Total spaces does not remember external monitor spaces correctly

Hi,

I just bought total spaces yesterday and have come upon an error that is one of the main reasons I bought the program to begin with.

I have a MBP 13" with 2 external screens, one mini display port and another USB display link, so with the builtin LCD I have 3 screens working.

In total spaces I named each space with an unique name and I added APPS specific to each space.
This works.
However when I disconnect my laptop and use it on the road and then connect it again it confuses the builtin LCD with the USB display link screen. So all the programs I have set to show on the 23"screen that is connected to the USB display link now show on the builtin LCD and vice versa.

The only solution I have now is to every time I reconnect my MBP, go into total spaces preferences and change the APP to space assignments by hand to the right space again.

Once I disconnect and reconnect the MBP to the external screens I can do it all over again.

Please advice,

Daniel Gabriner

I wonder if it’s because your main screen is changing?

Your main screen is the one with the menu bar on it when you look in Display Preferences -> Arrangement

You can drag the menu bar to the other screen, and it will consider that one the main screen.

I found some instructions here: https://documentation.apple.com/en/aperture/usermanual/index.html#chapter=B%26section=4%26tasks=true

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for you answer.
After some thought;
No the monitor with the menubar is the ONLY space/monitor that works correctly.

As soon as I connect the 2 screens to my laptop, the menubar switches (as it should) to my middle monitor.
The spaces on the internal screen and the other monitor are switched around.

If I move the menubar, it just move the spaces that belong with main screen around and it ADD’S the space that was fixed on the internal screen of the LCD or the space that was fixed on the right monitor.

Maybe this is vague, let me try in a different way. I have 3 monitors let’s call them M1, M2, and M3, where M1 is the internal LCD, M2 and 24"LG on the display port and M3 a 23"samsung on the USB.
Step 1)
In total spaces I NAME the spaces in the ‘preferences -> layout’. M1 has 1 space, M2 6 and M3 also 1 space.
I then set apps to the right space.

Everything works fine.
Step 2)
I disconnect my laptop of the 2 external monitors. The menubar moves to M1 and all spaces ( of M2 and M3) also move to M1.
Step 3)
Then I connect it again; the menubar moves to M2, the space of M3 (that i created in step 1) moves to M1. The space of M1 moves to M2.
And new blank space named desktop 9 or something similar is put instead on M3.

So now all my apps that I set on M3 are suddenly appearing on M1.

I or manually have to drag everything to M3 from M1 or do step 1 again.

Hope this makes sense.

I think I follow - the external monitors are not getting the right spaces.

This ought to be handled by OSX, but it obviously isn’t working right. I think I need to try to reproduce this when I have two external monitors available (when I am back in my office in 1 week).

Hi Stephen,

Thanks,
I would like to add that when I am using OSX spaces it does the same thing; it also get’s confused, however OS X spaces put’s all the programs from M3 to M1.

It was actually one of the main reasons that I bought your program.

I hope you can fix it!

Daniel