Display Preferences - Arrangement Tab Question

Greetings,
In Display Preferences, under arrangement I notice you can drag the dock and menubar to be located on the external display. This is a great feature. However, is there a keyboard shortcut or some type of workaround to make this process more simple.
I have a MacBook Pro with a 23" Cinema Display HD and would like to avoid needing to open System Preferences everytime I am in the mood to work with the bigger display.
Normally this would not be an issues, but apps like Photoshop CS2 and Aperture have many items in the menubar that I would like to work with on the main display.
Thanks in advance!
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.5)
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.6) Chicago, IL

After making the change, open the folder /Library/Preferences/ on your hard disk and look for files modified at the time you made the change. Once you've found this file, open it in a text editor and copy its contents to a new window. Change the setting, open the file again, and look for differences in the contents; if you find which item is being modified, post back with the key and its value in both states. Once this has been found out, it is probably possible to create a double-clickable application which can change this setting.
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The boxes representing my screen displays in arrangement tab are missing

Hey guys, the blue boxes that represent the two displays that i have are missing in the arrangement tab. my computer will not let me move my cusor between the monitors, but i still see my desktop backround. and if I turn on mirroring it works fine. anyone know how to fix this? thanks

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Display Preferences refuse to stay set.

Brand new 2010 8Core 2.4Ghz MacPro. ATI 5870 video card. Running 3 displays - 2-24" Dell UltraSharps and a 30" Apple Cinema Display.
Using 2 Dual Link DVI to Mini Display Adapters in order to drive all 3 displays.
Card ports =
MiniDisplay #1 - Apple 30"
MiniDisplay #2 - 24" Dell
DVI Port - 24" Dell
The Dells have a max resolution of 1920x1200. I have them rotated to portrait (90°) via Display Preferences.
I HAD to set the Apple 30" in Mini Display port #1 so it would be seen as the primary monitor at all times. Simply dragging the menu bar in Displays > Arrange works for a while.. but read on....
System runs and operates fine overall. I set the Display Preferences, arrange the three monitors (24 - 30 -24) and set the rotation for the Dells. All works and is great while I'm sitting there.
I leave the system for 15 minutes or more and come back to it sleeping. When I hit the spacebar to wake, the Dell displays reset to either 1200x1600 resolution (stretching the picture), lose the 90° rotation, or both. If the Apple 30" isn't plugged into MiniDisplay Port #1, then whatever monitor IS plugged into that port becomes the primary. If I reset things, via Display Preferences, it's all great again until the system sleeps for more the 15 minutes again.
I've tried everything I can think of - zapping PRAM - reinstall the OS - trashing com.apple.windowserver.plist - locking com.apple.windowserver.plist (well setting permissions to read only, you can't lock that file).
Nothing I do will allow the monitors to retain their settings. Am I missing some trick somewhere?
Long time Mac User, previous MacPro with two nVidia cards didn't have this issue.
In addition.. not display related, but I'm finding disk access on the new MacPro horribly slow. Initial disk access takes 3-5 seconds every time. This is exceptionally abnormal for me. I'm not certain if it's an issue with the machine or the OS. This new system purchased last month is my first real exposure to OS10.6.4 on a regular basis. I did completely erase and install the OS when the system arrived as I always do.
Any ideas?

Wasn't due to a bad machine.
I have had 2 machine swaps since my October purchase of a 2010 MacPro. First system had a hard freeze at ~80% load and Apple requested a swap. Second system shorted out after 44 days of use. Short was not in the power supply ro logic board, it was deeper. I requested a new machine at that point.
So I'm on my 3rd new MacPro since October.... display issues have been the same on all three systems. It's obviously a firmware/video driver issue.
Let's hope this third system actually lasts longer than 45 days. So far, I'm swapping machines due to bad hardware every month and a half.

Arrangement Tab No Longer Visible in Display Preferences

I have a mini display to HDMI adapter that I have been using for the past three or four months to connect my MacBook Pro to my 32" Samsung LCD TV, and up until recently it had been working fine, but suddenly there have been issues. One day I was attempting to set my laptop to display the same image on the TV that is on my laptop display. To do this I assumed that I would simply have to go to the arrangement tab and select "mirror displays". This, however, did not work. Instead no image appears on the TV and I can no longer select the arrangement tab in my preferences. When I connect my computer to the TV the screen flashes blue for a second, as it always did when I attached it to a TV, but nothing shows on the television, except for a message saying "Mode Not Supported". I have tried everything I can think of to troubleshoot this problem. I have tried multiple HDMI cords, mini display to HDMI adaptors, different TVs, and different MacBooks, and nothing has worked. The same thing has happened with every combination, with no solution. If anyone knows how to fix this I would be very grateful. I assume I need to find some way to reset the display settings, but I cannot figure out how to do that.

