PagePlus

Customizing toolbars, menus, and tabs

PagePlus is supplied with a default arrangement of PagePlus toolbars and tabs (see Visual Reference), which are initially arranged in a convenient layout around the perimeter of the work area. However, you have full control over this arrangement, and can customize the display any way you want—by showing or hiding toolbars and tabs, or repositioning them on-screen in a way that suits your style.

• As the Help is written around the standard arrangement of toolbars, tabs and menus, changing the default settings may result in the Help articles not matching up with your workspace.

Customizing toolbars

To show (or hide) a toolbar:

1. Choose Toolbars from the View menu.
   – or -
   Right-click on a neutral region of any toolbar.
   – or -
   Choose Options… from the Tools menu and select User Interface>Toolbars page.

2. Check (or uncheck) the toolbar name.

You may wish to keep the original arrangement of toolbars exactly the same. But if you like, you can reposition any toolbar. Toolbars can float anywhere on-screen, or dock (join) with the edges of the PagePlus window. To return the toolbar to its default location, double-click its header.

To undock/dock a toolbar:

1. To undock, click the toolbar’s  gripper bar and drag to the desired location.

2. To dock, drag the toolbar via its title bar back to the top or left-hand of your workspace, next to other docked toolbars.

The Options dialog includes command icons and other items you can assign to any toolbar. Note that certain toolbars (like the Mail and Photo Merge toolbar) are only displayed under program control in specific modes.

To add an item to a toolbar:

1. Either:

1. Click Toolbars Options at the end/bottom of any toolbar.

2. Select Add or Remove Buttons, and select Customize.

- or -

• Choose Options… from the Tools menu, and select User Interface>Customize.

2. In the dialog, select a category from the Categories list (these mirror PagePlus menus), then select a command from the adjacent commands list.

3. To add the command to a toolbar, drag it directly from the dialog onto the toolbar. An “I-beam” mark appears to guide you in placing the command precisely.

4. (Optional) Right-click on the newly placed default icon to rename the flyout or change the button image.

5. Click OK to close the dialog.

To remove an item from a toolbar:

• With the Customize dialog open, drag the command onto a neutral area of the workspace.

To create a new toolbar:

1. Choose Options… from the Tools menu and select the User Interface>Toolbars page.

2. Click New….

3. Type a name for the new toolbar and click OK. The empty toolbar appears at the top left of your workspace.

   

You can populate your new toolbar by dragging commands from the Commands list shown in the Customize dialog (see above). It’s also possible to create a new custom flyout within a pre-defined or custom toolbar.

To add a new flyout:

1. Choose Options… from the Tools menu and select the User Interface>Customize page.

2. In the dialog, select the New Menu category from the Categories list (these mirror PagePlus menus), then drag the New Flyout command from the adjacent commands list onto any toolbar.

3. Right-click on the newly placed default icon to rename the flyout or change the button image, then click away to save your name.

To remove a custom toolbar:

1. Choose Options… from the Tools menu and select the User Interface>Toolbars page.

2. Select the custom toolbar to be removed and click Delete.

To reset an individual or all toolbars to default arrangements:

1. Choose Options… from the Tools menu and select the User Interface>Toolbars page.

2. (Optional) Select a non-custom toolbar to reset individually.

3. Click Reset or Reset All Toolbars, respectively.

Customizing menus

To add an item to a menu:

1. Either:

2. Right-click a PagePlus menu and select Customize.

- or -

1. Choose Options… from the Tools menu, and select User Interface>Customize.

2. Select a category to view the items available for that category.

3. To add an item to a menu, drag it from the Command list directly onto the menu. An “I-beam” mark appears to guide you in placing the item precisely.

4. In the Options dialog, click OK to finish.

5. Any command that has a right facing arrow next to it is in itself a menu and will have various default options attached to it.

To remove an item from a menu:

1. Choose Options… from the Tools menu, and select User Interface>Customize.

2. Click on the menu for modification at the top of your workspace.

3. Navigate to then right-click on the menu item that you want to remove and click Delete from the flyout.

4. In the Options dialog, click OK to finish.

To group items on a menu:

1. Choose Options… from the Tools menu and select the User Interface>Customize m
   enu option.

2. In your workspace, open the menu, then right-click the menu item which will be the start of the group.

3. Click Begin a Group and a “separator bar” will appear before the item.

4. Repeat as necessary.

5. Drag and drop items into the group from other groups in the menu.

6. In the Options dialog, click OK to finish.

To create a new menu:

1. Choose Options… from the Tools menu and select the User Interface>Customize menu option.

2. In the Categories list, click New Menu.

3. Drag the New Menu item after (or between) the other menus shown at the top of your workspace. An “I-beam” mark appears to guide you in placing the item precisely. This will create a “New Menu” item that you will subsequently need to add items to, as mentioned in previous steps.

