Automatically Saving and Restoring Window Positions on Dock/Undock

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Undocking and re-docking a laptop to external monitors can be frustrating at times, due to the fact that when you undock, Windows moves all open applications to the laptop monitor. When re-docking, the applications don't automatically move back to the external monitor(s). With the latest DisplayFusion 8.0 Beta, you can solve this issue by automatically saving and restoring the window positions using DisplayFusion's new "Triggers" feature. The steps below explain how to configure the Trigger rules in order to achieve this. The two Trigger rules below will make DisplayFusion save the window positions every 2 minutes when docked, and restore the window positions when re-docking.

Note that while this guide is written for a docking/undocking scenario, it will also work for desktop computers that have issues with windows moving around when the monitors sleep.

If you haven't already, make sure to update to the latest version of DisplayFusion.
First, save your docked layout as a new Monitor Profile.
On the Settings > Triggers tab, click "Add."
From the "Trigger Event" drop-down, choose "Timer Interval."
Set the "Interval" to 120 seconds.
Enable the "Monitor Profile" checkbox, and choose the Monitor Profile that you created in Step 1.
Below the Actions Pane, click "Add," then "Run Function." Choose the "Save Window Positions" function from the list, then click OK.
Click OK to save the Trigger rule.
Click "Add" again to open up another new Trigger rule.
From the "Trigger Event" drop-down, choose "Monitor Profile Changed."
Enable the "Monitor Profile" checkbox, and choose the Monitor Profile that you created in Step 1.
Below the Actions pane, click "Add," then "Wait." Enter 5000 in the Wait Time dialog, then click OK.
Below the Actions pane, click "Add," then "Run Function." Choose the "Restore Window Positions from Last Save" function from the list, then click OK.
Click OK to save the Trigger rule.

To test this setup, dock your laptop and open some windows on the external monitor(s). Wait more than 2 minutes so that the "Save Window Positions" Trigger has a chance to run, then undock, and re-dock. About 5 seconds after re-docking, DisplayFusion should automatically restore the window positions.

Apr 11, 2016 (modified Dec 17, 2020) • #1

tpolz

17 discussion posts

Thank you so much for posting this. I've been wanting to do this for a few years (since the day I downloaded displayfusion). ~~Works like a charm.~~

So, I thought it was working like a charm. Turns out that the time interval trigger is ignoring the monitor profile condition. DisplayFusion saves my window positions regardless if I'm docked or not. I started a discussion over here: https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/trigger-time-interval-ignores-monitor-profile-condition/?ID=d2bcc7b0-f025-4674-ab81-4147d433545d

Beta 6 has been released, and it does indeed seem to be working like a charm now.

Apr 11, 2016 (modified May 5, 2016) • #2

papadi

53 discussion posts

I don't understand how you can say this. This solution is a hack. First of all, now I get a notification every time the window state is saved! Also, if the window positions are lost if last save was done during these 2' intervals. And if I have multiple window profiles then it gets more complicated and unreliable.

I think it would be easier if, instead of restoring windows to their last position, to restore their initial positions by re-applying the window creation rules.

May 19, 2016 • #3

tpolz

17 discussion posts

Papadi, I agree that if you have more than one monitor profile you want to save, this is not a good solution. However, you can disable the pop up balloons in advanced settings > General > Don't Show Tray Icon Notification Balloons. I've actually had the balloons disabled for years, so didn't even notice this was happening.

May 19, 2016 • #4

papadi

53 discussion posts

That's a good tip. Still this is a hack though. I was expecting a better solution.

May 19, 2016 • #5

tpolz

17 discussion posts

Yes, I would ideally like displayfusion to remember where every window was on every monitor profile, even after the window is closed or the computer restarts. I would love for every window to pop up based on the last known location for that profile. I'm just happy for this baby step (hack).

May 19, 2016 • #6

@papadi: Thanks for the feedback. The other request for re-running the rules is still open on our list, so we'll follow-up when we've been able to do that.

