OBS And Tray Apps

OBS And Tray Apps

OBS is the main tray-app case WindowAutoLayout is built around. OBS can stay running in the system tray with Replay Buffer enabled, and WindowAutoLayout should still restore the real OBS window without launching another OBS process.

Recommended OBS Entry

Setting	Recommended Value
Display name	OBS Studio
Process name	obs64.exe
Pull hidden/tray windows	On
Wake running tray apps	On
Restore if minimized	On
Launch if missing	On
Detection timeout	At least 25 seconds
Retry interval	Around 700 ms

Why OBS Needs Special Handling

When OBS is minimized to the tray, Windows may not expose a normal main window. Sometimes only helper windows or dock panels are visible to window enumeration.

WindowAutoLayout handles this by:

1. Detecting that obs64.exe is already running.
2. Looking for the OBS tray icon message window.
3. Sending OBS the same tray activation path used by a manual tray click.
4. Waiting for the real OBS window to appear and repaint.
5. Applying the saved layout.

This avoids two bad outcomes:

• starting a duplicate OBS process
• moving OBS while the window is still blank or white

Good Log Lines

When OBS is hidden in the tray and restore succeeds, Logs may show:

Asked tray icon to restore hidden running window
Applied layout to 1 window(s)
Restore finished with status Success

If OBS was visible already, restore may skip the tray line and go straight to applying the layout.

Avoid Saving Dock Windows

OBS docks can look like separate windows to Windows. Examples:

• Stats
• Stream Chat
• Stream Information
• Audio Mixer as a detached panel

Always save the real OBS main window from Layout. If a dock moves instead of OBS:

1. Open the real OBS main window.
2. Go to Layout.
3. Pick the main OBS window.
4. Save it to the OBS app entry.
5. Restore again.

OBS Already Running Prompt

If OBS shows an already running prompt, something tried to launch OBS while it was already alive.

Check:

• only one OBS entry exists in the active profile
• process name is obs64.exe
• Wake running tray apps is on
• WindowAutoLayout is updated to the latest release

Close the prompt, leave the main OBS process running, then restore again.

OBS White Or Blank Window

If OBS comes back white or blank:

1. Update WindowAutoLayout to the latest release.
2. Confirm Pull hidden/tray windows and Wake running tray apps are on.
3. Hide OBS to tray.
4. Restore from the installed WindowAutoLayout app.
5. Check Logs for the tray restore line.

If a manual tray click fixes OBS, save the OBS main window again from Layout and restore once more.

Other Tray Apps

For Discord, Steam, music apps, and dashboard tools:

• use the real process name
• keep detection timeout generous
• enable hidden/tray pulling when the app lives in the tray
• use title rules only when needed

Some apps show update, login, splash, or helper windows first. Restore waits for matching windows until the timeout.