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microsoft
Fancy Zones layouts by resolution or aspect ratio
Description of the new feature / enhancement
Fancy Zones do not currently allow automatically changing the layout selected on a monitor when its resolution changes to a different size. That would be particularly useful when switching a monitor from a horizontal position to a vertical position.
In the current behaviour, the layout that is set when horizontal will just be stretched to fit the vertical orientation but that results most of the time in not-very-useful or useless zones. If the same monitor with 1920x1080 (16:9) would be considered different from the same monitor with 1080x1920 (9:16), then we could set a new layout and that would then automatically be changed between the two.
Scenario when this would be used?
The most common scenario would be when a monitor is switched from horizontal to vertical. (but it can be in any situation in which a new resolution is set)
Supporting information
Resolution dependency was removed/changed some time ago because of issues. But this is another perspective.
Could you please bring it back somehow? You could also add it with a new checkbox/toggle in the FancyZones settings and allow for the behaviour to be turned on and off. By leaving it off by default you could mitigate whatever issues it had.
+1 on this. I was on 0.57 for a while, recently updated to 0.60 and immediately noticed that my different layouts set for landscape vs portrait mode were not working. The layout I use for landscape is useless for portrait.
Downgraded to 0.57.2 based on this changelog note for 0.58 https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/292954743fc37fddfc87b65f76b81e318b109709/README.md?plain=1#L112 ...and it's working as expected.
This looks like the offending PR: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/pull/17412
Saving aspect ratio information in the device entry would allow this and would avoid issues with same-monitor-different-scaling. The issue of RDP resizing would remain. Maybe if virtual desktop is detected, ignore aspect ratio.
i, too, just realized recently that this "feature" disappeared, so I will be downgrading to 0.57.2 as well (thanks @fishstik ) until this feature is brought back.. Everything was working fine for me back in the good ol' days of 0.57.2... heh... in my case, i often switch between resolutions because i have an extra wide monitor, which is normally at 3440x1440 for my day-to-day work, but sometimes, when i'm presenting in a Teams meeting, i "dumb down my resolution" to 2560x1080 so that when other team members are looking at my screen, everything isn't so tiny for them.. i dont mind doing it, but when i do, the zones i have configured for 3440x1440 don't work anymore, so i created a different layout for "Teams meetings", which always used to automatically get chosen whenever i switch resolutions (for which i use a neat little tool called HRC.exe, which is GREAT). anyway, i'll be much happier back in 0.57.2 when everything i use fancyzones for just "worked"! 🤷♂️
when i'm presenting in a Teams meeting, i "dumb down my resolution" to 2560x1080 so that when other team members are looking at my screen, everything isn't so tiny for them
Why noy change the scaling (or dpi) in stead? Just wondering...
when everything i use fancyzones for just "worked"!
@eseinbinder This might apply for you, but not for many others. There's a reason things change(d)!
when i'm presenting in a Teams meeting, i "dumb down my resolution" to 2560x1080 so that when other team members are looking at my screen, everything isn't so tiny for them
Why noy change the scaling (or dpi) in stead? Just wondering...
good question. i hadn't tried that, but changing the resolution via hotkey (thanks to HRC) works pretty well for me. i can look into the scaling idea, i just never had a good experience with scaling.. things looked funky, but maybe it's gotten better over the years. i'll try scaling to 125% next time i have a meeting, and see how that works. 🤷♂️ is there a kb hotkey for that? 😛
when everything i use fancyzones for just "worked"!
@eseinbinder This might apply for you, but not for many others. There's a reason things change(d)!
oh, i absolutely love when things are updated and change (for the better), but recently, when an update came thru and broke the layout editor, that was a bummer. i was actually one of the ones who helped them find and fix the issue. but then when i noticed this issue with the current layout reverting back to a built-in one when i changed resolution (or upon reboot, as someone mentioned, which i hadn't tried yet), i figured i'd just revert to the last known version that "worked" until i hear they fixed it, at which time, i'll give it another try. that's all.. i dont think there's anything wrong with downgrading until a fix is available, now that i've identified the issue and submitted my 2 cents. heh.
when everything i use fancyzones for just "worked"!
@eseinbinder This might apply for you, but not for many others. There's a reason things change(d)!
That why I'm suggesting the compromise of allowing both behaviors to happen. As mentioned you could bring it back as a toggle. With the toggle OFF layouts would associate to displays based on their ID as it is post PR, with the toggle ON they would use the identifier as ID+resolution as it was before the PR.
Alternatively it could use the identifier as ID+aspect ratio as mentioned by @fishstik, that would be a fine solution in my book.
Power toys is a tool for power users in the first place, the more options the better
I see. I think, in the end, the most sophisticated thing would be manual input, where the user can define px or %.
+1, on this issue, it not only applies to rotating monitors, but also for PBP (switch monitor from full screen to PBP mode will dramatically affect aspect ratio)
