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Inspiring
September 27, 2018

P: macOS 10.14 - title bar disappears on entering full screen (sometimes)

  • September 27, 2018
  • 22 replies
  • 1512 views

Open Lightroom Classic 7.5 on MacOS 10.14 and click on green button to fo full-screen. Sometimes the title bar disappears (i.e. there is no "Lightroom Catalog.lrcat - Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic - Library" or red, orange, green buttons. To exit full screen you have to elect from the menu bar Window -> Exit Full Screen.

This only started happening after upgrading to 10.14 on Monday.

This topic has been closed for replies.

22 replies

powerful_ease0D4C
Participant
December 6, 2023

this worked for me! thanks! 

Rikk Flohr_Photography
Community Manager
June 16, 2020
Version 9.3, an update to Lightroom Classic, went live on June 15, 2020 and contains a fix for this issue. Please install the update and respond back if it does not cure the issue for you. Thank you for your patience!
Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org
Participating Frequently
October 12, 2019
I appreciate your efforts, Edmund. I think part of the problem here is that my post was merged with the wrong post. There is at least one other post someone else created where we are actually talking about Lightroom changing desktops/spaces. The titlebar hiding is a result of that. There have been a few suggestions that have been tried. 

There are desktops and there are spaces on desktops, or more specifically, monitors/displays. I have an iMac with two external monitors attached and I use several Spaces on each of those. I can have several apps open or just Lightroom.

I have Lightroom set to open up in space two of my main, iMac, desktop. (You do that by right clicking the icon on the dock and choosing the desktop under options.)
I've gotten to the point where I will go to that space before I open Lightroom just to make sure that's where it goes. I can see everything, the Lightroom menubar is up against the top like it should be in full screen. As long as I am working on that it's fine. But then, unfortunately occasionally not all the time, when I switch to another desktop or a space on the same desktop Lightroom will jump there in restored mode (not full screen). Then it can be a disaster to get it back and I have to quite Lightroom and start over. 

Of course I've tried not setting the options and back. Numerous attempts to try things and get it to work but it still does it. 

Lightroom is the only app that does it and it  does it on my MacBook as well which I only use Spaces on. This has nothing to do with any keys being pressed. BTW, I have Mission Control on the dock plus a hot corner set up to access the difference Spaces.

On top of this I have had the problem of Lightroom will actually kick me out of that space and I can't access it. 

And I know it's been doing this since at least Lightroom 6. I can't recall if it was the first release of v6 or an upgrade.
Inspiring
October 12, 2019
Thanks for the response, SMXSteve. That's odd to me, though. I'm dealing specifically with your original problem, described as: "For years Lightroom has randomly changed desktops on a Mac (not sure about Windows). Then you lose the top part of the screen forcing you to quit and reload."

I'm not sure what could cause LR to randomly change desktops (I haven't observed that, and can't reproduce it on my system). Changing desktops on a Mac, AFAIK, involves using their Spaces feature. You either click on the green button in an app window's title bar, or press Control-Up Arrow or Fn-F3 to get the Mission Control view of all desktops, so you can move an app from its existing desktop (or space).

If your issue is not related to that, then it means for some reason the size of the app window becomes larger than your desktop (and your issue is not the same problem as described on this older thread that yours has been merged with). In that case, maybe someone else can suggest how to resolve that. I've only seen that happen on Windows (where an app stores the last window dimensions & location when it was closed, and the window was extended in error beyond the desktop edge, causing the title bar to disappear). Maybe it might involve clearing the LR preferences file, but check online for how to do it and what you should take note of (in case you need to re-configure your LR Preferences).

Or, it could be something as simple as you've pressed the F key in error which displays the current photo in fullscreen mode without any title bar, in which case you press either the F or Esc keys to return to the normal view. If it's this, that's not a bug: it's a feature.

Hope this helps...
Participating Frequently
October 12, 2019
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be helping, they just look like old complaints after a while...
Victoria Bampton LR Queen
Community Expert
Community Expert
October 12, 2019
Merging threads is for your benefit Steve. The number of votes affects prioritization in the internal bugbase, so merging the threads here merges the votes too.
Victoria - The Lightroom Queen
Participating Frequently
October 12, 2019
It's been so long I can't remember if it started before Lightroom 6. I'm pretty sure it did as I was hoping v6 would fix it. So then I decided to pay the monthly fee and that didn't fix it either...

Your workaround doesn't work for me but after watching your video I can't tell if we have the same issue. For me when I try to put it back on the specific desktop or space I can't use it because the entire top of the screen is too far into the top and I can't reach the menu, etc. Full screen won't do anything at that point. Maybe I'll take a video and post. 

But that's also the point and frustration, it happens too often. 
Inspiring
October 12, 2019
I only started to experience fullscreen issues with LR after I upgraded to macOS Mojave (so find it interesting you've been experiencing it for years - I never experienced it before Mojave, and I've been using LR on macOS since Mountain Lion).

If you want a workaround that does NOT involve restarting LR, then read my response on the following link. It sounds as if you are describing the same problem in that thread, and need to learn about macOS's Spaces feature: https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/side-panels-erratically-overlay-import-dialog...

Hope this helps...

Participating Frequently
October 11, 2019
Apparently Adobe chooses to hide this problem. I wrote a new post that it still happens even with all the new updates and it was "merged" with this post. Some say they never have this problem. I suppose those of us who utilize the capabilities of our Macs with multiple displays, desktops (or spaces whatever they are called), run multiple apps etc. I don't know. But a lot of us have had this problem for years and Adobe chooses to ignore it. It boggles the mind, forty years ago we had to tweak our computers to make them work - we still do!
Participating Frequently
October 11, 2019


What is it going to take for Adobe to actually fix a major problem?! For years Lightroom has randomly changed desktops on a Mac (not sure about Windows). Then you lose the top part of the screen forcing you to quit and reload. Why do we have to spend time dealing with this - JUST FIX IT!  It's the only app I have on the Mac that does this. All you have to do is switch to a different desktop, space, monitor, whatever and it follows you. It's done it with every release of OS. It's time!