Changing Default Position/Size for Help File Windows (Windows OS)

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Wed, 01/15/2014 - 01:28 pm

Is there a way to set the default size/position for help file windows for all (or at least new) experiments? Presently, help file windows start up for me with a fair amount of the "page" off the bottom edge of the display, forcing me to routinely resize & reposition them. (The screen resolution on my laptop isn't all that generous.) Did I overlook something in the documentation that addresses how to capture prefs for help windows?
There is no way to change the default size for help windows.

Previously help windows remembered their size and position and they still do on Macintosh. Changes to the Windows OS and a recent change to Igor prevent this unless you run as administrator. So run as administrator (right-click Igor.exe and choose Run as Administrator), set the help windows as you like. Igor will remember them. You don't have to run as administrator after that.

January 15, 2014 at 05:49 pm - Permalink

Sorry for not indicating platform, as I assumed this consideration would be common to both. Naturally, you are correct in assuming that I'm using the Windows version of IGOR.

In any case, running as Administrator certainly does the trick! It is a little lamentable that window/size position changes can't be saved in the middle of a non-Administrator session, but this'll do for my purposes. Thank you very much!

N.B. I've tweaked the topic of this thread to reflect that this is actually a platform-specific question.

January 16, 2014 at 05:45 am - Permalink

lynx wrote:
Sorry for not indicating platform, as I assumed this consideration would be common to both. Naturally, you are correct in assuming that I'm using the Windows version of IGOR.

In any case, running as Administrator certainly does the trick! It is a little lamentable that window/size position changes can't be saved in the middle of a non-Administrator session, but this'll do for my purposes. Thank you very much!

N.B. I've tweaked the topic of this thread to reflect that this is actually a platform-specific question.


You can move the help files from the Igor Pro Folder to the Igor Pro 6 User Files folder where they will remember their sizes. But then they won't be available if another person logs in unless you copy them to their Documents\WaveMetrics\Igor Pro 6 User Files folder, too.

--Jim Prouty
Software Engineer, WaveMetrics, Inc.

January 16, 2014 at 11:29 am - Permalink

As a partly related aside, is it a bad idea to run IGOR in "Administrator" mode all the time?

January 17, 2014 at 12:01 am - Permalink

lynx wrote:
As a partly related aside, is it a bad idea to run IGOR in "Administrator" mode all the time?

As a general rule, I wouldn't do this with any program unless absolutely necessary. I would run IGOR normally unless you find it useful to run as Admin.

--Jim Prouty
Software Engineer, WaveMetrics, Inc.

January 17, 2014 at 08:20 am - Permalink

Yes, I'm not suggesting it as a normal practice, and I do understand the rationale behind that. But from the sound of it, it's not particularly bad to run IGOR like that all the time, so maybe that's what I'll trying doing for now. Again, thank you (both)!!

January 18, 2014 at 05:36 am - Permalink