Thanks!

May 19, 2016 • #7

Douglas Bailey

1 discussion post

Quote:

Seconded; this is how I hoped DisplayFusion would work when I first tried it.

Jun 16, 2016 • #8

TTE

44 discussion posts

I third this request.

Back in the WinXP days, there was a lovely little application that let you reposition application buttons on the taskbar and remember their location---for every time you ran the application. You could also set window location, monitor location, and window size for every time you used that application. This functionality can't be terribly difficult to implement.

I use 3 monitor profiles: Laptop only, Work (laptop display and external 1920x1080 monitor), Home (laptop display and external 1680x1050 monitor).

An example of what I'm looking for: Every time I open my email program, I want it far left of the leftmost display (my laptop display is always on my left). And I want the taskbar button far left as well, on the proper display's taskbar. And I want that to happen for every monitor profile.

I'm sure people would also like to customize which display they want applications to open or appear on depending on monitor profiles, too. I find the existing functionality unreliable. And the trigger scripts do not seem to work for me.

Please, please implement this seemingly somewhat basic and essential functionality.

Thank you, and thank you for the recent improvements to DisplayFusion. I find it essential to managing my computer working environment.

Jul 4, 2016 • #9

papadi

53 discussion posts

Are there any news about this topic? This hack never worked on my machine. I don't know why.
Window positions are saved every two minutes (I see the corresponding notification). But for some reason the trigger that is supposed to restore the positions never runs, even though I see that the monitor profile is restored and appears as selected after docking. I added some 'Show Notification' steps to my trigger for debugging purposes and they don't show up either.

Aug 4, 2016 • #10

tpolz

17 discussion posts

Papadi, I had trouble with my initial trigger as well. I don't know what caused it (maybe I had the wrong profile selected or disabled the trigger on accident). I deleted the trigger and started over. The second time everything worked. If you already tried starting over, sorry, I have no other suggestions.

Aug 4, 2016 • #11

brianbasden

7 discussion posts

Not working for me either, and it's really a pain to reposition 10-20 windows every time I redock my laptop...

Aug 4, 2016 • #12

@papadi and @Brian: If you can backup your settings (Settings > Options > Export) and send them to us (https://www.displayfusion.com/Support/#contact), we can check them out to see if anything might be amiss.

Thanks!

Aug 5, 2016 • #13

mergleh

5 discussion posts

For those having trouble with this, I could not get it to work until I created a monitor profile when the laptop was not docked. The "undocked" profile is not in any trigger or anything, I just created it and saved and after I docked it worked.

Sep 1, 2016 • #14

mhawk

4 discussion posts

Is there a way to disable the notification appearing every two minutes now??

Oct 27, 2016 • #15

tpolz

17 discussion posts

Yes, but it disables all popups, not just that single popup. Settings > Advanced Settings > "Don't Show Tray Icon Notification Balloons" > double click.

Oct 27, 2016 • #16

mhawk

4 discussion posts

Thanks @tpolz!
Another thing is that restoration of the layout takes quite long... it processes roughly one window per second - so it's necessary to not to touch the pc for a while until it finishes layout restoration process.
Could it be optimized in some way? e.g. don't touch the windows which are already in correct place (same position, screen and size as in the saved layout) and restore all the others simultaneously, not one after another?

Oct 27, 2016 • #17

tpolz

17 discussion posts

It doesn't take that long for me. It only takes a second or two to restore all windows to the correct location. Maybe it's just a difference in our hardware? Hopefully, the developers can help you out.

Oct 27, 2016 • #18

@mhawk: Mine only takes a couple of seconds as well. How many windows do you have open?

Oct 28, 2016 • #19

mhawk

4 discussion posts

It's quite usual for me to have ~20-30 windows open. But the issue is I'm seeing that even apps which are at the same exact place (screen) and size (maximized) as they have been saved with, they are getting focus one after another, maximizing again.
Maybe it's because after I dock the laptop, one of the external screens becomes the "main" one. Then the OS moves all apps to the main screen, and then DF kicks in to restore the layout. I think DF should just ignore the windows which are already positioned correctly, not focusing them / forcing resize.

