Stop Losing Your Windows Every Time You Reconnect a Monitor
If you use a laptop with an external monitor, you've probably experienced windows scattered across the wrong screens after reconnecting your setup. Windows 11 includes a built-in feature that can automatically restore many windows to their previous locations, helping you get back to work faster.
By Rodger Mansfield, Technology Editor
September 30, 2026
Instead of jumping right back into work, you spend several minutes dragging Outlook, Excel, Teams, and browser windows back to the monitors where they belong.
Here's a Cool Tip: Turn on Remember Window Locations and let Windows put your apps back where they belong.
That annoyance is common among Windows users who work with multiple displays. Fortunately, Windows 11 includes a setting designed to reduce this frustration.
When enabled, Windows can remember where your application windows were placed before a monitor was disconnected and attempt to restore them when the display is reconnected.
Microsoft includes this capability within Windows 11's Multiple Displays settings, giving users a simple way to maintain a more consistent workspace when moving between desk setups, docking stations, and portable work environments.
Windows can remember window locations based on monitor connections and restore them after reconnecting external displays.
