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A
Anonymous
June 15, 2009
Question

CS4, FM 9, two monitors ... luxury problem!

  • June 15, 2009
  • 3 replies
  • 1511 views

Two monitors, given all the pods and panels that now enrich the user-experience, is not a luxury; I appreciate, however, having managed to persuade my benevolent employers to let me have the second one.

The slight problem, though, is that when I have (say) Illustrator and FrameMaker open, switching from one to the other in the main monitor makes no difference to the pods displayed in the secondary monitor. So, for instance, I bring Illustrator to the front and still have a pod offering Conditional Text, Anchored Frame, Attributes and so on. Does anyone know if it's possible to make all the pods from the 'background' application tidily disappear?

As far as I know, I'm running a corporate tweak of XP ...

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    3 replies

    Arnis Gubins
    Arnis Gubins
    Inspiring
    June 15, 2009

    I'm using a multi-monitor setup as well. FWIW, I find that if I minimize my application (clicking on the "_" in the upper right of the window), then the pods disappear.

    A
    Anonymous
    June 15, 2009

    I've run across a few monitor utils recently that might be able to deal with this; although I have 2 x 24" LCDs I've been guilty of being lazy and only using one recently so I haven't tried any of the utils. Must not be working hard enough.... Although knowing whether the utils could manage specifically with the Adobe-style pods would definitely require testing.

    here's one:

    http://www.ntwind.com/software/windowspace.html

    http://weblogs.asp.net/rweigelt/archive/2009/01/18/6844110.aspx

    in one of the comments somebody mentioned:

    http://www.winsplit-revolution.com/home

    A
    Art Campbell
    Inspiring
    June 15, 2009

    And depending on what kind of graphics card is in use, you may already have a desktop switching utility on board.

    NVidia (which I love, but that's off-topic) includes a utility with their software package that sets up multiple desktops on both monitors, so you can have a FM desk and an AI desk and just switch back and forth.

    Art

    A
    Anonymous
    June 17, 2009

    Thanks, Arnis – minimising the first app. window instead of just making the second one active was the tip I needed.

    Art – I've used multiple desktops on my Linux box and my parnter's Mac, but didn't realise there was any chance of having them on W*ws. I'll explore farther; thanks for the information.

    N

    Van Kurtz
    Van Kurtz
    Inspiring
    June 15, 2009

    I also run those two apps at the same time on two monitors. Yes, the pods for the background app do not disappear. I do not know whether there is anything in Windows that one can set to get the behavior you want. On the Mac, one can hide background apps; but do not know if there is something comparable in Windows. I just make sure I am clicking in the correct pod.

    You might try setting it up so that Frame's main window is on one monitor and Illustrator's main window is on the other monitor. Then put each app's pods on its opposite monitor. Then at least the pods will not be overlapping; and it will be easier to distinguish between pods and the background document window. You can force an app to open its window on the other monitor by UN-maximizing it, moving the window to the other monitor, and then maximizing it. The next time you start the app, it opens on the other monitor.

    If you, or anyone else, finds a way to hide background apps, please let me know.

    Van

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