# Support for dual monitors



## Clicio Barroso (Oct 7, 2007)

This is an old request, I know...
But for many people, working with two monitors is fundamental.
I have two different systems, one iMac 24 and one MacBookPro+Eizo 19' monitor. Lightroom is great in the 24' , but would be greater if I could split panels/image (panels in the MacBook screen and Image on the Eizo).:mrgreen:

Regards,

Clicio Barroso


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## Ian Farlow (Oct 7, 2007)

Hm... dual monitors. I have only one at the moment, but a second ACD would be nice. Lightroom on two monitors would be great, though.


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## Victoria Bampton (Oct 7, 2007)

Agreed.  I'd find it really useful to have Grid mode on one screen and Develop module on the other.  That would give access to Quick Develop and normal Develop controls at the same time.


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## DonRicklin (Oct 7, 2007)

The Adobe LR Team has always said they want to do Dual Monitors. It is just with so much else to straighten out they seemed to have kept it on the back burners. Maybe for V2.'. 

A wait 
and see situation.


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## billg71 (Oct 10, 2007)

I'll second the dual-monitor support.

Bill


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## joshua (Oct 11, 2007)

I third it. So much in fact, I updated my sig. 



billg71 said:


> I'll second the dual-monitor support.
> 
> Bill


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## Andre Arruda (Oct 11, 2007)

*Dual Monitors, urgent.*

For sure, a feature for pros that I miss on LR.
My PS config. is a totally clean image on the right monitor and the tools and windows (even the options bar) on the left.


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## CDCPhotoart (Oct 17, 2007)

Strongly support the idea of 2 complementary monitors and LR. Maybe for v2.'!


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## Harrzack (Nov 7, 2007)

The only people who would put dual-monitor support on the back-burner would be those who've never used it. A MUST-HAVE feature!     AND - it shouldn't even be an issue with the application. LR shouldn't even be (specifically) aware of where its screens and pallets are. It is an OS thing. Normally.


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## Katherine Mann (Nov 7, 2007)

*dual monitors*

You know, part of me likes the idea of moving the controls to my right hand screen and having the entire 22" wide-screen monitor to deal with the photo, but then, I don't mind so much having to use all those shortcuts to get rid of the panels when I want to do so. Possibly what we really need is 3'" wide-screen monitors. That would rock, no?

I like to have other things hanging around on the extra monitor - such as my email, itunes for podcasts and such so I can listen to what I missed on national radio while I work. 

Lr is very elegantly designed. The panels are nicely done.


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## thg (Nov 7, 2007)

Well, even if it would be nice to have the thumbnails on one side and the Develop module on a second display, I prefer to see improvements in DAM functions.
This is priority # 1, beside release of SDK.


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## Ian Farlow (Nov 8, 2007)

I'm about to purchase a second monitor for Final Cut Pro, and likely will get a third (television) monitor for FCP as well. I intend on doing something similar to what you describe but with FCP, and can see myself splitting up PSCS3 onto two monitors also. Lightroom on two monitors could really come in handy!


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## joshua (Nov 8, 2007)

Are we going to see a FCProForums.net soon as well? 

If you have any questions in FCP, drop me a line. I know it a lot better than I know LR.


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## Ian Farlow (Nov 8, 2007)

Excellent! I just might!


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## Victoria Bampton (Nov 8, 2007)

You could have a whole range of forums at this rate Ian!  You may just have found a new job.  Forum-master extraordinaire!


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## Ian Farlow (Nov 13, 2007)

Victoria Bampton said:


> You could have a whole range of forums at this rate Ian!  You may just have found a new job.  Forum-master extraordinaire!



Oh no... this one is enough for now.


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## michael shaffer (Feb 3, 2008)

I'm just a trial user of LR at this point, but I certainly don't mind bumping this feature request back to the top of its forum thread.  For those of us who've been using dual monitors since it was first supported by Photoshop, this comes as a *REAL* surprise from Adobe.  It's so fundamental to an efficient workflow it's difficult to even consider purchasing softare without DM support.  Adobe ... if you're listening ... please add DM support!!


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## DonRicklin (Feb 3, 2008)

What in LR would you rather have go so you could have DM? LR is new and ADobe has been busy adding features and fixing bugs. Dual Monitor support was an area they felt could be held off in favor of more critical work needed doing. 

That is not to say DM wont come, just that for many, especially with modern widescreen displays Dual Monitor support is not top of the list. 

We'll just have to see about the future.



