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Inspiring
Jun 21, 2017 11:09 PM UTC
Answered

Resize Photoshop window that’s too big or off screen

I have this recurring problem with Photoshop, and possibly with the other CS applications too. Whenever I disconnect my 27-inch LG UltraFine 5K, Photoshop's window ends up being too large to show its grab-able title bar. I have not been able to figure how to solve this problem. It happens all the time, unless you purposely move Photoshop to the smaller MacBook monitor and resize it before quitting the application.

No zooming or toolbar reset or anything else will reset the window to its proper window boundaries.

Anyone have any ideas?

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Tim VenturaCorrect answer
Participating Frequently
Dec 4, 2018 8:34 PM UTC

Click the Green Button on top of the window. If you can't see the green button, press the "F" key to put it into full screen - then press the Green Button.
Note that when you just press the F key, you do get Full Screen but it is not resizable.

60 replies

Participating Frequently
Nov 16, 2018 4:39 PM UTC

After updating InDesign to CS2019, the window was way off the bottom, leaving no way to resize it.  My screen Display Settings is set on 125% because that's where I get the best resolution for my needs.  So I reset the Display Settings to 100%, relaunched InDesign and it fit the window.  Then I grabbed the corner and made it way smaller. I quit the program, reset my Display Settings to 125% and when I relaunched the program window the was at the way too small size and I was able to resize it to the way I like it.

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jaisfotos
Participant
Oct 11, 2018 2:55 AM UTC

Click on the dark gray bar of the photoshop (just below the silver mac menu bar)  on the top of the window, then drag to the right. This will bring the red yello and green circles that we use to manage the window.

I had the exact same scenario and problem, and just figured out how can re-size window.

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Participant
Sep 4, 2018 12:49 AM UTC

Place your curser on the top of your window and gently move it until you see it become a double ended arrow. Then use the arrow to minimize your screen from the top by moving the top of the screen down. When your screen has become shortened enough,  then pull the window up toward the top of screen. This allows you to become able see the bottom edge of your window.

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Apr 9, 2021 1:31 PM UTC
This didn't work for me, but when I hovered over the top right corner and used the arrow there it worked. We were all trained to pull from the bottom right corner for 30 years.
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robbiia
Participant
Jun 28, 2018 8:17 AM UTC

Guys, I had this problem:

All corners were off the screen.

Shift and resize DID NOT work for me.

Heres what you can do:

-  Go to System Preferences

-  Click "Displays"

-  Change the "Resolution" to "Scaled"

-  Choose "More Space"

You will see tiny text and windows on your screen and you can resize then reset your screen resolution after.

This worked for me.

Hope it helps someone else.

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Participating Frequently
Aug 6, 2018 8:24 PM UTC

Robbiia:

Thank you.  That did it for me.

I'm stunned to image what idiot designed and wrote PS so that it doesn't have any means to resize the main window to the size of the current display.  Instead they idiotically draw all of the operating system window management controls off the screen. They ignorantly assume that the size of the window from the last time you launched it would be the same next time.  It never occurred to Adobe that people might have a large monitor one minute and laptop screen the next -- hard to believe they are in the graphics business with such naiveté.

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Mikael J. Boson
Participant
Nov 15, 2018 10:47 AM UTC

It's the same in all adobe CC software I believe. I use "more space" always and now I got a After Effects project open that I can't scale down the window on. Adobe should put a "maximize to screen" button under window and problem is solved.

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Robert The Editor
Participating Frequently
Feb 22, 2018 7:58 PM UTC

I know this is a super late response but posting for anyone else having issues in the future. This has worked for me: If you hold down SHIFT while dragging any edge of the window you are trying to fix, it'll scale evenly from all sides and bring it back to how you had it.

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Participant
May 3, 2018 5:36 PM UTC

PERFECT – Thanks, Robantace

Your solution above is the only one that worked for me. Simple answer to a problem that I tried for over 2 hours to fix.

THE PROBLEM

How to resize your Photoshop Window when the bottom is off the screen?

