Data Viewer pop-out initially only displays a subset of columns (refresh or wait required)

[davidjanmassgov]

When using Positron, if I pop out the Data Viewer (to move it to another monitor, for example), the viewer initially only shows a limited subset of columns — around 5 or so.

After about 5-10 seconds, the remaining columns slowly populate. Alternatively, minimizing and then restoring (maximizing) the popped-out data viewer will trigger a refresh and display all columns immediately. I've been doing this to force the refresh, but it's not particularly convenient.

I’m working with a DataFrame that has about 95 columns, and this behavior occurs consistently every time I pop out the Data Viewer.
It seems like the data grid doesn’t render all columns right away after being detached into a separate window.

Steps to Reproduce:

• Open a large DataFrame (e.g., ~95 columns) in the Positron Data Viewer.
• Pop out the Data Viewer into a separate window.
• Observe that only a subset of columns is visible initially.
• Wait ~5-10 seconds or minimize/restore the window — the remaining columns then appear.

Expected Behavior:
All columns should render immediately after the Data Viewer is popped out.

Actual Behavior:
Only a subset of columns (around 5) appears initially; full rendering requires a delay or manual refresh.

[juliasilge]

I'm not able to reproduce this so far, if I try out with code like this:

library(tidyverse)

example_df <- tibble(!!!setNames(
  map(1:100, ~ 1:100),
  paste0("col_", 1:100)
))

This is what I see:

pop-out-data-explorer.mov

Can you say more about the characteristics of the data you have? Do you see the same problem with this example data?

[davidjanmassgov]

I'm actually having trouble replicating it currently also. I recently updated my Positron to September and perhaps didn't restart it. I did replicate it once, but not consistently (which was the status quo before the update). I'll keep a outlook if this happens again. Thanks!

[davidjanmassgov]

@juliasilge - Hi Julia, I was able to consistently reproduce my issue. I think the difference is that after I pop-out, I fully maximize the data viewer on another screen.

Then there is usually a black area that prevents my data viewer from being entirely shown until it finally refreshes. Something like clicking on the data viewer, or minimizing and maximizing gets it to fully refresh faster.

Media3.mp4

[juliasilge]

I am still not able to reproduce the problem, even on Windows with maximizing the popped out window.

I am noticing that it looks like you are not on the latest release (no "Convert to Code" button). We've done a lot of work lately on the Data Explorer that may have addressed this problem. Can you update to the latest version of Positron and see if you still see the problem?

https://positron.posit.co/download

If you still see the problem, can you share the exact version of your setup, copied from "Help" ➡️ "About"?

[davidjanmassgov]

I seem to be on the September update, not on the October one. So I'll give that a shot, thanks.