Cannot specify which is my "Secondary" monitor.

[rhadobe@hoagy]

I have 3 monitors attached to a Mac Pro running Lightroom 2.7.

When I enable the Secondary Monitor view feature of Lightroom, it uses the monitor far to my left when I want it to use my calibrated monitor to my right.  Any idea how to tell Lightroom to use the other monitor as the Secondary Monitor?

Thanks,

-Ryan.

[WesternGuy]

I believe that you have to tell your graphics software which monitor is which.  I am running two monitors under Win 7 using an NVIDA graphics card that handles two monitors, and I had to indicate to the NVIDIA software which monitor was which, before I could tell Lightrrom which one was my second monitor.  I do not believe that there is a way to do this from within Lightroom.  If you are using two monitors, you can swap them using Lightroom, but I do not believe that there is a way to initially specify which is Monitor 1 and which is Monitor 2 and if you have 3 monitors, then I am not sure how Lightroom deals with this as I understand that it can only deal with two monitors.  Maybe you can use the swapping to get things the way you want them - don't know.

If anyone else has any further insight, then please jump in so we can all learn how this works - currently, Ryan,  you have my understanding of how it works, or at least  how it works for me.  HTH.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

[dorin_nicolaescu]

Press Shift+F11 to turn off Full Screen mode for the second window. Drag the second window to whatever monitor you like and press Shift+F11 again. It should stick to that window for the future, I think.

[rhadobe@hoagy]

This (Shift+F11) is an excellent idea, but it didn't work.  No matter  where I put the second window, the full-screen version always goes to  the left monitor.

Under OS X, there is no way (as far as I know) to change the monitor enumeration.

Any other ideas?-Ryan.

[Jasonized-nfnCsn]

No way to change innumeration?  Hmm... I think you mean position of monitors (L,M,R)?

If you go to system preferences, monitors, you can drag the monitors around to show position, right?  I would probably try cabling the monitors differently, and moving them in the display prefernce so the mouse still works. :}

Don't know if it'll help, or you've already tried it, but couldn't hurt!

Cheers!

[rhadobe@hoagy]

No it's really the enumeration of the displays that matters.

I've tried swapping the L and R monitors as they plug into the GPUs, but OS X still enumerates the left monitor as monitor #2 (out of the set [2,1,3]).  Then Lightroom just blindly believes that monitor #2 is the "secondary display".

So if swapping the GPUs that these monitors plug into doesn't fix the problem, I think we can deduce that OS X enumerates the monitors based on the DDC data, not on which GPU they are plugged into or how they are arranged.  The exception being that the monitor with the menu bar on it is always monitor #1.

Any other ideas for how to make Lightroom use a third monitor as the "secondary display"?

-Ryan.

[rogéz]

sounded like a great solution, but no, lightroom chooses the wrong monitor again when switching to full screen. Windows itselves also has no workaround. Adobe shame on you, making your software more expensive every year and doing nothing at issues that are lasting for years for your professional users. Lightroom could be one of your top applications like Photoshop, if you would do any effort to rewrite it.

[Scott Masterton]

... and still an issue, thanks Adobe for all your help and input on helping people solve this...

[Seslar]

☹️ 10/10/19 and still no fix.

[cb53078566]

  Put lightroom on the monitor you are editing on, then go to windows display settings disconnect the monitor that your second display its showing up on.  Go back to lightroom and enbale second display and it will show up on the correct second monitor.  Finally, go back to windows display settings and enable third monitor.  BOOM. fixed.  I know, I know.... adobe should have a option to choose monitors, but they don't. 

[2m]

Hi,

I have the same/a similar problem unter windows7. It seems Lightroom always uses the second display of the primary gpu, the shift+F11 helps somehow, but the window cannot be maximized other than by using the keyboard shortcut again, but then it is switching back to the "wrong" monitor. I'd much prefer a "normal" window for the secondary display, that way it I could use it any way I like...

[ambienttroutmask]

Under windows just drag the main window to whichever monitor you want, the secondary display will then switch. This should remain sticky. Set your main and secondary display in either control panel or in your graphics drivers, depending on how you have initially set up your display.

[2m]

Thank you very much Pete,

But I think that I didn't make myself clear. Im running 4 displays on my machin:e two 24"-inch main-displays, one wacom-cintiq and a fourth smaller but quite color-true 19" one.

I like to run the main-displays on the primary ports of my GPUs and the additiional ones as secondarys on each card, so that i can disable the additional displays if not needed and use the most GPU-power in 3D apps on the larger monitors.

I can't find a way to convince Windows (or the catalyst drivers - and don't get me sarted there....) to see the displays in any other order then the given one. (1 for GPU1 first display, 2 for GPU1 second display, 3 for GPU2 first display an 4 for GPU2 second display). I can promote whichever display to main-display (in a OS-sense of things) but as it seems Lightroom is not able to use any other combination of displays than one and two - or three and four.

I'm happy with display 1 as main display for Lightroom, but I would like to use display 3 as secondary Lightroom display most of the time, without crawling under the table and messing up my display-settings. But for retouching or color proofing sometimes the other displays would be great to be used too.I can somehow achive that by disabling displays in the OS settings, but that isn't very user-friendly and I#m hoping for a better solution.

ta

M

[streak_viper]

+1 for the issue, but on a Mac.

