CS4 with Dual Monitor

M
Posted By
marksisco
Jan 15, 2009
Views
312
Replies
3
Status
Closed
I have a dual monitor setup using one video card, and it is configured so that the desktop extends to my second monitor (monitor right).

In CS3 the application with palettes, etc. is on my left monitor and my working document (image) is on the right. Anytime I open an image, boom, it automatically opens on the right monitor. It remembers that the right monitor is where I last had an image document open, so the next one opens there automatically.

In CS4 I can’t figure out how to do this. Every document I open shows up on the left monitor and I have to drag it over to the right where I want it. This continues to happen even if I uncheck "Open Documents as Tabs".

I have "Remember Panel Locations" checked, too.

Anyone know how to change this? I’m sure I must be missing something simple.

Thanks.

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RP
Russell_Proulx
Jan 17, 2009
In CS3 … it automatically opens on the right monitor. In CS4 every document I open shows up on the left monitor.

Seems to be a ‘CS4 feature’. I too find it a bit of a pita that the images in a ‘non-tabbed’ environment will always open stuck to the top left corner of the screen. I think that the ‘tabbed windows’ environment could become a preferred working space after getting used to it. But I would have expected the ‘non-tabbed’ mode to behave more like older versions.

Russell
M
marksisco
Jan 17, 2009
Russell, I agree. I talked to Adobe Thursday and came up with a reasonable alternative, though.

The image will always snap open inside the application "frame," and at the upper left, whether tabbed or not. So here’s what I was able to do (my calibrated monitor for my image is on the right, the monitor on the left is not where I want my image for editing):

I put my CS4 application window on the right monitor. All of my palettes are docked on my left monitor and they show up immediately there when opening CS4. So on monitor right, I have the menus at the top, my tools palette, and my image(s). On monitor left I have palettes only; my histogram, layers palette, actions palette, character palette, and so on. They are "floating" over my desktop or whatever application I have open, like my web browser or email. This is an adjustment I’m still getting accustomed to, but works great and is even more convenient in some ways because my commands (file, edit, etc.) are directly above my image yet do not really steal from the image real estate.

I had always thought the palettes needed to stay inside the application "frame". I did not realize they would sit alone on my left monitor and default to that monitor upon opening CS4 even though CS4 itself is on the right monitor.

Hope this explanation makes sense.

Two "quirks":
– if you don’t use tabbed mode, maximizing your image to fit the screen totally overlays the file menu, etc. at the top of the CS4 application. Weird and a bummer! I’m ok working in tabbed mode 99% of the time, though, so not a huge deal. But why they did this is not intuitive to me.
– for the setup that I described above to work, I think I finally decided you need to turn off "Enable Floating Document Window Docking" in preferences. I went through so many combinations of these settings that I can’t remember for sure, but I think this is the case. Everything is working great for me, and this function is turned off (not 100% sure whether it matters, though).

Mark
DM
dave_milbut
Jan 17, 2009
I had always thought the palettes needed to stay inside the application "frame". I did not realize they would sit alone on my left monitor and default to that monitor upon opening CS4 even though CS4 itself is on the right monitor.

yup! and of course, now that you’ve got things where you want them, save a workspace so you can get back there quickly from any configuration.

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