Move/Recover Offscreen Window
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Thursday, August 06, 2009 2:49 PMHello,
I am running win7 rc 64bit build 7100 in Dual monitor mode. I have a problem finding/moving an applications window that has gone out of the viewing area. I am new to Vista/Win 7 interface and not familiar with how to move a window with the arrow keys as I do with XP by right clicking on the running application in the taskbar and selecting Move.
The application is Sony ebook reader. This happened when I had to remove one of the dual monitors for repair...upon returning it to the configuration, the ebook application starts, but the window is no where on either display. If I right click on the running application in the taskbar, there are no options to move.
Other then removing the application, prefs and reinstalling...is there a way to bring that window back to the active areas?
Thanks.- Edited by psc_tech Thursday, August 06, 2009 5:26 PM
All Replies
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Thursday, August 06, 2009 9:27 PM Windows 7 has a cool new feature that should help. Click the icon in the taskbar to ensure that the program has focus. Then hold down the Windows key and press the right-arrow a few times. That should move the window across your screens and eventually bring it back onto the screen that is still active.
Dave Bishop
Senior Technical Writer
Windows Server Networking User Assistance- Proposed As Answer by Dave BishopMicrosoft Employee Thursday, August 06, 2009 9:27 PM
- Marked As Answer by psc_tech Friday, August 07, 2009 2:16 AM
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Friday, August 07, 2009 2:15 AMPerfect...Thank you Dave...that did it...and yes...cool feature too!
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Friday, February 05, 2010 1:49 PM
That rules - thanks so much.
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Monday, March 08, 2010 10:04 PMThanks! That solved my problem for Hamachi as well, I had a chat window on a second screen which I have to unplug to play games at full resolution (otherwise my monitor with the game flickers rapidly (20-30 times a second) between 1920x1080 and 1280x1024. Adding my projector makes it worse, so I have to unplug 2 of the 3)
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Thursday, April 08, 2010 12:43 AM
I
am having this problem too but can't fix it this way. This only works for windows that can be maximized. Try it with windows calculator. It won't work in 7 but XP can do it just fine. There doesn't seam to be anything that works for moving programs with static window sizes that are off screen.:(
- Proposed As Answer by if I could Monday, June 07, 2010 5:01 AM
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Tuesday, May 11, 2010 7:05 PMThat worked like a charm. Thanks for the tip.
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Monday, June 07, 2010 5:12 AM
I
am having this problem too but can't fix it this way. This only works for windows that can be maximized. Try it with windows calculator. It won't work in 7 but XP can do it just fine. There doesn't seam to be anything that works for moving programs with static window sizes that are off screen.:(
Oh shucks, didn't mean to propose this as the answer. Rather I wanted to post the answer. I don't see a method for recinding my action (I will have to research after posting).*according to the FAQ, there should be an Unmark as the Answer option; however, it doesn't show for me.
The Windows XP functionality is still present, just not intuitive.
To "move" a window from offscreen, do the following:
- Click the application in question on the task bar (needs to have focus and be in a restored state)
- Move your cursor above the task bar until the thumbnail image appears
- Right-click on the thumbnail image (you will be presented with the option menu, one of which is "Move")
- Select the "Move" option
- Left-click-hold on the desktop and drag the window into view
I came here looking for the answer, as well, and worked out the above method after verifying the other method didn't work on windows of fixed size.
- Proposed As Answer by Peter Fattore [Provisur] Tuesday, January 17, 2012 8:26 AM
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Monday, August 02, 2010 8:02 AM
I have an application window with a fixed size and can't get to the bottom of the window (on my laptop) where there are controls/buttons I need to access. Windows 7 rather irritatingly moves the window title bar back down every time I drag it up - Can anyone tell me how to turn this feature(!) of Windows 7 off.
Many thanks
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Tuesday, September 28, 2010 2:05 PM
Hi ssyss - did you ever find a solution to your problem? I'm having the same issue right now. I want to move a part of my window (the top part with the menus, etc) to be off-screen, but Win 7 always repositions the window on-screen. Anybody know how I could temporarily disable this feature in Win7? I'm using the default theme.
cheers,
D.
