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nesotericsm1le
Participant
March 15, 2012
Answered

Can't Minimize Lightroom 4 Window?

  • March 15, 2012
  • 7 replies
  • 23860 views

I used to be able to minimize the Lightroom 4 window to the dock on my Mac, but now the minimize button's greyed out. I hit F a couple times and cycled through the different views but this hasn't restored the minimize function, neither has restarting Lightroom. Any suggestions on how to fix this?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Andrew Dyer

    There appear to be 2 or 3 different problems in this thread - buttons missing altogether (press F once or twice), or buttons visible but not working.  So which problem are you having sdeleng, and which LR version and OS?


    Hi. ---> Answer at bottom.

    LR 5.0 / Mac OS X 10.8.4 / iMac 27"

    The LR window is zoomed out, and I can't change the window size.

    The Red, Yellow, Green buttons and the gray application top bar is missing.

    CMD-M minimizes the window, but does not help change the window size.

    I can't grab the top, left, right, bottom or corners of the window. The cursor does change, but I am unable to resize the window.

    The menu option Window / Zoom does nothing.

    once, twice works, but the top bar does not return.

    Restarting the Mac does not help.

    Relaunching LR does not help.

    I quit all other applications.

    When I activate Mission Control, I can see the red/yellow/green buttons and the gray top application bar.

    As I was about to delete the preference files I tried this and it worked!

    [shift] F

    7 replies

    T
    tadmint
    Participant
    June 7, 2017

    Try going to Window > Screen Mode > Normal.

    C
    Captivating_Dolphin01AC
    Known Participant
    August 17, 2015

    Hi just had the same problem on the newest version of LR - just like that there were no red/green/yellow buttons and window would not resize. I am so glad to have found this discussion - the shift-F key worked - had to do it twice. Thank you!!

    akar89705812
    akar89705812
    Participating Frequently
    July 7, 2015

    Alas I was hitting "F" til I thought I would break Keyboard. Thank you andrew dyer. I hit "Shift F" simultaneously and bingo, works.

      C
      Captivating_Dolphin01AC
      Known Participant
      August 17, 2015

      Hi just now had the same problem on the newest version of LR - just like that there were no red/green/yellow buttons and window would not resize. I am so glad to have found this discussion and your answer - the shift-F key worked - had to do it twice. Thank you!!

      H
      HarveyKo
      Participant
      February 14, 2014

      Go to Window>screen mode>normal.

      I have been going crazy all afternoon on this.  Mine was stuck on a second monitor and I couldn't drag it back.

      What a nightmare.

        BartonGarrett256
        BartonGarrett256
        Inspiring
        July 6, 2014

        I had to go to cntrl alt delete and pull up the task manager, when I did that it returned to normal.  The usual fix, entering 'F' which is easy to remember for reasons I can't describe on a family show, did not fix it. Hitting F toggled between two almost identically useless screens, or double imposed the image data onto the image.  I'm very surprised they shipped the fifth release of this SW with a bug this serious in it. 

        Shift F, cntrl F, and lots of permutations of same did nothing.

        The other (well not the only) thing that absolutely irritates me to no end is seeing the tools menu drop off in develop if my cursor gets anywhere close to the little triangle on the right. That is beyond irritating to me. 

        Brett N
        Adobe Employee
        Brett N
        Adobe Employee
        July 7, 2014

        The F key just goes into "Full Screen with Preview" mode. Shift+F cycles through the three Full Screen Modes: Normal, Full Screen with Menu Bar, and Full Screen. You can see which mode you are currently in or "manually" switch between them by going to (while the menus are displayed) Window > Screen Mode.

        If your panels are disappearing as you describe, then you are not in one of the default display modes. Try right-clicking the arrow icon and see which mode that panel is in. The default mode is "Manual", but it sounds like you have one of the "Auto..." modes engaged.

        M
        missyruns54
        Inspiring
        May 3, 2013

        I am also having this problem with the minimize (yellow) dot grayed out:

        I cannot minimize the LR window at all, even from the Window menu:

        The minimize choice is grayed out, but cmdM doesn't work either - like the entire function is disabled.  I'm on Mac OS X 10.8.3 and LR 4.4, Camera Raw 7.4.

        Any ideas?  This is really annoying.

        I tried to include screen shots, but they don't show up here.  Any help with that first?  DOH!

        M
        missyruns54
        Inspiring
        May 3, 2013

        I am running LR on 2 machines, both with the same version of Mac OS X 10.8.3 and LR 4.4.   Minimize is disabled on one and not the other. 

        Are there library files I could delete and have recreated upon startup?  If so, what are their names?

        Should I reinstall LR completely? 

        FYI, I was having a lot of trouble with this machine.  After many many many rounds with Apple support/geniuses, etc, we reinstalled the OS.   This was not a reformat and clean install, but just a reinstall over top of the current configuration.  The reinstall fixed the other problems I was having (iMovie).  I can't quite remember, but I think I had this problem before the reinstall.  Perhaps it was introduced by the OS reinstall.

        Any suggestions?

        W
        wks
        Participant
        February 6, 2013

        Still having the problem of not being able to minimize Lightroom intermittently, but most of the time. Minimize is greyed out and command M does not work. Have to quit Lightroom to close the window.

        Lightroom 4.3 on Mac Pro running 10.8.2. Restarting Mac does not solve the issue, nor does restarting Lightroom. Also tried relaunching the finder. Any other ideas? Thanks!

        Brett N
        Adobe Employee
        Brett N
        Adobe Employee
        February 12, 2013

        Can you post a screen shot of what Lightroom looks like? Just curious to see why Minimize, of all things, is not available to you. I'm assuming that other applications minimize without issue.

        Brett N
        Adobe Employee
        Brett N
        Adobe Employee
        March 15, 2012

        Is only the Minimize button grayed out? Do the Quit (red X) and Resize (Green +) still work correctly?

        pmsherman42
        pmsherman42
        Participating Frequently
        March 28, 2012

        I have the same issue with Win7 x64 I don't even see the Minimize, Maximize or X as well as I can't even grab the top bar and move it to the other monitor. It's like it's opened in some sort of Modal window. Of course this is the trial.

        dj_paige
        dj_paige
        Legend
        March 28, 2012

        Press F once or twice

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