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Participating Frequently
May 13, 2018
Question

Open pop-up dialog boxes in the same screen as main Photoshop window.

  • May 13, 2018
  • 5 replies
  • 13597 views

Hello!

I've been working with Photoshop for many years now, but one thing i have still not figured out is how to stick those little pop-up option boxes / dialog boxes

in the same screen where my Photoshop is opened. You see - i have multiple screens and sometimes i drag my main app to the other monitor but all those

little option screens appear on the other one where the app was originally launched.

For example. I have two monitors.  I launch PS on monitor 1. Then i drag it to the 2nd monitor. When i press ctrl+L for levels (or any other), that levels dialog box opens on the 1st monitor. Once i drag that levels box to the 2nd monitor, it stays there, but every other is still off screen and i have to drag them as well one-by-one.

My main question is, is there a way to stick all those dialog boxes to the main working monitor, where my Photoshop is currently open, regardless where it was originally launched?

Btw, i'm working on Win 10 if it matters and the latest PS update.

Thanks!

Rauno

5 replies

MaxAff
Participating Frequently
January 31, 2022

I can't believe this stuff is still not fixed. What the heck are you waiting for such a basic request Adobe?
Make Photoshop pop-up windows pop on the right screen, just like Illustrator does for fak sakes!

Participant
March 31, 2023

Yeah. they are f*cking useless. i work on 4 screens , pretty big, and the cintiq is off on the side - then i am basically gridlocked because the godda*n dialog box for *oh deeerrr what kind on png do u want to save deeerrr* box is on there on the very left one.

useless. get your sh*t together adobe please for christs sake please

Participant
October 4, 2021

I had the same problem with my tripple monitor setup. 

I kind of have a solution that works for me...when I open a function box (eg. Ctrl +L for level adjustments) it opens up on a different monitor than my photoshop screen. But if I set my work monitor as my main display in Windows display settings (through right clicking anywhere on my windows desktop) it'll pop up in the correct place.

Hope this helps 🙂

Participant
February 14, 2023

This has worked for me 🙂

Known Participant
February 25, 2021

Did you ever manage to get this sorted  Raunos2566538? It's driving me nuts when the dialogue box is always buried behind ten other windows!

Participating Frequently
February 25, 2021

No

Inspiring
December 21, 2018

For a dual screen system, include this code to open a dialog box/ palette on the 'other' screen:

box.onShow = function ( ) {

    var boundsWidth = box.bounds.width;

    var boundsHeight = box.bounds.height;

    boxDisplay = $.screens.length - 1;    // The 'other' screen

    boxLeft =  $.screens [ boxDisplay ].left + x;    // Where 'x' is a number representing the required offset from the left of the screen

    boxTop = $.screens [ boxDisplay ].top + y;    // Where 'y' is a number representing the required offset from the top of the screen

    box.bounds.x  = boxLeft;

    box.bounds.y  = boxTop;

    box.bounds.width  = boundsWidth;

    box.bounds.height  = boundsHeight;

};

Participant
January 14, 2019

Grimbaldus  wrote

For a dual screen system, include this code to open a dialog box/ palette on the 'other' screen:

box.onShow = function ( ) {

    var boundsWidth = box.bounds.width;

    var boundsHeight = box.bounds.height;

    boxDisplay = $.screens.length - 1;    // The 'other' screen

    boxLeft =  $.screens [ boxDisplay ].left + x;    // Where 'x' is a number representing the required offset from the left of the screen

    boxTop = $.screens [ boxDisplay ].top + y;    // Where 'y' is a number representing the required offset from the top of the screen

    box.bounds.x  = boxLeft;

    box.bounds.y  = boxTop;

    box.bounds.width  = boundsWidth;

    box.bounds.height  = boundsHeight;

};

Where would one add this code?

Inspiring
January 14, 2019

In the calling function, so available to the .show command.

D Fosse
Community Expert
Community Expert
May 13, 2018

It's hard to imagine how that would work. How would this be implemented with two displays of very different resolution, like one 4K and one 2K or less? That's a very common scenario. Even if that doesn't apply to you, any practical implementation would have to accommodate this.

Besides, I suspect this is determined by the operating system, not the application. Opening a dialog where it was last closed is something of a paradigm on Windows at least. It's just something we all expect and take for granted. Do you know of any applications that behave this way?

Participating Frequently
May 13, 2018

Hi!

Thanks for the answer. I don't know how it should work, but it would be pretty darn useful. I'm just an end user, not a software developer.

If i remember correct, i had the same issues when i worked on Mac. Haven't tried PS under Linux.

Some programs do work like that. I had think very hard and open up some programs just to confirm, because when it woks, then you don't notice that. It feels natural and behavior is totally expected. But you only notice that when it does not work as you might expect.

Here are few... Allegorithmic products, Foundry Mari. Every dialog box stays on the same screen. Probably there is more, but i guess there's no point to make long list of those. In fact, in my experience only Adobe and Autodesk programs behave in the other way.

Anyhow...  Help -> About Photoshop CC and right click brush panel manages to stay on working display : )

I don't know.. maybe a button that says "make this my main display" does the trick or open shortkey-ed dialog boxes next to your cursor. Or if you have dragged one box to another display, then the next one opens at the same place. Most of the time you would want next dialog box to be opened at the same spot where the last one was. I can't even think of any other scenarios when this is not the case. Krita (free PS alternative in some extent) and Affinity seems to have it with filter boxes, other ones appear always on-screen.

Thanks!