Workspace basics

You create and manipulate your documents and files using various elements, such as panels, bars, and windows. Any arrangement of these elements is called a workspace. The workspaces of the different applications in Adobe® Creative Suite® 5 share the same appearance so that you can move between the applications easily. You can also adapt each application to the way you work by selecting from several preset workspaces or by creating one of your own.

Although the default workspace layout varies in different products, you manipulate the elements much the same way in all of them.

• The Application bar across the top contains a workspace switcher, menus (Windows only), and other application controls. On the Mac for certain products, you can show or hide it using the Window menu.

• The Tools panel contains tools for creating and editing images, artwork, page elements, and so on. Related tools are grouped.

• The Control panel displays options for the currently selected tool. In Illustrator, the Control panel displays options for the currently selected object. (In Adobe Photoshop® this is known as the Options bar. In Adobe Flash®, Adobe Dreamweaver®, and Adobe Fireworks® this is known as the Property Inspector and includes properties of the currently selected element.)

• The Document window displays the file you’re working on. Document windows can be tabbed and, in certain cases, grouped and docked.

• Panels help you monitor and modify your work. Examples include the Timeline in Flash, the Brush panel in Illustrator, the Layers panel in Adobe Photoshop®, and the CSS Styles panel in Dreamweaver. Panels can be grouped, stacked, or docked.

• The Application frame groups all the workspace elements in a single, integrated window that lets you treat the application as a single unit. When you move or resize the Application frame or any of its elements, all the elements within it respond to each other so none overlap. Panels don’t disappear when you switch applications or when you accidentally click out of the application. If you work with two or more applications, you can position each application side by side on the screen or on multiple monitors.

  If you are using a Mac and prefer the traditional, free-form user interface, you can turn off the Application frame. In Adobe Illustrator®, for example, select Window > Application Frame to toggle it on or off. (In Flash, the Application frame is on permanently for Mac, and Dreamweaver for Mac does not use an Application frame.)

Hide or show all panels

• (Illustrator, Adobe InCopy®, Adobe InDesign®, Photoshop, Fireworks)To hide or show all panels, including the Tools panel and Control panel, press Tab.

• (Illustrator, InCopy, InDesign, Photoshop) To hide or show all panels except the Tools panel and Control panel, press Shift+Tab.

• (Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks) To hide or show all panels, press F4.

Display panel options

(Illustrator) Adjust panel brightness

Reconfigure the Tools panel

You can display the tools in the Tools panel in a single column, or side by side in two columns. (This feature is not available in the Tools panel in Fireworks and Flash.)

Manage windows and panels

You can create a custom workspace by moving and manipulating Document windows and panels. You can also save workspaces and switch among them. For Fireworks, renaming custom workspaces can lead to unexpected behavior.

Rearrange, dock, or float document windows

When you open more than one file, the Document windows are tabbed.

• To rearrange the order of tabbed Document windows, drag a window’s tab to a new location in the group.
• To undock (float or untab) a Document window from a group of windows, drag the window’s tab out of the group.

• To dock a Document window to a separate group of Document windows, drag the window into the group.

• To create groups of stacked or tiled documents, drag the window to one of the drop zones along the top, bottom, or sides of another window. You can also select a layout for the group by using the Layout button on the Application bar.

• To switch to another document in a tabbed group when dragging a selection, drag the selection over the document’s tab for a moment.

Dock and undock panels

A dock is a collection of panels or panel groups displayed together, generally in a vertical orientation. You dock and undock panels by moving them into and out of a dock.

• To dock a panel, drag it by its tab into the dock, at the top, bottom, or in between other panels.

• To dock a panel group, drag it by its title bar (the solid empty bar above the tabs) into the dock.

• To remove a panel or panel group, drag it out of the dock by its tab or title bar. You can drag it into another dock or make it free-floating.

Move panels

As you move panels, you see blue highlighted drop zones, areas where you can move the panel. For example, you can move a panel up or down in a dock by dragging it to the narrow blue drop zone above or below another panel. If you drag to an area that is not a drop zone, the panel floats freely in the workspace.

• To move a panel, drag it by its tab.

• To move a panel group, drag the title bar.

Add and remove panels

If you remove all panels from a dock, the dock disappears. You can create a dock by moving panels to the right edge of the workspace until a drop zone appears.

• To remove a panel, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) its tab and then select Close, or deselect it from the Window menu.

• To add a panel, select it from the Window menu and dock it wherever you want.

Manipulate panel groups

• To move a panel into a group, drag the panel’s tab to the highlighted drop zone in the group.

• To rearrange panels in a group, drag a panel’s tab to a new location in the group.

• To remove a panel from a group so that it floats freely, drag the panel by its tab outside the group.

• To move a group, drag the title bar (the area above the tabs).

Stack floating panels

When you drag a panel out of its dock but not into a drop zone, the panel floats freely. The floating panel allows you to position it anywhere in the workspace. You can stack floating panels or panel groups so that they move as a unit when you drag the topmost title bar.

• To stack floating panels, drag a panel by its tab to the drop zone at the bottom of another panel.

• To change the stacking order, drag a panel up or down by its tab.

• To remove a panel or panel group from the stack, so that it floats by itself, drag it out by its tab or title bar.

Resize panels

• To minimize or maximize a panel, panel group, or stack of panels, double-click a tab. You can also double-click the tab area (the empty space next to the tabs).

• To resize a panel, drag any side of the panel. Some panels, such as the Color panel in Photoshop, cannot be resized by dragging.

Collapse and expand panel icons

You can collapse panels to icons to reduce clutter on the workspace. In some cases, panels are collapsed to icons in the default workspace.

