Panels



Dock and undock panels

A dock is a collection of panels or panel groups displayed together in a vertical orientation. A dock is an arrangement of non-floating panels. You dock and undock panels by moving them into and out of a dock.

Docking a panel to the right of the document window. The blue highlight indicates the drop zone on the dock.

Note: Docking is not the same as stacking. A stack is a collection of floating panels or panel groups, joined top to bottom.
  • To dock a panel, drag it by its tab into the dock, at the top, bottom, or in between other panels.

  • To dock a panel group, drag it by its title bar (the solid empty bar above the tabs) into the dock.

  • To remove a panel or panel group, drag it out of the dock by its tab or title bar. You can drag it into another dock or make it free-floating.

Move panels

As you move panels, blue highlighted drop zone areas appear where you can drop the panel. For example, move a panel up or down in a dock by dragging it to the narrow blue drop zone above or below another panel. If you drag to an area that is not a drop zone, the panel floats freely in the workspace.

  • To move a panel, drag it by its tab.

  • To move a panel group or a stack of floating panels, drag the title bar.

Manipulate panel groups

  • To move a panel into a group, drag the panel’s tab to the highlighted drop zone at the top of the group.

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    Adding a panel to a panel group

  • To rearrange panels in a group, drag a panel’s tab to a new location in the group.

  • To remove a panel from a group so that it floats freely, drag the panel by its tab outside the group.

  • To move a group, drag the title bar (the area above the tabs).

Stack floating panels

When you drag a panel out of its dock but not into a drop zone, the panel floats freely. You can position the floating panel anywhere in the workspace. You can stack floating panels or panel groups so that they move as a unit when you drag the topmost title bar.

You can collect floating panels and group them into a stack.

  • To stack floating panels, drag a panel by its tab to the drop zone at the bottom of another panel.

  • To change the stacking order, drag a panel up or down by its tab.

    Note: Be sure to release the tab over the narrow drop zone between panels, rather than the broad drop zone in a title bar.
  • To remove a panel or panel group from the stack, so that it floats by itself, drag it out by its tab or title bar.

Resize panels

  • To minimize or maximize a panel, panel group, or stack of panels, double-click a tab. You can also single-click the tab area (the empty space next to the tabs).

  • To resize a panel, drag any side of the panel.

Manipulate panels collapsed to icons

You can collapse panels to icons to reduce clutter on the workspace. In some cases, panels are collapsed to icons in the default workspace.

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Collapse panels to icons

A.
Panel icons

B.
Panel icons expanded

  • To collapse or expand all panel icons in a dock, click the double arrow at the top of the dock.

  • To expand a single panel icon, click it.

  • To resize panel icons so that you see only the icons (and not the labels), adjust the width of the dock until the text disappears. To display the icon text again, make the dock wider.

  • To collapse an expanded panel back to its icon, click its tab, its icon, or the double arrow in the panel’s title bar.

  • To add a floating panel or panel group to an icon dock, drag it in by its tab or title bar. (Panels are automatically collapsed to icons when added to an icon dock.)

  • To move a panel icon (or panel icon group), drag the icon. You can drag panel icons up and down in the dock, or into other docks (where they appear in the panel style of that dock). You can also drag panel icons outside the dock (where they appear as floating, expanded panels).