I suppose that some more debug info from my side could be useful, I may also try to record a video showing the issue.

Nov 1, 2016 • #20

That actually clarifies it a bit more. DisplayFusion does leave windows that are already in the right place alone, except if they're maximized or minimized. We used to leave those alone as well, but what we found was that Windows bugs out the maximized/minimized windows sometimes, so leaving them alone would actually end up leaving them in a messed up state, where they're still reported as maximized but aren't actually the correct size. To get around that, we made DisplayFusion restore, then re-maximize or re-minimize the maximized/minimized windows. That way they will definitely be in the correct position after restoring on all systems.

Hope that makes sense!

Nov 1, 2016 • #21

dragon788

1 discussion post

Quote:

Seconded; this is how I hoped DisplayFusion would work when I first tried it.

@Douglas @tpolz If you try the "Window Layout Backup" application does it work as you are hoping? One thing I've noticed is that this application is aware of how many monitors were connected when it saved the layout and it indicates the number of monitors on the saved session so you know which state you are going back to. I'm hoping to move to the native DisplayFusion functionality, but I'd definitely like the ability to simply save periodically (I think it does 5 minutes) and restore to any point in time, but default to the most recent save that matches my current "profile" ie: 'docked at 9:17am' a session is captured due to the timer, then I 'undock at 9:20am' for a meeting and a few snapshots are saved while I'm in the meeting, but when I get back to my desk at 10:04am I want it to restore to the 'docked at 9:17am') state, while leaving the windows that I opened while in my meeting alone if they weren't ones I had open prior to undocking. If I did have them open prior to undocking but I manipulated them I would expect their positions to be restored to the docked state.

Dec 16, 2016 • #22

Marc Elser

2 discussion posts

This is not working reliably. I even increased the delay before restoring the window positions but it's maybe working 40% of the time. Quite often I see windows beeing focused and re-arranged but sometimes they keep being on the laptop screen (not the external monitors after dock). It also happened to me multiple times that windows did not restore to correct size. Don't know if this has to do with laptop screen beeing 4K and the two external monitors beeing Full HD or now but however this feature (see also all the other comments) needs vast improvement. The integrated DisplayFusion functions for saving/restoring windows are so badly broken it's really horrible and I disabled it again, not to mention the balloon tipps you have to disable (which can not be disabled per script, so you have to disable all of them). All in all the event managment is also so poorly developed. It's a wonder that the taskbars work quite good. For me atm it's more or less the only reason to keep displayfusion isntalled.

May 2, 2017 • #23

@Marc: Can you try this, so we can figure out if the issue is with the Save/Restore functions, or with the Triggers?

Disable the Triggers and Apply the settings
Assign key combinations to the Save/Restore functions and apply the Settings
Next time you leave the computer, manually run the Save function
When you return, manually run the Restore function
Did it restore all of the windows correctly?

May 3, 2017 • #24

WeyldFalcon

3 discussion posts

I would also love to see a function in DisplayFusion that would simply allow you to continuously save until it detects 1 monitor then wait until it detects the same number of monitors as the monitor profile has and then load it.

Sep 13, 2017 • #25

@WeyldFalcon: That's what the steps in this guide should do. Are you running into trouble with it?

Sep 15, 2017 • #26

WeyldFalcon

3 discussion posts

restarted computer and it started working, must have been an issue with something else, I will provide updates if it stops working at some point again.

Sep 15, 2017 • #27

TheSteward

14 discussion posts

I've emailed about this with support, but to add to the discussion I think part of the problem is triggers and part of it is monitor profile detection. DisplayFusion seems to have trouble detecting my monitor profile when I dock unless I save the profile (even when I load the profile manually it will apply the settings but doesn't show that that profile is active). After saving the profile though the triggers still don't save or load the window positions.

