It will be frustrating when the app you open always goes out of the monitor’s edge. The app shows active in the Taskbar and Task Manager but not properly appearing on the screen. The issue is caused due to several reasons like DPI settings, resolution or scaling, outdated display drivers, corrupted program installation or even the buggy Windows updates. If you are also using Mac, check out how to fix apps going out of screen issue in macOS.
Fix Apps Not Fitting in Monitor Display
Depending upon the issue, you may need to focus troubleshooting of individual app or Windows system settings. Below are some of the general guidelines to fix apps going out of display in Windows 11. Remember to take a system backup before doing troubleshooting actions like driver update.
1. Change App’s DPI Compatibility Setting
Some apps come with compatibility setting to fix blurry display and scaling issue. When the apps are not fully optimized for your default display settings, they often tend to go out of the display. Changing the display DPI scaling for these apps ensure that the text is readable and it fits within the viewable screen space of the monitor.
- Select the app’s source application file and press Alt + Enter to open its Properties.
- Go to “Compatibility” tab and click on “Change high DPI settings” button.
- Enable both the checkboxes and select “I open this program” and “Application” from the dropdowns as shown in the below picture.
Click “OK” button and apply your changes. Now, check the app is showing properly within the display and not going out of the screen.
2. Check System Display Resolution
System display setting is one of the most common reasons leading to apps not fitting and going out screen issue. Sometimes the resolution is set too small that apps will not fit on the display screen. This is how you can change the display resolution:
- Go to the desktop and right-click on any empty area.
- Select “Display settings” from the context menu that appears.
- Now find the option “Display resolution” option. Click the dropdownand select the recommends resolution for your system. If you have chosen too small resolution, select higher level. For example, 1920 x 1080 is the recommended resolution as you can see in the below example. Selecting 800 x 600 will enlarge the app windows and making it go out of the screen. If 1920 x 1080 is too small, then select 1680 X 1050 and check instead of going for lower resolutions.
After applying the changes, check if that resolves the apps going out of display issue. Otherwise, proceed to further options.
3. Change Custom Scaling
One more method to fix apps going out of display in Windows 11 is changing the custom scaling option. Though this not recommended, you may need this especially when using Windows installed in virtual machine setup. For example, you should use around 300% custom scaling when running Windows 11 Arm on 24-inch iMac which has 4480 x 2520 pixels display. Virtual machine setup apps like Parallels Desktop for Mac will automatically change this custom scaling to make the apps fitting into the display. Otherwise, you may need to adjust the custom scaling manually to make the app windows clearly visible.
On other hand, if you have wrongly setup custom scaling then you need to revert back to recommended value for your display.
- Hold the Windows + I shortcut keys together to open Settings app.
- Click “Display” option showing under “System” section.
- Now find the “Scale” option and click the dropdown against the option.
- Remove any value in the “Custom scaling” option and select the “Tick” button to make it to the recommended value.
- Now select the option “Sign out now”. This will sign you out and set your display to custom scaling.
- If that does not fix the issue, change the value to any custom percentage between 100% to 500% and check the apps are aligning within the screen.
4. Check Multiple Display Settings
If you are using multiple monitors, sometimes you notice the apps will automatically go to the secondary screen. This will be a problem when you switched off the secondary monitor which will lead to apps not visible on the primary screen. You can adjust this in the display setting as explained below:
- Right-click on the desktop and go to “Display settings”.
- Find “Multiple displays” option under “Scale & layout” section and click on it.
- Now deselect the option “Remember window locations based on monitor connection”.
Deselecting this option prevents Windows from remembering and opening apps in secondary monitor and you will always see them in your primary screen.
5. Update Display Drivers
Display drivers are responsible to manage all display settings and graphics of the system. Sometimes outdated display drivers result in this issue as they are not compatible and fully optimized to the latest version of Windows 11.
- Press Windows + X keys and open “Device Manager” option from the list.
- Find “Display adapters” option and expand it by clicking the arrow next to it. Then right-click on your display adapter and then select “Update driver” option.
- Select the option “Browse my computer for drivers” to manually locate and install a driver from your computer. If you do not have the driver files, then select “Search automatically for drivers” option.
- The system will inform you about the drivers installed and select “Close”. Now restart your system to check if the issue is resolved.
If you have installed drivers from computer, additionally you can check for any updates related to drivers. For that, select the option “Search for updated drivers on Windows Update” before closing the window.
6. Move or Maximize App Window
A simple and easy method to fix this issue is moving or maximizing the app/program from the Taskbar menu. This method will only work if the app is appearing in the Taskbar and not on the display screen.
- Simply press the Shift key and right-click on the app and then select the “Move” option.
- Move the arrowhead to the visible area anywhere on your screen and then press enter.
- If this doesn’t work, try maximizing the app. To do this, click on the “Maximize” option as shown in the above image. And check if the app/program is showing on the screen or not.
7. Run System Scan
Sometimes the corrupted or missing system files can cause apps to go out of the display. Running a sfc /scannow command will repair and restore these files.
- Open Command Prompt by typing “cmd” in the search bar of the Start menu, then right-click and choose the option “Run as administrator”.
- Type this command: sfc /scannow and then press enter. The system will start looking for the corrupted system files and repair them. This will take a few minutes, wait until the process is completed.
Close the window and check if it fixes the issue. You can also run Windows Security scan and find if there are any malware affecting the system behavior.
8. Update Windows 11
Sometimes outdated or bugs in Windows can result in apps not fitting into the display issues. You can update Windows to the latest version and check if that helps to resolve the issue.
- Press “Windows + I” keys to open “Settings” app and go to “Windows Update” section.
- Here you can see any updates are available for your system. For manually checking, click the “Check for updates” button.
- When you see the available updates, click on the “Download & install” button.
- If required, restart the system and open the app causing problem to check if it works properly.
9. Perform a Clean Boot
If the issue isn’t resolved yet, performing a clean boot can help. This is a troubleshooting method that identifies conflicts between startup programs and system services. These conflicts can cause certain issues with display settings and other system components.
- Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog box.
- Type msconfig in the box and click “OK” button.
- Go to “Services” tab and select “Hide all Microsoft services” option.
- Click “Disable all” button and then click “Apply / OK” buttons.
- Click on the “Restart” button to confirm your action and restart the system.
After restarting, check if this helps to resolve your issue.
Final Thoughts
System display settings is one of the primary reasons for apps not fitting in monitor display. It could be due to DPI setting, resolution or scaling issue. If these things do not help, then try for other advanced options like driver update, clean boot, etc.
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