Tip of the day: Restore a lost window

Tips, Windows 1 Minute

Every so often, I discover that a window has decided it doesn’t want to appear on my desktop anymore. Its taskbar button is still there, but clicking it doesn’t bring the window to the foreground, and the right-click menu doesn’t do any good either. In my case, this happens most often when I’ve changed desktop resolutions or switched from multiple-monitors to a single-monitor setup.

If you know how to work the keyboard, you can bring back the lost window. Here’s how:

  1. Click the lost window’s taskbar button to give it the focus.
  2. Press Alt_Spacebar. This keyboard shortcut opens the Control menu, which normally drops down from the top left corner of any window.
  3. Press M – the keyboard shortcut for the Move option on this menu.
  4. Tap any arrow key to begin moving the lost window around. (Don’t skip this step.)
  5. Continue using the arrow keys or use the mouse to move the window back onto the main desktop. The mouse will not work until you’ve used at least one arrow key.)
  6. When the window is in the correct position, press Escape or click the left mouse button to stop moving it.
  7. If the window appears ultra-small, with none of its contents visible, click and drag the right and bottom borders to make the window the correct size.

Doug Klippert published a similar tip the other day. By coincidence, this same topic has been on my list for some time.

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Published by Ed Bott

Tech journalist. Author of 25+ books. ZDNET Contributing Editor since 2006. Contact info: https://edbott.com/contact-me/

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2 thoughts on “Tip of the day: Restore a lost window”

  1. Here’s another one I see quiet frequently – if you previously had your PC connected to two displays, but now only have one, a missing window may still be set up to display on the now non-existent display. A trip to display properties should be able to fix this.

  2. You can also right click on the taskbar button then click Move and then the arrow keys. My experience has been that the window is almost always off to the left and the right arrow key is a good first choice.

    I first came across this in Windows 95 when I was working a desktop support technician. I think I spent the better part of a day doing things like looking for the window coordinates in the registry and not making any headway. Then I just happened to right click on the taskbar button and finally figured out that I could just move the window back onto the desktop with the arrow keys. Experience is a great teacher, but the tution can be pretty expensive…

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