Per one of the old suggestions above I mapped a key combo to saving and loading window positions, it worked fine when I did both of them.

Sep 15, 2017 • #28

TheSteward

14 discussion posts

I'm running 9.0 Beta 3 by the way. I've checked for updates and looked on Steam, was a little surprised to see that there hasn't been an update announced on Steam for almost a year with all of the changes in Windows 10.

Sep 15, 2017 • #29

We only post the stable versions to Steam, but you can enable beta update checks right in the DisplayFusion Settings and still get them, even with the Steam version. We're hoping to get 9.0 Beta 4 out this week, and it may help with the issue you're running into, as we're making some changes to how the Monitor Profiles are saved/loaded.

Sep 18, 2017 • #30

Travis52

2 discussion posts

I am having some similar issues with Windows 10. I have tried setting the triggers bound to a specific profile to save on a timer, and restore on profile change, and also on startup -- however it never worked.

I then assigned keybindings to save and restore. When I'm logged in, I can save and restore no issue. However, when I save the layout, then move windows around and sign out -- then sign back in and try to restore, it doesn't do anything.

With the automatic trigger, I was able to add a notification saying the windows were restored when it was executed, so I know it was running.

I added about a 20s delay after startup to restore to ensure all the applications were open.

Any thoughts on this? How are the positions saved? Is it not loading them reliably when logging back in, or in some sort of ephemeral storage?

Sep 19, 2017 • #31

The positions are saved based on their window handles, which change when the window is closed and re-opened, or the computer is restarted. We did it this way because it's the only 100% unique identifier for a window. However, we're planning to add a related feature that with any luck will be able to store window positions permanently. We'll be sure to post an update here when we've implemented that.

Thanks!

Sep 20, 2017 • #32

Travis52

2 discussion posts

Okay, understood. Could perhaps suffice for my use case to get the new handle when it's executed, purely by saving the caption string. As I'm booting fresh, and letting applications run at startup. My specific case is with an Alienware 15 R3 laptop and the Alienware Graphics Amplifier -- which requires a restart when connecting and disconnecting.

Sep 20, 2017 • #33

Marc Elser

2 discussion posts

Sorry about the rude language but how the hell do I unsubscribe from this discussion. I'm really just not interested anymore. But neither in the e-mails about new posts in this discussion nor in my profile or in my Discussions there's an "unwatch" function or something.

Who programmed this shitty cms? So please tell me how to unsubscribe or I will block all emails from binaryfortress no matter if I have purchased a license or not, but this is insane.

Sep 20, 2017 (modified Sep 20, 2017) • #34

@Travis: We'd be doing something along those lines with the new planned feature, yep

@Marc: Sorry about that! In the Account settings there's an option to disable Discussions notifications. I'll turn it off for your account right after this reply.

Sep 21, 2017 • #35

descapa

1 discussion post

Thanks for this discussion I just bought this product trying to get this working but it doesn't work as mentioned in this post.
Similar to post #21 I have issues where if any windows are minimized (or hidden into the tray) it doesn't work. When I redock all of my displayed windows go to the proper place but all of the others are resized & wonky.

I am going from a laptop to a monitor all via USB-C. When I dock I only have a single display and I keep my laptop closed.

Anyhow I am seeing the same thing as #21 where it isn't working right. I am on 9.0 beta4 and I am running on the Windows 10 Insider builds of the Windows Fall Creators Update.

Would love to get this working or I might have to look into a refund. Thank you so much!

EDIT: I noticed it doesn't work for maximized windows as well. My setup is I have a docked 34" monitor and I want windows and things positioned to the right. When I undock I want things maximized and other windows on the right. It isn't working as I expect :-/

Oct 2, 2017 (modified Oct 2, 2017) • #36

The problem with minimized windows, is that we can't get their position/size because Windows reports them as being at a location and size that doesn't exist, so the only thing we can save is that it was minimized

Regarding the maximized windows, it should be saving their state without issues. Are you meaning that it's not saving the two different states that you want them to be in, depending on whether docked or undocked? The current Save/Restore functions only keep one position for each window.