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Tuesday, November 30, 2010 10:49 PM
I'm not sure if it still works, but occasionally Windows used to get certain applications "stuck" on a certain screen, or in a certain place on the screen or in a certain status (e.g. Maximized/Minimized). It's been a while since I've used it, but back then if you did the following it would re-set the registry (or wherever it stores it) on where it should open next time.
- Open the application that is "stuck".
- Set the application to how you really want it to open.
- Move it where you really want it to open.
- Set it to the mode you want it to open in (e.g. Maximized/Minimized).
- Hold down the SHIFT key while clicking the "X" in the upper right hand corner of the application's window.
Again, I'm not sure if it still works and I don't have any windows stuck at the moment to test it, but it's worth a try. Especially since that is SOOO irritating! :)
Nathon Dalton
Software Developer
Systems Administrator
Network Administrator
Blog: http://nathondalton.wordpress.com -
Saturday, December 18, 2010 11:28 PM
Hi Damson74,
Not only does Win 7 reposition it, or rather automatically centers any minimized window I try to drag parially off screen, it maximizes it at the same time. WTF!?!?! This means I cannot work on two windows side by side at the same time. I don't think the others are providing fixes for this problem. I could be wrong, but I never had to do any of those things in XP Pro or Vista Premium. These allowed me to drag any window off screen without having to jump through hoops first. Win 7 sucks!!!!! I'm ready for a mac
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Tuesday, January 11, 2011 11:17 AM2 years later and your still being awesome!
Thanks Dave! -
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 6:27 PM
Another FAIL in win7.
Take a "OneClick" activity from Win2k/WinXP and make it so complicated that it only works half the time, and in all cases takes more than 3 clicks...
Nice.
FAIL.
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Wednesday, May 04, 2011 1:54 PMOnly if you drag the cursor to the edge. Pay attention to what you're doing.
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Tuesday, May 10, 2011 12:26 AMThanks for this answer! Unfortunately, though, I already tried this with Winamp to no avail. Perhaps, it needs to be run in XP mode? It's supposed to be written for Win7, though. :/
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Tuesday, May 10, 2011 2:04 AMThanks. Holding the shift key gave me the old menu. Winamp still wouldn't show up until I shift-right-clicked, clicked the Winamp option in the menu, then unchecked the playlist editor and checked playlist editor again. Finally, Winamp came back for me.
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Friday, July 01, 2011 2:31 AM
Windows 7 has a cool new feature that should help. Click the icon in the taskbar, to ensure that the program has focus. Then, hold down the Windows key and press the right (or left) arrow key a few times. That should move the window across your screens and eventually bring it back onto the screen that is still active.
Dave Bishop
Senior Technical Writer
Windows Server Networking User Assistance
Dave,Old post but still working quite well in June 2011.
I did not know about this prior - thank you!!
Original Paul D
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Sunday, August 21, 2011 11:13 AM
How about right click on icon in the taskbar with an option that says "Display on primary display". That would be really cool and would save me having to search on the Internet for 40 minutes looking for obscure blogs which tell me how Microsoft Windows works. I mean who even uses the Windows key?
Or better still, and this is really radical. If the operating system detects that a display is inactive, that it puts any windows which are on that display onto the primary display.That would be really cool too.
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Thursday, September 01, 2011 1:04 PMPerfect! thanks!!
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Wednesday, September 07, 2011 1:49 PMHow about just using Shift+Win+Up/Down/Left/Right arrow keys to move the app from monitor to monitor. Win+Arrow will engage the 1/2 screen snap feature.
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Tuesday, December 13, 2011 5:42 PM
I know I arrive kinda late but I have another question about this.
What if a program opens new windows and you were working on a secondary display and when you plug that one out only the primary window returns but the program leaves all the other ones in the -now gone- secondary display?
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Friday, December 16, 2011 9:56 PMI think the trick still works for a window that goes to a nonexistent monitor.
