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.

[Gavin Farrington]

I wonder if doing something like this will also disturb the way Windows moves the mouse from one screen to the other, and where the main taskbar appears, and which screen is the default location for new windows to appear.

Looking forward to your results.

[ZR2A]

I have a similar issue on 3 different PC systems using dual monitors with LR4, one with ATI, two with NVidia. If I place the secondary display at any size smaller than full screen, when I alt-tab to access running programs, LR4 randomly places the secondary window back on the same monitor as the main LR4 prog. It doesn't do this if the secondary window is full screen, only if it's smaller than full screen. Annoying as crap to say the least and sometimes it will work as it should by staying in place but about 2/3's of the time the secondary screen moves.

MT

[midimid]

Pete Marshall's fix worked for me. I have three monitors - L, M, R. I'm using Lucid Logix on an Intel 4000 with a a dedicated graphics card. My two main monitors are connected to the motherboard (HDMI and DVI) and the third comes off the HDMI on my graphics card to my TV. LR4 was always putting the full screen secondary on the the TV (R) rather than my second monitor (M). When I put the main program on M, the secondary monitor became L. The analysis that the secondary is always to the "left" (wrapped) of the main window within the set of monitors seems to be accurate.

Fortunately both of my monitors are identical and perfectly calibrated, so doesn't matter to me which is which, as long as its not on the TV!

[khdetw]

This is inexcusable for an application of the caliber of Lightroom.  It's incredible that Adobe has apparently still not addressed it in version 5.5.

[mppixel]

SOLUTION for NOW... (Im USING 3 Displays)

I had the same problem... I wanted to use the middle monitor as my main screen and LR secondary to open on my right monitor due to my workstation setup... I searched the internet entirely with no luck...

SOLUTION: To remedy this I just disabled my secondary screen from full screen mode so i could manually move it.

LR > Window (Menu) > Secondary Display > Full Screen (Shift+F11) then just move it where you want and stretch it to the max size. If you switch to full screen for the secondary display it will automatically go back to the left display. You can still use the main window in full screen with this modification.

Hope this helps

CHEERS

[RyanLWilliams]

This is a simple, almost stupid approach to fixing this, but on some cards the outputs are assigned as "1" and "2".  I had no luck trying to force my monitors to assign in software (either Windows 7, Lightroom CC or the nvidia control panel).  But, when I swapped the cables it reassigned and now I don't have the issue of Lightroom jumping screens anymore.

Kind of a dumb solution but if you're reading this thread and you haven't tried swapping your monitor ports yet... it just might work.

[lgardent]

So this thread was started MORE THAN 4 YEARS AGO, and LR's dual monitor support is still basically cosmetic...

I am a photographer, use a macbook pro retina as my working computer, and have an external eizo screen with much better colour fidelity, gamut, etc.. that I would like to use for LR work.

So, the logical way to make the best of both screens would be to have :

- the primary screen (the mac's one, of course) display a grid view and all the tools (whatever module i'm in),

- the secondary screen (the external one) be the work area. (yes WORK, not the current live/locked secondary preview useless BS)

All tools would seat on the primary low fidelity screen, so as to maximize the work estate of the secondary monitor.

ADOBE :

why on earth can't LR be setup this way ?

what is the point in having such a broken dual monitor implementation ?

why isn't it possible to swap primary/secondary monitors ? (without having to f* around in OSX's graphics driver settings...)

=> seriously, lots of photographers work on a powerful laptop, but hook up to an external large gamut monitor. You DO realize it don't you ?

[austinman12345]

At the risk of being accused of adding to a very old thread, has this problem been fixed in Lightroom 6? I use Windows 7 with 3 monitors and the secondary window insists on using the laptop monitor, which also happens to be the smallest on my office setup.

[Gavin Farrington]

I'm just playing with this again on Win8.1x64, LR CC 2015.1 (AKA LR 6.1.)

It appears I still can't specify the exact monitor that the secondary screen appears on, but this only applies if you insist on running it in "full screen" mode.  You can also run the second screen as a normal window, and this will let you drag it wherever you want.  You can manually expand the window to take up the entire screen, which will do what you want, just with a few additional mouse clicks.

[austinman12345]

I appreciate the response, Gavin. I guess this is not a feature many people use (me included at the moment :-), or there would have been more demand for a fix and Adobe would have done something. @

[Gavin Farrington]

Admittedly this issue has been around a frustratingly long time.  Perhaps it's low priority because of the simple workaround of not running full screen?  There's no real functional difference between true full screen, and just dragging the secondary window to cover the whole screen.

[Stephen Barrante]

This issue still persists in CC 2015.

Just hooked up my 3rd display on a MacPro 2013 - two monitors are connected via thunderbolt and the 3rd is an LED TV connected using the HDMI port. For some reasons, similar to the rest of you, it thinks my LED TV should be the second display. This is also contrary to the configuration I have in my OS. Which is from L to R [Dell 24"][Dell24"][LEDTV], with the left most being primary and other dell being secondary, and so on. Really annoying...

[Guest]

Why won't anybody from Adobe Lightroom CC 2015 comment on this problem? ... at least acknowledge that it exits and suggest some 'workaround'.

Many of us do our edit and finesse work on two large PC monitors and have a third calibrated color accurate monitor to see the results of our changes ... we need to be able to EASILY assign the Secondary Window to whatever monitor works best for us.

