GNOME 3 / connecting and disconnecting monitors flattens workspaces

[Daniel Pocock <daniel pocock pro>]

I'm using GNOME 3 on a Debian jessie laptop system

I've observed that when I connect and disconnect an external monitor
(either on VGA or DisplayPort), all the workspaces/virtual desktops are
merged into one and it becomes impossible to move windows to other
workspaces

When I move the mouse over the "Activities" button at the top of the
screen, I can still see the workspace switcher on the right hand side,
it only shows two workspaces, one with all the windows and a second one
that has an empty desktop background.  Trying to drag any window to the
blank workspace has no effect, they all remain on the first workspace

Has anybody else seen this type of problem?  Does anybody know if it is
resolved in newer versions of GNOME?

A related problem that I've observed is a large blank area appearing
under the workspace switcher, there is a screenshot attached to Debian
bug 818903[1]

Regards,

Daniel



1.
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?att=1;bug=818903;filename=post-display-switch.png;msg=5