Moving the secondary window to a different monitor and re-maximizing it doesn't make it stick, it just goes back to the monitor to the left of my main, regardless of what monitor that is (so if I rearrange the monitors in system settings it always appears on the monitor it thinks is to the left of monitor 1). Why is there no way around this???

[Guest]

+1 for me as well.  Very irritating adding a 3rd display.

Would be nice to pick the display to use as secondary.  Adobe... will we see a fix?

[getho]

anyone figured out a fix for this on win7? moving the 2ndary display window does not work.  It looks like lightroom is picking monitor #3 as my 2ndary monitor!  cant see how to change the number of the monitor in windows, either

[ExactImage]

Me too..... secondary always goes to monitor 3 when going full screen 

[rjstoneus]

+1 for same issue on a Mac. I have 3 monitors arranged something like

[-2-][-1-]

   [3]

For some reason it always picks 3, even though 1 and 2 are plugged into the graphics card and 3 is on a DisplayLink USB adapter.

[Guest]

+1 for same issue on Win 7x64, LR 3.5

I have 3 monitors, arranged as:   17”, 24”, 24” running off a single AMD card DVI, DVI, DisplayPort.  Catalyst lables them as #3, #2, #1

The centre 24” inch is primary, and holds the main LR window.  Unfortunately the secondary LR window (loupe view) INSISTS on using the small 17” monitor on the left.

I have swapped around cables, swapped the two 24” (DVI vs DisplayPort), changed the AMD Catalyst arrangement by dragging around the monitors, etc, to no avail.

I have moved around the LR windows and can ‘fool’ LR by temporarily placing the main LR window on the 17”, then dragging it to the 24”, and the loupe view stays on the other 24” inch UNTIL LR loses focus, then its back on the 17” again!  Ie NOT Sticky.

I really, really hope Adobe resolve this in LR4

[gabe.mihu]

Actually this is the only temporary solution I could also find. Move the main window on the left monitor, second window appears on the right monitor, move the main window back on the center monitor.

As stated, it does not hold.

I guess I'll just have to move my monitors around, although I hate doing that, as it messes up my setup.

[Gavin Farrington]

+1 for the same issue on Win7.

Workaround 1: Uncheck "Full Screen" mode (Shift F11,) drag the "secondary" panel to whatever screen you want it on, and size it to take up the entire screen.  Not ideal, but for me as long as I never go to full screen mode it will stay put and remember the location and size.

Workaround 2: On my setup, LR always wants to make the secondary screen the one to the immediate left of the current main window.  My layout is three screens, L M R.  If I put the main window on M, secondary goes to L.  If I put the main window on L, secondary goes to R (it wraps like PacMan.)  If I put the main window on R, secondary goes to M.

For full details on my adventures with ennumeration and port-swaps, read on...

From left to right, Windows thinks my display order is 2, 1, 3.  I want LR on displays M & R (currently 1 & 3) but the secondary goes to display L (currently 2.) I used the catalyst software to "swap" desktops such that the numbering changed to 3, 1, 2, but LR still puts the secondary in the same physical location (display L, now #3.)

Undeterred I uninstalled and disconnected the little display that I don't want involved in the LR game at all.  I restarted the machine just on displays M & R.  With some dismay, I notice that Windows has reset the numbering that I had previously changed, and now displays M & R are back to showing 1 & 3, even though there is no display 2.

OK so perhaps the numbering assignment is happening at some lower level regardless of tweaks made in the driver, and I need to mess with the ports?  (Years ago this was a real thing.)

I start rearranging cables.  Display 1 is M just as I want it.  I move the cable for display 3 to the port that 2 was on previously.  Now display R is #2 just as I want it.  I reconnect the final monitor to my last remaining DVI port, and hurray it comes up as display 3!

Now the order is a natural (not driver-tweaked) 3, 1, 2.  I launch LR, hit F11, and to my horror guess where the secondary window goes?  You guessed it.  #3 in the L position.  I'm thinking, "damn, LR sure has a crush on little screen!"

At this point it must be something else.  I start toying with the position of the secondary screen relative to the main screen, and that's when I come up with the info in my "Workaround 2" shown above.

Hope this is helpful for someone.

Adobe, please let us assign screens within LR!

[getho]

has this been fixed in LR4?

[Gavin Farrington]

Hi Getho.  My post just above yours is about LR4.  Sorry.

[gabe.mihu]

True, it always goes to the monitor on the left, no matter what! Kind of idiotic if you ask me. When you go to windows/Display/Screen resolution, no matter how you have the monitors arranged, if you take one of them and drag it to the left, hit apply, Lightroom will show the secondary screen on the monitor closest to the main windows monitor, on the left.

I tried to change this in many ways. I have two monitors on the left of my main: 1 and 2. 1 is closest to main, 2 is further away. It always showed second screen on monitor 1, the closest one to main. I went in Windows/Display.... and just dragged the monitor 1 icon to the far left, so the monitor #2 is close to the main monitor now. Secondary Lightroom display moved to monitor #2 instantly after applying the display settings.

I don't know why one would implement a function for the second display to be on the closest monitor on the left instead of just letting the user chose the second monitor... You don't need to many resources to make it work, I don't know why they don't do it.

[gabe.mihu]

Found the registry values where Windows keeps relative display positioning. I have to see if there's possible to fake those values for lightroom and make a small program to fake that. The idea would be for the user to be able to fool lightroom into thinking that the user chosen monitor is the one on the left, no matter what Win says. I'll keep you posted if I can get to a solution.