What can I do to retrieve windows that have gone off screen?

Question

I am having a weird issue with a machine where sometimes when a window is initialized, it will shoot off screen and out of sight. I am unable to click on it to drag it back to sight.

Are there any programs or fixes for this in Windows XP?

I know Windows and other programs like to save window locations after they close so when you reopen them they are in the spot where they were closed and I cannot see any of these windows that were closed off screen.

It might be useful to note that both the ALT+SPACE, M and right-click on taskbar tricks in the answers work on most UNIX-like systems' window managers as well, making this a relatively universal trick. Additionally, if you even have a tiny subset of the window on UNIX systems, you can usually ALT+CLICK on it to drag it. I know this is a Windows-specific question, which is why I'm not leaving this as a full-fledged answer, but it might help someone coming from Google. — Michael Trausch, Jul 28 '11 at 21:20
Did You connect second monitor recently? Or maybe a projector? This happens when You add second monitor device and strech your desktop (sometimes) — Adam RichardSon, Jul 29 '11 at 09:10
Asked 6 months ago, so, "see also": http://superuser.com/questions/239891/how-to-move-unseen-windows-cannot-access-my-application-after-switching-monito/ — Christopher Galpin, Sep 13 '11 at 21:35
See also [How to move windows that open up offscreen?](http://superuser.com/q/53585/150988) and [Keyboard shortcut for moving a window to another screen](http://superuser.com/q/62603/150988). — Scott - Слава Україні, Nov 26 '13 at 23:49

score 102 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 28 '11 at 16:19

102

Highlight in in the task bar, hit ALT+SPACE then M. That will get it ready to move. Then use your arrow keys to move it and hit Enter when finished.

Try holding the Shift key while closing. That often saves the location.

answered Jul 28 '11 at 16:19

KCotreau

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Also, right-click on the program item in the task bar, select Move, then, without moving your mouse again, press the right, left, up, or down arrow keys as appropriate until the window comes into view. – music2myear Jul 28 '11 at 16:21
Thank you! This worked perfectly. Will mark as the answer once the timeout expires. – qroberts Jul 28 '11 at 16:22
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@qroberts I am not sure why it is not universal, but the Shift trick works for some programs nicely, saving the position when it may not otherwise save. Thank you for marking it. I appreciate it. – KCotreau Jul 28 '11 at 16:24
I am curious as to why certain machines like to do this, it isn't just the one application either. I am thinking a driver or some input device may be messing with it, but the mouse isn't causing the move event. I am interested into what the cause may be if you know what it is (I am still going to mark you as the answer). – qroberts Jul 28 '11 at 16:29
@qroberts Without seeing it, it is hard to know exactly, but I just did another search, and I found this interesting thread. You might want to go through it (It is for Windows 7, but probably still relevant. It is 22 pages, which is why I did not go through the whole thing). I suspect that there might be a default window position somewhere in the registry, but I could not find it. Writing that just gave me an idea: Try opening a window, and open Computer>Tools>Folder Options>View and make a change to a setting and click "Apply to all folders", or just try the "Reset folders". If there is a... – KCotreau Jul 28 '11 at 16:54
default, this might reset it. – KCotreau Jul 28 '11 at 16:54
Do you have multiple monitors? I've had several applications that couldn't quit understand how I had my dual monitors set up and would consistently open off screen if I closed them from my secondary monitor. – aslum Jul 28 '11 at 17:22
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After pressing Alt+space, and then using one of the arrow buttons to move it a little, you can also then simply move the mouse and the window will jump under your mouse cursor. – Ben Richards Jul 28 '11 at 19:37
@sidran32 Good point, but for some reason that doesn't work sometimes. I've used this trick for ages and the keyboard always works, but sometimes the mouse just does nothing – Michael Mrozek Jul 28 '11 at 21:08
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@qroberts @KCotreau: The shift trick only works if the program asks [`CreateWindowEx`](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms632680%28VS.85%29.aspx) (or, in .Net, the [`FormStartLocation`](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.formstartposition.aspx)) to use the default start position. There are plenty of programs (and perhaps frameworks?) which don't use the default location, either with valid reason, or because the developer forgot/made a mistake/doesn't know any better *(it's not a bug you'd normally notice...)* – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft Jul 28 '11 at 22:11
@BlueRaja The program was Simply Accounting if that helps you (I believe it uses .NET) – qroberts Aug 02 '11 at 13:22
Works on Windows 8. Thanks for saying alt and space THEN m. That helped clarify this for me. – Mike_K Feb 24 '14 at 01:51
Lord God, thanks for this! I'm using a windows in German and I don't understand anything – Snake Sanders Apr 07 '15 at 08:23
what is this feature of one letter shortcut called? I am trying to find something similar for linux environment. – s.r Aug 15 '18 at 17:35

score 18 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 28 '11 at 22:18

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I have a geeky solution :-) Script in Python that goes through all off-screen windows and offers moving them to the left upper corner:

import winxpgui, sys, win32con

screen_width = 1920
screen_height = 1200

def WindowsListEnum(hwnd, data):
    pos = winxpgui.GetWindowRect(hwnd)
    left, top = 0, 0
    if pos[0] < 0 or pos[0] > screen_width:
        left = 10
    if pos[1] < 0 or pos[1] > screen_height:
        top = 10
    if left or top:
        print winxpgui.GetWindowText(hwnd), ',', pos, '->', (top, left, pos[2], pos[3])
        if sys.stdin.read(1) == 'y':
            winxpgui.SetWindowPos(hwnd, win32con.HWND_NOTOPMOST, left, top, pos[2]-pos[0], pos[3]-pos[1], win32con.SWP_SHOWWINDOW)

print "press 'y' to move the window, anything else to continue\n"
winxpgui.EnumWindows(WindowsListEnum, None)