4. To rename the flyout, right-click on the newly placed default icon, enter a new name, then press Enter.

5. In the Options dialog, click OK to finish.

To remove a custom menu:

1. Choose Options… from the Tools menu and select the User Interface>Customize menu option.

2. Right click the custom menu to be removed and choose Delete.

3. In the Options dialog, click OK to finish.

To reset a menu to its default arrangement:

1. Choose Options… from the Tools menu and select the User Interface>Customize menu option.

2. Right click the chosen custom menu at the top of the workspace and choose Reset.

3. In the Options dialog, click OK to finish.

To reset all menus to their default arrangements:

1. Choose Options… from the Tools menu and select the User Interface>Toolbars menu option.

2. Select Menu Bar and click Reset.

3. Click OK to finish.

Customizing tabs

Initially, the tabs appear around your workspace as docked groups, which may or may not be visible. The visible docked tab groups which appear on the right of your workspace form three groupings. They behave as single multi-tabbed toolbars, including a gripper bar (see above) next to the left-most tab in the group. This lets you reposition the whole group. Two other tab groups are automatically hidden at the left and bottom of your workspace to preserve free workspace, but can be shown as required.

You can undock individual tabs as floating “tab windows”, group them into different group arrangements and refloat or redock them anywhere on the workspace. Any tab or tab group can be collapsed or expanded by priority.

Within a given group of tabs, you can only view one tab’s contents at a time. You can pick the arrangement that works best for you—separate tabs that you can view simultaneously, or grouped tabs to conserve screen space.

To minimize space devoted to tabs, two options are available. The Auto optimize tab sizes option in Tools>Options>User Interface>Studio can be used to dynamically resize all tabs to the dimensions of a previously resized tab within the same tab group. Switch off the option to minimize the tab sizes within the same tab group. A second option, Tabs Auto Collapse Order, sets the priority for the order in which tabs will automatically collapse when tab space becomes limited (e.g., when you’re working in a resized window).

To collapse/expand tabs:

• To collapse, double-click the tab label of a selected tab (either separate or in a group). To expand, single-click the label.
  – or -

1. Click the  Tab Menu button on the right-hand corner of an individual tab’s window or the entire tab group.

2. Select Collapse or Expand from the drop-down menu.

To switch off specific tabs/all tabs in a group:

1. Click the  Tab Menu button on the right-hand corner of the tab group.

2. For specific tabs, uncheck the relevant tab name from the Studio Tabs flyout menu.

3. For all tabs in a group, select Close All from the drop-down menu.

- or -

• Switch tabs on or off via View>Studio Tabs.

To show/hide tab groups automatically:

	Click on the show button for the tab group situated half way up (or along) the left, right and bottom of your workspace. Subsequent hover over will show the tab group automatically; moving the cursor away from the tab will automatically hide the tab again.
	To revert to permanent display, while the tab group is displayed, click on the same button once.

From Tools>Options>User Interface>UI Settings you can make au
to-show/hide tabs have a slide or no animation effect, as well as Auto Expand on Full Bar.

To show/hide all docked tabs:

• Click the  Show/Hide the Studio tabs button on the bottom right-hand corner of the Hintline.

To undock/dock an individual tab:

• To undock, drag the tab’s label to its new position.

• To dock, double-click on its title bar (not its label).

To undock/dock a tab group:

• Double-click on the tab group’s gripper.

To reposition a floating tab:

• Drag the tab by its tab label or gripper to its new position.

To resize a floating tab:

• Click on one of the tab edges or corners and drag.

To configure auto collapse of tabs:

1. Display the User Interface>Studio option in Tools>Options.

2. Arrange the tabs in the Tab list with tabs least likely to collapse at the top and those most likely to collapse at the bottom. Use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to arrange the tab order.

Notes

In general, tabs behave in a common-sense way, so that the groupings you’ve laid out are preserved and convenient to use:

• When you hide a tab using the View>Studio Tabs flyout, the tab disappears from the tab grouping or the floating tab window disappears. If you then redisplay the tab, it appears in the same position as before, as part of the same tab grouping and in the same order. If a floating tab window, it also appears again in its original position and size.

• If you redisplay a tab when none of its former neighbor tabs are visible, it appears in its own frame. If you then show one of the neighbors, it appears in the same frame, preserving the tab grouping.

• PagePlus remembers your arrangement of tabs and toolbars from one session to the next.

Managing your Workspace

At some point in your session you may want to save the layout of your tabs in the current workspace, with respect to positioning, their size, whether they are switched on/off and if docked or not. This is easy to achieve by selecting Studio Tabs>Save Workspace in the View menu. The settings are saved to a Workspace file (*.wtb) to a default location. When you create a new document via the Startup Wizard you can also adopt any saved workspace profile as long as it has been previously saved to the default folder location (otherwise you’ll have to use Load Workspace; see below).

Saved profiles, as well as preset profiles, can be selected from the Choose Workspace drop-down menu.

• As you select different profiles from the menu, your workspace will preview each tab layout in turn.

At any point you can reset the workspace to its default state by selecting Studio Tabs>Default Workspace or load another previously saved Workspace WTB file using Studio Tabs>Load Workspace; both options are available via the View menu.

Note that your tool properties and view settings remain unaffected.

Customizing toolbars, menus and tabs