Hi
This is the weirdest problem. I'm sure I must be overlooking something so simple. But I can't figure it out.

1st I should say that I recently downloaded and installed the new version 0.46. I didn't like it though, and have uninstalled it, and replaced my previous v0.44 But I can't seem to get the Transformations dialog to display. And I know I've used it successfully several times in the past. All I had to do was click Transformations in the Objects menu, and there opened the dialog.

Anyway, I 1st tried uninstalling and reinstalling 0.44, because I had initially installed it without all the non-English languages (I only speak Englislh, and it saves several MBs). I didn't really think the missing translations could cause this problem, but I tried it anyway. But still, the Transformations dialog wouldn't be displayed. Then I decided to replace 0.44 with 0.44.1, because I honestly don't know if I was using 44 or 44.1 before. But still, no Transformations dialog. And I even tried uninstalling and reinstalling v 0.44.1. And I've tried restarting my machine.

What in the world could be the problem?! I know there is an option to hide/display dialogs, and I've made sure that dialogs are displayed. Indeed, the Fill and Stroke, and Gradient dialogs display as usual. I've tried the 4 Object menu items -- Flip Horizontal and Vertical, and Rotate by 90 degrees. And they work normally. The only other clue is the Align and Distribute dialog won't open either. I guess I haven't tried opening every single dialog, but I could try, if it would be of any help.

The only thing I can think might be happening, is that these dialogs are opening somewhere off the screen. This did happen before once, with the entire Inkscape window -- if I tried to Max it, instead, it disappeared. Yet it still showed on the taskbar. But the trick for fixing that problem, was to right-click the taskbar > Move, and the mouse jumped to the area where the window was hidden off the screen. Then I could just move it back into view. But I don't know how I might bring these dialogs back on screen, because don't show on the taskbar.

Does anyone have any ideas about any of these situations? Why won't the dialogs open? If they're hidden off-screen, how would I get them back? Any other thoughts or suggestions?

And as always,thanks for everyone's kind help and support (and especially for your patience!)

Try out the steps given in this tutorial. Near the bottom there is a section labeled "Window off-screen recovery". In particular, you'll probably need to uncheck the setting to save window positions and then reload Inkscape.

The position of the transformation dialog is stored in preferences.xml, in a 'group' element labelled id="transformation". Setting x and y in this element to something reasonable (e.g., x="10" y="10") should fix it. (Of course, you should make this change while Inkscape isn't running, and make a back-up of preferences.xml first.)

Thank you kelan and sas.
Sas, I believe I have located the info you describe. Is this it?

<group id="transformation" applyseparately="0" x="20" y="32767" w="343" h="196" panel_size="1" panel_ratio="100" panel_mode="1" panel_wrap="0" state="2" />

And the

x="20" y="32767"

is what I need to change?
Out of curiosity, what units do these numbers refer to? I'm guessing that the y=32767 is the culprit. Especially if these are pixels, because 32767 would place it like 5 screens away (at my resolution)!

Kelan, I understand your instructions to prevent this happening. So I will definitely make that change, after I fix the y=32767. But I have to be curious how this might have happened in the 1st place? I use a touchpad mouse, which are notorious for static discharge. Sometimes my cursor jumps around wildly, and indeed, it occassionally freezes up entirely, because of static electricity. So it seems possible the mouse could have grabbed the transformations dialog and zoomed it away, lol. And/or is there some other possible explanation?

Because my Align and Distribute dialog is also not displaying. Let's see if I can find that code...oh, ok, it's right below the transformations.

<group id="align" x="20" y="2136" w="241" h="446" panel_size="1" panel_ratio="100" panel_mode="1" panel_wrap="0" state="2" />

Yes, and I see it also has a y value larger than my screen (600 px) (still assuming these values are pixels).

Sas, if I have identified the proper info, what should I do next? I'm guessing something like this: Copy the page and paste into Notepad (the only text editor I have, at the moment). Change the two y values. Save the page with the same name. Click Yes to replace the contents, when that dialog comes up. And this is after I back up the page 1st, correct?

brynn wrote:Sas, if I have identified the proper info, what should I do next? I'm guessing something like this: Copy the page and paste into Notepad (the only text editor I have, at the moment). Change the two y values. Save the page with the same name. Click Yes to replace the contents, when that dialog comes up.

Well, I think it's easier and safer to open it directly in Notepad. (I'm not sure what you're currently viewing it with.) When opening, select the "All Files" option, otherwise the file won't be listed in the open dialog. And set the encoding to UTF-8 (although I doubt it matters). Change the two y values to something reasonable (they are in pixels), and save.

Actually, Notepad messes up the formatting, which doesn't matter, but perhaps makes it awkward to edit. So it may be easier to use WordPad instead. (WordPad is a text editor as well as a word processor.)

And this is after I back up the page 1st, correct?

Yes, it's best to back it up first, just in case something goes wrong.

Ok then, looks like this problem is solved!
I have the 2 missing dialogs back, and they appear to be working normally.
Thank you for your help sas and kelan