Docking Palettes

Most palettes, including tear-off tool palettes, can be docked to any of the four drawing window edges on both Windows and Mac systems. Once configured, palette positions can be saved; see Saving Palette Positions and Settings.

Windows

The ability to dock palettes is enabled by default in the Session tab of the Vectorworks Preferences dialog box. Deselect this option to disable docking. See Setting Vectorworks Preferences for more information.

To dock a palette to a window edge or a docked palette:

  1. As soon as you start to drag the title bar of the desired palette, a docking guide displays, with arrows and palette outlines to indicate potential docking positions.

    2. DockGuideWin.png 

    When a palette is dragged over an already docked palette instead of the drawing area, a new docking guide displays to provide additional docking locations.

  2. Drag the palette to the docking guide and hover over the arrow that points toward the side to dock to. A blue shape previews the position and size of the docked palette.

  3. When the blue shape indicates the desired docking position, release the palette. Currently docked palettes adjust their location to accommodate the new palette.

To prevent a palette from docking, hold down the Ctrl key while dragging the palette near the docking guide; the docking guides do not appear.

To undock a palette by dragging it:

Drag the title bar of the palette to the desired location.

To dock or undock a palette by double-clicking:

  1. Double-click a palette’s title bar.

    2. If the palette was undocked, double-clicking docks it in its previous location. If the palette was docked, double-clicking undocks it and moves it to its previous location in the drawing area.

  2. To toggle the docked/undocked status, double-click the palette’s title bar again.

Mac

All docked palettes are positioned in relation to the application window, and they move to new locations when the application window is moved; undocked palettes remain in position if the application window is moved. Palettes can also be placed in margins on either side of the document window.

The functionality to dock palettes and document windows (see Managing Multiple Documents) to the application window is enabled by default; to disable docking to the application window, deselect Window > Use Application Window.

The functionality to dock floating palettes (those not docked to the application window) to each other is enabled by default; to disable docking to other floating palettes in the drawing area, deselect Window > Palette Options > Floating palettes can dock to each other.

Only Tool and Snapping palettes can dock to the top and bottom of the application window.

To dock a palette to the application window:

  1. Drag the title bar of the desired palette toward the edge of the application window.

    2. When the palette is in range of a window edge, the edge is highlighted in blue to indicate the location of the palette upon docking.

  2. Move the palette to the edge of the docking location and release. Currently docked palettes adjust their location along the edge to accommodate the new palette.

To prevent a palette from docking, hold down the Option key while dragging the palette near an edge.

To dock palettes together in the drawing area:

Drag the title bar of an undocked palette toward another undocked palette; when the palettes are in range, the closest edge is highlighted in blue to indicate the docking location.

Two groups of docked palettes cannot be docked together; undock one group of palettes and dock each palette separately to the other group.

To undock a palette by dragging it:

Drag the title bar of the palette to the desired location.

Specifying Mac Palette Margins

The palettes can also be placed in a margin on either side of the drawing area. When the palette margins are in use, the drawing area cannot expand past a fixed size, which allows the palettes to remain out of the way. The palette margin area can be turned on and off in the Vectorworks preferences as described in Vectorworks Preferences: Session Tab.

Hiding Docked Mac Palettes

To auto-hide docked palettes until you need them:

Select Window > Palette Options > Auto-Hide Docked Palettes. All docked palettes are hidden until you hover the cursor over their location; they temporarily display for use and are hidden again when the cursor moves away. (See Minimizing Palettes to temporarily display minimized floating palettes.)

To hide or show all enabled palettes at once:

Select Window > Palettes > Hide Enabled Palettes. If you manually display a palette by selecting it from the menu, the hide command is canceled and all palettes are displayed.

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Palette Display Options

Tool Palette Features

Saving Palette Positions and Settings

Application Window

 

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