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Participant
February 11, 2020
Answered

InDesign workspace window is off screen

  • February 11, 2020
  • 27 replies
  • 70641 views

I was using InDesign at work with my laptop connected to my fancy new superwide monitor. Then I came home and tried to open the same files on my laptop without the superwide monitor. The workspace windows are apparently opening up offscreen where I can't see or grab them. I've tried changing the resolution, but can't go small enough to pull the windows into view. I've done a lot of searches on the topic but nothing seems to help or reset the windows and all the solutions provided are from at least a year ago. Any other suggestions?

 

[Moving from generic Start/Help forum to the specific Program forum... Mod]
[To find a forum for your program please start at https://community.adobe.com/]

 
 
 
 

 

Correct answer villainess

Sharing this particular solution in case it helps someone because this issue was driving me nuts. In InDesign 18.3 (2023), on Mac Studio, Mac Studio Display, the document window (left, bottom) is always off-screen when I open a file. I don't use the Application Frame because it constricts my workflow, but I did try toggling on and off. Didn't help. I can click the green button to make the window fit the entire screen, but if I try to adjust it smaller/narrower, it jumps off the screen again.
By accident (actually by a fit of anger TBH), I found that if I fit to screen and then grab that bottom right corner, I could then keep my mouse clicked-down and move in a counter-clockwise motion, with kind of a large circle, and the corner would follow and I was able to make the window not as wide. I like free-wheeling movable palettes that aren't stuck to anything, so I like to keep a small open section on the far right of my screen for palettes.
I know this is late, but this issue was so frustrating, and I was so happy to find a solution, I just wanted to add it here in case anyone else was looking for a solution to the same problem.

27 replies

Participant
September 28, 2021

My paragraph styles dialogue box was the issue, its a tall one... and all I can see is the bottom of it on my alt monitor. None of the above options fixed the issue. The only thing that worked was going back to the previous monitor! Adobe lets get this fixed. My AD isn't stoked I found another reason to head home early... Here are a couple low hanging fruit solutions:

 

- What about a simple 'gather pallettes' option?

- Ability to grab pallettes from all four corners?

Ashutosh_Mishra
Inspiring
October 4, 2021

Hi there,

 

Sorry to hear about your experience. You may try the InDesign Prerelease build by following the steps on this community post & see if that helps with your concern.

 

Regards,

Ashutosh

Participant
October 24, 2021

I am not able to move this panal. Even if I repopen indesign, it comes at same position. Please help.

 

Participant
April 6, 2021

I found my color window to be off the screen and I couldn't get it back.  I had tried resetting the workspace and adjusting my resolutions as advised but no luck. 

 

What worked for me, on Windows 10 Pro

 

  • Open InDesign - fullscreen
  • Open the color window
  • Right-clicking on the WINDOWS taskbar
  • Select "Show windows side by side"

 

Good Luck!

Participating Frequently
July 22, 2021

@adobe make a simple pull-down menu to fix this.

 

Apple native apps have Window>Zoom that fits the application window to screen.

 

The above suggestions do not work

  • The green resize button off screen
  • Reset workspace pull-down is also off screen
  • Window > Application frame just explodes my workspace and is still off screen

 

Please provide a pull-down menu like Mac OS across all CS apps.

Community Expert
July 23, 2020

If you're on a Windows laptop try this:

 

Press the Windows+Up Arrow keys to Maximize the window. This should pop the entire InDesign document window to fullscreen on your laptop screen. Don't reduce it though, without hooking up to your external monitor unless you don't want to see it and go through this all over again. Alas, there's no exact equivalent in MacOS, but you can try Option+Spacebar keys and see if it works for your Mac laptop. It may, but it's more of a crapshoot.

 

Good luck,

 

Randy

Participant
June 10, 2020

My workspace was completely off the screen while using InDesign on my macbook pro. (It happened after disconnecting from a larger display monitor.)

I've been searching for an answer and this just worked for me  - In InDesign go to Window and make sure Application Frame is unchecked.  Once I did this the application window popped back in where I was able to resize it.

Hope this helps!

 

-amy

Inspiring
June 22, 2020

Will remember this next time. I restarted the InDesign and that worked too. Thanks!

Barb Binder
Community Expert
Community Expert
June 2, 2020

Kelwells: please provide a screenshot, along with your operating system and the version of InDesign that you are using.

 

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
David Popham
Participating Frequently
February 12, 2020

Very frustrating when that happens. Try the following:

 

1. If you're on a Mac, make sure that InDesign's application window is fitted to your screen by clicking on the green "+" button in the upper left.

2. Reset your preferred workspace by clicking on the workspace button and selecting "Reset WorkspaceName". For example, if you're using the Essentials Workspace, select Reset Essentials.

3. If that still doesn't work, try resetting your monitor resolution to any setting, then changing it back to the current setting.

kelwells
Participant
June 2, 2020

Neither of these optins worked for me. Resetting the workspace made the tool bars and such disappear, assumingly to the wherever the rest of inDesign is at

David Popham
Participating Frequently
June 2, 2020

Can you provide a screenshot of your desktop with InDesign as the active application so that we can get a better idea of what might be happening?

Barb Binder
Community Expert
Community Expert
February 12, 2020

Try maximizing the window:

  • Mac: click the green circle in the top left
  • Windows: double click the title bar

~Barb

 

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
kelwells
Participant
June 2, 2020

I am having the same issues. There is no top bar with the colored circle to close or minimize.