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Question

Photoshop and Lightroom do not remember window position or read the correct size of my monitors

Forum|Forum|11 months ago
April 18, 2025
2 replies
1158 views

I have been experiencing a strange behaviour with both Photoshop and Lightroom for some time. I have tried manually deleting the Photoshop preferences, reinstalling etc. and this has not helped. I recently bought a new machine and the problem has got worse if anything.

Whenever I launch photoshop, the main document window loads to the extreme left edge of my primary monitor (Apple Studio Display) and is largely hidden offscreen. My floating panels mostly appear in the right place on the secondary display where I actually use Photoshop, although this isn't 100% consistent and during use things like dialogue windows don't open consistently. I sometimes can't see one as it has opened behind another window and can't for example, have a youtube tutorial open fullscreen on my main monitor as none of the dialogue boxes appear. My second monitor, which is to the right side of the primary (I.e. nowhere near where photoshop is opening) is An ASUS PA329. I have to drag the document window to the ASUS monitor over every time. If i try floating the document window, this behaviour isn't remembered the next time I open it and it just opens on the extreme left again.

In addition (may be related) when using Mission Control to take a snap view of all open windows, Lightrooom looks as if it has a massive open window, much larger than its actual size. I had to draw this in the second screenshoot as the blue size bars didn't screenshot for some reason. Regardless, that's what it looks like when I F10 and mouse over the LIghtroom window.

Migration wise, it was quite difficult to get PS working on this new machine. Even after moving all my custom prefs back over after a manual reset, it has been inconsistent about even recognising things like my custom workspace.

Mac Mini M4 64 gb RAM Sequoia 15.3.1 (problem also existed on iMac 2019 Intel)

PS version 26.5.0 (problem also existed on earlier version of Photoshop.

macOS

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

Are you using a custom Workspace?

Are you able to manually position the panels so you could save a custom workspace?

Are you using something other than the default Essentials workspace?

Do you have any scaling set in Apple settings? We know that can cause issues with Photoshop cursors, but I don't remember seeing a thread where it affected panel display layout.

Do you have the second screen set to extend or mirror the main display?

I would do a Manual Preferences reset first.

I think you said this is also happening with Lightroom, in which case I would look at scaling next.

After that I would drag out a custom workspace and save it. I can't think of any reason why a custom workspace wouldn't stay as you left it other than you dragging panels about.

C

ChairmanWillAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks Trevor. Yes, I am using a custom workspace and have just created and saved a new one, which doesn't appear to make a difference. I do have scaling set up, which doesn't appear to affect the cursor. However the scaling is not in effect on the monitor on which photoshop spawns the new document/home window. My second screen is an extension of the main display but the second screen is where I do all the photography work. I am aware that making the second screen the main display is a workaround for some problems, but i suppose one of the main parts of my setup is that i have one monitor for photoshop, one for everything else.

I have already tried the manual preferences reset, reinstalled photoshop etc.

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

OK. I need to tell you that I am primarily a Windows user, but do have a MacBook Pro M2 Pro. I sometimes extend the MBP onto a 24 inch 1920 x 1200 screen.

Can we be absolutely 100% sure what you are seeing?

You have custom workspaces, and when you shut down and reopen Photoshop, it does not remember the state of the workspace from when it was last shut down?

If you reset the workspace, does it do what it is supposed to do?

When you update (resave) a workspace, does its date modified update on Finder?

Does this happen regardless of what workspace was set when you last shut down?

Does Windows > Workspace still show the correct workspace when you restart PS?

Is the issue on just the second screen, primary screen, or both?

Things I can tell you from my experience with using four screens:

The workspace uses a reference on your primary screen, and offsets everything from that reference point.

I have a lot of wqorkspaces:

This comes from replacing my 2K main screen with a 4K screen, and then adding a 16" XenceLabs Pen Display that is also 4K. With standard settings, I could not see icons etc on the Pen Display. Unfortunately, Windows does not allow scaling to be applied to each screen separately. Only globally. So I have had to compromise by setting scalling to 125% which is a giant PITA.

If I select my 4K workspace it pushes the right hand screen contents almost completely off the screen.

The left hand screen is OK because the WS reference is at the top left of the main screen, so the scaling makes no difference.

While this does would not account for Photoshop forgetting where things were when you shut down, I do suspect that your issue is somehow linked to OS scaling. Can you temporarily set it to 100% to test if it eliminates the problem?

If they workspace responds OK to being reset, then something I have done for years now, is have short acrtions that set and reset workspace, and trigger with function keys. F5 sets and resets my triple monitor WS, and F6 Essentials. This is partly driven by continually dragging panels in order to take screenshots for forum answers, but I do like to have minor panels close to where I am editing. Either way, It is intensley satisfying to have a messed up WS instantly reset at the press of a key. This would not fix your issue, but it might make it easier to live with while looking for a fix.

I said I am not a Mac user, but in the 15 plus years I have been answering questions on this forum, I have an inkling of a memory about Mac OS and multiple screens. Do you mind if I edit your subject line to try and get the right people to look at your thread?

A

Aleke

Community Manager

Hi @ChairmanWill!

I'll focus on the Photoshop issue since this was posted in the Photoshop board. I recommend posting your Lightroom issue in the Lightroom community as well.

Are your monitors different sizes? Could you share your System Info? You can find it in Photoshop under Help > System Info. Just copy the info to a text file and attach it to your response, or share it with us through Google Drive, WeTransfer, or another file-sharing platform.

Thanks a bunch! Let me know if you need any more help!

Alek

*(If you mention me with an @, like @Aleke, I’ll get a notification and can respond faster.)*

C

ChairmanWillAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks Alek. Yes my monitors are different sizes, one is a 27" Studio display the other is 32". Thanks!

systeminfo_CW.txt

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