Reader Elizabeth (who knew we had so many female readers!) wrote to us that she moved her Word document off the screen so she can only see the bottom half of it.
She didn’t save it and can not move or close it. We have all done this before, moving windows around willey nilley to see whats behind it or just to see the pretty trails… for fun :).
No matter what program you are using or why you did it you can use a quick keyboard combo to remedy your situation.
You see you get a menu in the upper left corner that allows you to move, resize, maximize, minimize or close the window. Now even if that menu is off the screen you can hit the letter of the command you want and Windows will issue it. For example we moved our browser off screen and want to get it back.
The easiest way to accomplish this is to hit Alt + Space Bar and then X to maximize the window. Try it out – it works like a charm. You can also hit Alt + Space Bar and then M to move the window. Then you use your arrow keys to move it all about (Very Hokey Pokey-esque eh?) Alt + Space Bar and then N will minimize your window to the taskbar and finally C will close the window. X maximizes and C closes – got it?
Good.
Feeling the keyboard shortcuts? Shift F10 is the same thing as right clicking…
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I think the Alt + Space Bar is a great tool! Thank you for showing us that. The only problem I’m having is with the M to move the window. I get the Move crossbar, but it does nothing. No matter where I placed it on the window or the portion of the toolbar I could see (I used my IE window), it wouldn’t move. I didn’t want to resize the window; I wanted to move it, but it wouldn’t work. Any ideas? I ended up having to change my screen resolution to something really large to get at the top of the IE window so I could drag it back down (which is another solution you could write about, I suppose).
You can use the keyboard arrow keys or the mouse once you activate the move cross hairs.
Thanks for the tip!
Right-clicking app on taskbar (if it is present there) also gives same menu.
Unfortunately some windows simply lack that part at all – getting them on screen is way more tricky. :)
I am in a program (Legal files) which has other windows inside it. One of those windows has moved so that I cannot see it’s top taskbar to move it back. When I do Alt and Spacebar, the menu pops up in the upper left corner of the actual not program, and not the hidden window.
help?
Thank you it was driving me crazy but you saved me….worked like a charm.
Glad to help Joe! Thanks for reading.
what if the window is completely off the screen?
my IM window moved somehow and it shows up on the taskbar. it will maximize but when i restore it it just dissappears again
I was working in word and must have hit something. Now when I maximize my word document it won’t maximize the whole screen. There is about two inches at the top showing my desktop and the bottom part of Word where the drawing tools is can’t be seen. Any words of wisdom?
What version of word are you using?
2 things:
(1) Sometimes the window is way, way off the screen and a lot of holding down an arrow key is required. If the Alt-Space, menu appears in the top right (for example) press the Down arrow for a while, press Enter and do again. If the Alt-Space, menu is still top right do again and again and again until it moves to the bottom. Then go up (and maybe down again) until the menu appears at the right. Then just press the left arrow until the window appears (you can’t miss this one). Mine took minutes.
(2) There is no such thing as “suppose to”. The words are “supposed to”. This comes from illiterate people who only hear english but don’t read it or even speak it correctly. Pet peeve of mine. That and “could of” (it’s “could’ve” people for “could of” as in I could’ve screamed when I read it). Come on people, let’s support the language.
Thanks for the comment John but where did you see the words “suppose to” in this article?