Most of screen is greyed out – why?

[Matthew Stevens]

Periodically, when I open an existing file to work on, most of the page is greyed out, with only a small box of white:

The box stays in place, and I can move the page around under it. I have discovered that if I move the window to the second screen (4K) and back to the main screen (5K), the page becomes fully useable (the grey area is gone), but the page is displayed at the lower resolution of the 4K screen on the 5K screen.

Mystifyingly, some files open clearly, and I can have one open at 5K with no grey area and another, at the same time, at 4K with a grey area.

The latest version of Publisher (2.5.5) is installed. This has been happening on and off for months.

Details:

• M1 Max Studio, 32 GB RAM, MacOS 12 (not upgrading yet)

• LG Ultrafine 27″ (5120 × 2880) = 5K main monitor

• Apple LED Cinema Display 27″ (2560 × 1440) = 4K second monitor

Any clues?

[thomaso]

It is a known issue since years that may occur when multiple monitors are/were used. You can try to fix it by toggling View/Window options temporarily or move the application window between the monitors.

[Matthew Stevens]

Thank you for confirming that this is a known bug and the workaround that I found.

It would be good if the programmers could resolve this bug.

[Matthew Stevens]

UPDATE: solution found.

Although the known workaround to this bug is to move the window to the other monitor and then back again, this leaves the resolution reduced. I have now stumbled on the trick to avoid it in the first place and ensure no grey matte and high resolution:

1. Close your current document by clicking on the red traffic light, not with ⌘W. Whereas ⌘W closes the document but leaves the grey work space in place, the red traffic light closes both. This seems to be enough to avoid the grey matte.
2. Open your new document now (when your desktop background is visible).