Photoshop + dual display?

#1

I’ve googled this alot of times, and never found a solution, although alot of people have this problem.
Alright, so I have one main monitor, and one Cintiq. I use the Cintiq for drawing and the main monitor for other stuff in Photoshop. I’m using Windows 7.

So I usually drag the Photoshop window between the two monitors. The Cintiq is not a mirror of the main monitor, but an extension.

The problem is that I also have to drag all popup-windows to the current monitor after switching.
Popup-windows = filters/blur/contrast and all that.

So is there any way to make the popup windows always appear at the same position as the Photoshop-window?

Please help! I’ve had this issue for so long now

#2

Try this. It’s a bit convoluted but it worked for me after a bit of fiddling just yesterday.

Open Photoshop. It will now open on the wrong monitor. Restore down the window (de-maximize) and then put the window over to the second monitor that you want it to open on. DO NOT MAXIMIZE at this point. Close Photoshop.

Open Photoshop again. Maximize. Close Photoshop.

Now when you open again it should open on the right monitor, maximized. This may also work for your pallet menu locations but if not, Photoshop stores that information itself in your saved layout so just put the stuff where you want it and save a layout.

#3

But if I need to open and close photoshop 2 times, then it’s easier to just drag the popups to the current monitor. =/

A popup always saves its last position and reappears there when it’s opened again.
Isn’t there any way to turn that off?

#4

You’ve lost me. I thought you were asking a different question from the start. I thought you wanted to know how to get Photoshop to open up on the same monitor every time so that you didn’t have to keep moving it manually.

You don’t have to have the main application window on the same screen as your pallet windows. You can just drag your pallets off to the second screen, leaving Photoshop maximized on the screen you want it to be on. You can then save your layout (workspace) once your happy with where your pallets are, making sure to check on save panel locations. If you need multiple setups for different tasks/workflows just save out multiple workspaces/layouts that suit the task.

#5

Yes, that would be a solution. :slight_smile:
Still, it’s handy to have the main app window there too, because that gives quick access to the top menu. And usually when I draw, I have Firefox on the other one so I can read newspapers/forums/ect at the same time as I’m drawing, so if the main app window will be there, it will block any other windows I want to see… but if that’s the only solution I’ll use it :slight_smile:

#6

Can you post a screenshot of how you want your entire desktop to look and load everytime, while Photoshop is running.

#7

I would like Photoshop to always open up in the main monitor. And if I want to use the cintiq, I turn it on and drag Photoshop onto it. Then I also want all popups to appear in the cintiq. If I drag photoshop back to the main monitor, I want the popups to appear in the main monitor again.

#8

Your going to need to save out 2 different workspaces then, it’s fairly simple to swap back and forth between workspaces I believe you can even set them to hotkeys if you really wanted to, not 100% on that though. Also, since your using Windows 7 you can press Shft + Win + Arrow Left or Arrow Right to make the active program jump to the other monitor. Hope that speeds things up a bit for you.

#9

Thanks alot for telling me about Shift + Windows + Left/right :slight_smile: That will be very useful!

Now, I tried to save the workspace, but it appears that popup window locations isn’t saved.
So (for example) the Brightness/Contrast-window will still open at the same place where it was when it was closed. So if I used B/C when I used the cintiq, and then switched to my main monitor, then the B/C-window will open in the Cintiq-monitor even though I’ve moved Photoshop to the other monitor.

Saved workspaced didn’t solve it :confused: I’m sure alot of people have this problem, so we really need to solve it

#10

Simply, you must re-load the saved workspace each time (I suggested making two different workspaces) or disable remember panel locations in the Preferences>Interface window.

#11

I’ve tried, but the location of the popups isn’t saved. Does it work for you?
Remember, I don’t mean the layers/history/styles/brushes-windows, but other windows like brightness/contrast, liquify, gaussian blur ect.

#12

I see, your talking about filter and adjustment windows that pop-up. They seem to only ever open where they last were, regardless of workspace or which monitor your main application is on. I am afraid that I do not know how to address this. And at this point could only help you find an alternative, solution altogether.

One possible workaround may be to make a second install of photoshop, in a different folder/location so that you have two independant copies. This may or may not even work but since this seems very important to you, you could give it a shot.

#13

I usually draw something with the Cintiq, and when it’s finnished I switch to the main monitor and adjust colors. I don’t think it is any easier to close Photoshop and open a copy of it, than it is to move the window and then drag the popup windows =/

I’m after a simple solution where the popups always appears where the main window is. ^^

#14

I don’t have the solution your looking for because I don’t think it exists. The only other piece of info I know of that may help you in some way is Win+P which lets you switch between Mirror and Extend. That way when your doing color correction you could possibly just mirror over, using your non-cintique as a secondary monitor, then switch back to have dual monitor extending again.

It’s not a very elegant solution but I’m pretty sure what your trying to do is without a solution. I hope I’m wrong though and that you get your workspace set up just how you want it. Good luck, I think I’m all out of ideas.

#15

Ok, thanks for the help!
Maybe I should ask Adobe ^^

#16

You, my friend, are in dire need of a multiple screen utility. Ultramon may be your best bet:

http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/overview/

That will most probably solve most of your problems. You can add shortcut keys to control window settings quickly, change the primary/secondary screen on the fly, switch applications from one screen to the other, etcetera.

I know it is shareware- give the trial a whirl, and see if this works for you.

edit Since I am working on two screens as well, I tested this with Photoshop - works VERY well: I set up a shortcut key (ctrl-alt-shift-numpad+) to switch any active window to the other screen and vice versa. So when I open a filter window in Photoshop I can now quickly move this dialog to either screen with a flick of my hands. The only thing I noticed is that Photoshop becomes a bit confused when switching from the 22" 16001200 screen to my 19201200 24" screen (the palettes do not move to the far right). However, setting up a shortcut key for maximizing/minimizing the app window and refreshing it (press the key twice) took care of that problem. So now I can switch Photoshop, or any other app, quickly between screens within a second. No more dragging! What’s better, Ultramon takes care of memorizing where the windows are supposed to be going.

edit 2 non-docked palettes stay where they are, and do not move to the other screen.
Combine this with Launchy, and you increase your productivity twice-fold.
http://launchy.net/

#17

Oh, thanks alot! I will try it right away! :beer:

#18

I recently found out that Shift + win + left/right works for the popup windows as well!

#19

There you go! You can macro that onto a single button then. P.S. You don’t have to use left and right, especially if you only have 2 screens, you can just use one direction repeatedly and it will swap back and forth just the same.

#20

I apologize i jump with question like this, but maybe i can find solution for my problem. Hvanderwegen i see that you use two displays(monitors). I have a problem because on one of my screens white color isn’t white like on other, it has yelowish tone . Do you have that problem, and if not, do you maybe know what can cause it?

Thanks in advance

M