Hidden Dialog Box
Has a fix been created for this problem? When I choose the BROWSE button to upload a file, the subsequent dialog box (Displaying the file list) is completely hidden behind the original box. The only workaround I have found is to restore the original box down so small that you can grab the FileList dialog box and make your selection. Thoughts? Thanks!
April 22nd, 2010 9:56pm

Which program are you using? If it is a third party program, you may not be able to get more assistance in this forum. In this case please contact the publisher of the application for more information.Arthur Xie - MSFT
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April 26th, 2010 10:58am

I have similar problems with Windows 7 Pro: - sometimes, when trying to print a web page (IE 9.0.1), a print dialog box will be created but I will not see it, and IE appears to be frozen. The box was hidden behind the active IE window. - frequently, when trying to save a printable page using Adobe 9, the Save dialog box will be hidden behind the active Adobe or IE window. I sometimes discover the hidden box by chance ... And sometimes when I try to shut down IE, and it says it is waiting for a response. How can I force pop up dialog boxes to pop up ON TOP of the formerly active window??? JimC
August 1st, 2011 10:21pm

Me too! Sometimes I can't get to the box except by killing the app! Then it's no use anyway.
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August 5th, 2011 1:31am

After having stuck with XP Pro long enough, I'm gradually buying and provisioning Windows 7-based machines, and I have seen this undesirable "hidden pop-under dialog box" issue on every Win7 box I've worked with. It is NOT the way Windows XP (or 2000, ME, 98, 95, 3.1, etc.) behaved, as I've seen some people claim. There are other threads dating back about TWO YEARS about this bug and yet, why no fix???? Here's one: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproui/thread/7f4543cf-874d-4a39-bea5-34a824e4c0ce/ While an advanced user can eventually figure out that there's a hidden window somewhere, awaiting input, it's confusing to normal users, and actually quite annoying even to the advanced user. Is this truly a "bug by design," Microsoft?
September 7th, 2011 5:13pm

Have had the same problem with Windows 7 since the beginning. It is sporadic, seems to be more observed by an app that is in the background that pops up a modal dialog, but when alt-tab to the app, the app's main window is shown but the modal dialog is hidden behind the app's main window, with the app's main inactive (because modal dial has focus), with no way to switch to it. Sometimes if I think _way_ ahead, I'll move the main window such that the center of the screen is visible, giving enough space to be able to see and click on the modal dialog window to bring it to the foreground and continue, but I rarely think that far ahead (its normally with apps I use all the time and which I run in the background all the time). Since no fix/workaround is apparent, anyone know of an app that lists ALL windows and allows the user to select one to bring to the foreground? If not maybe I'll bite the bullet and write one (God knows I've wasted enough time with this problem and hunting down a patch/solution/workaround/et.al. to have already written one for sure...) Stephen
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September 14th, 2011 3:30pm

I'm seeing it quite often with windows 7, including third party or applications I'm debugging in Visual Studio. On the taskbar, if there's a stack of modal windows, I can click on one and it'll often bring that window to the front rather than the top modal window. That shouldn't happen. It's a real pain where the application's being run maximized in kiosk mode with no keyboard/mouse.
November 1st, 2011 6:47pm

I've seen this for months now and while I don't have an absolute definitive answer, here is what I've found. Here are the links to the Microsoft Blogs that explain the isse: http://blogs.technet.com/b/the_microsoft_excel_support_team_blog/archive/2012/04/26/hidden-dialogs-cause-excel-2010-to-appear-to-hang.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dhruvkh/archive/2012/05/14/outlook-ribbon-woes-on-performing-send-as-e-mail-via-other-office-2010-apps.aspx Link Summary...one of your Outlook Addins uses Ribbon Designer to modify the ribbon. Microsoft is now recommending using Ribbon XML instead. I have found that using the Save and Send feature in Excel seems to trigger the problem on the second use of it. We have also found that if you hit ESC, you can at least get control of your workbook back. I've resorted to, at the moment, creating a shortcut that starts Outlook in Safe Mode. This seems to solve the problem most of the time. If you are interested, here is the path you can use to create the shortcut: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\OUTLOOK.EXE" /safe Another thing that has worked for one of my users is to NOT maximize the Excel windows and to Cascade them. This seems to allow for access to the dialog boxes. So far, it has only worked for one of my users and the others promise they will try it. One other thing that has helped others who have a similar issue is to change a registry setting that helps with window focus: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\ForegroundLockTimeOut change this to 0 and log off/log in to activate it.
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January 24th, 2013 11:59am

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