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Wednesday, December 21, 2011 2:08 AM
How about just using Shift+Win+Up/Down/Left/Right arrow keys to move the app from monitor to monitor. Win+Arrow will engage the 1/2 screen snap feature.
I've tried all the other suggestions in this post but this is the only one that worked for me on my Win7 system. Thank you!!!! -
Monday, January 09, 2012 3:30 AM
Here is another potential solution for you.
1. Hold SHIFT and right click on the program in your task bar to bring up the old menu.
2. Click on move.
3. Move your mouse around the screen. You should see a cursor with four direction arrows on it.
4. Press Arrow UP. ;D
Enjoy.
- Proposed As Answer by Haleabus Monday, January 09, 2012 3:30 AM
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Tuesday, January 10, 2012 1:37 PMThis works, particularly even over remote desktop.
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Wednesday, January 11, 2012 3:04 AMWinamp is stuck off screen. none of this proposed solutions have helped. The move cursor gets stuck in the corner, i can't reach the top of Winamp at all.
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Wednesday, February 01, 2012 3:48 PM
I have a problem with the MS Access Find window appearing partially off-screen. I am running multiple monitors, and the monitor that I use to show Visual Basic is of a lower resolution than the other two monitors. The Visual Basic window is running maximized. When I open a Find dialog box, the top half of the dialog box is above the top of the screen, so I have no way of dragging it to where it needs to go.
Win + arrow keys has no effect.
There is nothing on the task bar to represent the Find window.
The only workaround I have is to Restore Down, reopen the Find Dialog box, then do my search.
The dialog box "wants" to always open so that the center of the find dialog box is the same point as the center of the top of the visual basic window when this window is maximized. When the window is not maximized, the find dialog box wants to center itself slightly above the center of whatever monitor the main window is on (mostly).
Moving the dialog box, then closing and opening it results in the dialog box opening right back where it was, even if I shift-click to close it.
I am wondering if my nVidia settings is positioning these windows somehow... I will post a reply about that after I test it a little.
Screenshot:
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Wednesday, February 01, 2012 3:51 PMMy version of the nVidia control panel does not have any options for positioning pop-ups. I thought I saw an option somewhere on this computer, maybe something Microsoft built in, that has some sort of pop-up window manipulation, but I cannot find it.
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Wednesday, February 01, 2012 3:55 PM
Here are some instructions to move an off-screen dialog box back onto the screen, but it does not resolve my issue, as every time I open the dialog box, it is still off-screen partially.
http://seraph3d.blogspot.com/2009/04/lost-your-dialog-box-off-screen.html
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Wednesday, February 01, 2012 9:23 PM
Windows 7 "window-out-of-screen" solution.
If you want to "restore" a window where the Maximise/Restore button is deactivated all you need to do is press your "Show Desktop" button 2 times. You'll find it down in the lover right corner (normaly) beside your clock. What might allso work I would presume is to press WinKey + D 2 times. The WinKey + D is the shortcut key for "Show Desktop".
And as described down in your lower right corner of your screen you should have a small narrow button that looks something like that.
It fixed my problem so I hope it will fix yours as well :D
Even Though You Fall, That Flesh Shall Be Made A New!
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Tuesday, February 28, 2012 12:57 AMThis saved me, too, just now -- thanks!
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Monday, March 12, 2012 8:29 PM
To be able to move a windows over the top you have to deactivate an option: in control panel/ease of access/ease of access center/change how your mouse works, then check:
"Prevent Windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen"
To summarize the rest, there isn't a way to make secondary windows (not linked in the taskbar) display on one other place, but....
- You can move the active window with Alt+ space, then "move", can move with arrows and left arrow brings the window under the mouse control.
- With pressing shift + the red x, to close the windows, this windows will reopen positioned as last time.
-Win+arrows displays windows on the left/right/middle.
-Win+shift+arrows makes the window go to the other display
-By holding shift and right click on the active program in your taskbar you get the old menu. Can move the window and change the display where it's shown. Works only for the primary windows of a program.