Don


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## ernie (Feb 4, 2008)

It isn't as good as dual monitors,but, since no one has mentioned it, I will. I drag the width of the program out so that just the right panel (in develop) is on my second monitor.When I close all the other panels it's like having a 3' inch or more monitor to work with.


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## MurdockScott (Feb 25, 2008)

This is something I really would like myself. It has been somewhat of a hot topic over at the Adobe user to user forums for a while.

*waves to DonRicklin*

I think it would be a huge boost to my personal productivity LightRoom but then I was used to having it in that "other" application.

I have been thinking recently that since Cintiq prices are more within reach on the new models I might pick up the small one... If LR supports multiple monitors, I could think of many ways to make this little guy earn his keep.

It's not a feature thats important to everyone and I understand the argument that the world is moving to wider monitors and "all in one" interfaces, but I can tell you that personally I don't forever see a time that I won't buy monitors in matching pairs. Even if they are huge... its the way I work, I have been doing it a long long time.

Just found this place tonight so, good to meet everyone btw.  : )


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## Victoria Bampton (Feb 25, 2008)

Welcome to the forum Murdock.

So while we're on the subject of Dual Monitors, how can you see yourself using them best, if they are implemented at some point in the future?


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## HerrB (Feb 25, 2008)

To have different modes of LR (Lib, Develop, etc.) on different screens simultaneously (someone mentioned that) is asking much more than asking for tear-off panels. These would allow flexible positioning all over the screens. How'd this be? That way screens with different heights could be used easily.

edg5: do I understand you correctly in that you have two screens with identical height and you have the whole LR window span (at least part of) both windows and have the border between two LR panels coincide with the border between the screens? This is how I am doing it with another app I am using (non photo related). Only works properly with same height screens, though.


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## Ben Jenssen (Feb 25, 2008)

HerrB said:


> edg5: do I understand you correctly in that you have two screens with identical height and you have the whole LR window span (at least part of) both windows and have the border between two LR panels coincide with the border between the screens? This is how I am doing it with another app I am using (non photo related). Only works properly with same height screens, though.


Not to answer for edg5, but this is my solution also.
Dual monitors has been essensial for comfortable working in PS, Indesign, Illustrator, Quark and even audio software like Pro Tools for many years for me. It is for me LRs biggest lacking.
Like edg5, I get the develop panel over on the right monitor so a landscape image is using much of the left monitor. It's irritating though, that the filmstrip runs across, and if I hide all panels grid and lupe will cross over the screens.
To me it would be ideal to have two windows, one with grid and lupe, and the other with panels, filmstrip and everything else.


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## Brad Snyder (Feb 25, 2008)

Multi-monitor support is highly requested. Clearly, the Adobe folks have some degree of sophistication when it comes to 'work-space' arrangement. What remains to be seen, is how the request is prioritized against the overall wish list.

I personally get quite frustrated in changing between modes. I mean, how hard can it be to add a key-word in Develop? But, I try to remember that there are vastly different image rendering pipelines between the modes, and that the current schema is a trade-off between accuracy, performance and convenience/usability.

That being said ..."I STILL WANT IT NOW!"


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## Bruce J (Feb 25, 2008)

Victoria Bampton;91'1 said:
			
		

> So while we're on the subject of Dual Monitors, how can you see yourself using them best, if they are implemented at some point in the future?



For my part, I'd love to use one screen for the image(s) and everything else on the other screen.  My old, tired eyes really appreciate looking at a full-screen image on one of my two 21" monitors while running large sliders on the other.  As it is currently, it's too much hassle, w/ slide out panels coming from both sides, to spread LR across both screens.


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## Clicio Barroso (Oct 7, 2007)

This is an old request, I know...
But for many people, working with two monitors is fundamental.
I have two different systems, one iMac 24 and one MacBookPro+Eizo 19' monitor. Lightroom is great in the 24' , but would be greater if I could split panels/image (panels in the MacBook screen and Image on the Eizo).:mrgreen:

Regards,

Clicio Barroso


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## andersl (Feb 27, 2008)

Victoria Bampton;91'1 said:
			
		

> So while we're on the subject of Dual Monitors, how can you see yourself using them best, if they are implemented at some point in the future?



Basically, having one for the photo (in full screen mode) and the other for controls would be great. (You could use a small side-monitor for the controls).

My dream would be to have one monitor in portrait mode and one in landscape mode -- that way LR could display the photo in question on the most suitable display and use the other for controls. (The switching could be done automatically or, more likely, with a user-level command.)

Other things could be useful -- the side-by-side comparison feature could display one picture on each monitor.

You could implement a loupe where one monitor could display the normal photo and the other the zoomed-in variant.

