offscreen dialogs

[Ove]

The text and font dialog opens outside my desktop, and i have no way of getting to it. Alt-m does not work as it does with other windows applications.

I am running this on windows vista 32 bit and with Inkscape 0.46.
I have a complex screen setup that is most probably the source of this problem. I have a dual screensetup where one screen is setup in landscape and the other in portrait. In addition i have an offset so that the screens are vertically aligned. When I rotate one of my screens, and remove the alignment, the font dialog shows up as normal again.

An attempt of some ascii art to explain my screensetup (might look strange if not in verbatim):
              _______
             | |
 ____________| |
| | |
| 1 | 2 |
| | |
|____________| |
             |_______|

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Thanks for an awesome application
Ove

[Joannes Vermorel (joannes-vermorel)]

I am encountering the same problem. It basically happens with dual monitor, when the second monitor is not located at the same height than the first monitor.

[Pablo Trabajos (pajarico)]

If I remember correctly, there had been some changes made to that part of the code. Mind trying a more recent prerelease from here http://inkscape.modevia.com/win32/?C=M;O=D?

[jazzynico (jazzynico)]

Also reproduced with the gradient editor and the export dialog (see duplicates).

Could you please try to reproduce this bug with a recent development snapshot (http://inkscape.modevia.com/win32/?M=D). The Windows devlibs (including gtk+) have been updated recently, and it should improve windows handling.

[su_v (suv-lp)]

Changing status to 'Confirmed' - in new duplicate bug #649329 “Child windows position out of screen, can't move them” the issue was reproduced with 0.47 as well as current Inkscape 0.48 on Windows Vista.

[A. de la Pinsonnais (amaury)]

It's OK for me. Thanks for the job you do, Inskape is a fantastic software !

[Nicholas J. Fiorello Jr. (nfiorello)]

Seeing this behavior with the gradient editor window in Inkscape 0.48.0 r9654 on Windows.

While it would be nice if Inkscape could detect when a window is offscreen and restore it to the default monitor, perhaps a more pragmatic fix would be a button that resets all dialog positions to their default location.

[Teemu Talja (teemu-talja)]

For me the problem occurs with Windows XP (Service Pack 3) and Inkscape 0.48 Portable
(0.48.0 r9654)

[Teemu Talja (teemu-talja)]

And thanks for developing Inkscape, it is really great :)

[jazzynico (jazzynico)]

Inkscape 0.48.2 uses updated devlibs that may fix the issue. Could you please test again with the latest Inkscape version?
Thanks.

[Tim Hoffmann (der-gast)]

I have the same monitor configuration as in the original post (win7, inkscape 0.48.2). In my case the dialog appears on the first screen, i.e. it's not off screen. However it is not centered. The actual position sees to depend, on the vertial position of the second screen. But it's also not centered with respect to this screen's vertical coordinates.

If I set the geometry to the following, the dialog is not visible:
     __
    | |
 ___|__|
|___|

[bkgoodman (brad-bradgoodman)]

I ran into the same problem. I was able to get around it with the solution described at:

http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11525

I believe what got me into this state in the first place, was that I usually run Inskcape on a multi-monitor setup on my laptop. Today, I was unplugged from the dock, thus using a single [laptop] monitor. Also, my "main" monitor when connected to my dock is much larger than my current "main" laptop screen. So, I think it was the case where Inkscape somehow cached/configured/stored the fact that the gradient window was last displayed to a screen location which does not exist in my current setup.

In short, when Inkscape goes to display a dialog - it should first make sure that the location it is trying to place the dialog are in-fact valid and visible, and if not - correct!

Please fix!!

[Søren Krogh Neigaard (soeren-h)]

On OS X there are now ways to reposition the dialogs with the keyboard (that I know of), so when this error hits you on OS X, and it has hit me now, you are really stuck! Now I can only use Inkscape on my laptop display and not on my larger attached display.

I have tried various window settings in the Inkscape preferences but nothing helps.

Please fix this, make a check that dialogs are not off screen and if they are reposition them, or make a fix/option to always display dialogs in center of active screen. Please please we need this, I can only draw on my little tiny screen now :(

[su_v (suv-lp)]

Søren Krogh Neigaard wrote:
> so when this error hits you on OS X, and it has hit me now

Does "now" refer to "after upgrading to Mavericks"? Please see bug #1244397 - on Mavericks, this is not Inkscape's fault.

[Søren Krogh Neigaard (soeren-h)]

Yes it does and the Turn off "Displays have separate spaces" fixes it for me. Sorry about that and thank you.

[Christopher K. (christopher-christosoft)]

I have the same problem on Windows 7 64 bit with Inkscape 0.48.4 and a dual monitor setup similar to the one above. My left screen is smaller and landscape, my right screen larger and portrait. Both end on the same height at the bottom, so the right one goes higher then the left one.

The issue happens when I want to open the inkscape settings or the document settings for example. I see no dialog opening. I can continue using inkscape, but the dialog will not appear.

When I only use one screen, everything is fine. When I use [Windows]+[P] to change from dual-screen to one screen while Inkscape is running, the missing window does not appear and ppening it again will not make it appear. But I can press [Alt]+[F4] to close it and once I open it again, it is visible.

The EASIEST WORKAROUND in Windows 7 is using the [Windows] + [arrow up] * shortcut whenever the problem happens. This shortcut maximizes the current window and makes it visible just fine.

