It probably happens to all of us. Sometimes an app starts normally, but its main window appears off-screen. This often happens with portable apps, when you run them from a flash drive on a display which has lower display resolution than the previous one. Here is how to resolve this issue.
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Another good example of the situation is a multi-display PC. If you are working on a laptop with an external display connected, you could easily forget a window on the external display and then disconnect it. Although usually the window should move to your primary display, sometimes it remains off screen. Here is how to return it home.
To move an off-Screen window back to the Screen in Windows 10, do the following.
- Press and hold the Shift key and right-click the app's taskbar icon.
- Select Move in the context menu.
- Use the left, right, up and down arrow keys on the keyboard to move your window. When you have moved the window to the desired position, press Enter.
There is an alternative way to achieve the same. It involves the keyboard only. You might find it faster. Also, it is the only way to move a window when it does not have a taskbar button, e.g. if it appears only in the system tray.
Move an Off-Screen Window With Keyboard Only
- Press Alt + Tab and select the app's window thumbnail. The app window will become active, but still not visible.
- Press Alt + Space , then press M. This will activate the Move option of the window.
- Use the left, right, up and down arrow keys to move your window. When you have moved the window to the desired position, press Enter.
Tip: See how to tweak Alt+Tab to enlarge thumbnails and disable live aero peek preview. Also see two secrets of Alt + Tab dialog in Windows 10 you might not be aware of.
That's it.
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Thank you for the Shift key tip.
there is no option to move
this is impossible.
alt space M then move mouse on to the correct screen worked for me!
The Shift-click didn’t work for me (I’m using a later version of Windows 10 with a dark context menu so they might have forgotten to re-implement it with the updated design), but thankfully the keyboard method worked!
What do you do when it’s a window within an application and it doesn’t get a button on the taskbar nor does it show up in the Alt-Tab sequence?
Doesn’t seem to work anymore, three monitor setup, monitor 3 switched out with HDMI switch then launch Acrobat, it always opens on monitor 3 ! I can alt+tab select it and get the alt+space+m with a beep, cursor turns to a move cursor but arrow keys do nothing, taskbar cascade windows does nothing .
Thank you so much!
thanks :-)
I’ve searched for so long and your solution is the only one that worked. Thank you so much for this post.
Office Advanced Find windows do not show on Taskbar, so Keyboard Only method is only way to get those back into view.
Finally a solution to my problem. Glad it worked. Thank you so much