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Windows: Bring Off-Screen Window Back Onto Screen

Windows: Bring Off-Screen Window Back Onto Screen

October 17, 2022 by Mitch Bartlett 8 Comments

While using Microsoft Windows, I had a window that had somehow fallen completely off of my screen. Right-clicking the window in the Taskbar and selecting Maximize brought it back, but there was no way I could get the window restored to where I could move it around my screen with my mouse.

Luckily, there are a couple of ways to bring off-screen windows back to the desktop screen.


Fix 1 – Resolution Trick

Windows 11, 10, & 8

  1. Start the problematic application.
  2. Right-click a blank area of the Desktop, then choose “Display settings“.
  3. Select “Advanced display settings” at the bottom of the window.
  4. Temporarily change the “Resolution” to another value, then choose “Apply“.
  5. See if you can see the window on your screen now.
  6. Change the resolution back to the previous value, then select “OK“.

Windows 7

  1. Start the problematic application.
  2. Right-click a blank area of the Desktop, then choose “Screen Resolution“.
  3. Temporarily change the “Resolution” to another value, then choose “Apply“.
  4. See if you can see the window on your screen now.
  5. Change the resolution back to the previous value, then select “OK“.

Fix 2 – Show Desktop Toggle

  1. Hold down the Windows Key, then press “D“. Repeat these steps to see if it makes the window you are looking for reappear.
  2. Alternately, you can right-click a blank area of the taskbar, then choose “Show the desktop“, then repeat.

Fix 3 – Move Option 1

  1. Select the program in the task bar.
  2. Hold the Windows Key while pressing Left Arrow or Right Arrow repeatedly to move the window back into view.

Fix 4 – Move Option 2

  1. In Windows 10, 8, 7, and Vista, hold down the “Shift” key while right-clicking the program in the taskbar, then select “Move“. In Windows XP, right-click the item in the task-bar and select “Move“. In some instances, you may have to select “Restore“, then go back and select “Move“.Windows option to Move window
  2. Use your mouse or the arrow keys on your keyboard to move the window back onto the screen.

Fix 5 – Cascade Windows

  • Right-click a blank area of the task-bar, then select “Cascade windows“.
    Win7 Cascade windows option

Fix 6 – Maximize

Sometimes a single app will get stuck in a state where it cannot redraw onto the Window. You can usually alleviate this by doing the following.

  • Hold “Shift” and right-click on the program icon in the taskbar, then choose “Maximize“.
    Windows Maximize App

 


Fix 7 – Attempt to Bring Up Menu with Keyboard Shortcut

  1. Sometimes you need to trigger the menu to the specific application that is not coming up on the screen. Use these steps.
  2. Select the application in the taskbar. If you can’t select it there, hold the ALT key while pressing Tab to select the application.
  3. Hold the Shift + ALT keys and press Spacebar.
  4. Hopefully this shortcut makes a menu appear where you can select Maximize.

FAQ

How do I prevent my application from starting off the screen every time I launch it?

Most applications will stop doing this if you properly exit out of the application while it is on the screen. If you have already properly exited the application, you might need to uninstall and reinstall it.

Otherwise, you can try right-clicking the icon for the application, then choosing “Properties“. Under the “Shortcut” tab, change the “Run” setting to “Maximized“, then select “OK“.

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Filed Under: Windows

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Miroslav says

    January 27, 2023 at 3:35 am

    This error is very annoying. On win 10 and the Foxit reader window. 1st monitor horizontal, 2nd vertical. No solution works. :-(

  2. JoeH says

    January 26, 2023 at 2:04 am

    I’ve been always using some kind of `Fix 3 – Move Option 1: Hold the Windows Key while pressing Left Arrow or Right Arrow repeatedly to move the window back into view.` It’s been of help since Windows NT. Unfortunately, it happens rarely enough so that I keep forgetting the shortcut. Thanks for bring that up, again!

  3. SJ says

    November 30, 2022 at 10:40 am

    Didn’t know this was a thing until it was! Very annoying and had put off for awhile. My “Notepad” was fine on my work double-monitors until I brought my laptop home to work on the single screen and can’t find the notepad after opening the app. Tried your different fixes until your #4 did the trick for me, thank you Sir!

  4. SW says

    November 23, 2022 at 6:46 pm

    Win11. Wow. Never had that happen, until it did, while changing resolution for the game. Settings > System > Display > Scale > adjusting % did the trick. Thank you very much for the article!

  5. Eva says

    November 11, 2022 at 6:10 am

    Thank you! Maximised worked (on win10). Thank you for sharing such tips, it sometimes saves a lot of precious time and nerves :)

  6. Andi Ferrari says

    November 5, 2022 at 3:56 pm

    Thank you so much. I couldn’t get the window for a small app into view no matter what I tried. Finally read this site and got it back.

  7. Joel says

    November 1, 2022 at 4:45 am

    Fix 4 worked finally well. Fix 7 is about the same, but difficult when one does not see the effect of the keyboard has.

  8. David says

    October 24, 2022 at 9:52 am

    Instruction for Windows 10 don’t work. I cannot see the “Advanced display settings” because the display settings window is off screen.

    How do I bring the Display Setting window back onto the visible desktop?

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Who’s Behind Technipages?

Baby and Daddy My name is Mitch Bartlett. I've been working in technology for over 20 years in a wide range of tech jobs from Tech Support to Software Testing. I started this site as a technical guide for myself and it has grown into what I hope is a useful reference for all.

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