Opening app when multiple monitors are used

ondrejfuhrer

Hello,

I have this small thing that kind of has been bugging me for a while so I decided to start this discussion for it. I saw two approaches that OS X apps are using when opening an application when multiple monitors are present. Some applications opens on the monitor that is currently active and some of them always opens on the monitor they were before. Since I use the application at work where people can actually see my external monitors I don't like to open the app on those.

So if it is possible I would be glad if 1Passwords opens always on the same monitors it was before so I have a clear control of where it pops-up (in my case always on small mac display, not external monitor).

What do you think about it?

---

1Password Version: 6.3.2
Extension Version: 4.5.9.90
OS Version: OS X 10.11.6
Sync Type: iCloud

Drew_AG

Hi @ondrejfuhrer,

I'm sorry 1Password isn't opening on the expected display!

Is this happening with the main 1Password app or with 1Password mini / browser extension? I've heard of mini opening on a different display than expected, but it sounds like you might be talking about the main app. Or possibly both?

Can you also please describe exactly how you open the main 1Password app or 1Password mini? For example, if the problem is with the main app, do you click a shortcut in the Dock, or use Spotlight to find/open it, or double-click the app file in the Applications folder, or something else? If the problem is with mini/extension, do you click the mini icon in the menubar of that display, or the extension icon in your browser's toolbar, or do you use the ⌥⌘\ or ⌘\ keyboard shortcut?

Also, does it always open on the external monitor, or does it sometimes open on the small Mac display?

If the problem is with the main 1Password app, please launch it, then right-click on its icon in the Dock and go to the Options submenu. Under the "Assign To" section of that submenu, which option has a check mark next to it?

Thanks in advance! :)

ondrejfuhrer

Hello @Drew_AG ,

I am referring to the main 1Password app. I just tested both approaches I use for opening the app and it works the same way. I use spotlight (actually Alfred app, but it should not be any difference) or clicking on the app in the Dock.

I checked the Options menu as you described but I don't have any Assign To section there, there are only 3 options there:

• Keep in Dock (the only one checked)
• Open at Login
• Show in Finder

About the opening - it actually opens at the last active monitor so if I am working on the external monitor and run the app, it appears there (no matter which of the approaches use as described above) even if the app was running on the laptop monitor before.

Hope this answers all your question. Feel free to ask if you need anything else :smile:

Drew_AG

Thanks @ondrejfuhrer!

I checked the Options menu as you described but I don't have any Assign To section there

I'm not exactly sure why you don't see that, but I have a theory. If you open System Preferences on your Mac and select Mission Control, is the option for "Displays have separate Spaces" checked or unchecked?

ondrejfuhrer

Hello @Drew_AG ,

it is checked. Here you can see the whole Mission control setting:

ag_kevin

Hi @ondrejfuhrer ,

I have a proposed solution. It is a bit "hacky" but it does seem to work here. I think the issue is with OS X, but we'll look into it either way. The intended behaviour is for the main 1Password window to remember exactly where it was and reappear there on relaunch. At any rate, try this:

1. Press Control ↑ to activate Mission Control.
2. On the main screen go to the top and click the + button on the right to create a new space.
3. Close Mission Control.
4. Now you should be able to right-click 1Password in the Dock, go to Options and see "Assign To>" in the menu bar. Select "Desktop of screen 1" to move it to the desired screen. (or screen 2 if that is where you want it).
5. That should do it. If you don't like that extra space in Mission Control, you can go back in and remove it. The 1Password window seems to behave after that.

Let us know if that works for you. It worked here when I tried it, so I'm hopeful.

FYI, credit goes to this article for the solution: http://www.macworld.com/article/2990037/operating-systems/solve-mission-control-failing-to-allow-displays-as-spaces.html

Regards,
Kevin

ondrejfuhrer

Hello @ag_kevin ,

thank you for the solution. It is working but not ideally. I don't know why that happen, but depending on what window has focus, the app loads for me "shifted" to right.
When the focus is on 1st (laptop) screen, it loads fine:

When when the focus is on the first external monitor, it looks like this:

And on second external like this:

But that probably is not the app problem. Maybe even the problem is that every monitor has different resolution, don't know. But it is better then before, so thank you. But if you would have an idea why the shifting happens, ideas are welcome :)

Drew_AG

Hi @ondrejfuhrer,

Thank you for the screenshots! We've been looking into this but unfortunately we aren't sure why that's happening as it's something that's supposed to be handled by the OS. We set the app window to "autosave" its position, and the OS is supposed to remember that and put it back where it last saw it the next time you launch the app. I suspect you're right about it having something to do with the resolution on each monitor, but I don't know for sure.

I notice the 1Password window is expanded to fill the screen - does the same problem happen if that window is smaller? It shouldn't be a problem to have it fill the screen of course, but it's something you could experiment with just to see if it makes any difference.

I'm sorry I don't have a better answer for you about that! It's something we can notify Apple about (assuming the problem is in fact with the OS), but we don't have a better solution at this time. Thanks for bringing it to our attention though, we appreciate it! :)

ondrejfuhrer

Hi @Drew_AG ,

it actually seems like random positioning, I've tried several times opening (with not maxed window) and it opened every time in a different position. Only if the target window was actually active, it opened the same way as it was upon closing. I also tried to turn off Magnet app (used for some positioning) but it has no effect. Is there anything else I can help you with?

Maybe we can try how does it behave on the new MacOS Sierra in couple of days, maybe it would behave differently and it will work.

Drew_AG

Hi @ondrejfuhrer,

I'm also curious if this will work differently in Sierra! In the meantime though, I'm not sure there's anything else we can suggest since it seems that the OS isn't handling the app window position correctly on the external monitors. You might want to try searching on the Apple Support Communities to see if you're able to find anything about that: https://discussions.apple.com/welcome

I tried a quick search but not sure I saw anything that applied to this particular situation. If you have better luck and find an answer there, we'd be interested to hear about it, if you don't mind. Thanks! :)

ondrejfuhrer

Hello @Drew_AG ,

I checked this issue on macOS Sierra and the result is slightly better. It still does not work without assigning the app to the specific monitor, but the shifting on the screen is no longer an issue. So at least this works fine. But of course it would be awesome if it worked also without this workaround.

Just one thing I found when setting different app, in this case iTerm2. They actually have in preferences a setting, where you want to open new window and it works :smile: . Which lead me to a conclusion that there must be a way how to set it programatically.

I believe in you, that you guys will figure it out and make 1Password even better then it is right now!

Drew_AG

Thank you for following up here to let us know how it works for you on Sierra! I'm glad to hear it's a little better now, even if not perfect. I'd be happy to send your feedback & suggestion along to our developers, and if there's a way we can improve the way this works from our end in the future, I'm sure it's something they'll at least look into. :)