Display Maid, Stay, SwitchresX or something else?

[john-c]

I have the same issue with window positions not restoring after sleep. I recently learned that the problem doesn't appear for any applications which were hidden when your computer sleeps. So I wrote an application to take advantage of this. You can download the application here (free).

I call the application Sandman because it puts it's children to sleep. Unzip and run the application. It should put itself into the background and operate quietly. All it does is listen out for wake & sleep notifications from the computer and the screens, and simply hides and shows applications at appropriate times.

It may not work for everyone. To understand more, there are two main scenarios:

1. Your computer sleeps before your monitors do. This is my setup, so this is the most tested scenario. The program works flawlessly for me with two monitors on a Mac Studio (Monterey 12.4).
2. Your monitors sleep before your computer sleeps. This scenario is less tested.

Limitations:

1. Sandman will not work if System Preferences is the active (front) application when sleeping. This is intentional, and it is to avoid issues when you are rearranging your screens in the Displays preference pane.
2. Sandman does not work when you log out or restart. It only works for sleep.

Hopefully this helps others.

Firstly I've created a brief web page so that there is always a single place you can get the latest version. It is here. Right now the latest version is 0.1.2.

Also the program wasn't working so well for some computer and display configurations. So I've modified the program to show a button in a single window when your computer wakes. This isn't as elegant, but more universal. Simply click the button to complete the restoration.

If the previous version works well for you by all means continue to use it. Alternatively there is now an 'auto restore' menu item which will operate as per the previous version (no button to click). No harm trying it, but it will only work for some displays.

 

[hajime]

I have used both Stay and Display Maid extensively. Stay is very stable but slow to restore window position (around 3 secs). Display Maid is faster but not as stable.

A year has passed. Which is the best app to solve the Mac issue with messing up multiple monitors of the same brand and model?

 

[lankox]

Display Maid has been working well for me lately.

 

[hajime]

Display Maid has been working well for me lately.

Thanks. How come there has been no update for at least a year?

 

[lankox]

Thanks. How come there has been no update for at least a year?

I know; it doesn't make any sense. Maybe Ventura changed something?? I switched to Display Maid from Stay about a month ago and have not had one crash.

 

[hajime]

Somewhere I read that the developer disappeared! Don't recall if it is Display Maid or Stay.

BTW, what happened to SwitchresX? If I recall correctly, it was free when I accessed Apple App Store from a MacBook Pro over 1.5 years ago. I don't have a MacBook Pro with me right now but from my Mini, it does not show up on the App Store.

 

[lankox]

I have never used SwitchresX.

 

[arekm]

Is any of these apps capable of correctly placing multiple windows belonging to the same app? (For example google chrome and multiple windows with different pages opened).

(Display Maid often mixes things and puts wrong window in place of other window for the same app)

 

[Tdmoreno]

Is any of these apps capable of correctly placing multiple windows belonging to the same app? (For example google chrome and multiple windows with different pages opened).

(Display Maid often mixes things and puts wrong window in place of other window for the same app)

For switchresx it does not have any function that places apps with multiple windows open in different spaces.

I will say that it is a great help for creating what the developer calls display sets. This allows you to arrange your external monitors by position, resolution, mirroring, and save that as a set. I can, for example, set my monitor on the right to 1080 (I know this is low but I am a teacher and it makes font larger for use in the classroom) and then have my monitor on the left mirror my built in screen at 1440 as one set. I can then create different sets based on need and quickly jump back and forth. The program is also compatible with apple script so you can use scripts to apply different display sets.

It also has a function that will allow you to apply a specific set based on a program launched. It is free for 10 days and allows you to save settings during that time. It will continue to work after the 10 days you just can’t modify anything further unless you purchase. I love it for what it does but I too need something else that allows me to save the program placement. I have not tried moom yet but that is my next step. I don’t really want to go down the path of coding this but have read that hammerspoon has a plugin that will allow you to place apps based on name. Keyboard Maestro and BTT are two possibilities with very active forums that might be worth a look.

As I think about this more you might be able to get chatgpt to write you the code for hammerspoon if you have the patience for that sort of thing. Please post if you find a solution.