Issue using 2 monitors

[squidly]

i'm using 2 monitors with Revit 2013 and have a problem whenever i switch projects or families i'm editing. i like to keep one monitor for the view i'm working on and the other monitor for the OP and browser windows so as to maximize space. However, whenever i switch projects, the floating windows return to the home screen and i have to move them again to the second screen. Over the course of a day, this gets annoying, as perhaps you can imagine. Does anyone have this same problem, or a solution?

i've tried several different graphic cards with no improvement.

[david_peterson]

What type of windows theme are you using?
Also I've found that some of the newer graphics card drivers have issues with revit.
We've had to roll back the driver and go to an older version in some cases to get better performance.

[squidly]

What do you mean by "Windows theme"? Are you referring to the graphic theme set in the control panel?

[david_peterson]

If you right click on your desktop screen and choose personalize (Or control panel - all control panel items - personalization) there's a setting for "My Themes". If you are using one of the windows OOTB Areo Themes, that may be causing your issue. Change it to a Windows classic and then modify from there to your hearts content.
If you're set to a Areo Theme, you won't be able to select multiple sheets and make modifications to them. I know that was one of the issues it caused. It wouldn't kick your widows all over the place as well. But the graphics card driver also caused some issues for me.
Do you know what type of video card you're running? Cause I"m thinking that's really the root cause. But that windows areo theme causes some strange issues with Revit as well.

[squidly]

Thanks David.

i've tried a few different graphic cards, but am currently running an ASUS R9 270X, whatever that is. i just do what our IT person tells us to stick in our machines, though with this problem we've been trying different things to try and rectify this issue.

[david_peterson]

I'm not sure what other applications you're using so recommending a video card can be difficult.
I can tell you the card you are using isn't Adesk certified (which doesn't really mean much).
It also seems overpriced for what you really need. Gaming cards seem to work better with revit than workstation cards (they're also cheaper).
My guess is that you're running a newer driver and that driver doesn't play well with revit.
I'm also guessing that you're on Revit service pack (update) 3.
Ask your IT guy if he can roll back the video card driver to an older version. That may do the trick.
I'm running dual monitors, Revit 2013 and 2014, with my nifty little system and the card and driver package I'm running works well. No complaints from me My card is also $100 cheaper than what you have.
Sorry I can't really pin point the issue, but that's my best guess.
Hope this helps.

[squidly]

My computer runs pretty much only Revit, aside from the typical Office suite and SketchUp. My theme is custom with only a black background; not running the aero theme, and as you guessed, i have the service pack 3 newly installed. i'm going to run your setup by our IT person and see if that helps. Thanks much.

[david_peterson]

Let me know what he says.
I believe the driver version I'm running is 8.17.13.3165 Nvida cuda 6.0.1
I hope this helps.

[david_peterson]

Let me know what he says.
I believe the driver version I'm running is 8.17.13.3165 Nvida cuda 6.0.1
I hope this helps.

[meng005]

Dual monitors can be cumbersome, especially if you don't have a generic configuration (primary monitor is on the left with the Windows Start button, secondary monitor is on the right, and the cursor moves from left to right monitor). If you mix portrait and landscape, it can be even messier. Some applications and video drivers can be fussy.

Nevertheless, I would recommend that you do one of the two items:

1) try resetting your monitors to the generic setting.
2) if it is already set this way, see if deleting your Revit preferences will fix the behavior.
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\Revit\%RevitVersion%\UIState.dat

[squidly]

Meng have you deleted your preferences? What are the consequences of doing this besides possibly fixing my problem? Will i lose my settings?

[meng005]

Yes, it will reset to the defaults for the Ribbon and QAT. Go ahead and back it up somewhere else, in case the suggestion doesn't work. Many of the application settings are stored in the revit.ini file. But, I supect the UIstate.dat file stores settings for dialog boxes, application windows, etc.

[MikeJarosz]

I'm also guessing that you're on Revit service pack (update) 3

Update 3??????? When did that happen???????

