Macbook pro with more monitors

[stefanofe]

i have two monitors added to mac book pro. My problem is workspaces. However much I save a workspace, I always end up with all the panels compressed into a single monitor. This is nerve-wracking, because I don't actually have any certain area of ​​work. With the PC this did not happen.

[kevin stohlmeyer]

Do you have the panels detached from the Application Frame? I have the same setup with an M1 MBP and two external monitors. My workspace saves across both just fine.

[Lumigraphics]

Turn off the Application Frame. It drives me NUTS on the Mac.

[kevin stohlmeyer]

You don't need it off completely,  you can still detach groups of panels to move to a second monitor.

[Conrad C]

Disabling the Application Frame might not solve the problem, or at least it should not be necessary. I use the Application Frame all the time, and still maintain multiple-display Photoshop workspaces for my MacBook Pro.

Photoshop will cram all the panels into one display if I disconnect the external displays. But as long as the multiple displays are connected, it works fine.

(Also, it doesn’t drive me nuts on the Mac because an application frame is now Mac standard. Apple Photos, Apple Pages, Apple Keynote, etc. all use an application frame that contains panels with the document in a single application window.)

[kevin stohlmeyer]

Photoshop will cram all the panels into one display if I disconnect the external displays. But as long as the multiple displays are connected, it works fine.

That is normal behavior for the Mac. Anything on the external screens will reposition to the main screen if disconnected.

[Conrad C]

That is normal behavior for the Mac. Anything on the external screens will reposition to the main screen if disconnected. 

By @kevin stohlmeyer

Yes, of course. I didn’t mention that was expected behavior. There are other display behaviors with Adobe apps that could be considered bugs, but that isn’t one of them.

[Conrad C]

I also use a MacBook Pro with two displays, but my multi-display Photoshop workspaces work fine.

Some questions that might help isolate the cause:

Which version of macOS are you using?

How are the displays connected? Directly to Thunderbolt ports on the Mac, through a Thunderbolt or USB-C dock, through a DisplayLink adapter, or something else?

If you open System Preferences (renamed to System Settings in macOS 13 Ventura), and you open the Mission Control pane (renamed to Displays and Dock in macOS 13 Ventura), is the Displays Have Separate Spaces option enabled or disabled?

[stefanofe]

the mac uses "Ventura 13.2". The monitors are not connected directly, but with two port extenders and with hdmi output. I have now tried - as suggested - looking at the Mission control settings. In fact I would like to try disabling the first one which makes me think it rearranges the spaces... which I don't want. Let's hope.

[Lumigraphics]

You can post a screenshot so we can see the Spaces/Mission Control settings.

[stefanofe]

[Lumigraphics]

Try turning the last one off, this will mean the menu bar is only on the primary display.