.indd still doesn't remember page size and position?

[bbriggs820]

I noticed this issue was supposedly fixed in 2019, but I've upgraded to indd 2020 (15.0.2), and still, indd opens full-screen every.damn.time. I spend more time re-sizing my friggin' windows! Having an application remember page size and position from one doc to the next seems fairly elementary.... Anyone have any insight, it would be very appreciated! (I'm on a Mac, Mojave 0.14.3)

[Derek Cross]

Have you tried setting your required details without any documents open then closing and reopening InDesign?

[bbriggs820]

Hi Derek - thanks for your input! I have to have a document open (even a blank one) in order to set a desired size and position, so I can then close and reopen it to see if it remained in the same size and position... unless there's some setting preference (that I just cannot find) that controls page position and size?

[rob day · Accepted solution]

The behavior is different if you have Window>Application Frame turned on. In that case you can size the Application Frame and the frame window size will be remembered. If you have Application Frame turned off the Window (not the document) opens to the available screen dimensions.

The bounds of a window is scriptable. This AppleScript would resize the front window— the bound positions are {top, left, bottom, right}:

tell application id "com.adobe.indesign"
	set bounds of active window to {123, 0, 1400, 1200}
end tell

[Terryfic5]

What about those of us who are running Indesign on Windows? We don't have access to Application Frame.

I use an ultra wide monitor, and everytime I open Adobe Indesign it covers the full screen. It is very aggravating.

[bbriggs820]

Hi there - thanks - That works! It seems I'll have to keep my application frame turned on (which I don't like, but I hate docs opening full screen every time even more!) : )

[rob day]

Do you hate it enough to run a script?

You could set the window to your favorite position and run this script from Apple Script Editor, which will display its bounds:

tell application id "com.adobe.indesign"
	set {a, b, c, d} to bounds of active window
	display dialog "{" & a & ", " & b & ", " & c & ", " & d & "}"
end tell

And this script will open and set the bounds and zoom level of the opened doc. You will have to edit the first line in Apple’s Script Editor to match your bounds, the 2nd line is for the zoom level:

set b to {125, 0, 1400, 1200}
set z to 100

tell application id "com.adobe.indesign"
	set f to choose file with prompt "Open an InDesign Document"
	try
		open f
		set properties of active window to {zoom percentage:z, bounds:b}
	end try
end tell

Save into your scripts folder to run from the scripts panel. you can also assign key commands to scripts

[douglast18036572]

Some of us DOT NOT look under the hood. EVER,

[Sybil23500083q094]

I tried Command-L and it worked. Mac

I opened the indesign file, resized to how I want the window to always open, Command- L, then closed document and quit out of Indesign.

I reopened and it's fixed.

[alex________]

it's 18.2.1 and the problem still continues.

blank document hack not working.
script works once but after restart same same.

application frame su$%&.

any other ideas?

[rob day]

it's 18.2.1 and the problem still continues.

I don’t think InDesign has ever remembered layout window bounds—it happens for me using ID 16 on Mojave.

Now I use this startup JavaScript to force the intial bounds of a document’s layout window to a set position. If you want to try it save the script to Applications⁩ ▸ ⁨Adobe InDesign 2023⁩ ▸ ⁨Scripts⁩ ▸ ⁨startup scripts⁩ and restart InDesign.

#targetengine "session"

//sets the horizontal and vertical space the window occupies
//90% for both horizontal and vertical here:
var hScale = .9
var vScale = .9
var x = 50;
var y = 0;
var sw = $.screens[0].right;
var sh = $.screens[0].bottom;
var w = Math.round ((sw*hScale)-x);
var h = Math.round ((sh*vScale)-y);

app.addEventListener("afterOpen", setWindow);
app.addEventListener("afterNew", setWindow);

function setWindow(e) {
    if (e.parent.constructor.name == "LayoutWindow") {
        app.activeWindow.bounds = [sh-(y+h), x, sh-y, x+w]
    } 
};

Compiled version here:

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/2667e034-0b1f-4fb3-559d-c8a5af7ec790

The layout window after an open or new:

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

I ass/u/me most of this discussion applies to Mac, since Windows doesn't have an "application frame" as far as I know. However, the same problem, more or less, has always happened for me. Close ID, go live some real life, come back... and ID opens to anything but the main window size I left it.

Maybe 17 times out of 20, it's fine. The whole layout appears just as my workspace defines it.

Two times out of 20, the main window fills the whole monitor, extending under the spread of palettes and other windows I have open. (On an ultrawide, so I commonly have a browser open to the right, etc.)

And maybe one time in 20 or less, the main window simply vanishes; it turns to a tiny block with just the three corner icons on it, and it's something of a bear to find and restore. Have to move palettes around to find where it decided to hide, expand it, then restore the workspace.

If there's any cause or pattern to this, I've never found it, and it has applied across a couple of different systems, video and monitor setups, etc. It just... happens.

[rob day]

I ass/u/me most of this discussion applies to Mac, since Windows doesn't have an "application frame"

Hi James, On MacOS with the Application Frame turned off, documents always open with their layout windows filling the main monitor screen, which can be a pain because all of the destop including the Dock is hidden.

The script I posted should work on either OS if you are looking for consistency with the initial position. But the layout window bounds are tricky to script because they depend on the reported screen bounds—$.screens[0] for the main monitor.

[SchmidtH]

The point here is:

InDesign used to remember window sizes, just like Photoshop and Illustrator. At some point, that stopped working and hasn't worked since.
Photoshop can.
Illustrator can.
Only Indesign can't.

Apparently, it's just that the guys programming on InDesign are incapable of fixing this pesky bug. Or they are unwilling. To us paying customers, I find this to be an impertinence.