Sticky Note “Lost” Beyond Visible Screen Border

Topic

New Reply

OK – here is an oddball problem that I am hoping you Linux gurus might be able to help me with. I am running Linux Mint 19.1 from an external USB SSD drive, on a Lenovo Thinkpad. It runs great – but I have a weird issue concerning the Sticky Note applet and a note that is “lost” beyond the visible screen.

Occasionally my mouse gets “grabby” and will snag onto icons or windows and will drag them around before it lets go. Last night it snagged one of my Sticky Notes – part of it was sticking out under another window and the next thing I knew, due to my inadvertent mouse movement, it dragged it to the edge of the screen – and it disappeared. I am guessing that it somehow is beyond the visible portion of the screen, and I can’t figure out how to get it back.

I’ve tried to adjust the screen size thinking I could see that note and drag it back, but that wasn’t successful – I don’t think I am doing it right.

I also restarted, thinking maybe that would put back the original desktop view – no luck there. I also poked around in the trash and in the desktop menu, but it isn’t there either.

So, I’m hoping that someone might have an idea on how I can find it, and also any ideas as to how to make the mouse less grabby so this doesn’t happen again.

Thanks so much!

 

Reply | Quote

Replies

Try using the default keyboard shortcut for moving windows: Alt+F7. The mouse pointer will become a hand to show you that you can move the currently active window.

If the window is not active and the mouse pointer does not change to a hand, you may be able to select that window using the bottom panel button.

Once you’ve got the hand pointer, moving your mouse should cause the window to jump to it. Or you can use the arrow keys to slowly move it where you want. Once you’ve got it back on the screen, either single-click or hit Enter to confirm the new position.

As for the mouse being “grabby”: Are you using the touch pad? If so, you might be sometimes accidentally triggering a built-in gesture function. I didn’t see a setting in Mint to override something like that, but I also don’t have a ThinkPad and my old notebook touch pad doesn’t do anything like that. If you can stand it, you might turn off “Tap to click” in Mouse and Touchpad settings, to see if that helps. However this would mean you’d need to use the buttons above or below the touch pad for left-click and right-click, which I believe most (if not all) ThinkPads have.

1 user thanked author for this post.

LHiggins

Reply | Quote

Thanks so much for the reply. I did try the Alt+F7 command and it works as you said for windows that I can see. The problem is for that Sticky Note – I can’t see it – it seems to me that it was “thrown” off the visible screen and I can’t see it at all now. If I could just get a corner of it, I could use your command to drag it back, but right now – it isn’t visible.

I did look at the option for multiple screens, but I don’t see it on any of those. I just seems if I could somehow resize my desktop so that I could see more of it – I might be able to see part of that note and get it back. So far – any attempt at resizing just resizes the screen icons – not the desklets or the other sticky notes.

As to the mouse – I don’t use the touch pad, but somehow I must trigger something since every once in a while the cursor will turn into the grab had and drag things around – that’s what happened with that note. Not sure if it is something I am typing at the time – I don’t think there’s any way I am triggering the Alt+F7 command accidentally – but it does happen and things get moved. I had done that a couple of times with the sticky notes, and even tried to enlarge my active windows to cover more of the desktop so that I wouldn’t be able to latch onto a note by accident, but in this case, it somehow grabbed the edge of the note and as the cursor/grab hand moved to the edge of the screen, the note disappeared.

Pretty weird, huh? Thanks for the suggestions – I’ll keep searching for a way to restore that note. Maybe I’ll need to try one of my Timeshifts – but I’d rather not do that if I don’t have to.

Thanks again!

Reply | Quote

Not familiar with Linux, but this is what I woudl do in Win.
Open the equivalent of File Explorer (not full screen) so you can see the desktop.
Go to the folder/location where desktop contents are stored.
Drag the file (if it’s there) to an open place on the visible desktop (or some other location where you can retrieve it)

1 user thanked author for this post.

LHiggins

Reply | Quote

Thanks! I did look there – nothing, unfortunately. I’m not sure where – if anywhere – those notes are stored, but it isn’t in the desktop folder. 🙁

Reply | Quote

LHiggins wrote:
I have a weird issue concerning the Sticky Note applet and a note that is “lost” beyond the visible screen.

Is there any chance you inadvertently moved it onto a different workspace?

Ctrl-Alt-Rightarrow & Ctrl-Alt-Leftarrow should allow you to move back & forth between your available workspaces (or alternatively, right-click on bottom panel and then add “Workspace switcher” applet to panel). If you’re able to find your prodigal window, then just right-click on window title bar and select “Move to Another Workspace” option to send it back to “Workspace 1”.

Hope this helps.

2 users thanked author for this post.

LHiggins, Microfix

Reply | Quote

Thanks! I did look at all of the “other” workspaces – all blank except for the first one, and no sign of that missing note. I’m really not sure where else to look – but if it was somehow deleted, wouldn’t it show up in the trash? Very perplexing!

Reply | Quote

LHiggins wrote:
Thanks! I did look at all of the “other” workspaces – all blank except for the first one, and no sign of that missing note. I’m really not sure where else to look

Hmmmm… well, really not sure if this is even possible, but… is there any chance it somehow got moved under your panel?

Just for giggles, right-click on bottom panel and use “Move” option to move panel to side of screen.

1 user thanked author for this post.

LHiggins

Reply | Quote

Nope – not there. Good thought though – I am “sure” it is hiding somewhere, but not under the panel. I also thought maybe it got into a desktop folder – but haven’t seen it there either. Certainly a mystery – and thanks for the suggestion! I’ll keep trying, but as noted below – at least I did find the text that was on it.

But…if I could “backup” that note along with the others that I can see – it does seem that it is “somewhere” – if it had been deleted, I would guess that it would not have been included in the backup file.

Thanks again!

1 user thanked author for this post.

Elly

Reply | Quote

LHiggins wrote:
But…if I could “backup” that note along with the others that I can see – it does seem that it is “somewhere” – if it had been deleted, I would guess that it would not have been included in the backup file.

Agreed, makes sense, if you had actually removed note then content wouldn’t be in backup.

So… any chance you have a larger monitor nearby? If note was somehow fully moved off “edge” of monitor, maybe use of larger/higher-res monitor might allow you to see and retrieve it? Maybe?

1 user thanked author for this post.

LHiggins

Reply | Quote

Thanks! No other monitor, so I guess for now – I’m going to have to leave this as a mystery. Maybe one of these days I’ll come across a way to find it – but at least I was able to retrieve the contents and recreate it. Still very strange though!

Thanks again for the idea!

Reply | Quote

Quick update – well, I did find the contents of that note – but not the note itself. I did a “backup” of the notes – figuring that it would back up the missing note as well if it still existed somewhere offscreen – which it did. In a text file backup, I can see the contents of the note – but can’t find the note itself. So, at least I can recreate that note – and hopefully keep better track of it. But where the original note is certainly remains a mystery at the moment.

Thanks for the help! Much appreciated!

LH

1 user thanked author for this post.

Elly

Reply | Quote

I just had the same issue on a Macbook, and in the tab “Window”, I selected “arrange by colour”, and all the sticky notes got organised on one side and the “offscreen” ones were pulled back on the visible screen. 🙂

Reply | Quote