Most Mac apps restore perfectly. A few fight back: they resize themselves after being moved, snap back toward where they started, or otherwise disagree with the idea of being put somewhere. This page explains exactly what Putback does about each case, and how to tell us about an app that misbehaves so we can look into it and add what we found here.
How restoring works
Putback moves each window through the macOS Accessibility API, then reads its frame back to verify the move actually held. If a window drifts, some apps re-measure or re-snap themselves right after being moved, Putback retries once more, and if it still has not settled, retries a second time with size set before position rather than the usual position-then-size order, which is what stubborn movers most often need. Beyond that, per-app rules let you keep a specific app pinned to one display forever, or tell Putback to ignore an app entirely if it needs to be left alone.
What works out of the box
The large majority of Mac apps need none of this. Standard AppKit apps, browsers, terminals, and code editors all report their window frame accurately and hold still once moved, so the first verify pass succeeds and Putback moves on to the next window. We are not going to publish a grid of app logos with checkmarks next to them: we have not tested every app on the Mac App Store, and a checkmark next to a logo we never verified would be exactly the kind of claim we try hard not to make.
Apps that need the second try
Electron-based apps, built on Chromium and Node rather than native AppKit, sometimes re-measure their own window immediately after a move, which can nudge the frame slightly off target on the first attempt. That is exactly what the size-first second retry exists for. Rather than move a window once and walk away, Putback verifies again after the reorder, and in what we have seen, that second attempt is enough to settle the drift. We are naming Electron as a category because that is the pattern we have actually observed, not a specific list of apps and versions we have verified one by one.
What Putback deliberately leaves alone
Some windows are out of scope on purpose. Putback works within the Space you can see; minimized and full screen windows are not part of layouts, the same line the app shows you in Settings and the Layouts window. Windows on other Mission Control Spaces are left alone entirely: Putback only records and restores what is visible on your current Space per display, and never reaches into a Space you are not looking at. A hidden app (the kind you get with Cmd+H) has no on-screen presence at all, so its windows are excluded the same way a window on another Space is. None of this is a bug we have not gotten to; it is where the line sits today, and full multi-Space memory is on the roadmap.
Report a misbehaving app
If Putback is not restoring an app of yours cleanly, tell us which app, what it did instead, and how it is set up. Confirmed reports get added to this page with what we actually did about them: fixed, worked around, or genuinely not solved yet. This page changes as we hear from you.
Free for 7 days · then $19, once · macOS 14+
A couple more things
Can I tell Putback to leave one specific app alone?
Yes. Every app can get a per-app rule: keep it pinned to one display forever, or tell Putback to ignore it completely so it never records or moves that app's windows. Both live in Settings, under per-app rules, and take effect immediately.
What if an app is not mentioned on this page at all?
Then we have not had a confirmed report about it, good or bad. Most apps fall under "what works out of the box" below without needing their own line. If one of yours does not, the report link is right there for it.