Oct 5, 2017 • #37

OverDriven

1 discussion post

How do I trigger these actions *manually*?
- save window positions
- restore window positions

I don't want to use timer hacks.

Nov 6, 2017 • #38

@OverDriven: On the Settings > Functions tab, you can assign key combinations to them

Nov 6, 2017 • #39

Michael Angelo20384

1 discussion post

This is an awesome solution! Not sure why anyone calls it a hack. It works great for me and I kinda like seeing the notifications that my profile was saved.

Nice work!

Jan 26, 2018 • #40

Glad to hear it, thanks Michael!

Jan 26, 2018 • #41

Canadianjameson

1 discussion post

Hi all,

I'm just touching base to see if all is well with this feature. My personal use-case is as follows: I have two different office spaces, each with multiple monitors which I dock to my laptop when I sit down. I would like for my windows to go back to the positions that I set for them in either case.

In essence my question is as follows (having not been able to test): When i sit down and dock my laptop to the two external monitors at Office A, does it know that I'm there by virtue of some ability to detect the individual monitors that I have set for a given profile, or do i have to indicate which monitor profile I wish to load every time I dock?

Also, is it possible to 'mute' the saved profile notification? If the interval is 2 minutes users should have no need to see confirmation... unless the programmers think there's reason that the saving fails a statistically significant number of times?...

Thanks,

Jay

Oct 16, 2018 (modified Oct 16, 2018) • #42

It should "detect" the profile, as long as Windows activates the monitors in the same setup that they were in when you saved the profile. If it doesn't, you'll need to manually load the Monitor Profile after docking.

To disable the notifications, enable the "Don't show tray icon notifications" option in the DisplayFusion Settings > Advanced Settings window.

Thanks!

Oct 18, 2018 • #43

Holger Drechsler1

18 discussion posts

I have tried the different options mentioned here but have a problem with programs, which windows are spreaded on all three monitors I have. When I force energy saving mode and later wake up the system I can see the stored windows configuration for about half a second. All windows on their right positions. And then, all programs with windows on all three monitors switch their windows to the right monitor (not the primary one). That seems for me, that some windows process take over from DisplayFusion. Any suggestions?

Nov 12, 2018 • #44

@Holger: Strange! Do you have any Window Position Profiles assigned to Monitor Profiles in the DisplayFusion Monitor Configuration > Manage Monitor Profiles window?

Nov 13, 2018 • #45

ALBERTOJ

1 discussion post

~~Never~~ has worked for me, I've spend more time "hacking" DisplayFusion trying to get it to restore my windows..
So.. it works if the external Monitor windows are halfed, not quarted. I have big monitor and quarted would be prefered but I'm happy with half windows for now

Nov 27, 2019 (modified Nov 27, 2019) • #46

@AlbertoJ: The window size shouldn't matter in theory. What happens to the windows if they're quartered?

Nov 27, 2019 • #47

Retko

8 discussion posts

Hi. I wonder if you can help me with some setting up. I am using DisplayFusi9on mainly for this purpose, so my window go back to their windows. But somehow I cannot make this work when I use hibernate. I use hibernate quite often, so I put it to hibernate, and turn off power switch in electricity, which turns off lights etc. When I come back, I turn on power and resume from hibernate. After I login, all windows are in my middle monitor. (I am using 3, 1 notebook and 2 monitors). I have a key marked to restore windows from alst save, it helps only only sometime, and almost never. I just press it and nothing. I have it all setup based on the guilde, actually I did setting up it several times during last year, and now I tried again, but it is still the same. It seems to work, when I dont use hibernate. When I undock PC, or remove connection from monitors, and then connect again, windows goes to their places, which is good. I understand, that maybe this setting is not for hibernate case, but can you maybe point me in the correct place to make it work also

Thank you!!!