In the slideshow module, the side monitor could be used to display a full sized preview even when you're working on the main monitor.

Also, I could imagine having two grid windows open at the same time, for example, one showing Folders and one showing a collection.

Once you start brainstorming you could come up with thousands of ideas...


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## Denis Pagé (Feb 27, 2008)

andersl said:


> Basically, having one for the photo (in full screen mode) and the other for controls would be great. (You could use a small side-monitor for the controls).
> 
> My dream would be to have one monitor in portrait mode and one in landscape mode -- that way LR could display the photo in question on the most suitable display and use the other for controls. (The switching could be done automatically or, more likely, with a user-level command.)
> 
> ...


Very interesting ideas here! Except that I would avoid the _"the side-by-side comparison feature could display one picture on each monitor"_ because it is hard to be guaranteed that two different monitors perfectly match. But IF they do, why not?...


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## ernie (Feb 27, 2008)

To HerrB, Yes that is how I use it. I have one crt and one lcd. The crt is calibrated but the lcd is not, so I just use it for dialog boxes, etc.
Some day I want two LCDs and the idea to have one for landscape and one for portrait shots would really be neat. Or just have a nice one that rotates so both would not have to be matched calibration.


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## suscol (Mar 7, 2008)

I'd love this as a feature too. Sometimes I would use it all day long and sometimes I wouldn't need it at all - but it would sure be nice to have the option


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## Braders (Mar 7, 2008)

For me the idea of having library and develop modules separately would rock, so as to avoid having to switch between the 2.


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## Brad Snyder (Mar 8, 2008)

I've begged and begged and begged and begged for that in other forums.

Since separable tools palettes are such a large part of PS's workspace, I have high hopes we'll eventually see something similar in LR. (Although there are technical contraints)


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## dafoxman (Mar 20, 2008)

*Dual Monitors in Lightroom... Oh Yea!*

This is one of the biggest problems I have with Lightroom. I work on 2 monitors in PS CS3 and Bridge, one in Landscape and the other in Portrait on my desktop. A lot of the files I work on are 3'' to 7'' Mb for large prints. To be able to view them in Portrait mode on the 2nd monitor is a huge part of my workflow. I would possibly have one screen in Library Mode and the other in Develop mode to quickly work between them. Or, to also be able to pull the panels where I want them would be HUGE...

Someone said to use 1 3'" monitor. Did that, and I found it very taxing on me trying to organize everything and get the height right so I didn't break my neck.  The other issue? What if your 1 3'" dies out of the blue? Where I live you don't just run out and pick  one up in 2' minutes. With 2 monitors if one dies I can get by on just one. It is still calibrated and I can keep working until the other one arrives. Or, plug in an older monitor and use it just for tool and Layers panels etc.


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## Brad Snyder (Apr 2, 2008)

The wait is over, dual monitor support is available in the LR 2.' Public Beta available here:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/


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## SiriusDoggy (Apr 6, 2008)

MurdockScott;9'94 said:
			
		

> I have been thinking recently that since Cintiq prices are more within reach on the new models I might pick up the small one... If LR supports multiple monitors, I could think of many ways to make this little guy earn his keep.



Not sure if you went ahead and purchased the Cintiq but if you have, I'd like to talk to you about some issues I've had with mine. I know this is not a Cintiq forum so PM me if you did buy one.
Here's my basic issue - Laptop - Sony VAIO ARG29' - display resolution 192'x16''.
Cintiq I just purchased - the 12WX - screen resolution 128'x8''.
It's impossible to clone the screens because of the differing resolution. So when you change your native laptop screen down to 128'x8'' it looks like total c$#p.
Curious if others have ran into this problem and how they have solved it.


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## Ian Farlow (Apr 6, 2008)

SiriusDoggy said:


> Not sure if you went ahead and purchased the Cintiq but if you have, I'd like to talk to you about some issues I've had with mine. I know this is not a Cintiq forum so PM me if you did buy one.
> Here's my basic issue - Laptop - Sony VAIO ARG29' - display resolution 192'x16''.
> Cintiq I just purchased - the 12WX - screen resolution 128'x8''.
> It's impossible to clone the screens because of the differing resolution. So when you change your native laptop screen down to 128'x8'' it looks like total c$#p.
> Curious if others have ran into this problem and how they have solved it.



I'd be interested to follow this discussion. Could you start it up in the Equipment Talk Forum?


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## SiriusDoggy (Apr 6, 2008)

Ian Farlow;123'' said:
			
		

> I'd be interested to follow this discussion. Could you start it up in the Equipment Talk Forum?



sure - I knew there must be a proper place for this....


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