatever you want.
Thanks for testing/trusting, look forward to hearing if it worked from your office too.
P.S. The program hasn't been tested on Vista and I have no clue if it would work or not.
Tested at office and it worked great so far. This looks like a keeper. I created shortcut and assigned key as you mentioned, and that works great as well.
I run Windows XP Pro and whenever I use my laptop at home after using two screens at office, the problem occurs… just about daily.
Any VISTA user would like to give it a try. It is a small, compact app that works exactly as designed, and fixes the windows off the screen problem. Thanks to Erik.
Xzone9: That's great news! I suppose you'll have to reposition the windows once you reconnect at the office so that some of them are displaced on the second monitor?
Perhaps we could add a few features to make things easier. One new feature would allow you to save and restore the current position of your windows. Another feature could detect if your laptop is connected to a LAN and if so, automatically restore your windows.
With these two features in place, the script would fit nicely in your startup folder. It would run in the background once everytime you log in and arrange your windows based on your settings.
Any thoughts?
I love you. You made my day. Thanks for the tip.
Erik -
The windows position just depends on which setup I had opened up the application last. Preparing window positions depending on the setup would be great. Your application seemed to basically put the window to the farthest right if the window was smaller than the screen running the app, while still fitting onto the screen; placing them each one at a top until they assembled into view.
This works great enough as-is mind you and you don't have to shuffle keys or wait for the window to finally appear using the arrow keys.
If you could have multiple setups by choice so you can arrange the windows automatically by presets that would be awesome as well. Is that what you are referring?
I would be glad to test it out. I would also be glad to help distribute the app if you are just doing it free-source.
Thanks, Erik.
hi,
i have a problem in my laptop.it has windows vista home basic. i had installed norton antivirus 2008 from the internet. and then shutted down.
but now whenever i start my laptop it shows me window page of my documents and on the background there is nothing and taskbar has also disappeared.
i had uninstalled norton antivirus but still problem is same.
i dont know what to do.
plz help.
waiting for your quick reply.
thank you.
Thank you so much. you are the only site I found that could help me! and it worked!! thank you thank you thank you!
Xzone9:
"If you could have multiple setups by choice so you can arrange the windows automatically by presets that would be awesome as well. Is that what you are referring?"
-Yes, that's what I had in mind.
"I would be glad to test it out. I would also be glad to help distribute the app if you are just doing it free-source."
-It would be freeware and probably open source. Haven't thought about distribution yet, we'll see what comes of it.
In the meantime, I found what looks like a nice freeware here:
www.mediachance.com/free/multimon.htm
But I'm not sure if it solves the problem in this topic or not. Another application which seems to be highly recommended is: (30$ for one license)
www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/
Thanks for your responses Erik. The freeware link for the multi-monitors looks interesting. The only thing I see is that the resolutions need to be the same on each mointor, That would never work with me.
I might try that one out but actually the little app you created with the enhancements you mentioned would be suitable for a simple no frills app.
Let me know if you find time to reoutput another version of the "Show All Windows."
THX soooo much, i actually got this problem from trying to run a dedicated server in a game XD
Thank you so much - I've been trying to find my find and replace for hours. You are a star!
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thank you, I have been struggling for days. This really helped!
Thank you so much. You're right, not too many people know this trick. I was struggling all morning until I found your article.
THANKS again!
Yep. Simple fix. Thanks. I'm in school for IT and I didn't know this simple fix. Been bugging me for two weeks. Thanks for the tip.
Simple fix (ONLY IF YOU KNOW HOW!) Thanks for the tip.
Drat! The most useful page I've found yet, but DOESN"T WORK in my instance.
I've got double monitors at work, a laptop at home. Guess what? The file I brought home is off-screen … in Mathematica. For those who don't know, Mathematica is a multi-window software program, so maximizing it doesn't help — the main file taskbar is perfectly visible, but the active window is still on "monitor two." Switcher doesn't help either.
If only the different "windows" of Mathematica showed as separate tasks, but they do not (and not because windows groups them). Stupid bug. Should be able to switch between "terminals" a la Linux or Solaris. What a drag…
thnaks for that my kids always do this
Brent,
I didn't quite understand how Mathematica looks and works, but if you scroll upwards in the comments and look at the discussion I've had with Xzone9, you'll see that I wrote a tiny Autohotkey script which might be of help, you can download/run it from here http://showallwindows.sitadella.com
Unfortunately, I haven't spent any more time on improving the script, but it would be interesting to know if it worked for you or not.
Cheers,
Erik
FYI — I finally figured out (duh!) that "cascade / tile" windows is ALSO available in programs that handle their own windows (and thus whose active window can't be selected from the task bar). In this case the Windows bug has to be fixed within the other program (can't be fixed via Windows!).
Yarggh! It's so frustrating having a window just "off-screen" where you can see the edge but can't drag it or anything. Great help in this column, though. Wonderful stuff.
I know this trick with keyboard. It is functional for regular window.
But I do not know trick for logon screen. Alt+Space, then M does nothing…
Submitted again to replace "less than/greater than" with lt and gt.
I have known about the Alt+space M for some time but it doesn't help for apps that have no system menu (like "Google Talk"). Having two monitors at work and two at home, I was able to find the missing "Google Talk" by changing my work display properties to be the same as at home, then move the window, then set the display properties back.
If you do not have two monitors and need to move all your apps then the following MS Word macro will do it for you. Note that some apps will only be visible when you select them from the task bar ("wdWindowStateNormal" does not always restore from minimised).
'——————————————
Sub app_move()
'Author: John Schooling.
For Each t In Tasks
If t.Visible Then
t.Activate
End If
t.WindowState = wdWindowStateNormal
If t.Top < 0 Or t.Top > 1000 Or t.Left < 0 Or t.Left > 700 Then
t.Move Top:=10, Left:=10
End If
Next
End Sub
'——————————————