I have the same problem. Ive been working with my iMac for quite some time now with my Panasonic TV attached to it (via thunderbolt to HDMI). Suddenly when i came home from work the mac screen wouldnt go on anymore. Also the only device listed in my screens is the Panasonic TV, also there is no arrangement tabs.
Things i've tried:
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In systems preferences display there is no arrangement tab, in systems preferences display there is no arrangement tab

in systems preferences display there is no arrangement tab
i had it in OSX 10.8 but not in mavricks

The Mac uses a heavily parameterized Driver for the graphics cards, rather than drivers for each attached display. For this reason, displays MUST respond to requests for their identity and capabilities, so that the parameters can be set properly to get a picture.
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About this Mac > ( More Info ) > Graphics & Displays
to check for the name of the display. "No Display Connected" is exactly the problem you need to solve. Sometimes the ( Detect Displays ) button will help, but sometimes the Display itself needs its settings changed so that it knows the HDMI port is actively connected to a computer.
[√] Mirror displays is RARELY helpful, because it requires both the built-in and the TV to use the same resolution. This does not work very often -- one or the other may go dark. Uncheck this until you get it going.

HT5019 No arrangement tab in my Display Preferences! Help!

I have a rocketfish Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter hooked up to an Apple DVI to video adapter, hooked up to an S-cable & Video Cable to the TV. When I hook everything up, the macbook screen momentarily turns blue but then the desktop comes back on. I tried the Detect Displays button under Display Preferences but nothing happened.
Everyone has been saying to "click the arrangement tab and then mirroring option under display preferences"... but that option isn't available!
Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks for your reply!!
I have a MBP 13" early 2011: this is what my manual says:
DVI output using Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter (optional)
VGA output using Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter (optional)
Dual-link DVI output using Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter supports 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display (optional)
HDMI audio and video output using a third-party Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter
And yes, an s-video cable. (Is that bad?) I managed to hook up my dad's laptop with the S-video cable and it worked fine. (His laptop has an s-video output port). But with these cords something doesn't want to work. The person at Future Shop told me it should work.. :/
My TV has no HDMI port. This is similar to what my TV looks like in the back:
The following two images are basically what I'm using to connect to the macbook.

"The Arrangement tab of Displays preferences is hidden..."

When connecting my Thunderbolt Display to my MacBookPro
Model Identifier:          MacBookPro6,1
Boot ROM Version:          MBP61.0057.B0C
SMC Version (system):          1.57f17
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Thank You!!

Thanks JP@U1
I wasn't paying attention to the small little icon beside the port...but now that I compare it to a newer MacBook Pro...you are completely correct..it doesn't have a Thunderbolt port.
That's such a bunch of crap too...they should explain that in their description of the Thunderbolt instead of how wonderful and compatible it is with all of your devices.
Guess my husband can use it and I can't.....RIP OFF!!!!!

Missing "Arrangement" tab in Display preferences

Hi all, I hope this topic hasn't been discussed before, but I did search fo it and didn't find anything. I'm trying to display my "presenter display" content on my MBP (15") screen when using Keynote, and I take it the way to do that is to have the display set to "dual display" mode using the arrangement tab in display preferences. Problem is, I DON'T have any arrangements tab in my disp. preferenecs, I have just two tabs, Display, and Color.. I have the ATI Radion X1600 chip with 128MB VRAM if that's any use. thanks in advance....

Hi,
You need to have the external display connected for the "Arrangements" tab to appear. You then, simply, drag the red strip to the left, right or top if you are in extended mode to arrange the displays.
RD

I connected my laptop to the tv and it has worked before. this time only the laptop flashes the blue screen and the tv is saying no signal. when i tried to check the dispaly arrangement it says this:The Arrangement tab of Displays preferences is hidden

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My Arrangement tab is "NOW" missing from my display pref.

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Curt, thank you for your response. I did try that. I unchecked then
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HT5019 I connect my macbook pro to an Epson wireless projector. The macbook can see the projector wirelessly and the image on the macbook is displayed on the projector. However on system ref., the arrangement tab does not show and thus cannot have multipl

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Hi Toksyb!
You may want to try clearing out the PRAM on your computer. This process is explained through this article:
About NVRAM and PRAM
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities!
Cheers,
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Hello,
I have a mini-DVI to HDMI adapter, an HDMI cable and an HDTV. I'm trying to hook up my Macbook to the HDTV, but I'm having trouble because the "Arrangment" tab is missing in the Display settings.
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http://www.apple.com/support/contact/
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Updating to iOS 5+ : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4972

Display Preferences - Arrangement Tab Question

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