How to stop tool panels from jumping around?

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
February 9, 2022
1 reply
543 views

I'm gradually being driven mad by the behavior of tool panels in InDesign (2022 version in my case).

What I WANT is to be able to dock the tool panels to the right side of my workspace, resize the eidth of this docked panel area...then (this is critical) have that width remain the same as I select different panels.

What drives me mad is that certain panels seem set to a wider (or adjustable) width, and others (the Stroke panel is an oft-used example) resize the entire panel area to a narrower width every time I select it. This causes my entire workspace to jump around just because I selected the Stroke panel. (AARRGH!!!)

I'm hoping I'm missing something simple and obvious to STOP this from happening—and am grateful for any tips anyone can offer.

Scott

How to

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James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

You may have noted that some tool panes are fixed width and many have a minimum width. If you squeeze one pane to its minimum and then dock another pane to it that has a wider fixed or min width, the whole column will expand to the latter width. There's no way to change this behavior; a column will be as wide as the widest minimum width.

(Boy, that got convoluted.)

I don't mind this as much as the hassle of getting a column of tool panes adjusted vertically. 🙂

One solution is to position all your tools, panels and panes as you like and then save the workspace (under Window | Workspace) and when it gets changed, use the Reset [Workspace Name] option in that same menu.

Scott-PCTAAuthor

Participating Frequently

@James Gifford—NitroPress Thanks—I can't believe Adobe still (in 2022) has such a non-responsive interface design (no doubt a result of InDesign's legacy interface not being updated). Maybe it's just me, but it's SO much easier if you can just a single, fixed-width panel area on the right (or left) and have ALL tool panels fit that width (no matter what it is).

I've never been a fan of undocking tool panels and having them floating over my workspace—it's just more cluttered that way.

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

Oh, I agree with the last... I need my workspace!

My solution is an acre of desktop space. Main monitor is almost completely clear except for the workspace; all the tool panels and palettes are grouped to the left. Over here on the right is usually a browser or other source-material display. Can't work on anything smaller, any more. 🙂

I don't find ID's interface (or the Adobe tools in general) too limiting and they've updated the functionality fairly well over the years, mostly for consistency across the major apps. But these tools, for serious users, really don't fit on one monitor any more. Having to pull out columns like file drawers and so forth feels like working with my mouse hand tied behind my back.

That it's all endlessly customizable is a huge advantage over (mostly older) tools that came as one-size-fits-most; I have two or three workspaces for different tasks and projects. Make use of the ability to save and recall custom workspaces to optimize your tools for the project, or the phase of the project. I'm more or less just doing final edits on a book right now, with a very compact one-monitor layout that would drive me crazy for the design phase.

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