HDMI projector connected to MacBook Pro stops displaying when file selection box is open.

Question

Level 1

4 points

HDMI projector connected to MacBook Pro stops displaying when file selection box is open.

I am a professor, and I often display my screen using the lab projector. I have a MacBook Pro M1 with 32 GB RAM running Sonoma 14.7.5, and I will mirror my built-in display with the default settings.

Starting a few months ago, I discovered that anytime I go to open a file in an application and the file selection box is open, the projector cuts out. The moment I close the selection box, the projector starts working again. This behavior has been consistent across multiple applications and projectors. So, I am pretty sure this is something related to the operating system itself.

I am not really looking for a solution; it is a minor inconvenience that I have learned to live with, but I am curious if anyone else has run into this issue.

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 14.7

Posted on May 23, 2025 09:32 AM

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Answer 1

May 23, 2025 11:41 AM in response to krepta00

There has been a recent thread where the affected users also were on Sonoma, and had this problem when mirroring the screen (to a projector or monitor) and using the Open or Save dialogs. This seems the same problem.

Apparently this is a bug only present in Sonoma (macOS 14): according to posts on this other thread, it does NOT happen in Ventura (macOS 13), nor does it happen in Sequoia (macOS 15).

so a quick solution, if your mac supports it, and you don't have any software impediment (like some old program that may not run on it), is to upgrade to Sequoia.

I will see if I can find that other thread. If I do, I will post a link here.

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Answer 2

Ramburt

Level 1

12 points

May 26, 2025 03:05 AM in response to krepta00

I’ve run into this exact issue on my MacBook Pro too—every time a file dialog pops up, the projector goes blank until I close it. Seems like a Sonoma quirk, and I haven’t found a fix either, just learned to work around it.

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Answer 3

May 23, 2025 11:43 AM in response to krepta00

Here is the link to the thread I had in mind:

macOS Sonoma "Open File" menu results a "… - Apple Community

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