IDEA: Move Maximized Window to Other Dual Screen Monitor (Again Maximized)

[Christian.Eitner]

Hi,

The task at hand to be solved is rather straightforward:

- I have a dual monitor system (laptop with external monitor as primary screen). The screen sizes are different.
- I have a window on one of the screens.
- I want to have the window maximized on the other screen.

Even though this sounds simple enough, I have often longed for an automated tool to do this. Especially if the window is maximized on the first screen, you have to un-maximize (i.e., restore) it, drag it to the other screen and then maximize it again. Those precious seconds that interrupt the workflow... :-)

I reckon that it might be nontrivial to figure out into which direction/to which coordinates to move the window before maximizing it again.

The user interface to this tool should be a (probably customizable) keyboard shortcut which applied the method to the currently active window.

Cheers,

Christian

[Codebyte]

While I cannot post a solution immediately, I am looking into this as I would be interested on coding something for you. I am going to speak with a few other DC members in the IRC channel after class as to what the best way to go about this would be. If anyone else can provide something that does the task better, please do... I'll keep you updated to my status on this prooject in the time coming.

[jgpaiva]

Well, there's quite a few options for this task. Here's 2 that come to mind: UltraMon and my own GridMove.
Ultramon adds a button to send window to the other screen, and GridMove allows you to move the window more easily.
Doing exactly what you mentioned wouldn't be very hard, just check these and if none fit you, say something

[kreatorr]

similarly, the Windowpad (search around these forums) autohotkey-based program allows you to press Appkey-Spacebar to move your maximized window from one monitor to another.

[Christian.Eitner]

similarly, the Windowpad (search around these forums) autohotkey-based program allows you to press Appkey-Spacebar to move your maximized window from one monitor to another.

Windowpad is _exactly_ my cup of tea :-)

Thanks a lot!

Christian

[Codebyte]

I see how this is!!!?!

lol, kidding... I really am gonna get to learning this

[jgpaiva]

Also, here's the link for windowpad.

[Kamel]

i tried windowpad (it actually isn't from these forums http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic21703.html) and it did not do what i was hoping for.

i don't know if this is just a problem with me and my setup in particular or what, but while it's pretty decent (i prefer it to grid, actually), it doesn't do what the original person was asking. i'd really like to do that as well. a lot of multi-monitor programs don't work for me, this could be the same problem. the reason is, my "monitor 1" is on the right side, while my "monitor 2" is on the left side, even though i have it configured as "monitor 2" as my primary and windows understands it perfectly well.

[OGroeger]

If you like i can send you a program that i once wrote for me. Though it requires .Net 2.0.

[Deozaan]

UltraMon works wonders for this. Any window (as long as it doesn't have custom skinning) will get an extra button to make it move to the exact same coordinates on the opposite monitor. So if it is maximized it will be maximized on the other monitor. If it's in the bottom right corner, that's where it will go on the other monitor.

UltraMon is a must-have for dual monitor setups. I especially like the ability to have a task bar on the second monitor set up so that each monitor's task bar shows only the applications that are displayed on their respective monitor. It's great for multitasking with several applications open without cluttering the task bar with tiny selection boxes or when XP stacks multiple instances of the same application.

[skrommel]

How about MaxMove?

Press F1 repeatedly to move a window to the next monitor.

Features:
- Moves maximized or restored windows to the same relative position on the other monitor
- Resizes resizable windows to the same relative size on the other monitor

Skrommel

Code

;MaxMove.ahk
; Press a hotkey repeatedly to move a window to the next monitor
;Skrommel @ 2008

#SingleInstance,Force
#NoEnv
SetWinDelay,0

movekey=F1
Hotkey,%movekey%,MOVE
Return


MOVE:
  active:=WinExist("A")
  SysGet,monitors,MonitorCount
  Loop,% monitors
    SysGet,monitor%A_Index%,Monitor,%A_index% 

  WinGet,minmax,MinMax,ahk_id %active%
  If minmax=1
    WinRestore,ahk_id %active%
  WinGetPos,resx,resy,resw,resh,ahk_id %active%
  Loop,% monitors
  {
    current:=A_Index
    If (resx+resw/2<monitor%current%Left Or resx+resw/2>monitor%current%Right)
      Continue
    If (resy+resh/2<monitor%current%Top Or resy+resh/2>monitor%current%Bottom)
      Continue
    next:=current+1
    If (next>monitors)
      next:=1
    WinGet,style,Style,ahk_id %active%
    If (style & 0x40000)  ; WS_SIZEBOX=0x40000
      WinMove,ahk_id %active%,,% monitor%next%Left+(resx-monitor%current%Left)/(monitor%current%Right-monitor%current%Left)*(monitor%next%Right-monitor%next%Left),% monitor%next%Top+(resy-monitor%current%Top)/(monitor%current%Bottom-monitor%current%Top)*(monitor%next%Bottom-monitor%next%Top),% resw/(monitor%current%Right-monitor%current%Left)*(monitor%next%Right-monitor%next%Left),% resh/(monitor%current%Bottom-monitor%current%Top)*(monitor%next%Bottom-monitor%next%Top)
    Else      
      WinMove,ahk_id %active%,,% monitor%next%Left+(resx-monitor%current%Left)/(monitor%current%Right-monitor%current%Left)*(monitor%next%Right-monitor%next%Left),% monitor%next%Top+(resy-monitor%current%Top)/(monitor%current%Bottom-monitor%current%Top)*(monitor%next%Bottom-monitor%next%Top)
    If minmax=1
      WinMaximize,ahk_id %active%
    Break
  }
Return

[Kamel]

Perfect, thank you so much Skrommel. I do use ultramon and love it btw, but nearly half of the windows I use have a custom right click menu so they cannot be moved to the other monitor via ultramon. The button also does not show up because it conflicts with a program I love even more than ultramon; filebox extender.

Thanks again for the script. Not only does it do exactly what I want hassle free with 1 single button, but it seems to override F1 being the "help" key, what a pleasant surprise! Who the heck ever thought about making F1 a help shortcut anyway? o_O

[VzTa]

Read this article

[Darwin]

An issue I have (caveat - haven't tried any of the solutions posted here) is that I have a 19" widescreen LCD external monitor attached to notebook with a 15.4" monitor. If I maximize my webbrowser on the external monitor it extends into my notebook monitor. I suspect that this is an issue with the browser (Maxthon 2) as the other software that I have tried maximize just fine on either monitor.

VzTa - I posted a link to the same article in a different thread earlier today: http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=15688.msg137790#msg137790. Are you affiliated with Actual Tools?

[bedfordn]

Just wanted to add a couple extra thoughts:

UltraMon ($40) also lets you drag a maximized window from one monitor to another, and the window will be appropriately maximized after the drag.  Very nice.  If you wanted to be able to do the same thing via the keyboard, WindowPad seems to be the way to go.

MultiMon (free or $28 for pro) lets you use CTRL+ALT+Arrow Keys to move a maximized window to another screen.

GridMove (donationcoder special) lets you segment your screens into grids that you can drag a window to, and that window will be resized to fill the grid box.  This can be set up to almost emulate the UltraMon drag-to-move feature.  Since it's open source, it would probably be easy to modify so it actually moves the maximized windows like UltraMon.

There are some good options out there!

[Darwin]

Update: I wound up purhcasing UltraMon a few months ago AND switched to Firefox 3. Life is good... 

[yksyks]

So far nobody mentioned WinSplit Revolution. Works perfect and it's free. A must for keyboard maniacs like me.