PutBack
Unplug a monitor and macOS piles everything onto one screen. Plug it back and PutBack returns every window to where it was. There is nothing to configure.
This is a Mac app. Open this page on a Mac to download it.
Download for macOSThis early build is not notarized by Apple yet, so macOS will ask you to allow it once. The steps are below.
at a glance
- price
- Free
- runs on
- Apple Silicon, macOS 12 or later
- download
- 2.3 MB DMG, version 0.1.0
- privacy
- No account and no telemetry
Screens and a walkthrough
Review the saved layout and restore preference.
0:20 · silent, with on-screen explanations
read the walkthrough
- Check the display layout. The status lists the connected displays and windows in the current layout.
- Change automatic restore. Turn automatic restoration off when you want to arrange windows yourself.
- Restore the preference. Turn it back on for future display reconnects. This demo shows settings, not a native window restore.
what it does
Nothing to set up
There are no layouts to define or name. PutBack quietly snapshots your window positions every few seconds, keeping one layout per display arrangement.
Plug back in, windows return
When a display arrangement reappears, windows go where they were the last time you used it. It waits for macOS to finish its shuffle first, then puts everything back.
Remembers every setup
The last twelve display arrangements are kept. Your desk, your dock, and the cafe monitor each get their own layout, matched by the displays themselves.
how it works
Snapshots pause for a few seconds around any display change, so the mess macOS makes on unplug never overwrites a good layout. Windows are matched back per app by title, then size, then order. Minimized windows and anything off every screen are left alone. Everything is stored in a small local file.
good to know
Do I have to configure anything?
No. That is the whole point. Install it, grant Accessibility, and it works. Layouts are captured and restored automatically.
Why does it need Accessibility access?
Reading and moving other apps’ windows on macOS requires the Accessibility permission. Without it, PutBack can see nothing and moves nothing.
What about windows on other Spaces?
Visible Spaces are handled. Windows on other Spaces are out of scope for this version, because Apple removed the private API that every tool relied on for it.
Which Macs does it run on?
Apple Silicon Macs (M1 and later) on macOS 12 or newer.
Opening it the first time
This early build is not notarized with Apple yet, so macOS blocks the first launch. Open the app once, then go to System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway. If macOS calls the app damaged instead, run xattr -d com.apple.quarantine on the app in Terminal once. Notarized builds are coming.
Check the download: shasum -a 256 PutBack_0.1.0_aarch64.dmg should print 9240706f77960b87216e7420d6dcf4e2cf92eeb165653f66835dc48c965184b1.