Come on Adobe ... fix this problem .... your product is called CC 2015 after all ... OP first posted the issue in 2010 .... that's five years ago btw 😞

[johnrellis]

This is a user-to-user forum in which Adobe product developers rarely participate.  There is a long-standing topic on this issue in the official Adobe feedback forum, where developers do occasionally participate: Lightroom: Ability to assign a second monitor with more than 3 monitors. Please add your vote and opinion to that topic, to make it (a little) more likely that Adobe might prioritize the issue.

[bob frost]

Just curious as to why you don't color calibrate all your monitors? I color calibrate and profile my two monitors and therefore don't need a third.

Bob Frost

[Tanja2014]

what if the third is a big TV that makes no sense to be calibrated and profiled?

what if one has a TN panel that makes profiling pretty useless?

i have a friend who uses a 3 monitor setup.

one eizo is connected to his nvidia card, another eizo is connected to his internal intel HD graphics.

and then he has a 50 inch sony TV that is also connected to the nvidia card (via hdmi).

he can not connect the sony to the internal HD graphics (for many reasons).

yet lightroom always want to put the second monitor on the sony TV.

here are so many more reasons why your approach is no help for most people with a multi monitor setup.

bob frost schrieb:

Just curious as to why you don't color calibrate all your monitors? I color calibrate and profile my two monitors and therefore don't need a third.

Bob Frost

[Keith Reeder]

Tanja2014 wrote:

what if the third is a big TV that makes no sense to be calibrated and profiled?

what if one has a TN panel that makes profiling pretty useless?

there are so many more reasons.

What kind of "professional" would have a workflow like that?

Looks like you're inventing scenarios that nobody would use - and which nobody would reasonably expect Lightroom to support - just so that you can then complain about them.

[Tanja2014]

Keith_Reeder schrieb:

Tanja2014 wrote:

what if the third is a big TV that makes no sense to be calibrated and profiled?

what if one has a TN panel that makes profiling pretty useless?

there are so many more reasons.

What kind of "professional" would have a workflow like that?

Looks like you're inventing scenarios that nobody would use - and which nobody would reasonably expect Lightroom to support - just so that you can then complain about them.

blahblah......

you obviously have no clue at all what people out there are using.

it seems you spend all you time on forums defending canon and adobe (you must be the perfect customer).

if you had read this thread you would see that 2 calibrated monitors and one uncalibrated is not as unusual as you think.

you don´t need a calibrated monitor for putting you menus etc.

and what do you know about pros?? you are not one.

or are you fired from you civil servant job and now try to do photography for money?

[ekh00]

I've 3 monitors and yes, all are color calibrated. The only thing is the 3rd monitor is a 20" and I rather have my browser and email on that instead of the LR secondary window which I very much prefer on my 24". My primary edit is a 27" calibrated monitor. I can have Adobe Premiere Pro CC stretched out on all the 3 monitors if I wanted to so all I ask for LR is to have the secondary window movable between monitors.

[-=Deleted_for_privacy=-]

Holy crap!  5 years later and we cannot even manage monitor 101 basics at Adobe central.....

All it takes is a preference setting that every other app of any caliber has.  Get with the stupid program Adobe...

[Tanja2014]

andrewh69224387 schrieb:

Holy crap!  5 years later and we cannot even manage monitor 101 basics at Adobe central.....

All it takes is a preference setting that every other app of any caliber has.  Get with the stupid program Adobe...

you could come to think adobe is only hiring script kiddies.

if only adobe would try to make features work flawless instead of putting more and more crappy BETA features into the apps.

[anssik_]

+1 I need secondary monitor to work as well. Have been for 5 years as OP. Adobe, five years later and STILL no solution – shame on you.

[joshakatz]

I'm very much a professional and have a similar situation to the one you're referring to.

I have 2 color calibrated Asus monitors as my main work monitors and recently connected 24" television so I can put a movie on or have a separate window for spotify. With this setup Lightroom struggles, hence why I'm on this forum.

It's not unprofessional to want a 3rd less important monitor or tv.

[Simon G E Garrett]

Yep, annoying it still doesn't work.

On my (W10) setup, with the main LR window on the left screen of three, it insists that the second window is on the right screen.  If I drag the monitors around in Settings -> System -> Display, LR still keeps the same association of main and second window compared to the left, centre, right order of screens, irrespective of Windows 1, 2, 3 numbering of screens.

The logic is weird:

LR main window on the left screen of three, the second window appears on the right screen.

LR main window on the centre of three, the second window appears on the left screen.

LR main window on the right of three, the second window appears on the centre screen.

Figure that one out!

Please Adobe: it can't be a complex bug to fix.  And bug it is: there's no way this can be operating as designed.  It just doesn't work in any logical manner with more than two screens.

[DonWhiteside]

I would not be surprised if this was a complex bug to fix because the underlying code is crap. I only recently had to deal with the three monitor issues but I have had problems with Lightroom's two monitor handling since v1. Periodically I'd have issues with Lightroom refusing to consider the secondary monitor I wanted and instead full-screening over the primary application window on the same monitor, leaving the other monitor unused. Similar weirdness would sometimes happen after the display going to sleep and waking again. Etc on and on. The two screen stuff may be so desperately in need of improvement that there's no hope of making three+ work.

It's really disappointing. This is supposed to be the go-to software for pro use and that's the market most likely to want multiple monitors. Why Adobe doesn't seem to be interested in making this pro-appealing feature bulletproof is beyond me.