Recover offscreen window

Describes how to bring an offscreen window into view.

  2 minute read  

When working with multiple monitors, it’s possible for open windows to be left offscreen.

I’ve see this happen when:

  1. Traveling with a laptop normally hooked up to external monitors when docked at home.

  2. Using a KVM switch to share a monitor between different machines.

Most of the time, windows adjust to the new display area. Every so often, however, one remains in its original position. It’s open and responds to input. Because it’s offscreen, you can’t see what’s going on.

To bring the window into view, select Move from the window’s system menu and then use the keyboard arrow keys.

Keyboard shortcuts

To open the system menu using the keyboard:

  1. Activate the window using Alt+Tab or by selecting it through the Taskbar.

  2. Press Alt+Spacebar (to open the system menu), press M (to select the Move command), and then use the arrow keys to move the window into the display area.

It’s a bit clumsy, but it does work.

Windows taskbar

If you’re using Windows 10 (or later), you can use the taskbar to open a window’s system menu:

  1. Press and hold the Shift key
  2. Right-click the taskbar icon for the window you want to move.
  3. Select Move from the menu and then use the arrow keys.

Vital statistics

  • Updated: 7 May 2024 - Reworked and refactored for website revamp.
  • Last tested: September 2018 - Windows 10 Enterprise, version 1809.