Dec 26, 2019 • #48

Jontos

5 discussion posts

I have a similar problem where the windows move all over the place after I wake the computer up after the monitors have gone to sleep (computer still running). Is there any way to make a similar trigger for this, or is there any other fix? I've tried a few different triggers but no luck so far.

Dec 29, 2019 • #49

@Retko: If you set key combinations on both the Save and Restore functions on the DisplayFusion Settings > Functions tab, then manually save before hibernate, and manually restore after, does that work?

@Jontos: Have you already tried the steps in this guide?
[URL=https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/automatically-save-and-restore-window-positions-on-sleepresume/?ID=fa98975e-e4ed-45de-afe0-fafad56c7a83#first]Automatically Save and Restore Window Positions on Sleep/Resume[/URL]

Jan 2, 2020 • #50

Jontos

5 discussion posts

Quote:

@Jontos: Have you already tried the steps in this guide?
[URL=https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/automatically-save-and-restore-window-positions-on-sleepresume/?ID=fa98975e-e4ed-45de-afe0-fafad56c7a83#first]Automatically Save and Restore Window Positions on Sleep/Resume[/URL]

I have not, however since my computer do not lock on sleep, and I kind of don't want it to, this wouldn't work for me. I guess I can make a keybinding to reset the positions. But is it possible to make som sort of trigger on wakeup? Maybe if system has been inactive for at least x minutes, when mouse or keyboard is used trigger this?

Jan 3, 2020 • #51

There is a "System Wakes from Sleep" Trigger event, but that will only work if the computer itself sleeps, not if only the monitors are sleeping.

Jan 7, 2020 • #52

Adam62993

1 discussion post

Hi Keith what settings would be different if we wanteed to remove the dock/undock/timer option and add hotkeys to accomplish this?

Jan 20, 2020 • #53

@Adam: If you want to manually run the funtions via hotkeys, no Trigger rules are needed. On the Settings > Functions tab, set key combinations on the "Save Window Positions" and "Restore Window Positions from Last Save" functions.

Hope that helps!

Jan 21, 2020 • #54

wizonesolutions

2 discussion posts

I have set this up, and I have read the previous replies, but it doesn't seem to be working. The scenario that I have is this:

- I use an ultrawide LG monitor
- When the display goes off when Windows is locked, it seems to recognize a monitor change and makes my laptop screen the primary display (normally, it's the big monitor, with the laptop screen disabled)
- So when I come back and log in, my windows are bunched-up in the top-left. I wait 5 seconds, but they don't get restored. Maybe it's trying to restore them from the lock screen rather than when I log in? I'm not sure if that matters

I think the trigger worked in the beginning, but it doesn't seem to be working now. Does it work even if I disable the notifications telling me that the window positions have been saved? Could it be saving the incorrect window positions? My Timer Interval trigger has the correct Monitor Profile selected, so it shouldn't be running when the laptop screen is active...

I have just checked the "don't run this trigger when the desktop is locked" box on the timer interval trigger, and I will see if that helps.

Mar 26, 2020 • #55

@wizone: If that setting doesn't help, could you send us a support request via Help > Support Request in the DisplayFusion Settings window?

Thanks!

Mar 27, 2020 • #56

wizonesolutions

2 discussion posts

Hi Keith,

What worked for me was basically changing the trigger to "Desktop Unlocked" instead of "Monitor Profile Changed" and filtering it to the specific monitor profile. I was able to lower the time to 1000ms. I'm really happy with this, since now I can even turn off my monitor at night, turn it back on, unlock, and have the windows where I did the day before! The program also replaced another one I was using to switch monitor resolutions on the fly, so I'll definitely be buying a license.

A neat feature in the future (if not already possible) would be saving to a specific Window Position Profile in a trigger. Loading is possible, but saving to a specific one (even if it already exists) doesn't seem to be.

