Stop opening Popup windows and dialogs off screen when a monitor is disconnected

[JMR_Silgan]

Multiple monitor setups are now the norm, and so are laptops that leave the desk.  That means sometimes I have 4 screens to work from and I like to spread out my applications.  Other times, I have to undock my laptop and hit the road, reverting me to a single screen.  Autodesk applications (not just Inventor, Vault and AutoCAD as well) are the only applications on my PC that can't handle this.  Inventor and Vault popups and dialogs insist on opening off screen where they were when the monitor was available.  I am aware of the "ALT + Space" trick to find and move the window to a display I can see, I'm just sick of having to use it 50x a session every time I take my laptop on the road.

Other non-Autodesk application seem to behave differently.  If a display is not enabled, MS Word (for example) doesn't attempt to show UI elements on it.

I know folks that still run a static tower desktop might like the ability to spread out and have Inventor/Vault/AutoCAD remember their window location preferences.  So I suggest a solution that involves a toggle button in the software.  In position "A", windows remember their last position (like today) and respawn in the same location every time.  This satisfies the static PC users.  In Position "B", all dialog are repositioned to the same display as the application.  This satisfies laptop users who hit the road.  Label these "Desk Mode" and "Travel Mode" or something like that.

I will add that as the CAD Admin for my org, I am not the only one this situation frustrates.  I take calls from my users ALL THE TIME who think Inventor/Vault/AutoCAD is locked up, when in reality there is a dialog off-screen preventing the software from moving forward.  I've shown the ALT + Space trick to many, many folks.  I even saw a user once opening every command he could think off and repositioning the windows back to his main laptop display.  When I asked why, he told me he was getting ready to hit the road and was "collecting" his dialogs back on the main screen to try and prevent issues after he unplugged his external monitor.

[cadallday]

Excellent suggestion!  I hope someone at Autodesk is listening.

[anthony.eib]

Thanks for the "ALT + Space" tip. I'm one of those static PC users you mentioned, but we're about to switch to laptops. That will probably be useful soon. 

[Anonymous]

If I'm not mistaken, if your laptop monitor is not set as the main monitor is when you'll see this happen.

I typically use 3 monitors, but move Inventor/Acad to a larger monitor when connected.

But if I disconnect from the docking station, and close the laptop to where it goes into sleep mode, when I open it back up, all menus come on the laptop monitor, regardless of where they were when I disconnected.

This is typical as I'll work on Inventor on a 2nd monitor, and at the end of the day, I undock, close the laptop and head home. Once I'm home I open the laptop and start working again and no issues...even if I had a menu open on the other monitor.

The only issue we've seen is an in-house add-in application for Inventor is set to come up to the left of the main monitor, so if your laptop is on the far left, the menu comes up off screen.

[JMR_Silgan]

My laptop screen is always my main screen. I drag Inventor to the large display when I’m docked. From my own experiments, this has more to do with where the application or window was when it was last closed. There is also some weird behavior seen when secondary monitors are positioned anywhere besides the Windows default of “to the right of the main display”. For example, when I’m docked my laptop sits below my 2 24” displays, not beside them. I’m also aware that undocking while Inventor is running will correctly reposition the main application window back to the main laptop display, but in many cases all secondary windows will continue to open where they last were when I was docked.

Incidentally I’ve seen this as a problem since I started using Inventor in 2009. Over the years it has consistently been a problem despite dozens of different PCs and monitors that have come and gone.

[Bram_Baars]

We're currently running 2019, and every month I have to prevent a couple of users from sending their pc back to IT for a new image, because of this. It's counter intuitive, especially for less tech savvy engineers.

Hopefully 2022 (we're switching soon) solves the issue, but since this "idea" is not marked as "implemented" yet, I don't have much hope.

I totally agree that other apps handle this flawlessly, but only Autodesk applications stay behind. 

In our case, it's mostly Vault Professional related dialogs, concerning checkin/checkout/get files. 

Would love to see this fixed! 

[cad4UUUX2]

I just found this post today because i have had this issue since years as well and now with the 2023 release it got even worse.

The alt+space trick does not work anymore on the save dialog box and maybe others too. But to add insult to injury you cannot even blindly accept whatever button is selected by pressing enter (e.g. okay or cancel). in other words you have to go to your display settings, then move your main display around (in the arrangement panel) until you can see the dialog box. Is this how it is intended?

