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Forcing mail to open on secondary display...

Yester5

Yester5

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 26, 2009
259
140
Pittsburgh, PA
Before I upgraded to Mavericks, my Mail application always opened on my second monitor. Now, Mail opens every time on my main iMac screen. Is there any way I can get the Mail window to open on the secondary display again?
Thanks for any help :)
 
Found a fix...System Preferences/Mission Control: uncheck "Displays have separate spaces"...log off then log back in. This also removes the second menu bar :)
 
Yester5 said:
Found a fix...System Preferences/Mission Control: uncheck "Displays have separate spaces"...log off then log back in. This also removes the second menu bar :)
Click to expand...

This breaks the ability to have two fullscreen windows at once though :/
 
The "Multiple Displays" feature is extremely flawed. I'm having the same issue - it seems that which ever desktop you use the dock on is the desktop it will open the app window on. I found a slight fix by adding a second desktop space to my external monitor and then right clicking on the app I want to open, selecting options, and then choosing which desktop I want it to open the app window on.

HOWEVER, this opens the app on the primary display and then quickly moves it to the secondary display so the window gets resized and repositioned, which is quite annoying.

I've submitted feedback to Apple via http://apple.com/feedback and I would urge everyone else to do the same. This wasn't an issue on Mountain Lion and that didn't even have OS "support" for multiple displays. This is a step back.
 
You are correct. So back to square one. I want to retain the dual menu bars, but the only way I have found to open Mail on the second display is to quit Mail instead of just closing it. Then when it is opened again, it returns to where it was when it was shut down. If I just close Mail, launching it again opens it on the primary display, not on the secondary one.
 
I have stumbled upon something that mostly solves my particular problem. I always liked Safari to open on my secondary display but haven't had any luck since upgrading.

I opened Mission Control and added a new desktop to my secondary display, (desktop 3). After that, a context menu came up when I right-clicked on the dock icon for Safari, it allowed me to use the 'Assign to' menu which was not previously showing up.

I could select 'Assign to Desktop on Display 2' and it will now open on my secondary display no matter where the dock is when I open Safari.

Remembering the exact position of the Safari window doesn't seem to work properly. If I move it to my primary display and close it, it remembers the 'relative' position but opens it on my secondary display... strange behaviour, but I am closer to my desired behaviour than before.

edit: it gets worse.. each time I open the application, it moves further to the right until it is butted up against the edge of the display..

Aye Caramba..
 
Last edited:
obeliq said:
I have stumbled upon something that mostly solves my particular problem. I always liked Safari to open on my secondary display but haven't had any luck since upgrading.

I opened Mission Control and added a new desktop to my secondary display, (desktop 3). After that, a context menu came up when I right-clicked on the dock icon for Safari, it allowed me to use the 'Assign to' menu which was not previously showing up.

I could select 'Assign to Desktop on Display 2' and it will now open on my secondary display no matter where the dock is when I open Safari.

Remembering the exact position of the Safari window doesn't seem to work properly. If I move it to my primary display and close it, it remembers the 'relative' position but opens it on my secondary display... strange behaviour, but I am closer to my desired behaviour than before.

edit: it gets worse.. each time I open the application, it moves further to the right until it is butted up against the edge of the display..

Aye Caramba..
Click to expand...

Exactly the same thing I discovered this evening. The Multiple Displays feature is not so much a feature as it is a pain in the ass.
 
ideal.dreams said:
Exactly the same thing I discovered this evening. The Multiple Displays feature is not so much a feature as it is a pain in the ass.
Click to expand...


Any other ideas? I have three programs that used to open in the secondary display and now I have to manually move them every day... silly!

Thanks
 
Mail always opens in my 2nd monitor. Any app that "resumes" a window on relaunch does so in the same monitor/position that it was before.
iTunes also opens a new window in the second monitor.

Safari launches a window in the currently selected monitor.

I don't have "Displays as spaces" unchecked (i.e. I get two menu bars.)
 
Last edited:
osplo said:
Any other ideas? I have three programs that used to open in the secondary display and now I have to manually move them every day... silly!

Thanks
Click to expand...

The only thing that works 100% of the time for me is to give focus to the secondary display and then use Spotlight search to launch the app. Then it opens in the same place it was closed. Otherwise it disregards the last open position and launches it wherever it feels like.
 
ideal.dreams said:
The only thing that works 100% of the time for me is to give focus to the secondary display and then use Spotlight search to launch the app. Then it opens in the same place it was closed. Otherwise it disregards the last open position and launches it wherever it feels like.
Click to expand...

But it also seems inconsistent... here I tried with Chrome and it opens on the secondary display no matter which display I used for Spotlight search.
 
If you want to make sure that an app opens in the same monitor every time:

1. Go to Mission Control.
2. Create a new Desktop/Space. You only need one more on one of the monitors.
3. Now when you right-click on apps in the Dock, the option will be there to assign a space to the app.

As each monitor is a space, then you can set each app to a monitor.
 
benwiggy said:
If you want to make sure that an app opens in the same monitor every time:

1. Go to Mission Control.
2. Create a new Desktop/Space. You only need one more on one of the monitors.
3. Now when you right-click on apps in the Dock, the option will be there to assign a space to the app.

As each monitor is a space, then you can set each app to a monitor.
Click to expand...


Do me a favour and try this with Safari on a secondary display. If I do this it does not remember the window position and moves to the right each time I open it until it is in a very inconvenient location along the right side of my rightmost display.

If yours remembers the window position properly it would be encouraging.

Thanks for the tip anyhow.
 
obeliq said:
Do me a favour and try this with Safari on a secondary display. If I do this it does not remember the window position and moves to the right each time I open it until it is in a very inconvenient location along the right side of my rightmost display.

If yours remembers the window position properly it would be encouraging.

Thanks for the tip anyhow.
Click to expand...

The same thing happens to me but instead of moving to the right, it slowly moves to the left until it's completely up against the edge.
 
ideal.dreams said:
The same thing happens to me but instead of moving to the right, it slowly moves to the left until it's completely up against the edge.
Click to expand...

Same here, I think that we should wait for a Mavericks refresh.

I trust that someone has reported this to Apple, right?
 
osplo said:
Any progress with 10.9.1? I'm traveling and I can't test it.
Click to expand...

I answer my own question :)

Nope, secondary monitor windows still open where they like it the most under 10.9.1.

Let's hope for 10.9.2.
 
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