Make Secondary Display (Viewers) a Floating Window?

Is there a way to make Secondary Display (when set on Viewers) a floating window that I can also resize?

As far as I know and tested it, there is no way to do that. You can move and resize the main window.

Seems like a ridiculous oversight and simple thing to fix from FCP. Anyone know any third party work around for this?

If the reason to get the window resized is need for more workspace, then you can simply add a third monitor (physical). That's what I have. A beautiful Apple thunderbolt display, a Dell display and an iMac. You will also need a thunderbolt dock for that solution. I have a OWC-dock (T2) with HDMI support. I use the thunderbolt display for a/v output, the Dell for all media files. If I need to work with other files like text at the same time, I pause the a/v output and place the files instead on the thunderbolt display.

schloerg wrote: If the reason to get the window resized is need for more workspace, then you can simply add a third monitor (physical). That's what I have. A beautiful Apple thunderbolt display, a Dell display and an iMac. You will also need a thunderbolt dock for that solution. I have a OWC-dock (T2) with HDMI support. I use the thunderbolt display for a/v output, the Dell for all media files. If I need to work with other files like text at the same time, I pause the a/v output and place the files instead on the thunderbolt display.

FCPX forces you to compromise how you want to edit. I am not saying FCPX does not work but the lack of customization of the GUI is the Achilles' heel of FCPX. You can hide panels but you cannot rearrange them. The timeline index takes up screen real estate of the timeline. Kind of poor design don't you think? Why not let the users dock things where they want?

When I open fcpx, the steering wheel is on the left side of the car, exactly as it should be. I do not need a GUI where I can attach the steering wheel on the right side, in the back seat or in the trunk or in a car that drives behind my car. Yes, of course, it's great to have the steering wheel in the trunk (it does not take away any visible space), but to move forward is slow and is associated with many roundabouts (crashes). If you want that, then PP is your deal. (The wheel flies in a drone over the car)

schloerg wrote: When I open fcpx, the steering wheel is on the left side of the car, exactly as it should be. I do not need a GUI where I can attach the steering wheel on the right side, in the back seat or in the trunk or in a car that drives behind my car. Yes, of course, it's great to have the steering wheel in the trunk (it does not take away any visible space), but to move forward is slow and is associated with many roundabouts (crashes). If you want that, then PP is your deal. (The wheel flies in a drone over the car)

It is cool to use car analogies but make sure they are valid. Do not equate customization with bat shit crazy scenarios.

Here is a better analogy. FCPX has a vinyl bench seat and standard steering wheel. Premiere allows you to use a tilt steering wheel and reclining seats making the ride more enjoyable. Trust me, the fixed GUI layout is the Achilles's Heel of FCPX. Why have the timeline index take away screen real estate form the timeline? I also don't like the transition pallet taking away from the timeline's screen real estate. As I stated you can hide panels in FCPX but you cannot rearrange them.

There are very few posts complaining about it. I've never had a need for it. I actually don't like the floating windows in PPro, personally. This is a very subjective issue.

But yes, it could have some advantages, so fill out the feedback page.

With the advent of widescreen monitors, it's a big oversight that FCPX doesn't make it possible to separate UI elements (at least, the viewers) into unattached floating windows, because the current design makes it impossible to show a full-height viewer on the side of the widescreen outside of the main UI.  Apple should implement a solution -- allow unattached viewer windows, or make it possible to adjust the in-window viewers to be full-height so that the timeline doesn't always need to span the full screen -- but for those with widescreen monitors with two inputs like the Samsung Odyssey G9, here's a solution that works right now:

If you use two separate cables and USB-C ports to plug your Mac into the two monitor DisplayPorts, the Mac will/can treat the monitor as though it's two separate monitors, even though it's one. Since the Odyssey G9 allows picture-in-picture from two sources, and allows placing two sources side-by-side on the wide screen, you can select "Window/Show in Secondary Display/Viewers" and set the monitor to show the second "display" to the right of the first "display." Hopefully, in the future, Apple will also change this feature to a more sane "Window/Show in Second Window/Viewers," but this is a surprisingly good workaround for those with two-source widescreen monitors, for now.
-Hank

User feedback to make a feature request.

Hankle,

I am sure if FCPX did allow for full customization of the GUI you would see everyone in the these forums altering the default layout of FCPX to some extent.