You need Python and Win32all.

answered Jul 28 '11 at 22:18

Lukas Cenovsky

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Yeah, you could download and install stuff (3-5 minutes), **OR** you could use shortcut keys (3-5 seconds)... – TFM Jul 29 '11 at 10:20
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I usually use the shortcut too but sometimes it does not work or I need to move more Windows at once. – Lukas Cenovsky Jul 29 '11 at 11:25
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Completely overkill but I like it – Gary Jul 29 '11 at 15:48
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+1. This is useful if the window is completely offscreen and in an unknown direction (or very far offscreen). – Peter Mortensen Jul 30 '11 at 12:34
@Peter: in that case you could use alt-space followed by x, which maximizes the window – Rabarberski Aug 03 '11 at 11:05

score 15 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 28 '11 at 21:39

15

In Windows 7 you can select the window and then Win + arrow keys to move it.

answered Jul 28 '11 at 21:39

tidbeck

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Note that the question asked about Windows XP, but this is a great trick for Windows 7 which I do use sometimes myself. – nhinkle Jul 29 '11 at 06:32

score 9 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 30 '11 at 12:49

9

You can also right-click on the taskbar and choose one of the window-arranging menu choices. In Windows 7, they are:

Cascade Windows
Show Windows Stacked
Show Windows Side-by-side

Previous versions used slightly different terms, but did the same thing. Some versions will only arrange non-minimized windows/applications, if I recall correctly.

enter image description here

edited Jul 30 '11 at 12:49

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 28 '11 at 20:07

StevenV

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This method also affects all the other visible windows. – Synetech Aug 14 '11 at 05:48
That's true @Synetech but when you are desperate to get back an offscreen window during a presentation, you don't mind getting messy... – István Zachar May 28 '15 at 15:23

Jay Bazuzi · Answer 5 · 2011-08-14T19:42:12.023

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Set focus to the window, by clicking in the task bar or ALT+TAB.
ALT+SPACE to bring up the system menu.
M to select Move.
Tap an arrow key once to start moving the window.
Move your mouse.

The window will quickly pop in to view.

This is faster than using the arrows to move the window the whole way, especially if it is way off screen.

edited Aug 14 '11 at 19:42

answered Jul 30 '11 at 07:21

Jay Bazuzi

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You don’t need both axes; *any* arrow key will do. – Synetech Aug 14 '11 at 05:46
@Synetechinc: I just confirmed that in Windows 7; you are right. I learned this sequence long ago, so it may have been required in earlier versions of Windows / NT. If anyone has that info, I will update my answer. – Jay Bazuzi Aug 14 '11 at 18:50
Hmm, that seems strange, I can’t imagine why both would be required. I know any arrow key was sufficient at least back to Win95. Maybe you just pressed both and thought that’s what did it, like pressing a bunch keys in a game to do something and not knowing which one did the trick, so you just repeat them all each time. `:-)` – Synetech Aug 14 '11 at 18:59

score 5 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 29 '11 at 09:25

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One extra tip: after you have started moving it with the keyboard (one pixel), finish by just moving the mouse. That is a lot faster.

answered Jul 29 '11 at 09:25

Jeff

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score 2 · Answer 7 · edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:16

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@qrobers as noted by StevenV

Right click on the taskbar window button and tell it to

Cascade Windows (stacks windows on top of each other with the windows headers showing)
Tile Windows Vertically (does its best to place all open windows re-sized on your desktop)
Tile Windows Horizontally (does its best to place all open windows re-sized on your desktop)

This is by far the easiest. I use it in a multiple monitor set on my laptop when power goes out and I loose the second monitor. I can pull all the windows onto my main monitor (laptop). Very easy, quick.

edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:16

Community

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answered Jul 29 '11 at 09:06

nelaaro

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This method also affects all the other visible windows. – Synetech Aug 14 '11 at 05:47

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 04 '21 at 08:15

One more option which allows to not affect other window positions and to avoid mouse-dragging: run an additional instance of the same application (in case currently there is only one), so that the following menu is available when you press Shift + right mouse click:

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Jun 19 '13 at 20:07

0

Some applications don't respond to activating the window plus using alt+space+m, such as FSCapture (faststone screen capture). WindowSpace (free trial) worked to move it back onto the screen.

answered Jun 19 '13 at 20:07

Lames

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score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 30 '13 at 18:29

A technique that often works is this:

Right-click in the taskbar and choose "Show Desktop"
Right-click on the problem program task and choose "Restore"
Right-click on the some other program's task and choose "Restore"
Right-click in the taskbar and choose "Cascade Windows"

This normally causes the window parameters to fit onto the current screen. Having only two active windows keeps most window positions unchanged.

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Nov 09 '13 at 16:03

There is (or was) an extremely good program called Shove-It for Windows. Used to be at www.phord.com but it's been taken down now. Basically just run it and it will automatically detect any windows that have opened with their contents even partially off-screen, and either "shove" them back into the viewing portal area or else resize them if necessary, all automatically. I managed to locate an old beta of it which is free, will share via Sugarsync. https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D290041_6932435_98576

Just an FYI, most users here would be pretty skeptical of downloading a random zip file from the internet, even with background. — , Nov 09 '13 at 16:57

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Jan 20 '14 at 21:52

0

Install aero snap plugin.
Move the screen with the hotkey: Win + arrows

answered Jan 20 '14 at 21:52

Josep Alsina

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What can I do to retrieve windows that have gone off screen?

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