Apr 5, 2020 • #57

@wizone: Glad to hear you were able to get it working! You can actually save a Window Position Profile with a Trigger rule and a Scripted Function. I've attached the Scripted Function, after you import it, make sure to set the profile name in the script. You can then run that Scripted Function from your Trigger rule.

• Attachment: Save Window Position Profile.dfscript [512 bytes]

Apr 6, 2020 • #58

Retko

8 discussion posts

Hi. Can you please describe how can I use scripts?? Or point me to some guide. Thank you.

Apr 7, 2020 • #59

papadi

53 discussion posts

I wish I could unsbuscribe from this topic so that I don't get notifications anymore.

Apr 7, 2020 • #60

Neolawliet

1 discussion post

I have the same problem as wizonesolutions. Changing the trigger to "desktop unlocked" fixes this.

The only issue is that this trigger runs on startup when DisplayFusion first starts up. Is there any way to not have it run on first start?

It would be great if DisplayFusion has something "built in" to work around this monitor deep sleep issues.

Feb 12, 2021 • #61

WeyldFalcon

3 discussion posts

Quote:

The only issue is that this trigger runs on startup when DisplayFusion first starts up. Is there any way to not have it run on first start?

upvote this idea. Please make this happen.

Feb 12, 2021 • #62

Hello,

If you head into the Windows Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options, is "Use my sign-in info to automatically finish setting up my device after an update" enabled? If so, can you try disabling it and see if the issue persists?

Thanks!

Feb 18, 2021 • #63

andy157

1 discussion post

I am using the techniques discussed in this thread, and am using shortcuts to Save and Restore a layout (rather than the timer). However I have the following issue:

When I close an application e.g. Outlook, re-open it and then Restore the Layout, the application is not moved to the position which was originally saved.

How can I make the Restore Layout apply to applications regardless of whether they have been closed and re-opened since the Layout was saved?

Thanks

Andy

May 9, 2021 • #64

Hi Andy,

Is this happening with any other applications, outside of Outlook?

Thanks!

May 11, 2021 • #65

SwissDave

1 discussion post

Hi Owen,

is the DisplayFusion team planning to make this feature "built-in", in the near future?
At the moment I'm in the trial period of DisplayFusion and I'm impressed by the power of this tool but to be honest I'm wondering why such an important and time saving feature like this is still missing in the core.

I was expecting something like an "automatically handle monitor setups and window positions"-setting, that tells DisplayFusion to automatically save the window positions for all “ever seen” monitor setups and restore them when the monitor setup changes back to an already known one.
I have three monitor setups: one at work with 3 monitors, one at home with two monitors and, of course, the undocked "notebook display only" setup. At the moment I created three profiles but I noticed that I have to maintain these - e.g. when new windows are added, I cannot just override the profile because then changes I made to e.g. the "window title text" get lost.

Why is DisplayFusion so unintuitive and forces me to manually create monitor profiles and window profiles? I think it would be pretty easy for DisplayFusion to handle it all automatically.

You created this hacky workouround here (via triggers and timeouts) in 2016 and since then a lot of people responded to it, had problems with it and created other blogposts regarding / requesting the same feature.
Is there a reason you didn't integrate this feature in the past 6 years?

Regards,
Dave

May 17, 2021 • #66

dvc

1 discussion post

I have an issue, if turn off my 2nd monitor all tabs on the 2nd monitor move to my 1st monitor (my laptop) when I turn off my 2nd monitor and even worse when I lock my Windows. It's really not fun.

It's really a waste of my time & kills my productivity.

I don't like using custom trigger explained in this article, because I don't like my tab move back to my laptop at all.

I found my own solution by connecting my laptop & my 2nd monitor using VGA cable instead of using HDMI cable. This work well with VGA cable because VGA port works differently compared to HDMI port.

It works like a charm, the tabs stick at my 2nd monitor and won't go back to my laptop if I turn off my monitor or when I lock my Windows.

