Datasheet

CHAPTER 1 Customizing

InDesign can actually contain docks on both sides of the application window and can have

multiple columns of panels arranged side by side in the dock. Just as with adding panels to the

default right-side dock, creating and managing side-by-side docks is done by dragging. Begin by

creating the ﬁrst dock, and then drag another panel (or panel group) to the screen edge. Bypass

the horizontal line indicating that the new panel will appear below the one already there, and

keep going to the screen edge, whereupon a vertical line will appear. When you let go, the pre-

vious dock area will be pushed inward, with the new panel forming a column on the outside.

Similarly, you’ll see a vertical line at the inner edge of an existing dock as well, enabling you to

add a dock inward rather than outward of existing docks.

You can keep going, adding columns as you like, but only within the application window. If

the dock expands so far that it reaches the other side of the window, panels will begin to auto-

matically collapse into their labeled icon tiles. The width of each dock can be set independently,

enabling you to have a wide, labeled tile panel dock beside a narrow, icon-only dock.

Stacked Panels

Detached or free-ﬂoating panels have similar arrangement options. Drag the tab of one panel

atop another free-ﬂoating panel or group of panels to group them into tabs. When your cursor is

in position, a bold outline will appear all the way around the target panel. If you drag too close

to the bottom of another panel, you’ll see a horizontal line appear only there, indicating that the

panels will stack rather than group (see Figure 1.3).

Stacked panels work similarly to docked panels but with several distinct advantages. You can

see and work with multiple panels at once just as you would free-ﬂoating panels, and they aren’t

limited to positioning at the screen edge. Like docked panels, stacked panels can be expanded

or contracted into just their icons or icon and title tiles selectively, or an entire stack can be

expanded or contracted with a single click of the mouse.

At the top of a stack is a double-arrow collapse/expand button. Clicking it—or double-clicking

an empty area of the bar containing the collapse/expand double arrow—collapses all panels in the

stack into their low-proﬁle, docked form or expands them all. A single close button also hides the

entire stack of panels. When you move a stack by dragging the top bar, all the panels move with it.

Figure 1.3

Stacked panels

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