Xfce Forum

kwizzz

Member

Registered: 2024-11-10

Posts: 32

Window geometry not remembered (maximize/restore)

There are some applications like shotwell that have this strange behavior:

Start the application and make it a normal window (i.e. not maximized)

First test: maximize window by clicking on the maximize button -> windows gets maximized; click on the restore button -> window gets the same geometry as before (good)

Now, maximize the window again, but this time close it.

Then, open the application again -> the application starts maximized (good)
But now, when you click the restore button, the window keeps the maximized geometry, instead of using the last used one.

If you do the same with Thunar, everything works as expected.  So XFCE (or Thunar?) seems to remember its previous non-maximized geometry.

Can I make all windows to behave like Thunar?

(Issue observed on openSUSE Leap 15.6)

[edited: firefox does not show this behavior anymore]

Last edited by kwizzz (2025-05-15 20:55:32)

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 12,011

Re: Window geometry not remembered (maximize/restore)

The application needs to support saving and restoring of window position. If you want to add some support for applications that don't do this, you can use a tool like devilspie to force window positions.

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kwizzz

Member

Registered: 2024-11-10

Posts: 32

Re: Window geometry not remembered (maximize/restore)

The application needs to support saving and restoring of window position. If you want to add some support for applications that don't do this, you can use a tool like devilspie to force window positions.

Interesting.  Do you know if other DEs then do this magically in the background, as I do not have this issue with Cinnamon on current Linux Mint?

Mind, I'm not talking about keeping a window's position, but its width and height.

So shotwell started with say 800x600 in window mode, then maximizing it, closing it, starting it again (resulting in a maximized window -- this state seems to be remembered), then unmaximizing it -> it will not jump back to 800x600, but instead keep the width and height about the same as the monitor.

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 12,011

Re: Window geometry not remembered (maximize/restore)

The application needs to support saving and restoring of window position. If you want to add some support for applications that don't do this, you can use a tool like devilspie to force window positions.

Interesting.  Do you know if other DEs then do this magically in the background, as I do not have this issue with Cinnamon on current Linux Mint?

Possibly, I'm not sure. If they have a feature like "window rules" or something like that, it might be it.

---

Mark solved threads as [SOLVED] to make it easier for others to find solutions.
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kwizzz

Member

Registered: 2024-11-10

Posts: 32

Re: Window geometry not remembered (maximize/restore)

Here's some more information, which makes me believe that this is an issue with my version of shotwell (0.32.4 — Delmenhorst, openSUSE Leap 15.6).

Ensure to have a not maximized window of shotwell and check its window settings via dconf:

$ dconf dump /org/gnome/shotwell/preferences/window/
[/]
direct-height=1010
direct-maximize=false
direct-width=1920
library-height=799
library-maximize=false
library-width=1357

Now change the width of its window and close it as the settings will be written on exit.

$ dconf dump /org/gnome/shotwell/preferences/window/
[/]
direct-height=1010
direct-maximize=false
direct-width=1920
library-height=799
library-maximize=false
library-width=1769

You can see that `library-width` has been adjusted.  When you start shotwell again, it will come up with this width.

How, maximize shotwell's window and close it again

$ dconf dump /org/gnome/shotwell/preferences/window/
[/]
direct-height=1010
direct-maximize=false
direct-width=1920
library-height=1010
library-maximize=false
library-width=1920

As you can see, `library-maximize` is not true, but instead the `library-width` and `library-height' have both been set to the `direct-*` values.

Guess, that this is an issue with shotwell and not related to XFCE, then.
(Did the dconf dump also with mousepad where things were as expected (setting maximized to true while keeping width and height))