PaintShop Pro 2021 seems to have lost the "Restore Down" button

[Shokakusan]

So I've been a user of PaintShop Pro since before it was acquired by Corel (a long time). I've most recently bought PaintShop Pro 2021, hoping to upgrade from PaintShop Pro 2018 (like I upgraded from PainShop Pro X7, previously).

I installed PSP 2021 and immediately was not able to "Restore Down" the main window. As I use third party toolbars, I can't reach any of the right-side scroll bar in the PSP main window. I tried for about 30 mins to find to restore down the main window without success.

Am I missing something? Why would the developers remove the "Restore Down" button from the main window?

End result, I un-installed PSP2021 and went back to PSP 2018 (given that PSP 2018 has a couple of bugs that were never fixed, I was looking forward to upgrading). I might try again some time in the future, but being to "restore down" the main window to share the desktop with other applications is a major requirement for me.

[Ken Berry]

That sounds rather strange if you are referring to the Restore Down switch in the extreme top right of screen, between Minimize and Close. That has never changed and is certainly there in all my versions of PSP including 2021. I can only suggest that you reset by holding down the Ctrl key when pressing the desktop PSP icon to open the program. You'll be asked if you want to reset. Make sure you save any customized workspace before you do this; otherwise it will be lost.

[Andy2011]

I suspect this is a Windows related issue rather than a specific PSP matter.
There is a lot of general discussion about Windows buttons disappearing (worth doing a search) and several causes are mooted. One test is to try another user account on the same device to see if it is machine-wide or user account specific.
Potential causes are Windows colour schemes, graphics drivers and the Desktop Window Manager (see later).
Recently I had a problem with machine performance and found that the Windows Desktop Manager (DWM) was consuming 35% of CPU time. Follwing a bit if research, the fix was a bit of alchemy involving changing colour schemes, themes etc. then rebooting. The desired colours & themes were then reinstated.
The conclusion is that the DWM is a bit sensitive to settings!
Best of luck finding a fix.

[lata]

When I double click the very top or the workspace it resizes, effectively a Restore Down, another double click for Maximise view
Does that work for you

[Forriner]

Double click as lata said above, or maybe this:
On the top left of the PSP window you see "Corel Paintshop Pro" etc. Click on Corel's "C" for the usual Windows drop down Restore/Move/Size/Minimize/Maximize/Close menu.

Maybe this:
Do you use Windows scaling for your monitor? Settings/Ease of Access/Display? That might cause problems.

[Shokakusan]

So I've been a user of PaintShop Pro since before it was acquired by Corel (a long time). I've most recently bought PaintShop Pro 2021, hoping to upgrade from PaintShop Pro 2018 (like I upgraded from PainShop Pro X7, previously).

I installed PSP 2021 and immediately was not able to "Restore Down" the main window. As I use third party toolbars, I can't reach any of the right-side scroll bar in the PSP main window. I tried for about 30 mins to find to restore down the main window without success.

Am I missing something? Why would the developers remove the "Restore Down" button from the main window?

End result, I un-installed PSP2021 and went back to PSP 2018 (given that PSP 2018 has a couple of bugs that were never fixed, I was looking forward to upgrading). I might try again some time in the future, but being able to "restore down" the main window to share the desktop with other applications is a major requirement for me.

So I figured out what was happening. When I install PSP 2021, the Workspace defaults to Photography mode. In this mode, there is no Restore Down button, doubling-clicking on the top does not resize the window, resetting the workspace only resets it to default to Photography mode, and click on the "C" in the upper left Corel PaintShop Pro 2021 title does not offer the menu to Restore, Move, Resize, Maximize, or Minimize. The main window is always maximized.

In the default Photography mode, I had to go to the menu and click on File / Workspace / Complete to choose Complete mode for the Workspace. This returns to a main window layout that more closely resembles PSP 2018 which has and supports the "Restore Down" button. Next, I have to save the workspace so that when I open PSP 2021 the next time, it will remember exactly how I sized my main window (not full-screen).

A word of warning: switching to Photography mode seems to make PSP2021 disappear. I had to use Ctrl-Alt-Delete and then click on Cancel to switch to Photography mode. Since Photography mode is pretty unusable to me, I will avoid that Workspace mode and stick with Complete mode (choosing the Workspace mode is new for me--PSP 2018 didn't have Workspace modes).

[Ken Berry]

I think you will find that a lot of us here only open the Complete mode, and avoid the Photography, Sea-to-Sky and Essentials modes. Indeed, since they were introduced there were a lot of queries as to why they had even been included. In any case, you will not be alone if you focus only on Complete...

[Shokakusan]

If there is any change that I would request, it would be to choose something other than Photography mode as the default workspace mode. That fact that Photography mode is what appeared by default when I installed PSP 2021 (and the fact that from using PSP 2018, I wasn't aware of workspace modes) caused me to think that something was wrong.

BTW, thanks for all of the responses--I appreciate the willingness to offer help. This is what made me give PSP 2021 one more try.

[lata]

Thanks for the update
Unfortunately we are all aware of the Photography saga and indeed have asked/requested that this be changed so the Complete workspace becomes the default.
Maybe Corel are listening and a change for 2022, I’m not holding my breath.

Just do not know why we did not ask you about Photography, I guess once you have used the Complete its no longer a problem and just simply forget.

[ThirdEyePete]

Really glad I found this post - I was about to abandon PSP 2021 and go back to 2020!