• To collapse or expand all panel icons in a column, click the double arrow at the top of the dock.
• To expand a single panel icon, click it.
• To resize panel icons so that you see only the icons (and not the labels), adjust the width of the dock until the text disappears. To display the icon text again, make the dock wider.
• To collapse an expanded panel back to its icon, click its tab, its icon, or the double arrow in the panel’s title bar.

• To add a floating panel or panel group to an icon dock, drag it in by its tab or title bar. (Panels are automatically collapsed to icons when added to an icon dock.)

• To move a panel icon (or panel icon group), drag the icon. You can drag panel icons up and down in the dock, into other docks (where they appear in the panel style of that dock), or outside the dock (where they appear as floating icons).

Save and switch workspaces

By saving the current size and position of panels as a named workspace, you can restore that workspace even if you move or close a panel. The names of saved workspaces appear in the workspace switcher in the Application bar.

Save a custom workspace

Display or switch workspaces

Delete a custom workspace

• Select Manage Workspaces from the workspace switcher in the Application bar, select the workspace, and then click Delete. (The option is not available in Fireworks.)

• (Photoshop, InDesign, InCopy) Select Delete Workspace from the workspace switcher.

• (Illustrator) Choose Window > Workspace > Manage Workspaces, select the workspace, and then click the Delete icon.

• (Photoshop, InDesign) Choose Window > Workspace >Delete Workspace, select the workspace, and then click Delete.

Restore the default workspace

(Photoshop) Restore a saved workspace arrangement

In Photoshop, workspaces automatically appear as you last arranged them, but you can restore the original, saved arrangement of panels.

• To restore an individual workspace, choose Window > Workspace > Reset Workspace Name.

• To restore all the workspaces installed with Photoshop, click Restore Default Workspaces in the Interface preferences.

Change Interface preferences

Tool tips appear when you hold the mouse pointer over interface items such as tools in the toolbar and options in the Control panel. Choose None to turn off tool tips.

When you place a graphic, a thumbnail of the image appears in the loaded graphics cursor. Similarly, a thumbnail of the first few lines of text appears in the loaded text cursor. Deselect this option if you don’t want thumbnails to appear when placing graphics or text.

When you’re creating, sizing, or rotating an object, the cursor displays the [x,y] coordinates, width and height, or rotation information.

Select this option to allow Windows and Mac OS multi-touch mouse gestures to work in InDesign. For example, when you use the Magic Mouse in Mac OS, the swipe gesture scrolls up or down or moves to the previous or next page or spread, and the rotate gesture rotates the spread.

Select this option to highlight the frame edges of objects when the direct selection tool is moved over it.

Specify whether the toolbar appears as a single column, double column, or single row.

When this option is selected, clicking the document window closes the open panel automatically.

When you hide panels by pressing Tab, holding the mouse pointer over the side of the document window temporarily reveals the panels if this option is selected. If this option is not selected, you must press Tab again to display panels.

When this option is deselected, documents you create or open appear as floating windows rather than tabbed windows.

If this option is selected, you can dock floating documents with each other as tabbed windows. If this option is deselected, floating document windows aren’t docked with other document windows, unless you hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) while dragging.

To control whether to greek text and images when you scroll a document, drag the Hand Tool slider to the desired level of performance versus quality.

Select an option to determine whether the image redraws as you drag an object. If Immediate is selected, the image redraws while you drag. If Never is selected, dragging an image moves only the frame, and then image is moved when you release the mouse button. If Delayed is selected, the image redraws only if you pause before dragging. Delayed offers the same behavior as in InDesign CS4.

Use toolbars

The basic toolbars contain buttons for many commonly used tools and commands, such as opening, saving, printing, scrolling, and zooming. Tool tips identify each tool button.

Show or hide a toolbar

Customize a toolbar

You can specify which tools appear on a toolbar, change the toolbar orientation, and combine or separate toolbars.

View tool hints

The Tool Hints panel describes how modifier keys work with the selected tool.

Use context menus

Unlike the menus that appear at the top of your screen, context-sensitive menus display commands related to the active tool or selection. You can use context menus as a quick way to choose commonly used commands.

Customize menus

Hiding and colorizing menu commands is a way to remove menu clutter and emphasize commands you frequently use. Note that hiding menu commands simply removes the menu command from view; it doesn’t disable any features. At any time, you can view hidden commands by selecting the Show All Menu Items command at the bottom of a menu, or you can choose Window > Workspace > Show Full Menus to show all the menus for the selected workspace. You can include customized menus in workspaces you save.

You can customize the main menu, context menus, and panel menus. Context menus appear when you right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) an area. Panel menus appear when you click the icon in the upper right of a panel.

Create a custom menu set

Select a custom menu set

Edit or delete a custom menu set

Show hidden menu items

• Choose Window > Workspace > Show Full Menus. This command turns on all menus for the selected workspace. You can hide the menus again by resetting the workspace.
• Choose Show All Menu Items at the bottom of the menu that includes hidden commands.

Use keyboard shortcut sets

InCopy provides keyboard shortcuts for many menu commands, options, scripts, and controls. You can also define your own keyboard shortcuts. Using the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box, you can:

• Choose the set you want to use.

• View existing shortcut commands.

• Generate a complete list of shortcuts.

• Create your own shortcuts and shortcut sets.

• Edit current shortcuts.

  The Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box also lists all commands that can accept shortcuts but don’t have shortcuts defined for them in the default shortcut set.

Change the active shortcut set

View shortcuts

Generate a list of shortcuts

A text file opens with all current and undefined shortcuts for that set.

Create a new shortcut set

Create or redefine a shortcut