[dkoch]

Update 3??????? When did that happen???????

Published date: 2013-Jun-21
ID: DL21891257 (http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=DL21891257)

The original poster is using Revit 2013. Update Release 2 is still current for Revit 2014.

[squidly]

After talking to my IT person, we decided to go ahead and purchase a GeForce GTX 650 Ti with 2GB of memory, as David had suggested, and this seems to have done the trick; no longer do i have windows floating back into my home screen when i switch projects. They stay were they were last located.

If others have this issue with Revit 2013, they can try the video card i tried and suggested by David, or some of the software suggestions made in another forum, most likely "Ultramon", which doesn't cost much.

Thanks much for all the suggestions

[david_peterson]

We are also using a FirePro v4900 in some of our other set ups. But again, you can't use the most up to date version of the driver.
I hope you're happy with the card. I'm happy for what I need to do.
Glad I could help.

[MikeJarosz]

whewwwwww...........................

[patricks]

I personally prefer to keep all of my Revit stuff on a single screen to prevent problems such as this, and it works pretty well with a 1920x1200 24" display. Also I like to keep my 2nd screen clear of Revit stuff so that email and other things are always visible no matter what.

Having said that, we have people in our office running an Aero theme, and having the Properties Palette and View Browser both on a 2nd screen with no issues. I think any issues caused by Aero themes were long since fixed 2 or 3 releases ago.

So all that to say that I don't really have answers for the OP's question, but a Windows Aero theme is almost certainly NOT the cause of the problem.

[MikeJarosz]

I have 2 19" screens. One is devoted entirely to graphics. One-half of the other has the browser and properties windows in vertical columns. That leave the other half for icons I may want to open without minimizing Revit.

[CAtDiva]

I came across this blog post (http://therevitkid.blogspot.com/2014/01/tutorial-using-revit-on-multiple.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRevitKid+%28The+Revit+Kid.com%21%29) about extending Revit across two screens ... figured I'd note it here in case others are interested.

[MikeJarosz]

You are reminding me of my many years using X Windows. At the time we had Unix workstations -- 64 bit even in 1993, and ye olde PCs. I was able to compare MS Windows and X Windows side by side. Frankly, I preferred X Windows.

One XW feature I miss was the cursor that set the focus on whatever window it was dragged into. The best I have been able to do in MS Windows is to bring the focus with the cursor, but it still needs to click in the view. In XW I could draw a line across two windows as if they were one!

[CAtDiva]

You are reminding me of my many years using X Windows. At the time we had Unix workstations -- 64 bit even in 1993, and ye olde PCs. I was able to compare MS Windows and X Windows side by side. Frankly, I preferred X Windows.

One XW feature I miss was the cursor that set the focus on whatever window it was dragged into. The best I have been able to do in MS Windows is to bring the focus with the cursor, but it still needs to click in the view. In XW I could draw a line across two windows as if they were one!

Yeah ... I remember one computer lab at the university that had X Windows ... I liked it, but it was way across campus and I had my own computer, so it wasn't worth going there regularly.

[patricks]

I have 2 19" screens. One is devoted entirely to graphics. One-half of the other has the browser and properties windows in vertical columns. That leave the other half for icons I may want to open without minimizing Revit.

I use a 24" and 20" widescreen in this fashion, would prefer both to be the same size and resolution but oh well. I have the center of the right monitor for other apps, with space on each side for a few shortcuts and Winamp. Quite often I have a PDF open on the right while I'm working on the left. If I had Revit properties and browser windows on the other screen, it would cover part of the PDF unless I made the PDF much smaller.

94795

I have very rarely stretched Revit across both monitors (was before I had the current widescreens) so that I could have large plan, section, and 3D views open all at once. But when doing so it was very cumbersome to say the least.

[MikeJarosz]

It's the Unix drag-the-focus-without-the-click that makes multiple windows a joy. You just draw wherever you are. The "paper" is always under your pen