- Proposed As Answer by MrQblets Saturday, April 14, 2012 5:08 PM
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Friday, March 23, 2012 1:49 AMFinally a real answer. Thank you very much
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Saturday, April 07, 2012 3:39 AMThis is the only thing that worked for me on Windows 2008 Server Datacenter edition over RDP (remote desktop). I found that I did not have to hold the shift key. Simply right click --> Move then hit up arrow and your window will appear attached to your mouse pointer. Click and it'll place it on your desktop in view.
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Monday, April 09, 2012 4:33 PMYou rock socks!
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Friday, April 13, 2012 8:10 PM
Please let me know if you solved this. I have the exact same issue. I am using dual monitors on an ASUS laptop, which display utilizes the nVidia control panel.
John Humphrey
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Saturday, April 14, 2012 4:27 PM
THANK YOU DAVE for providing this hidden treasure. I can't begin to tell you what a relief this is for me.
My Scenario: I also have a TiVo HD in my ManCave and naturally use my largest, most beautiful monitor for watching the TiVo via the HDMI port. (Bear with me here, there's a very relative solution-specific point in this that I know many other users are sure to find applicable to their setup as well). As this monitor has all three, VGA, DVI-D, and HDMI inputs, it serves as either the primary or extended desktop with at least two of my other machines as well, most of the time. It has been very frustrating to not feel the relaxed spontaneity of just flipping to the HDMI input to begin watching my TiVo while I continue working on my computers without ---all-to-often--- having to interrupt my viewing for long enough to pause, switchover to the applicable machine for long enough to temporarily drag a newly opened window back over onto the other monitor, then switch back to the TiVo to resume that great golf shot or point I was just into.
ALSO ... Although LogMeIn includes the multiple monitor switching button at the top of the session window, this will still be a novel little option to have in my arsenal of tricks during remote computing sessions because of the way that each button press makes great utilization of the 'Snap' feature of W7. This is not so easily accomplished from within a remote session window as the mouse doesn't stop at the edge of the viewable window area of the distant-end machine's that you're controlling, but instead just falls into the inactive, currently unused dark space of your local machine. It takes some real finesse so be able to 'Snap' a window during a remote-control session. Never again!
I'm certain there are many other killer uses for this great new feature and I'm lookin' forward to learning them all ...
Thanks again!
- Edited by MrQblets Saturday, April 14, 2012 4:32 PM
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Tuesday, May 01, 2012 6:46 PMGreat..thanks Dave. This worked perfectly for me. Cool feature.
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Tuesday, May 22, 2012 5:37 PMThanks, Haleabus, that's what worked for me on Win7, though in an unexpected way. I had a non-re-sizable app window that opened with it's top window bar off the top of the screen, so I couldn't drag it. None of the other re-positioning methods posted here worked. Shift/right click brought up the old menu style that has the Move option. When I clicked Move, however, not only did I get the 4 arrow cursor, but also the window was re-positioned to the upper right of my secondary monitor. At least the top bar was exposed and I could drag the window down to where I wanted it! Go figure.
- Proposed As Answer by martianzrus Tuesday, May 22, 2012 5:37 PM
- Unproposed As Answer by martianzrus Tuesday, May 22, 2012 5:38 PM
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Sunday, June 17, 2012 9:32 AM
Thanks Dave - you just saved my morning. Very useful tip
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Friday, August 31, 2012 7:38 AM
off-screen apps - Front And Center
http://weblogs.asp.net/kdente/archive/2008/11/21/new-utility-for-dealing-with-off-screen-apps-front-and-center.aspxthe best solution, this app is great! works for WinSeven
_J -
Tuesday, September 25, 2012 9:04 AMTry the above but choose "restore"!
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Tuesday, October 23, 2012 1:02 AMThis does not work with the Calculator (in Accessories). Or the Sniping Tool when it first opens up in Snip mode. More than likely it doesn't work with other things as well.
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Saturday, December 01, 2012 12:58 AMDave, you're a legend! That's an awesome feature that will be used a million times
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Tuesday, December 04, 2012 3:37 AMDave, you rock.. I have been going nuts for 30 mins and your answer fixed my problem!
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