Windows move to the wrong monitor after your Mac sleeps

Updated October 2026

You wake your Mac and the windows that lived on your external monitor are piled on the laptop screen. You are not doing anything wrong: this is how macOS reacts when a display disappears for a moment.

Why it happens

Many monitors drop their connection when they go to sleep, especially over DisplayPort, USB-C and docks. For macOS that looks the same as unplugging the cable, so it moves the windows from that display to the screens that are still there. When the monitor wakes up, macOS does not move them back.

What you can try in macOS

Connect the monitor the same way every day, to the same port or dock. A different port can look like a new display.
If the monitor's own menu has a deep sleep or automatic input switching option, turn it off. Brands call it different things.
In System Settings, Desktop & Dock, turn off “Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use”, so your desktops keep their order.
For an app that should always live on one desktop, right-click it in the Dock, choose Options and assign it to that desktop.

These reduce how often it happens, but none of them brings the windows back once macOS has moved them.

How Cue fixes it

Cue remembers where every window sits on every screen as a scene. Arrange your windows once and press ⌥⌘S to save it. From then on:

Press ⌥⌘1 and every window goes back to its screen, at its size, in one go.
Or add a rule: when these displays connect, apply this scene. When the monitor wakes up and comes back, Cue puts everything back by itself.
Cue knows each monitor by its model and serial number, so windows land on the right screen even when macOS numbers the displays differently.

Cue for Mac

One keystroke. Every window in place, across all your displays.

Try free for 7 days Buy Pro for $8

Every feature for 7 days, then $8 once. macOS 14 or later, Apple Silicon and Intel.

Questions

Does Cue stop macOS from moving the windows?

No. macOS still moves them when a display disappears. Cue puts them back as soon as the display returns, by itself with a rule or with one key.

Do I have to set anything up for each app?

No. A scene keeps every window that is open when you save it, and Cue opens apps that are missing when you apply it.

More guides

Your Mac forgets where the windows were when you plug in a monitorPlug in a monitor or a dock and get every window back where it was, with one key or by itself. How to save and restore your window layout on a MacSave where every window sits on every screen and bring the whole desk back with one key.