P: Alt-drag on Windows doesn't expand Library panels like Opt-drag on Mac

[John R Ellis]

On Mac, holding Opt while dragging a panel divider lets you expand the panel as wide as you want.  But Alt-drag doesn't work on Windows 10 / LR 7.  (I recall that this used to work in Windows, but that could be a false memory.)

Expanding the panels extra wide can be very helpful to see deep hierarchies and long names with folders, collections, and keywords.

[John R Ellis]

Victoria Bampton wrote: "On Windows, you used to be able to stretch them beyond the standard limit without needing an extra key, but that seems to have died with Windows 10." So maybe my memory wasn't that bad...

[chipc1326545]

Didn't know about this feature. I like it.  Thanks.

[Victoria Bampton LR Queen]

LOL I don't even remember writing that!

[Rob_Cullen]

I am curious!  Using Lightroom-Classic 7.2 (1156743)  on two computers.

My new desktop with updated Windows-10 Home (10.0.16299) Nvidia GTX1050: does NOT allow the expansion of the left panels while holding the [Alt] key.

My Dell XPS13 laptop with updated Windows-10 (10.0.16299) Intel Graphics 540:  DOES allow the 'very wide' expansion of the left panels while holding the [Alt] key.

I cannot explain the difference.

[1940pete]

how do I get the full description of my folders in the folders panel?

I would send a screen shot but not sure how to.

[JohanElzenga]

Maybe you could start by telling us which version of Lightroom Classic you use (don't say 'latest', people often think that they have the latest version and then find this is not the case) and which OS (Mac or Windows? Version?). And then perhaps you can tell us what it is you are (not) seeing.

[Per Berntsen]

[Just Shoot Me]

Take a screen shot with the Windows Snipping tool or Mac OS X screen grab system (Google for instructions and keyboard shortcuts) then in a reply while on the actual forum web site on a computer using a Browser click the icon for "Insert Image" then point it to where you saved the screen shot.

[1940pete]

Thanks for the help on getting it to the source.

Pete

[1940pete]

Your are correct, I should have given more info. I have Lightroom Classic CC 1205-12.

Here is a s screen shot.

[JohanElzenga]

You still haven't said which OS (Windows or Mac), but that doesn't matter too much. You can simply make the panel wider by placing your cursor on the edge between the panel and the middle window. Your cursor will change to a line with handles. Press down the mouse button and drag the side of the panel to make it wider.

[1940pete]

OMG that was so simple. Now I really am feeling my age. Thanks for your help. Been fighting this for some time. And all along I knew about increasing or decreasing window size.

Pete

[Bob Somrak]

You could also select Users and right click and "Hide this Parent" and maybe even do the same for peterfreeman and everything will move to the left and show more on the right.  Looking at the numbers you may have 7 photos lurking somewhere besides under/in "peterfreeman" that will have to be accounted for.   To bad Adobe wastes so much space with spaces and long folder icons in the folder section.

[1940pete]

Thank you good info.

Pete

[pgmanuel]

Pete,

If the method described does not give you enough width, hold down Option/Alt and continue to drag. Option/Alt dragging the panel edge works on all panels. This can be useful in providing more granularity for the sliders in the Develop module.

Paul

[JohanElzenga]

pgmanuel  wrote

Pete,

If the method described does not give you enough width, hold down Option/Alt and continue to drag. Option/Alt dragging the panel edge works on all panels. This can be useful in providing more granularity for the sliders in the Develop module.

Paul

I believe the Option/Alt-drag works on Macintosh only, not on Windows. Because the OP did not mention his OS, I didn’t mention it as a way to make the panels even wider.

[John R Ellis]

While waiting for Adobe to fix this (likely a very long time), you can double the maximum width of the side panels by adding this line to TranslatedStrings.txt:

"$$$/locale_metric/Win/Panel/maxWidth=800"

Change 800 to whatever you want. See here for how to edit TranslatedStrings.txt:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/custom-keyboard-shortcuts/

[Califdan2]

Hi John.  Thanks for the work around.  I'm on Windows/10 using LR/Classic 9.2.1 but can't seem to get this to work. 

I followed Victoria's blog and discovered that I did not have an "en" folder.  I had plenty of other languages, but not 'en' so I created one.  I then created the text file.  In Victoria's blog she showed the file as "TranslatedStrings_Lr_en_US.txt" but in your post you called it "TranslatedStrings.txt".   So, first I tried it with Victoria's file name but when that didn't work, used your file name, which also didn't work.  

Image is not available

The only line of text in my newly created txt file is this
$$$/locale_metric/Win/Panel/maxWidth=800  (later changed to 1600 just to make sure)



Did I miss something in the instructions or is this workaround no longer valid?

Thanks -- Dan
 

[John R Ellis]

The line has to include the quotes:

"$$$/locale_metric/Win/Panel/maxWidth=800"

and the full filename is as described in the lightroomqueen.com article. (I sloppily use "TranslatedStrings.txt", the former file name, to refer to the generic mechanism.)

In general, when I'm poking around Translated Strings, I look at TranslatedStrings_Lr_de_DE.txt (German), since German words are close to English words. I find the relevant lines there and copy them to TranslatedStrings_Lr_en_US.txt.

[Califdan2]

John,

Thank you.  The quotes did the trick.  You are scholar and a gentleman and greatly appreciated.

Dan

[John The Diver]

I am in the process of migrating my libraray from Elements Organiser to LrC. In Elements Organiser, the Tag Window can be expanded widthwise to allow reading of nested Tags.

LrC have a range for the keywords panel of 293 to 400. I really need this to be greater than 400.

I tag my data in the taxonomic tree which you can see in the attached file. In LrC I cannot read the nested tags. Some of the nests can be upo to 16 levels.

Having googled this issue, I do not appear to be the only person that requires this panel to be wider.

[John The Diver]

I have just found the following:
Tip: If you have a Mac you can hold down the Alt key while clicking and dragging to make the panels even wider, so it would appear that this is a Windows limitation (Cant confirm as I dont have a MAC)

[John R Ellis]

There's an old bug report about the inability to increase the width of the side panels on Windows:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-alt-drag-on-windows-doesn-t-expand-library-p...

There's a simple workaround that lets you adjust the width on Windows as large as you want:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-alt-drag-on-windows-doesn-t-expand-library-p...

[John R Ellis]

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge with this existing bug report:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-alt-drag-on-windows-doesn-t-expand-library-p...

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Matching to existing bug.