What a remembered position contains
When you remember a position, MaxTo stores three things:
- The application — identified by its executable, not by the individual window. That’s why one gesture on one window covers every future window from the same application.
- Optionally, a window type. “Only windows like this one” narrows the match to windows of the same kind — Excel’s spreadsheet windows but not its dialogs. Without it, the position applies to all of the application’s windows.
- The region and its monitor. The region is stored as a fraction of the screen, not as grid cells — the same trick presets use. Change the grid from 4 × 7 to 5 × 9 and a position covering the left two-thirds still covers the left two-thirds.
Which position wins
The Applications page is a list, and the first entry that matches a new window wins. A more specific entry — application and window type — outranks a general one for the whole application. Among equally specific entries, the one higher in the list wins.
When MaxTo moves a window
Each window is moved once, when it first appears. Switching virtual desktops doesn’t count as appearing, so windows aren’t re-moved when you flip between desktops.
MaxTo never fights you: a window is moved once, when it opens — after that, it’s yours.
Two cases behave deliberately gently. Minimized windows aren’t popped open by a recall: the remembered position is applied to where the window will restore to, and it stays minimized until you restore it. And windows on a monitor that’s gone aren’t scattered — MaxTo re-identifies monitors robustly (unplugging, docking, and port changes are tolerated), and if the remembered monitor genuinely isn’t there, it places the window on the best confident match rather than guessing wildly.
Why some windows can’t be moved
Windows itself prevents a normal (non-elevated) process from moving windows that run elevated — “as administrator”. This isn’t a MaxTo rule; it’s a Windows security boundary. When the focused window is elevated, the resize overlay says so instead of silently doing nothing, and remembered positions can’t be applied to it either.
Fit to grid is different on purpose
Fit to grid looks like a sibling of recall, but nothing is stored and nothing is replayed: it takes the active window as it is and snaps it to the closest grid cells, judging by the window’s visual edges rather than the invisible resize borders modern windows carry. Use it as a one-shot tidy-up for any window, remembered or not.