Hi I am using Photoshop with a powerbook G4 which is sometimes hooked up to a Lacie monitor to have dual monitors and sometimes I am just using the G4. My problem is that dialogs that were last opened on the Lacie window still ‘open’ on the lacie window even though it isn’t connected which makes the program unusable because it is awaiting a response on the screen that isn’t connected. I have to force quit and avoid any dialog windows I know will cause this. My only work around is to hook it back up to the Lacie and drag the window over to the G4 screen and save. But I don’t always have access to the Lacie to solve this. The screen that caused this problem for me was the Keyboard shortcuts dialog. I know in After Effects there is a keyboard shortcut called Center window on screen will solves this problem but does this feature exist in Photoshop? Help Pete
The location of palettes, dialog boxes, windows, etc., is stored in Photoshop’s preferences file.
You could delete the preferences file before relaunching Photoshop in a different monitor configuration, forcing Photoshop to build a fresh, default preferences file that will show everything on your main monitor when you re-launch the application..
How about the next time you are working on the two monitor system you move the image to the G4 and arrange your palettes on that computer screen and save the workspace then do the same with your two monitor setup and save that workspace with a different name. Then you could choose which workspace you require.
I don’t know but it seems to me that they appear on top of your image rather than palettes if you use a two monitor system with the secondary relegated to palettes so it should work out.
If you move a given dialog box to the second monitor, it will always open there by default every single time you invoke that command. I have most of my dialog boxes set up that way, precisely to keep them away from my image.
Because you can move dialog boxes at any time after saving a workspace, I didn’t think it will work. I did a quick test, albeit without re booting, and found that the saved workspace(s) have no say in where the dialog boxes open.
Even my Open dialog box opens entirely on my second monitor.
I just checked: changing workspaces does not change the position of dialog boxes. Not even invoking "Reset Palette Locations" moves the dialog boxes back to the main monitor.
Under these circumstances, creating different workspaces won’t help the original poster. He’s going to have to resort to deleting his preference files after all.
Whoops! I just tried out your observed behavior, saved a one monitor setup with the open dialog on the second monitor and turned off the second monitor. It is just as you say. However, if Pete had his dialogs open on top of his PowerBook, the two workspaces would be a solution for his basic problem…wouldn’t it?
If he’s using the Powerbook as the second monitor and remembers to keep ALL his dialog boxes open there (a highly unlikely proposition), yes, it would work. The problem would reappear the moment he opens a seldom used dialog box on the LaCie monitor for a second or two and forgets to move it over to the Powerbook’s screen before closing it.
Methinks he’s better off just trashing his preferences file, or re-setting preferences upon startup with the key combo (which escapes me right now).
Thanks for the input. I guess trashing my preferences would be the only way to go unfortunately, but at least it is a last resort solution. I guess it is time to ask for this as a feature request from Adobe. Thanks again Pete
