Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Missing Dialog Box in Autodesk Inventor?

Issue:
You try to use a tool in Inventor, but nothing seems to happen, and you can’t click anything else. If you press the ESC key, then everything is okay. But it happens again if you try to use that particular tool.

Solution:
Most likely the dialog box for the tool you are trying to use is coming up off screen. This often happens when a configuration for dual monitors has changed. To resolve this:

  • start the tool that exhibits the problem
  • press ALT + Space-bar on the keyboard 
  • then press the M key (M for move)
This is what happens off screen

  • then Immediately press any of the arrow keys on the keyboard
  • finally, move your mouse around and the dialog box will now be attached to your cursor allowing you to drag it back on screen, just click to drop it in place.

To see this in action you can try it with a dialog that does come up on screen and follow the steps above.