Panel Locations

Every panel in InDesign can be dislodged from its current position and can be attached to others or made free-floating. Like the modest set of panels we see when we first install InDesign, panels can be collected into columns of panels called “docks” on the left or the right side of your screen—or screens.

Any such combination can be designated as a workspace. As you master more of the application, your decisions regarding which panels make up each workspace will change.

Choose a More Useful Initial Workspace

For this, it may be best if you have a document open. Create a new document or open a recent one (File > Open Recent…).

At the right end of the Control panel, you’ll find the workspace menu. It will read Essentials unless you have changed it. A better starting point is Advanced, which is not advanced, but does include the vital Styles panels. But first, let’s expand the panels we need the most, get rid of some we don’t need, and collapse a few that are nice to have nearby but that we don’t want in the way.

At the top of the dock of panels is small button with << in it. When clicked, it points the other way (>>) and expands the panels so you can see them. Clicking it again collapses the panels to icons again.

You can adjust a panel’s height by borrowing space from another: drag the line separating them up or down.

Creating a New Column of Panels

Let’s start by pulling out the panels to which we don’t need constant access: Swatches, Stroke, CC Libraries, Gradient. Drag each by its name away from its dock. We’ll simply close any that we use rarely (like Gradient). The close button (X) is on the right on a PC and on the left on a Mac.

To create a new dock of panels alongside the first, drag a panel by its name toward the original dock until a dense blue vertical “drop zone” appears. Collapse the new column with the small double arrow (>>) in its upper-right corner. Drag in more panels just under the first, again watching for a drop zone to appear. I suggest adding the Properties panel (introduced in InDesign CC 2019) to this second dock to easily access (and collapse) it.

Adjust the width of this new dock by dragging its left edge. You can shrink it until the names are gone and only icons remain if you like.

Individual panels have drop zones, too. If you drag one panel to the bottom edge of a free-floating panel, you will create a free-floating dock. Or, if you drag a panel’s name next to another panel’s name, the drop zone is the small window itself; that is, both panels’ tabs will be side by side in the same window.

Once you feel that your panels are located where you want them, return to the workspace menu (where you chose Advanced earlier), and choose New Workspace…. We can name this “Real Essentials,” perhaps.

Later, if this workspace becomes untidy, we can once again use the workspace menu and choose Reset Real Essentials.