Troubleshooting

Nothing happens when I Shift-drag

Work down this list:

1. Is Krova running? Its icon is in the tray or menu bar (see below if you cannot see it).
2. Is Enabled ticked in the tray menu?
3. Are you dragging a normal window by its title bar, and holding the key from Settings, Activation modifier? It is Shift unless you changed it.
4. Is the window one Krova skips: a minimized or fullscreen window, or (on Windows) an app running as administrator? See below.
5. Are you using Krova’s edge snapping expecting zones, or the other way round? Edge snapping needs no key and only works at the screen edges; zones need the key and show anywhere.
6. On macOS: has Krova been given Accessibility access? See below.

A keyboard shortcut does nothing

The shortcuts (Ctrl+Alt+Shift and Left, Right, Up or 1 to 9 by default) exist on Windows only; macOS has none yet. On Windows, work down this list:

1. Is Enabled ticked in the tray menu? When it is off, the shortcuts are released.
2. Open Settings and look at Keyboard shortcuts: is Use keyboard shortcuts on?
3. Does the same card list shortcuts that “could not be registered”? Then Windows or another app already owns that combination. Some combinations are kept by Windows: on the PC we tested it refused every Win+Alt and eleven of twelve Win+Ctrl combinations. Choose other Modifier keys (the list updates at once), or close the app that holds the keys. Some tools also use Ctrl+Alt+Left and Right for back and forward.
4. Is the focused window one the shortcuts skip? They do nothing for the desktop, the taskbar, minimized windows, windows of programs running as administrator, and Krova’s own windows.
5. Is the zone there? 1 to 9 count zones top to bottom, then left to right, on the monitor the window is on; a number past the last zone does nothing, and Up does nothing with a single monitor.

See Keyboard shortcuts for the full map.

I cannot find the tray icon or the window

Krova starts with no window, so its icon is the only sign it is running. On Windows, new icons are often hidden behind the ^ arrow at the right end of the taskbar: click it, and drag the Krova icon out to keep it visible. On macOS, look in the menu bar. If it is not there at all, start Krova from the Start menu or Applications; a second launch opens the first one’s editor window instead of starting another copy.

Closing Krova’s window closes it for good, together with the embedded browser, and Krova keeps running in the tray. That is expected: it keeps a tray-only Krova small. To get the window back, choose Edit layouts… or Settings… in the tray menu, or start Krova again. Unsaved layout edits are lost when the window closes. To stop Krova, choose Quit Krova in the tray menu.

One window is never snapped

• Apps running as administrator (Windows). Windows does not let a normal program move the windows of an elevated one, so Krova skips them. Running Krova itself as administrator is not supported.
• Fullscreen and borderless fullscreen windows are skipped.
• Minimized windows are skipped.
• You pressed on a resize edge, or the window never moved: that is not a drag, so nothing happens.

The window is not exactly the zone size

Some apps enforce their own minimum or maximum size. Krova respects it, so the window may come out larger or smaller than the zone, or sit inside it. This is the app refusing, not a zone that is wrong.

Krova’s window looks blurry

Krova now declares per-monitor DPI awareness, which is meant to keep its own window (the editor and settings) sharp on displays scaled above 100%. We have not verified that on a mixed-scale setup, for example a 100% monitor next to a 150% one. If the window still looks blurry, or zones land in the wrong place on a scaled monitor, it is worth reporting, with your scaling settings. It is not a setting you got wrong.

Windows says “Windows protected your PC”

The installer is not code-signed, so SmartScreen does not recognise it. Select More info, then Run anyway. See the install guide, and how to check the file first if you want to.

macOS: Accessibility or Gatekeeper

• Snapping does nothing. Krova needs Accessibility access: System Settings, Privacy & Security, Accessibility, then turn on Krova. If it is already on, switch it off and on again. Krova shows a banner until access is granted. Until it is, Krova cannot watch the mouse at all; after you grant it, you may need to quit and start Krova again.
• It may also ask for Input Monitoring. Allow it under Privacy & Security if it does.
• “Krova cannot be opened.” The app is unsigned and not notarised. Right-click it in Applications and choose Open, or use Open Anyway in Privacy & Security.
• The macOS build has never been tested on a real Mac. Anything else going wrong is worth reporting.

Layouts did not come back after reconnecting a monitor

Krova matches monitors by hardware identity, then device path, then last size and position. Monitors that report little identity, or two identical models, can be confused. See Multiple displays. Open the editor, check each monitor’s tab, and set the active layout.

Windows did not return to their zones

This is a Windows-only feature (Restore windows on reconnect, Settings, Windows). It is early: it has been tested with a simulated monitor change, not yet with a real unplug and replug. Things to check:

• The setting is on, and Enabled is ticked in the tray menu.
• The window was snapped by Krova (by dragging into a zone, or by a shortcut) since Krova last started. Krova remembers nothing after you quit it, and it forgets a window as soon as you drag, move or maximize it yourself.
• The monitor it was on is the one that came back, and Krova recognised it as the same monitor (see the section above). Give it a couple of seconds after the display settles: Krova waits about 1.5 seconds for the change to stop before it moves anything.
• Windows 11 has its own setting that restores window positions when you re-dock. Krova leaves a window that is already in its zone, so you may simply see Windows’ own restore.
• An app with a minimum size may sit larger than its zone; that is the app refusing, not a miss.

Linked dividers do nothing

Linked dividers (Linked dividers, Settings, Windows) are early and Windows only. After you snap windows side by side, drag the edge of one of them and let go of the mouse: the snapped windows that share that edge follow. They move when you release, not while you drag. The part that moves the neighbours has been tested with synthetic events; we have not yet confirmed that Windows reports a real mouse drag to Krova, so it may not work on your PC at all, and we would like to hear either way. It only acts on windows Krova snapped on the same monitor and layout that are still in their zones. If you do not want the behaviour, switch the setting off.

Reset Krova to defaults

1. Choose Quit Krova from the tray menu.
2. Delete config.json in %APPDATA%\dev.krova.desktop (Windows) or ~/Library/Application Support/dev.krova.desktop (macOS).
3. Start Krova. It creates a fresh file with default settings and the four template layouts per monitor.

You do not always have to do this. If Krova finds a config.json it cannot read, it renames it to config.json.bak and starts with defaults. If the file was written by a newer Krova, this version leaves it alone and runs on defaults without saving, and does not tell you that your changes are not being kept.

Report a problem

Open an issue on GitHub. Search the existing ones first. There is no e-mail address for support.

A report is easiest to act on when it says:

• The Krova version (the footer of Krova’s window reads “Krova v0.1.0”) and where you got it.
• Your operating system and its exact version, Windows 10 or 11 or the macOS version.
• Your monitors: how many, their resolutions, and their scaling (for example 150%).
• Which app's window you were dragging, and whether it runs as administrator.
• What you did, what you expected, and what happened, in order.
• Your activation key, whether edge snapping is on, and for a shortcut problem the modifier keys you chose and any shortcuts Settings lists as not registered.
• For a crash or a missing tray icon: whether you installed with the installer, and whether Krova was running before.