The 2023 release is the most buggy and weird one since i started using inventor in 2016. This is just one of the issues.

Is there any reason that Autodesk cannot implement this most basic of features? I am sorry if this is rude but i could have studied software engineering, then applied at Autdesk and fixed this myself in the time since that this issue exists.

[Bram_Baars]

Lots of work-arounds are mentioned here:
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Dialog...

Or maybe Autodesk should provide a script to reset all dialog positions to the center of the then primary screen..?

But the most elegant solution is that if a dialog is projected outside of the curren screen coordinates, just re-center it to the center of the sum of the screen coordinates.

[andreas.lazzarotto-pinosch]

This is currently a big issue as laptop users are using dual screen workstations in house and their laptop screen at home.... They either have the issue in house or at home, but we are garented they have the issue. @Anonymous please do something about it. (2021.3)

[anthony.eib]

andreas.lazzarotto-pinosch,

Did you read through the link that Bram_Baars posted. It solved my problem. I'm still on the 2022 version though.

[andreas.lazzarotto-pinosch]

@anthony.eib Thanks for your suggestion, I did see the work around, but I cannot request the 80+ users affected in my company to delete a file every-time they go work from home / get back to the office. (as described here : Vault dialog boxes appear off screen and CAD software hangs or freezes until ESC is pressed | AutoCA...)

We should probably include it in our script routines.... But I'm still expecting a solution from Autodesk, this is a very obsolete way of managing pop-up windows.... Or at least give us options, like suggested by @JMR_Silgan .

[matt.jamieson]

Can we get something done about this?

there should be an option for fix popup locations relative to the inventor window so if you need to change which screen you are working on for any reason, the dialog will move along with it.

The same problem exists with Vault which could have the same fix.

We don't need a workaround, we just need a fix!

[ARaeber4Y7ZY]

As someone who is always traveling and hooking my work laptop to bigger screens, pop-up windows are always never where I want them. When I'm just using my laptop the pop-ups are somewhere off screen. I've been dealing with this problem for years now. This fix would make my life and so many others that much better when working with this program. 

Edit: I am working off of 2023 inventor.

[mfoster9TD82]

Please just make a reset utility for window placement. I have the biggest issue with the Content Center Family Table Editor window:
https://www.autodesk.com/support/technical/article/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Family-properties-...
This has been an issue since 2015:
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/content-center-files-family-table-pops-up-for-a-second...
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/selecting-family-table-causes-freezing/m-p/5522131/hig...

Having a utility that will reset all window placements without having to reset all of inventor would be a huge help.

Please help us with this. 

[mschindler-mum]

Hi all,

So far as I know that feature has been implemented in Inventor since Inventor 2022 release.

Please find more information in this Inventor 2022 Help article.

@dan_szymanski: Could you please jump into this discussion with more information if needed, and set the status to "Implemented"?

Many thanks!

Kind regards,

Matthias Schindler
| CAD/CAM/PDM technical specialist

| Premium Plan Postsales and technical specialist
at

[mfoster9TD82]

@mschindler-mum, that still doesn't reset the Content Center Family Table Editor window...

[JMR_Silgan]

All that does is reset undocked panels back to the main Inventor window.  It does nothing for dialogs that remember their last position even when the monitor isn't connected anymore.

[Yijiang.Cai]

Many thanks for posting the idea to us, and tracked as [INVGEN-73482]. We are investigating the idea now, and will keep you updated.

[JMR_Silgan]

I appreciate that the post is now "Under Review".  However it is now going on 5 years since I originally posted this idea, and despite the upvotes and commiserating above, Autodesk has been extremely slow to even admit the issue.  I've participated in Beta programs with Dan S. and Steve D. and this topic has come up more than once, and links to this post have been given to them more than once, and still nothing.  Not even an acknowledgement that this issue exists (I'm on 2024 Inventor and Vault now, problem not only exists but has gotten worse).  This should have been a JDI back in 2019!

[SER4]

There are many more votes here for basically the same thing:
Reset dialog locations - Autodesk Community

Also, in case anyone cannot get the Alt+Space trick to work, it might be because you have PowerToys (Windows 11 ALT+Spacebar shortcut brings up search bar versus window menu · Issue #17954 · microsoft/...)