Cintiq 16 Display Toggle resets after monitors turned off
I sometimes leave my monitors on when I have to leave my workstation. My monitors enter Automatic Standby after X hours, regardless of system activity, if the user isn't there to cancel the action by pressing a button on the monitor.
When I return to my computer — having managed to be away from the screens at the wrong time — and press the keyboard to wake the machine from sleep, only my Cintiq 16 turns back on, and I then have to turn both monitors on manually.
This results in the Wacom Center > Display Toggle settings having been restored to default, and I now have to change the settings back to how I need them to work (which is not 'default'). This is hugely frustrating.
My setup:
- macOS Monterey (12.6.3)
- 2 x 27" 4K monitors (LG 27UL600-W)
- 1 x Cintiq 16 (DTK-1660)
Display Toggle required/desired settings:
- Cintiq 16
- Full Display Setup (cursor spans both monitors and Cintiq 16)
Display Toggle default settings after monitors turned off then on again:
- Cintiq 16
- Display 1
- Display 2
IDEAL SOLUTION
The ability to define which setup should be considered "default".
I understand that it's good that Wacom Center notices when screens are turned off, so apps/windows don't get stranded on a black screen (pretty sure this is macOS behavior, though, moving all windows to the remaining screen(s)).
What I don't understand is why they can't revert to my preferred settings once those screens show back up again; clearly, Wacom Center knows the screens are back, I can see them right there in Wacom Center when I turn them back on. It shouldn't be too much of a stretch to revert to the desired settings once the requirements (specific screens are on) for those settings are met.
If it is too hard, an alternative would be a setting that, when toggled, restores a specific backup once monitors are back on. I have tested Display Toggle settings in conjunction with restoring backups, and they do indeed get restored to my desired settings when I restore them. I'm pretty sure this is not the best solution, though.
CURRENT WORKAROUND
To restore my preferred settings, I have to either:
- Launch Wacom Center, click Display Toggle, un-check the two individual monitors, and check the Full Display Setup "monitor".
- Launch Wacom Center > Settings > Backup & Restore > Restore my backup.
Both of these options add annoying friction to my workflow; it might not look like a biggie, but I shouldn't need to jump through all these hoops every time i leave my computer for 30 minutes — my pen/tablet setup should just work like I want it to, without me having to restore settings.
Luckily, the Preferences utility can be run from the command line, so my current workaround is having a system shortcut tied to executing this in my terminal:
/Applications/Wacom\ Tablet.localized/Wacom\ Tablet\ Utility.app/Contents/MacOS/Wacom\ Tablet\ Utility --restore /Users/xyz/Library/Application\ Support/Wacom/Backups/wacom_backup.wacomprefs
NOTE! This only works with .wacomprefs backups made in Wacom Tablet Utility, not with .wacomprefs backups made in Wacom Center!
This still means that I have to wait for the Cintiq drivers to reboot before I can use my computer, which, again, is less than ideal. At least it saves me a few clicks ...
TESTS I'VE PERFORMED
I've confirmed that:
- Display Toggle settings revert to default when enter Automatic Standby.
- Display Toggle settings revert to default when I manually switch off the monitors.
- Display Toggle settings do not revert to default when the system is restarted.
- Display Toggle settings do not revert to default when i use the macOS shortcut CTRL + SHIFT + EJECT to Sleep Displays.
- Display Toggle settings do not revert to default when the system enters, and is then awoken from, hibernation/sleep.
CONCLUSION
Please (please!) consider how Wacom Center handles default user settings; make Wacom Center understand settings for a specific setup of screens, and use those settings when those specific screens are available! Or some variant of this. Just please make it so I don't have to re-do my setting each time my monitors are powered off (either by Automatic Standby or manually)!
Bonus: Fixing this might even fix this community request/issue: Cintiq Display Toggle setting is resetting to default
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Hi Jonas Lönborg,
Welcome to the community. I am sorry to read you are also having this issue.
Honestly, this is great! Thanks for sharing your experience in such detail.
I share this with the team so we can have a deeper look.
Thanks again!1 -
Hi Jonas Lönborg,
The team has reproduced and confirmed this is a bug which should be fixed in a future driver release.1 -
Hi João,
Thanks for getting back to me so fast, and I'm super excited that it's not just my system that's being weird! 😅
I'll keep an eye out for future updates, and will be sure to write back if I get a chance to test the fix 👍
Incidentally, there's a typo in the online documentation for the Preferences utility CLI:
If you guys go in there to poke around anyway, I think it would be a good idea to add a note to the documentation, maybe something like this:
NOTE: --restore only works with .wacompref backups created in Wacom Tablet Utility, not backups created with Wacom Center.
This would have saved me a lot of tears when I was trying to create the little Script Editor app I use(d) to restore my Wacom prefs.
— — —
After writing the original post here, I actually ended up with another workaround — I created a script/app that sleeps the displays after X minutes of system idle time, and disabled Automatic Standby on my monitors. This lets my computer stay on, while not causing burn-in on my monitors.
For the curious (might be useful until the bug gets ironed out in Wacom Center):
Checks the system idle time every 5 minutes (300 seconds); if system idle time > 30 minutes, run 'pmset displaysleepnow' in shell (puts displays to sleep).
- macOS only. This works (for me) in 12.6.3, YMMV.
- Applications > Utilities > Script Editor
- New Apple Script:
-- Global flag to control the repeat loop
global shouldKeepRunning
set shouldKeepRunning to true
-- Wait a moment for system to be ready
delay 3
-- Request notification permission and show initial notification
-- Commented out, as it was mainly used for debugging:
-- tell application "System Events"
-- set notifEnabled to (get notification permissions of application process "Script Editor")
-- display notification "Monitor sleep script is running" with title "Script Started" sound name "Glass"
-- end tell
-- Add quit handler
on quit
set shouldKeepRunning to false
continue quit
end quit
repeat while shouldKeepRunning
-- Get idle time in minutes with more robust number handling
set idleTimeString to do shell script "ioreg -c IOHIDSystem | awk '/HIDIdleTime/ {printf \"%f\", $NF/1000000000/60; exit}' | sed 's/,/./'"
-- Convert string to number using evaluation
set idleTimeMinutes to (run script "return " & idleTimeString)
-- Set desired idle time threshold in minutes
set idleThreshold to 30
if idleTimeMinutes ≥ idleThreshold then
do shell script "pmset displaysleepnow"
end if
-- Wait before next check
delay 300
end repeat- File > Export ...
- — Export As: sleep_screens.app (or whatever name you want)
- — Export To: ~/Library/Services/
- — File Format: Application
- — Options:
- — — uncheck 'Show startup screen'
- — — check 'Stay open after run handler'
- — — check 'Run-only'
- — Code sign: 'Sign to Run Locally'
- Save
- (macOS) System Preferences > Users & Groups > Current User > Login Items (tab) > Add (+) 'sleep_screens.app' (runs the app on Startup)
0 - macOS only. This works (for me) in 12.6.3, YMMV.
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Hi Jonas Lonborg,
Thanks a lot for all the details. The typo is fixed and I shared the rest of the info with the driver team.
Cheers
1 -
Thank you 😃👍
0
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