Customize the toolbars and panels
You can move the tool panel, change its layout, hide tools you never use and build your own Quick Access row. Everything is under View ▸ Toolbars.
Place and shape the tool panel
- Open View ▸ Toolbars (In the app: Help ▸ Show me).
- Choose Tool panel: Left, Right, Top or Hidden.
- Choose a layout:
| Layout | What you get |
|---|---|
| Full | Every group with its tool buttons |
| Compact rail | One button per group; click it to open a flyout of that group's tools |
| Floating | The panel in a small window you drag by its title strip |
| Floating compact | The compact rail's group buttons in a floating window |
- Switch Tool labels on to show names beside the icons, and Tool group colours to colour-code the groups.
- Tools: Compact folds every group; Tools: Expanded opens them all again. You can also click a group header to fold just that group.
Tip
Hidden does not remove the tools. Their command aliases, such as LINE (L), still work.
Customize tools
- Choose View ▸ Toolbars ▸ Customize tools…
- On the Tool panel tab, untick a tool to hide its button, use the arrows to reorder tools or groups, or pick another group from the list beside a tool. All and None show or hide a whole group.
- On the Quick Access tab, pick a command and choose Add, or Add separator. Use the arrows to reorder and Remove to take an item out.
- Click OK to apply, or Reset to default to start again.
Note
Hidden tools still run from the command line and from the menus. Only the button goes.
The Quick Access row
View ▸ Toolbars ▸ Quick Access row shows or hides the row under the menu bar (In the app: Help ▸ Show me).
Right-click shortcuts
Right-click a tool button to hide it or add it to Quick Access. Right-click a Quick Access button to remove it. The same menu ends with all the View ▸ Toolbars items. Shift+F10 opens it from the keyboard.
The side panel
The side panel holds Layers, Markups, Symbols and Properties (In the app: Help ▸ Show me). Use Ctrl+3 to switch between Expanded and Collapsed, or choose View ▸ Panels ▸ Side panel: Expanded / Collapsed / Hidden. Collapsed leaves a narrow rail of icons; click one to open that section over the drawing. Click a section header to fold it.
See also the interface tour and preferences.