An ArcMap dialog box is missing. How to reset dialog box locations?

August 9, 2007 9:10 AM

An Arcview/GIS dialog box (the Identify Results dialog box) is missing. Can I reset the dialog box locations? I think it's off to the screen to the right on the (now unavailable) second monitor's space.

In Arcmap (9.1), when you use the "identify" tool (the lowercase i in a blue circle) to click on a shape, usually a box pops up listing the attributes of that shape. You can move that dialog box and it stays where you put it. Now, this dialog box seems to have disappeared. Is there a way to reset its location? (I'm thinking of "reset palette locations" in Photoshop.)

I think I know where it is, actually. To get an ancient LCD projector to work, the IT guy set it up as though it were the "right half" of my display (and the laptop screen was the "left half"). At that time, all the applications and dialog boxes were dragged to the right half of the screen. It's quite possible the dialog box is still over there. So, my backup plan is to attach a second monitor, but that's easier said than done (since I'm not at a place with other monitors now).

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for any help.

posted by salvia to computers & internet (6 comments total)

I've been playing with it for quite a while now, and I can't seem to figure out any solutions. Usually, my strategy is to use the keyboard right-click key (usually between the right-side ctrl and alt keys) to bring up the context menu, then select "move," adjust the position briefly with the arrow keys, and then it will slide around. This will work, but only if you happen to already be on the title bar of the menu (obviously hard to find if you can't see it). This particular menu acts the same way as a "palette" does in Windows (e.g. palette title in display properties) or the tool of Photoshop.

At the risk of hijacking the question to rephrase it more broadly, does anyone have a method of listing all windows and palettes visible to the Windows OS? I'll keep checking, because this has annoyed me in the past... the quickest solution, of course, is to just plug in that external monitor (and be sure to position it to the same location as the previous ancient LCD projector).
posted by zachxman at 9:39 AM on August 9, 2007

I'm using windows xp pro sp2, and playing with the monitor settings (making it so that there was only one monitor, from two, or back), forced the identify box back into the one monitor still on. Maybe playing with that, and making sure your laptop screen is set as the primary monitor would help?

I am sitting here playing with the glorious ArcMap, and I can't quite figure out other ways of doing it.
posted by that girl at 10:37 AM on August 9, 2007

This is an untested solution. All your ArcMap preferences are stored in a template called Normal.mxt. It is located at

C:\documents and settings\USERNAME\Application Data\ESRI\ArcMap\Templates

If you delete it, ArcMap will recreate it will the default settings at the first launch. I would suggest copying and renaming the original so if this does not help you could restore your old settings.
posted by Morgangr at 10:55 AM on August 9, 2007

Thanks, you guys! I tried zachxman's approach, but the right-click button just gave me "What's This?" - I must be missing some trick or have a different version. (Though I am glad to learn how to move windows with arrow keys). that girl, I thought that approach would work, but with the way the display / monitor properties were set up, it didn't, or at least I couldn't figure it out. I finally broke down, went to work to get a second monitor, and finally found the forlorn, left behind dialog box.

Morgangr, your approach (which came in after I left) sounds good -- I'd probably try that next time before commuting across the city. Thanks all!
posted by salvia at 12:08 PM on August 9, 2007

Try this solution from the ESRI site (will need to log in) - Bug: The Identify results window does not display
posted by figment at 4:24 PM on August 9, 2007

I had the same problem. I searched ArcGIS knowledge base and got Morgangr's solution. It worked.
posted by bumpkin at 4:27 PM on August 9, 2007