Window position not stored locally?

[TXCiclista]

I'm using DropBox to sync my Bookends library between my desktop and laptop. Generally speaking, it handles this quite well. My only complaint is that i appears the window position of a given library is stored in the library file itself, rather than in a local preferences file. I can certainly understand the rationale behind this (likely designed before 'the cloud" was a big deal), but I wonder if there's a way to change this in a future release. Ideally, my 1366x768 Macbook Air would not try to display Bookends the same way my 2560x1440 iMac does. On more than on occasion, Bookends has been almost off the screen on my Macbook (I like it centered on my iMac), and it's somewhat annoying to come home to my iMac to a small Bookends window that was sized to fit my Macbook.

Anyway, something to think about. It seems like it would be fairly easy to store the window location and dimensions locally in "Application Support" or some such.

[Jon]

The location is indeed stored per library. If the library window is offscreen, Bookends will make sure that it is visible on the "new" Mac, and you can reposition it.

Jon
Sonny Software

[nicka]

I have the same problem, for what it's worth. It's not a huge problem, but it's a bit inelegant to have to resize everything each time I move from laptop to desktop.

[Jon]

There is no way for Bookends to know how you want the window positioned if you go from one size to another. It could do its best to center the window, though, instead of just make it's border visible. But then it will have those same coordinates when you go back to the larger window.

Jon
Sonny Software

[nicka]

Couldn't it store locally the last local window state of each database, so that it opens it looking the same way that it did the last time it was opened on that Mac? That seems as though it would be more elegant and convenient, but I may well be overlooking some reason why it's not desirable, and of course I don't know how much of a pain it would be to implement.

[Jon]

It's the same database, being opened on different machines. Bookends stores the coordinates when the db is closed, and uses them when it is reopened. If you transfer to a machine with a different screen size, Bookends checks to make sure the window is visible and, if not, moves it so that the edge is visible and you can drag it where you want. I could center it instead, but as I said when you transfer that db to the machine with the larger screen size, it will open with the coordinates of the smaller machine. There is no way around this except to save the state per machine (using the GUID I guess), but that won't work if you use one machine with two monitors (which many do). BTW, if you click the green expand button (which is always going to be visible), Bookends will fit the screen of whatever machine you are working on.

Jon
Sonny Software

[nicka]

that won't work if you use one machine with two monitors (which many do)

Ah, I hadn't thought of this. Not easy to fix, then.

The real problem here is not with Bookends, but with the OS. It shouldn't be necessary to resize all the windows in all the apps that I use (e.g. Bookends, Scrivener, Word or Mellel, Mail and iTunes, on a typical day) every time I switch from desktop to laptop, but that's what I find myself doing, sometimes several times a day.

BTW, if you click the green expand button (which is always going to be visible), Bookends will fit the screen of whatever machine you are working on.

Yes, that is very useful, but most of the resizing work is to do with getting the various panes to the right relative sizes. On a laptop I have to narrow down the list of groups and the list of references to make enough room for the reference itself. And the same kind of thing needs to be done in all the other apps.

[taja]

I haven't been following this thread, but perhaps Breeze might be of use as an interim solution? It's currently free for a limited period (until 25th July): https://stacksocial.com/sales/breeze-for-mac-freebie