Lost Layer Manager on OSX

Dave R

I just received an e-mail from a friend of mine asking for help. He inadvertently slid the layer manager off the screen while demonstrating SketchUp to a client. He's trying to get it back. I've edited the Registry on my PC to move those boxes around but I'm not sure how to do it on the Mac. I assume there's a plist that could be edited or trashed if nothing else but I'm not certain where that is. I found the plist for shortcuts but I don't think that's it.

Jeff? You're the OSX wizard. Any ideas?

TIG

Perhaps...

One method of arranging the windows so you can see them (if for some reason they're staying off screen) is to change to the application that owns the window in question, hold the Option key down and choose "Arrange in Front" from the Window menu. It will then arrange all the windows of that application in a cascade from the top left of the screen.

There are several AppleScripts available (e.g. this one at 'Snipplr' http://snipplr.com/view/8645/gather-windows/ ) that will also grab every window off screen and move it on screen for you.

There is also a nifty shareware app called 'Stay' that will help automate a lot of this for you, while there is also 'MarcoPolo' which will do much more than just notice if a monitor is disconnected and allows you to run scripts (in case you want to do more than just rearrange the windows).

Dave R

Thanks TIG. I've never lost the windows off the screen before on the Mac so never noticed that menu entry. I'll pass it on.

pbacot

That's a good one to remember. I find that restarting the application then choosing the windows from the menu (you may have to "un" choose it then click it again), will bring the window in at the very edge of the screen.

I have come to be disheartened at times at the way Mac treats SU windows and palettes. They seem to undock and move about on their own accord. I long for structure. Here Mac could learn from windows.

jeff hammond

if the above ideas aren't working out :

first try 'reset workspace' in sketchup preferences

if that doesn't bring it back, the easy explainable way is to delete the .plist which will reset sketchup to its default settings..

--close sketchup
--click on finder in the dock
--click the 'go' menu at the top of the screen
--hold down the option key
--a new menu item named 'library' will appear under the go menu (this is the user library-- click on it)
--open the folder named 'preferences'
--find the file 'com.google.sketchuppro8' (or whatever version you're using)
-- trash the file then launch sketchup

if Xcode is installed (or a separate plist editor) you could directly edit the plist and change only the location of the layers panel instead of resetting all of sketchup. unfortunately, I'm not at a computer right now so giving clear instructions on doing that would be tough.

pbacot

You can also change the screen resolution to show more.