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Inspiring
November 7, 2012

P: Secondary Window blocks mouse clicks even when closed after switching desktop spaces

  • November 7, 2012
  • 33 replies
  • 2059 views

I've submitted an issue for this with Adobe but, perhaps because of some communication issues, they have reported that they are unable to reproduce the problem. My question to the community is - can anyone else verify the following - using my steps and explanation?

Environment: iMac 27" with only the single monitor.
OS 10.8.2.
Lightroom 4.2

Basic Description of Problem:

After invoking the window for a "second monitor" - which pops up on top of my main display screen, I can close the second window and click on items which were hidden under the second window. If, however, I switch to another "Desktop Space" on the Macintosh and switch back, the area where the second monitor window was located becomes a "dead space" where mouse clicks to select something no longer work.

My current workarounds:

1. Open and close the secondary window again - and the area "covered" by the window will start responding (problem is - you need to do this every time - a pain if you set up something like PhotoShop CS6 and Photomatix in different Desktop Spaces to switch to when processing).

2. Move the window as far as you can off the screen - so the area doesn't overlap anywhere you'd want to click. This works as long as Lightroom is running. If you quit, however, the window position coordinates are updated (even if the window is closed) so the entire window is located within a valid monitor area.

Step-by-Step (somewhat abbreviated since this isn't a QA report forum 😉

1. Launch Lightroom and - just to ensure you're really able to see the issue (and working the way I do) - make sure the display is mostly maximized to fill the monitor.
2. Switch to Library (if not there already) and switch to Grid view.
3. Either click on the icon to open the "secondary display" or - go to the menu option Window>Secondary Display>Show to open the window.
4. Just to make this obvious - if it happens - resize this new window (on top of your main display - remember - I have only the one display) - so large it covers many of the image previews displayed in "Grid" mode.
5. Close (Hide) the secondary window display. Either click the close button - or use the Window menu to deselect "Show".
6. At this point - I can click on images which were previously covered by the secondary window - and my mouse clicks select the images, etc.
7. Switch to another desktop. Use "control + right arrow" or something.
8. Switch back to the desktop space where Lightroom is located.
9. Try clicking on an image in the grid view which was previously covered by the secondary window.

Does it respond? In every case - my mouse clicks fail at this point. It's as if the secondary window - while "closed" - is now masking the main display after switching to another desktop and back.

This topic has been closed for replies.

33 replies

Inspiring
January 18, 2013
Not sure if this is related to the issue I reported or not. There is the one similarity - the comment that you could select some photos but not others. In my case, if I clicked on the second display window (you can also open that from the Window menu by selecting Window>Secondary Display>Show) the area of that "secondary display window" was exactly where my mouse clicks were not responding. Closing that would fix the problem - but the problem would reoccur if I switched to a different "desktop space" - or if I restarted. It was always as if - that "window" was "on top" - even when it was invisible.

As I also stated in my second message, however, despite reporting this problem and getting "can't reproduce it here" from Adobe Technical Support - an update to Lightroom DID fix my problem. I'm currently running release Lightroom version: 4.3 [865747]. You might check to see if you have that version and try upgrading if you don't.

Otherwise - while I have an Airbook and an iMac 27" - I've not attempted to connect the two. So your problem is not something I could test myself.

Hope this helps.
January 17, 2013
Hi,

I tried Lightroom first time and experienced a very annoying problem.

These are the steps:

MacBook Pro 13", I started Lightroom, then I connected my external Monitor via Mini Display to HDMI. I then put the lid down on my macbook pro to use the external monitor only.

At this stage, Lightroom on my monitor did not respond at all, or responded unpredictably to mouse clicks. For Instance, I couldn't click the Metadata section to update metadata in Library module. Or in the Library Grid View, I could click and select some of the photos but not the others. I could however navigate using arrow buttons on the keyboard.

At first, I thought this was to do with me not knowing how to use the application, however, I rebooted my computer (with the external monitor connected and laptop lid down), and then Lightroom worked as expected.

It was a confusing and annoying first encounter with Lightroom for me..

(I perform these exact steps often with my external monitor and macbook and never experienced an issue with other Applications on my mac.)

Anyone else had this issue?

Inspiring
December 20, 2012
I upgraded to the latest release of Lightroom for the Mac - 4.3 - and can confirm this problem was addressed. Even though my problem report with Adobe was closed because support stated they were unable to duplicate the problem - I can only conclude that it was reported elsewhere and fixed as a result. Either that - or support wasn't testing with the version I reported using - and that accounted for why the problem wasn't reproducible for them.

Either way - I'm glad to state I'm no longer affected by this issue.