Set position of window with AppleScript

Question

I'm trying to set the position of the Messages.app chat window using AppleScript.

tell application "System Events"
    set position of window 1 of application "Messages" to {100, 100}
end tell

With this code I get an error:

error "Messages got an error: Can’t set «class posn» of window 1 to {100, 100}." 
number -10006 from «class posn» of window 1

What does that mean?

If I try the same code with Finder it works. But most of the other applications don't work.

The script doesn't work, because there is no `position` property in the AppleScript dictionary of the application "Messages". just replace `of application "Messages"` by `of process "Messages"`. — jackjr300, Oct 10 '12 at 20:08

score 14 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 10 '12 at 06:48

14

tell application "System Events"
    set position of first window of application process "Messages" to {100, 100}
end tell

Enable Access for assistive devices to run this script.

enter image description here

answered Oct 10 '12 at 06:48

Parag Bafna

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Thanks for the screenshot. For any who wonders, the accessibility settings no longer look like that. Instead, you have to specify which applications are allowed access in Security & Privacy > Accessibility > Privacy. – corwin.amber May 02 '17 at 18:08

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 09 '12 at 16:03

9

I found a solution. Setting the bounds of the window works. I have no idea why using the position doesn't work.

tell application "System Events"
    set friendBounds to {4289, 400, 4479, 1600}
    set chatBounds to {3583, 400, 4289, 1599}
    set bounds of window "Buddies" of application "Messages" to friendBounds
    set bounds of window "Messages" of application "Messages" to chatBounds
end tell

answered Oct 09 '12 at 16:03

DrummerB

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You don't need the "**System Events**" application, since the `bounds` is a property of the window in the AppleScript the dictionary of the application "**Messages**". -- "**System Events**" has no `bounds` property. You can remove the `tell application "System Events"` block, the script will also work without it. – jackjr300 Oct 10 '12 at 20:10

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 10 '18 at 22:37

As of writing, the other solutions did not work for me on macOS 10.14 Mojave. I managed to find this solution:

tell application "System Events" to tell process "Safari"
    set position of window 1 to {0, 50}
    set size of window 1 to {600, 650}
end tell

Set position of window with AppleScript

3 Answers3

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