The limitation using is, I no longer use built-in loudspeaker on my 2nd monitor but it's not a big deal since my laptop already has good built-in speaker.

So for you guys who are experiencing the same issue like me, feel free to try.

Kind Regards

May 26, 2021 • #67

Alex S2

3 discussion posts

Quote:

is the DisplayFusion team planning to make this feature "built-in", in the near future?
At the moment I'm in the trial period of DisplayFusion and I'm impressed by the power of this tool but to be honest I'm wondering why such an important and time saving feature like this is still missing in the core.

I was expecting something like an "automatically handle monitor setups and window positions"-setting, that tells DisplayFusion to automatically save the window positions for all “ever seen” monitor setups and restore them when the monitor setup changes back to an already known one.
I have three monitor setups: one at work with 3 monitors, one at home with two monitors and, of course, the undocked "notebook display only" setup. At the moment I created three profiles but I noticed that I have to maintain these - e.g. when new windows are added, I cannot just override the profile because then changes I made to e.g. the "window title text" get lost.

Why is DisplayFusion so unintuitive and forces me to manually create monitor profiles and window profiles? I think it would be pretty easy for DisplayFusion to handle it all automatically.

You created this hacky workouround here (via triggers and timeouts) in 2016 and since then a lot of people responded to it, had problems with it and created other blogposts regarding / requesting the same feature.
Is there a reason you didn't integrate this feature in the past 6 years?

I would like to echo the sentiment here. The current method based on timers is hackish and unreliable. There's no synchronization between the tasks, which means every once in a while the "save window positions" will run after an external monitor has been connected, but before the "restore window positions" has run, resulting in bogus window positions being captured.

As Dave pointed out, this should just be built into DisplayFusion. A small bit of extra logic (e.g. don't save window positions during the first few seconds of an external display being connected) would greatly help. Surely it can't be that hard to implement?

My trial period of DisplayFusion is almost up, and honestly since this is the only thing I really want it's making it a deal-breaker to buy the full version.

Thanks for listening.

Alex

Jul 22, 2021 • #68

Jonathan Bayer15724

4 discussion posts

Got it working, but as mentioned, it's somewhat of a hack. At the very least, a way to create these two triggers automatically would be nice.

Jul 22, 2021 • #69

Alex S2

3 discussion posts

Give it some time, you'll see how unreliable it is. (I've pretty much given up and am looking for other solutions now.)

Jul 27, 2021 • #70

Hello,

We're going to add this to our list to look into, and see if we can find a more permanent, and more reliable solution.

Thanks!

Jul 29, 2021 • #71

Tomislav Modric

1 discussion post

So after encountering this same stupid Windows 10 issue, the only workaround for me was to set up the "Save Windows Position" trigger, and then a hotkey for restoring window positions.

Since I only have the "Turn off display" options configured (to 20 minutes) in my power options, while "Put computer to sleep" is set to "Never", is there any way to set up a trigger on "Screen wakeup", or "Mouse movement" or anything like that? Hook it into whatever Windows recognizes as the signal for "Turn screens back on"?

I would much prefer restoring windows to be handled automatically rather than having to use a hotkey for it, because this hacky solution of having to use any kind of software for this in the first place is already annoying enough :/ (but I'm still thankful it exists)

Dec 2, 2021 • #72

Hi Tomislav,

This is currently on our feature request list, so I've added your vote to it. We'll be sure to let you know if/when we're able to implement it in the future.

Thanks!

Dec 3, 2021 • #73

Faheem2

1 discussion post

I am looking for a solution to retain my window positions with dock and undock operations, Is there an alternative to Display Fusion for this purpose just to do a comparison study? I am looking for a product with support not an open source one. Display fusion comes with a lot of other features which is not needed and with the amount of manual work needed to achieve this I am not sure how the machine-wide deployment works where different users will have 2 screen or 3 screen monitor profile and it is not feasible to do from user to user.

Dec 5, 2021 (modified Dec 5, 2021) • #74

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