* you can also use left or right to position it on the left or right half of the screen.

In case you need more info to debug or something, I am happy to help solving this issue.

[Maciej J. Bańkowski (bankowski)]

I can confirm the bug is present in my Inkscape 0.48.4 x64 on Win7 x64 SP1 with dual monitor setup (attached control panel screenshot).

When Inkscape opens new windows they are open somewhere above the 1st screen and so they are invisible.
[Alt+Space, M, left arrow] OR [Win+left arrow] brings them to focus so the workaround works.

However, it really should be fixed as it lowers UI usability quite a bit and hence degrades the overall user experience.
It might not seem like much but it really discourages the user to use the software. It is like Joel says: "Fix bugs first, add new features later": http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html

I'm willing to help with testing.

[Charles Chambers (cchamb2)]

In the Windows version (Windows XP, Tablet 2005 version, running on an HP/Compaq TC4200), this bug is evident also when the Text and Font window is open in window mode. When open in full screen mode, the dialog box exactly fills the screen and the dialog buttons at the bottom right are available. When in window mode, the windows will not resize to leave a border of desktop around all four sides, and the window portion with the dialog buttons runs off the bottom of the screen.

[Maciej J. Bańkowski (bankowski)]

Bug still active in 0.91 on Win10 x64. Whole Inkscape opens up off-screen.

[jazzynico (jazzynico)]

@All affected users - Inkscape is now available in 64-bit version (see https://inkscape.org/download/windows/) with recent dependencies. Would you be willing to try it and report back if the bug also affects that version?
Thanks!

[Ted (ted-yates)]

Confirmed bug still exists in Inkscape 0.91 r13725 64-bit on Windows 7 Pro with 4 monitors when opening .ai file.

PDF Import dialog opens on screen then app opens off screen. When the file is saved to .svg format, app opens on screen as expected.

[fuhrmanator (fuhrmanator)]

I confirm also this bug in Win 10, Inkscape 0.91 r13725 64-bit.

It's the main application that opens always off screen for me (haven't had probs with dialogs), and I think I know more about "where" based on how I get the windows back. Here's a screen shot of my monitors config in Windows 10: http://imgur.com/i9E1wj8 -- the "monitor" on the right is actually my surface Pro (smaller physically, but much more resolution, so it appears bigger in the monitors configuration - Win 10 is not smart enough to figure that out).

When I use the Alt-Space menu to get the window back "on screen" I select the Move command (as opposed to the Maximize command which instantly maximizes and is a good workaround). However, by using Move, I get some hints as to where the window actually is located. After selecting Move, the mouse cursor automatically moves to the upper left part of the left-most monitor (not quite the corner, about 1/4 of the way from the left, depending on the width of the Inkscape window's width I think). Then I press the down arrow repeatedly until I see the window come back down on to the screen. It sometimes takes many presses.

So, it's my suspicion that windows are opening in a dead-zone that I indicated in red in the photo above.

Hope this helps! This bug has been active for going on 6 years??? Cheers!

[Luis Duran (lucho1970)]

When I first saw this bug here on this site and I saw the date that is was posted, I thought I must have downloaded the wrong version; surely this must have been fixed by now!

Anyway, I can confirm the same as everyone here. My window always opens on my Laptop screen (which is not set as my main screen) and it is to the left and above the screen. I can see the lower right corner of the window. Sometimes I can grab the lower right sizing bars and when I resize it, it jumps the window down so it can be dragged. But usually I have to use Space+M and select the Move menu item. You just have to hit the arrow key once and then move your mouse and you can place the window.
The other thing that happens is that when I open dialog boxes, I can never find them. They always seem to open off the main window somewhere...

Anyway, I would love to be part of testing the solution.

Luis

[Dalski K (dal8)]

Thanks for the Inkscape software guys, great job; it's saved me buying the Adobe Creation Suite as it does exactly what I need.

I am experiencing this little Bug also when using Inkscape 0.92 in Windows 10 with a 64 bit architecture.

I have 2 external monitors set-up and the Dock placement is inconsistent. Is there a way to get them to open in the same position from opening the application each time?

I'm not complaining - it's a great bit of kit and to grant it Open-Source is much appreciated.

[Robert Tolppi (rtolps)]

A nasty and ancient bug that makes some features unusable. Windows spill offscreen and there's no way of accessing some properties.

[Robert Bigart (bobigart)]

What is THIS?

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Tolppi <email address hidden>
To: bobigart <email address hidden>
Sent: Sun, 9 Dec 2018 10:25
Subject: [Bug 379463] Re: offscreen dialogs

A nasty and ancient bug that makes some features unusable. Windows spill
offscreen and there's no way of accessing some properties.

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duplicate bug report (1162101).
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/379463

Title:
  offscreen dialogs

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[Hachmann (marenhachmann)]

Robert Bigart, that was a comment on a bug report for Inkscape that you are subscribed to.

[Jonathan Hofinger (jhofinger)]

Hi, this bug has been reported on Gitlab a few times as well, so I'm closing this issue as part of Inkscapes Great bug migration.

The closest issue to the title is probably https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/issues/1149,
but there are also https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/issues/542, https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/issues/1191, https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/issues/691, https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/issues/1329 and probably a few more which correspond to the duplicates of this issue.

If you encounter more problems with this, feel free to comment on the mentioned GitLab issues.

Closed by: https://gitlab.com/jhofinger