PC question

[Gerry]

Here's something that annoys me every single day working on the PC. About two or three years ago I needed to see a file from another program side by side on my screen with a Photoshop file (of course this is not a problem on a Mac) so I made the Photoshop window smaller, about 5 inches wide by about seven inches deep. When I was done, I closed out of both programs.

 

Ever since, when I launch Photoshop, it will either launch full screen, or it will launch to the smaller window size I set on that one occasion. there is no rhyme or reason why it opens to one size or the other. I could be opening a large image, but the program will launch the 5 x 7 window and show the doc at like 16% so it fits in the app window.

 

How can I set (or reset) Photoshop so it will open full screen every time?

[robcat2075]

I took a look in regedit and PS has one value for "maximize" the reflects however PS was the last time it was closed, but i don't know why it would change on its own.

[Gerry]

Thanks for looking, Robert.

 

I have a similar problem with Illustrator that has to do with the screen resolutions of my co-workers. I have my screens (two monitor setup) set pretty high resolution, and when I open a file that was worked on at another screen setting, my whole Illustator work area shrinks to the screen dimensions of whatever machine it was last worked on.

 

However, this will vary depending on how I "open" the doc. If I drag it into the Illustrator app window, it stay at full-screen. If I open it from Adobe Bridge with Ctrl-O, it stays at full screen. But if I double click on the doc in a Finder window, it will open at whatever resolution it pleases and is enormously frustrating, especially when I have a lot of files to work on.

 

So same question: How do I set Illustrator so it opens full-screen every time?

[Gerry]

If no one here has a solution, can anyone direct me to a PC user forum where I can ask these questions?

[robcat2075]

Does Adobe have such a forum?

[robcat2075]

Here's one:

 

http://forums.adobe.com/index.jspa

[Gerry]

Yes, all my pc problems seem to be with Adobe products. I'll check over there, thanks again Robert.

[Paul Forwood]

Forgive me if you know this already but I'm just wondering if this might just be unfamiliarity with Windows.

 

Just run Photoshop, hit the maximize button until the window fills the whole screen and then close Photoshop. Next time you run it it will start up maximized.

 

All Windows apps have their window's state saved when closing so if you have A:M occupying half of your screen when you close the program it will open in the same state when you next run it. The same is true for Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.

 

The maximize/minimize button, (next to the close-window button), at the top-right of any window toggles the window between the apps minimized state and it's maximized state. I have most of my apps set to occupy about half the screen when minimized, which is useful when working with two apps together.

 

If Photoshop opens in a minimized state just drag the window to a size you want or hit the maximize button,(top right of window). If you shut down Photoshop now it will open maximized next time you run it.

..................

 

Other than that all I can suggest is looking at your Photoshop preferences. There is an option for turning On/Off panel configurations.

[Gerry]

thanks Paul. I always maximize the window and leave it that way. It rarely maintains the maximized view from one use to the next though.

[Paul Forwood]

Open Photoshop, minimize the window and then drag it out to fill your screen. Now maximize the window and close PS.

The minimized state is now almost full screen so should PS open minimized it will still occupy most of the screen. Not ideal but you might find it less frustrating, though clicking the maximize button isn't a hardship really.

 

If you run PS from it's icon, rather than running it by double clicking an associated image file, does that help?

I run PS CS4 on an XP Pro desktop and PS Elements 9 on a Win7 laptop and haven't had any problems, but then again I always run PS from before opening any files and also I am not handling a load of files from other people.

[Gerry]

I got a reply over on the Adobe forum. I will need to use Photoshop for a few days to be sure it has taken effect, but here it is: "Try right-clicking your PS shortcut, select Properties, and on the Shortcut tab, under Run, select Maximized. Click Apply then OK."

 

So we'll see. I still would like to solve similar problems with Bridge and Illustrator, though the probs are similar and not exactly the same.

[Gerry]

Well, that fix worked for about a week. P'shop is back to opening up postcard-sized.

[pixelplucker]

I use desk pins to pin another program to keep it on top allowing me to use my primary program full screen, works with drag and drop between programs and really handy with the calculator and other stuff you need to see as you work. In the old Mac days, many programs had "Remeber Desktop" setting which would keep window size, position of menus etc for the next time you opened it, something the PC's never adopted and not sure if the new Mac OS has that. Some PC programs do remember last settings used but found that the Adobe programs tend not to.