Workspaces Not Waiting for App to Fully Open Before Moving it to Target Location

[7AvbOEZM9xEvXdN]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.91.1

Installation method

PowerToys auto-update

Area(s) with issue?

Workspaces

Steps to reproduce

1. Install Microsoft To-Do app from MS Store.
2. Open MS To-Do and move window to a specific location on your screen (do not use it in full screen mode).
3. Close MS To-Do app.
4. Reopen MS To-Do app and confirm it opens to a location other than where it was when it was closed. This is critical because if it opens in the same location where it was when it was closed then it will mask the bug.
5. Move MS To-Do window to location in step 2.
6. Setup a workspace with the To-Do in the location. Check the boxes to create a desktop shortcut and move existing windows.
7. Close MS To-Do app and launch the workspace using the desktop shortcut.

✔️ Expected Behavior

Expected behavior is that MS To-Do app will open and move to the location set in the workspace.

❌ Actual Behavior

MS To-Do app opens in the default location instead of the location set in the workspace.

With MS To-Do app open, if you launch the workplace a second time, it will move the MS To-Do window to the location set in the workspace because the app is open and the box to move existing windows is checked.

Additional Information

The problem appears to be that workspaces does not wait for the app to complete the opening process before attempting to move it. This behavior is hidden when apps open in the same location where they were closed (e.g., Word, new Outlook, and Teams on my computer). However, it is readily apparent for those apps that do not open in the same location where they were when they were closed (e.g., MS To-Do, Excel, and File Explorer on my computer). Excel and File Explorer usually open at a location that is close to where they were when they were closed (File Explorer sometimes opens in the exact location it was when it was closed) but MS To-Do always opens in the same location regardless where it was when it was closed, which is why I chose it as the example to report the bug.

My OS specs are as follows: Edition Windows 11 Pro Version 24H2 Installed on ‎23-‎May-‎24 OS build 26100.4188 Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.107.0

Other Software

No response

[vanzue]

Thank you for the reporting this, maybe need to investigate whether there is a common signal that application says it have been initialized ready

[7AvbOEZM9xEvXdN]

I'm not really a developer (probably not even much of a vibe coder to be honest), but Gemini 2.4 Pro suggested some of the strategies in the attached pdf document. Another less elegant but probably effective way to deal with this is to have a "window position delay" setting for each application. If the user provides a value for this setting, then workspaces waits this amount of time after launching the application before moving the window. I mocked up an example of how this would look for Excel:

Detecting Target Application Startup Completion - AI Assistant Chat.pdf