Successive ModelBuilder tool dialogs open outside display area (large monitor)

LetaFranklin

I am fairly certain this falls under the category of bugs, but posting here for feedback before submitting as such.

Successive ModelBuilder tool dialogs open outside display area on large monitor

Date: 13 June 2025
ArcGIS Pro 3.5.1
Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120
Asus VP28U Display (3840 x 2160 pixels) with GeForce GTX 1060 3GB (NVIDIA software up to date)
Scale: 200% (150% is recommended) [The opinion of two twentysomethings I had look at my screen is that 200% is ideal for them, too.]

General Issue:

In certain monitor configurations, when editing a model, the open dialog boxes for some tools open outside of the monitor's pixel area range. The anchor point appears to be miscalculated. The configuration, in my case, is a 3840 x 2160 monitor set to 200% scale.

I first encountered this in the provided model in the ESRI web course "Building Geoprocessing Models Using ArcGIS Pro" in the exercise "Explore an existing model." When I open the 50 Ft. Gas Line Buffer tool, the dialog window loads outside the screen area. The first tool loaded into the model opens at the bottom of the window. Its output dialog opens a bit to the right. Second and subsequent tool and their output dialogs open march further to the right until they are opening outside the monitor screen. I was unable to move these dialogs with alt-spacebar-m.

Screenshot attached.

I also tested this behavior opening ModelBuilder in an empty map and dragging the buffer tool four times into the model. The same behavior was observed. At different monitor scales, windows sometimes opened above and to the left of the monitor active area, occasionally with a small portion on the screen that could not be dragged. The workaround is to open ArcGIS and edit the model at 100% monitor scale using Windows magnifier (Windows Key and "+").

I think there should be a check on ModelBuilder dialog anchor locations and size when they are opened to make sure they will be useable on the user's screen.

I consider this an accessibility issue.

Robert_LeClair

Interesting. Whenever I see strange behaviors like this, I recomment an ArcGIS Pro soft reset. Instructions on how to accomplish this are here - How To: Perform an ArcGIS pro Soft Reset

LetaFranklin

I marked as solved, but I guess I was premature. I followed the instructions in performing a soft reset, but then had "Error: A core license could not be found. Select another licensing option or contact your administrator to update your licenses."

I then followed the instructions here: A core license could not be found

And now have this "Error: The account cannot be used to authorize ArcGIS Pro as it has already been configured to use in offline mode on some other device."

My "organization" account shows my licensing information as "disconnected" now. I have a student/at home license. Going through MyEsri (the account I used to buy the software) and my user account (that I log in to do work and use ArcGIS online), I can only find things to authorize Desktop software. I'm thinking I should undo this last step in "A Core License Could Not Be Found" but wanted to get your advice first.

Robert_LeClair

When it comes to licensing issues, I recommend you reach out to Esri Support Services so they can help you out.

LetaFranklin

Pretty much dead in the water with ArcGIS since failed soft reset. (I was just working on studying for associate exam, and have other things I can do.) At present, where things stand with tech support:

We will continue with the license recovery process and I will notify you once there is an update.
I will further investigate the ModelBuilder dialog issue to confirm if it is possible to register this as a bug, and will share any findings when I follow up regarding your license.

LetaFranklin

Yesterday afternoon my license issues were resolved. The reset did not fix the original problem with the dialogs opening off-screen, but in the future, I will use the work-around of setting my display to 100% scale and using Windows magnifier to read the tiny text. I am wary of the soft reset process. I do not have a concurrent license, but should one do something else to protect one's license when doing a soft reset, I wonder.

Robert_LeClair

The soft reset will not affect one's licenses so you're finding using that workflow if need be.

LetaFranklin

But it did affect the license. After following the soft reset instructions to the letter, I received this error: A core license could not be found. Select another licensing option or contact your administrator to update your licenses.

I then followed the instructions here: A core license could not be found

And then I had the error "The account cannot be used to authorize ArcGIS Pro as it has already been configured to use in offline mode on some other device."

My organization account showed my licensing information as "disconnected."

Technical support fixed it, but the original problem still exists. There are workarounds I found, but it would be a real pain to do any significant editing of models (which I don't need to do at present, but might in the future).

LetaRogers

Re: Dialog windows in ModelBuilder open off-screen in ArcGIS Pro when using a 4K monitor (3840 x 2160) at 200% scaling.

After some testing, I found three work-arounds:

The best one is reducing the monitor resolution to 1920×1080 at 100% scaling, which will restore proper behavior. This is not a long-term solution. It's just a form of compatibility mode that doesn't utilize my monitor's high-fidelity vector graphics, fonts, markers, icons, etc. I’d rather not pretend my monitor is from 2012 just to keep dialogs from disappearing.
Alternatively, I can use this monitor at 100% scaling and use the windows magnifier to read the tiny text
Last, use a different monitor

Tweaking the High DPI Settings in Properties -> Compatibility in Windows did not fix the problem.

I've done some programming, it seems that ArcGIS Pro isn’t dynamically calculating dialog placement based on current screen bounds. As a result, dialogs of tools added appear to be anchored using out-of-bounds x-coordinates outside the visible workspace.

Doing a soft-reset only messed up my license, which had to be restored by tech support.

How to Reproduce (for me, at least):

Use 4k monitor at 200% scaling
Open ArcGIS Pro to blank map
Add a ModelBuilder to the toolbox and edit maximized
Drag 8 buffer tools into the model and auto-layout
Open each one for editing in order added and note where dialog opens
At some point they should be off-screen. Mostly at an out-of-bounds x-value, occasionally at a negative X,Y location that cannot be dragged onto the screen (I found this at 150% monitor scale, IIRC)
Delete the ones that actually opened onscreen and do auto-layout
The remaining ones still open off-screen

Can someone give me a kudo, pretty please? If nothing else for my persistence? Is anyone reading this other than Robert?