Multiple Displays "feature" not so much a feature...

I have a 24" external monitor hooked up to my rMBP as a secondary display. Since upgrading to 10.9, the new "Multiple Display feature" has made opening apps a pain in the ass.

It seems that which ever display the dock is on is the display the app window will open in. Makes sense but this is extremely stupid for those who want to launch apps from the primary display and have them open on the secondary display. Even after repositioning the app window where I want it, quitting and reopening the app causes it to open on the primary display again. It doesn't remember the last position like it used to in Mountain Lion.

I've found a semi-fix and that is to add a new desktop space to my secondary display, right click on the app in the dock, choose options and then select "Assign to...desktop on display 2." This "fix" however only puts the window on the secondary display - it still resizes it and moves it so I still end up dragging it where I want it.

Another fix is to invoke the dock to the secondary display and then launch the app, however the dock cuts off the bottom part of the window so I STILL have to resize the window.

The only fool-proof fix right now is to invoke Spotlight search on the secondary display and use it to launch the app. THEN it will open where it is supposed to.

tl;dr - the multiple displays feature is a pain in the ass when opening apps.

benwiggy said:

Apps like Mail, which keep their window, will launch and stay in the same display. If the app has a "resume" document window stored, then it will stay in that display.

If you want to specify which monitor an app should launch in, then just make sure that display has the menubar and launch the app from there, using Spotlight, Launchpad, the Finder, Dock....

Click to expand...

Spotlight is inconvenient, Launchpad opens on the primary display ONLY, using Finder is counter-intuitive and if I use the dock from the secondary display then the bottom part of the window is moved up. I keep the dock on my primary display ONLY so out of the 4 solutions you've provided, the only one that works the way it should is Spotlight. But I shouldn't have to Spotlight search the app I want to open just so it opens where it should.

DayVe3000 said:

I think the app opening on the screen the dock was used on is a great idea personally . . . Its just a shame none of this multi monitor support really works at all.

Fed up of fighting with the dock to get it to appear, translucent menu bars not becoming active and several examples of apps just not functioning right - Feels like a Beta.

However - To offer a suggestion for your resizing problem. I use an app called Cinch (available via the app store or google for a free trial. Mimics Windows Aero and will automatically resize apps to entire windows for you . . . If only Apple had took this on native - I've never been a fan of the "smart resize".

Click to expand...

It is a good idea and it does make sense however we should have been given the choice to use that "feature." I like launching my apps from my primary display and having them open on the secondary. It's personal preference. On ML it remembered the last open position and that's where it put the app window at. On Mavericks it completely disregards the last used position and launches it wherever it feels like on the display the app was launched from.

The dock has always appeared when I invoked it on either display and the menu bar always becomes active when I click on its respective display, so I don't know why you're having that trouble.

That isn't a fix to the issue, not for me at least - I like to keep safari letterboxed so having that app resize it to fit the screen wouldn't be what I need.

vbrad26 said:

I too am suffering from the "sticky dock" on multiple displays.
Try doing this with your windows though.
Open the program you want and just let it open on whatever display.
Then drag it to the display you want it on.
Then clock the bottom right corner and re-size the program window.
Make it whatever size you want but just re-size it using that method.
Then close the widow and then re-open it and it SHOULD open back up in the same place you closed it.
That is as long you don't have the option checked off to have it open on a specific display.
Let me know if that does not make sense or just does not work.

Click to expand...

I have disabled the multiple desktop spaces feature since I cannot break the habit of opening apps from my primary display. I will re-enable it tonight and let you know if this method works. Just to clarify, these are the steps?

1. Open the app and let it open where it wants
2. Drag the app's window to the display I want it to open on from that point forward
3. Resize the window by dragging the bottom right hand corner of the window
4. Close/reopen and it should be in the same place I left it?

I have it set so the app window opens on the desktop on display 2.

vbrad26 said:

Yep those are the steps.
I have not had to do it yet but I was doing this in ML when it would act up

Click to expand...

Those steps do not work. As I said in a post or two above, Mavericks completely disregards window position and only opens app windows on the desktop they were launched on.

NewbieCanada said:

In the dock, under the options for each item, you can set which display it opens on.

Click to expand...

As said in the original post, doing this opens it on the correct display but it still disregards the last open position and window size. It pushes the window more to the left each time I open it with this method so I still have to drag and resize the window.

jhfenton said:

I think a lot of apps still need tweaks to deal with the new desktops and spaces functionality. Some apps currently seem to remember window positions. Other apps don't. The same is true with the second menu bar and full screen functionality.

Click to expand...

I'm having this problem with apps developed by Apple themselves. They shouldn't still need tweaked.