THE SOLUTION

Hold down SHIFT while dragging any edge of the window you are trying to fix, it'll scale evenly from all sides and bring it back to how you had it.

I could not make all the others work.

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Participant
Jun 1, 2018 6:10 PM UTC

Thanks - I have been having this problem and you helped me fix it!! Excellent answer!!

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Participant
Jan 17, 2018 3:57 PM UTC

I'm on a Mac running the latest CC version. Double-click on the top bar (3 grey dots are at far left) and it resizes the PS window to fill the entire screen. That, paradoxically, allows you to grab the lower corner and resize the window.

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Participant
Dec 6, 2017 1:32 AM UTC

Here is a workaround when moving from cinema display back to laptop screen if you have forgotten to decrease window size before moving. Save work and quit PS - then when you re-open PS, hit the green "+" circle at top left of opening dialogue window (the "application frame"). This will reset that window to fit the current screen - and the subsequent window of the file that you open will also be set to this window size. Cool?

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Participant
Dec 20, 2017 8:30 PM UTC

Re: my answer above - you don't need to quit the app first - just hit the green circle

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Participant
Oct 9, 2017 9:42 PM UTC

It is now Oct of 2017 and just installed the latest PS CC and I am having the same issue with a dialogue box being off screen.  In my case it is the export as function.  I was running 3 monitors and now have a temporary setup with one and none of the solutions I have found has resolved the problem (see update at bottom).  A solution and certainly an easy way to reset these boxes should have long been included.  It is unacceptable that I pay $600/yr and I can't reach a box that has been a long dated problem for many, esp in an environment where many people are running more and higher rez displays.  Adobe you are welcome to compensate me for my last lost 2 hours working to fix this.  What I did resembled what was mentioned above for Mac - I have a PC, so it went like this for me - crtl+T, then alt, then cntl+enter.  A dialogue box should appear, not all of the buttons were available in my case, but move was.  I chose move and got the move tool mouse icon.  Then, using only the arrow keys try to get the box to appear on your workspace.  It has stayed put where I moved it so I hope that "fixes" this for now.  A more eloquent approach would be welcome in the PS updates, just a thought.  

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rayek.elfin
Legend
Jun 22, 2017 7:21 PM UTC

MacOSX has terrible windows management. To mitigate this, install Spectacle, and use a quick keyboard shortcut to control Photoshop's window. Spectacle is free.

 

[removed]

 

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Inspiring
Jul 18, 2017 4:26 PM UTC

That command T series of keystrokes is pretty onerous. And adding another app like Spectacle should not be necessary.

MacOS does not have terrible window management, it's Adobe who doesn't adhere to any windowing standards, i.e. try to "Hide Window," that's to blame.

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rayek.elfin
Legend
Jul 18, 2017 7:39 PM UTC

michaelt94901112  wrote

That command T series of keystrokes is pretty onerous. And adding another app like Spectacle should not be necessary.

MacOS does not have terrible window management, it's Adobe who doesn't adhere to any windowing standards, i.e. try to "Hide Window," that's to blame.

Things have improved a little bit in Sierra, but it is still far from optimal. For example, no snapping like Windows 10.

But to put this into perspective, I think Windows' window management falls in the "reasonable" category. Before Windows 8/10 it was "bad".

Whether I work on Windows or Mac, I always bring a couple of additional utilities with me to improve things.

But at this point native Windows 10 does it "better" in this regard than native Mac Sierra ("reasonable" versus "terrible").

That is why I categorize Sierra's window management as "terrible" - my opinion. In particular when working with multiple screens.

*Edit* - I did a bit more reading up for Sierra, and I discovered a number of interesting tricks I wasn't aware of.

I now regard Sierra's window management no longer as "Terrible", but as "Bad".

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WILDCAT54
Inspiring
Jun 22, 2017 5:27 PM UTC

Not sure if this a great solution but I have noticed wen I am working on a project, I can hit command+T, press option and then command+enter and then enter once more and that'll bring up the restore dialog box to resize the application.

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