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How do I retrieve an off-screen dialog box?

New Here ,
Jul 27, 2010 Jul 27, 2010

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I am using two screens and moving Illustrator to the larger screen from my laptop so that I can see things better. I am still using CS2. One day for reasons I still do not understand, my PDF dialog box disappeared. Illustrator thinks it is there, but the only thing I can do is escape out of it. I can't save a file as a PDF, and I need to do that on a regular basis. I even tried uninstalling and reinstalling CS2, but it did not change anything.

Does anyone know how to retrieve a dialog box that has gone off the screens?

Thanks!

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Mentor ,
Jul 27, 2010 Jul 27, 2010

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What platform/OS are your two computers?

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New Here ,
Jul 27, 2010 Jul 27, 2010

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LEGEND ,
Jul 27, 2010 Jul 27, 2010

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Change the resolution of your screen to the lowest you can possibly set it.

Or hold on the Mac command option shift keys down as you launch Illustrator. Keep them down until it is launched on the pc the control alt shift.

or

PC

1. Quit Illustrator.
2. Rename the AIPrefs file (for example, to AIPrefs.old) in the Users/(user)/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/Adobe Illustrator CS3 Settings folder.
3. Start Illustrator. Illustrator creates a new preferences file.

Mac

1. Quit Illustrator.
2.Go to User/username/Library/Preferences/ Adobe illustrator CS # Settings and trash the settings folder, the whole folder not just the contents of the folder..
3. Start Illustrator. Illustrator creates a new preferences file.

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New Here ,
Jul 28, 2010 Jul 28, 2010

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New Here ,
Jan 31, 2018 Jan 31, 2018

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Might want to mention that starting with Ctrl>Option>Shift as recommended in comment two here will wipe out your profile settings, UI customizations, recent files etc. (surprise!), but does not correct the problem of Illustrator 22.0.1 starting with the top of the window offscreen sometimes when multiple monitors are attached. Problem arises after changing monitors, when sometimes default position changes to a place from where you cannot move the window. Oops!

Unplugging the monitors will reposition the window, so you can drag it somewhere usable (much safer!).

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Explorer ,
Jun 08, 2023 Jun 08, 2023

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Absurd.  Absolutly absurd fix.

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Engaged ,
Jul 28, 2010 Jul 28, 2010

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If you're on a PC try the following:

1. Press Alt+Space

2. Press m

3. Use your arrow-keys once or two.

4. Move your mouse or pen around.

This should result in you seeing a vague dotted outline of your dialog-box.

Once you're able to see that hit enter to reposition it and later on resize it.

This happend a lot with CS2 and especielly in a 2 monitor setup.

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Guide ,
Jul 28, 2010 Jul 28, 2010

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If you're on a PC try the following:

1. Press Alt+Space

2. Press m

3. Use your arrow-keys once or two.

4. Move your mouse or pen around.

Sadly, this method will not work with the PDF dialog (that follows the 'save as' window). Try it.

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Engaged ,
Jul 28, 2010 Jul 28, 2010

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True indeed.

However I read the OP as him/her missing the Save As-dialog.

If it's the PDF dialog that's missing I would try the reset preference-suggestion.

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Guide ,
Jul 28, 2010 Jul 28, 2010

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Resetting prefs is worth a try. However, in past discussions of this topic, there have been reports that trashing prefs has no effect on this problem. If, in fact, the screen location of the PDF dialog is maintained in the Windows registry (which would be typical of many application dialog boxes), I don't see how trashing the prefs would help.

I would try increasing or decreasing display resolution. If that doesn't work, I see at least a repair install in the OP's future.

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Engaged ,
Jul 28, 2010 Jul 28, 2010

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I would still like to know exactly which part of the dialog that's playing hide and seek the hard way.

If it's the save part - and it's on a PC - the alt+space usually works.

If it's the PDF part it self it might be more complicated than that.

Considering the OP already did a uninstall/reinstall of Illustrator before postning I would imagine that either resetting preferences or even changing the resolution might help. In case that doesn't work... then we have to bring out the elite hide&seekers.

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Guide ,
Jul 28, 2010 Jul 28, 2010

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It seems the OP has left the building.

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New Here ,
Dec 21, 2020 Dec 21, 2020

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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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Explorer ,
Sep 08, 2020 Sep 08, 2020

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Amazing, worked for me! Thanks so much!!! 

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New Here ,
Jul 17, 2021 Jul 17, 2021

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OMG! I love you for life. 
I Have been plagued by this for YEARS. YEEEEAARRSS!!!
This finally fixed it. Thank you so much.

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New Here ,
Mar 27, 2024 Mar 27, 2024

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LATEST

This worked perfectly for me when I lost the "Preflight" window under print production. Thank you!

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Community Expert ,
Jul 28, 2010 Jul 28, 2010

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Marylee,

As you can see from the (other) answers, Adobe may have overdone the PORTABLE Document Format part.

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 16, 2013 Feb 16, 2013

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I know it's been some time since this question was posted, but I can confirm that this is in the AIPrefs file in CS2.  (C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CS2 Settings\)  It is really easy to edit in basic text without needing to destroy all your other prefs or perform magic tricks with the keyboard.  The PDF dialogue's options are in a section that starts as follows:

}

/PDFExport {

/DlgPosX 582

/DlgPosY 218

I lost my preferences dialogue and fixed it in this section, where "h" was previously negative:

}

/preferencesDialog {

    /position {

        /h 598

        /v 364

    }

}

The sections move around each time you use and close Illustrator, so you'll need to search for them as needed.  Even the h and v lines may switch!  Do enough digging and it looks like you can find almost any preference that can be changed in there.

Remember to close Illustrator BEFORE saving the hand-edited file or you will lose your new settings!

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New Here ,
Feb 20, 2015 Feb 20, 2015

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Thank you VoltisArt,

This worked for me using Illustrator CS5.

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New Here ,
Mar 12, 2015 Mar 12, 2015

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You the boss, VoltisArt

I had wasted so much time trying to solve this problem while trying to open a multi-page pdf and the dialog box that appears asks which page you would like to open but it was off screen as I had changed my screen setup.

I didn't want to lose all my prefs but opening the prefs file as you outlined I found } pdf import v 87 x -1280, changed -1280 to 500 and viola! dialog box appears.

Many thanks

Windows 7 AI 5.5

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Explorer ,
Nov 13, 2019 Nov 13, 2019

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Nearly 7 years later and this fix still works!

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 04, 2017 Oct 04, 2017

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If you are working on a PC with Windows 10. You can go to taskbar settings and toggle the "automatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode" switch this brought my off-screen dialogue box back onto the screen.

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 12, 2019 Jun 12, 2019

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This comes up from time to time with the top of the Properties panel disappearing off the screen in Premiere Pro for some unknown reason. The workaround I found is changing the screen resolution so that I can drag the panel and drop it into an existing group. Then return the screen resolution to it previous size and the panel will stay in that group.

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Explorer ,
Apr 03, 2020 Apr 03, 2020

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On a Powerbook, I had this issue with panels being off screen. Fix is to go to System Preferences. Click on Display, then choose the "scaled" radio button, then click on "more space". Your screen will resize to much smaller text and boxes. Grab any offending panels and drop them into the panel on the side. Then you can resize back to normal and use the panel normally. 

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