User Guide Cancel

Customize the workspace

Learn how to customize the workspace and manage windows and panels.

Manage windows and panels

You can create a custom workspace by moving and adjusting document windows and panels. You can also save workspaces and switch among them.

Rearrange, dock, or undock document windows

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

  • To rearrange 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.

Watch this short clip to learn how to dock, undock and rearrange document windows.

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.

Note:

You can prevent panels from filling all the space in a dock. Drag the bottom edge of the dock up so it no longer meets the edge of the workspace.

Watch this short clip to learn how to dock and undock panels.

Add, remove, and move 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 (macOS) its tab and then select Close.
  • To add a panel, select it from the Window menu and dock it wherever you want.
  • To move a panel, drag it by its tab.
  • To move a panel group, drag the title bar.
Note:

The position of the mouse (rather than the position of the panel), activates the drop zone, so if you can’t see the drop zone, try dragging the mouse to the place where the drop zone should be.

Stack floating panels

The panel floats freely when you drag a panel out of its dock but not into a drop zone. 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.

Note:

Ensure to release the tab over the narrow drop zone between panels rather than the broad drop zone in a title bar.

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, select   at the top of the dock.
  • To expand a single panel icon, select 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 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).
Panel collapsed to icons
Panels collapsed to icons

Panels expanded from icons
Panels expanded from icons

Use panel menus

Access the panel menus using  .

Panel menu (Color panel)
Panel menu (Color panel)

Set user interface color

You can customize the interface to sport one of following available color options: Dark, Medium Dark, Medium Light, and Light.

  1. Do one the following:

    • (Windows) Choose Edit > Preferences > User Interface.
    • (macOS) Choose Illustrator > Preferences > User Interface.
  2. Choose the desired interface color from the following Brightness options: Dark, Medium Dark, Medium Light, and Light.

    Available UI color options
    Available UI color options

  3. Choose a Canvas Color from the following options:

    • Match Brightness: Sets the color of the canvas to the selected brightness level.
    • WhiteSets the color of the canvas to white.

Scale the user interface

You can scale the user interface of Illustrator based on your screen resolution. When you launch Illustrator with fresh preference settings, it identifies your screen resolution and adjusts the application scale factor accordingly.

Note:

The UI scaling isn't supported for Windows 7 and for screens with low resolution.

To scale the user interface on your screen, follow these steps: 

  1. Do one of the following to open the user interface preferences:

    • (Windows) Choose Edit > Preferences > User Interface.
    • (macOS) Choose Illustrator > Preferences > User Interface.
  2. On the User Interface preferences tab, click the UI Scaling slider to increase or decrease the scaling of the UI based on your screen resolution. 

    You can check the preview of the scaled UI, which is displayed next to the slider, as shown in the figure below:

    scale the user interface

    Note:
    • The number of stops displayed in the slider depends on the resolution of your screen. More stops are displayed for screens with higher resolutions. 
    • Illustrator scales the annotations if you set the scale factor on the fifth stop or above. 
  3. Select the Scale Cursor Proportionately option to scale the cursor icons in proportion to the UI.

  4. Relaunch Illustrator to apply the updated settings. If you do not relaunch Illustrator now, the changes will take effect the next time when you launch Illustrator.

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.  

Choose Window > Workspace > Save Workspace and then type a name for the workspace.

The names of saved workspaces appear in the workspace switcher in the Application bar.

Delete and restore workspaces

To delete a workspace, choose Window > Workspace > Manage Workspaces, select the workspace, and then select  .

To restore the default workspace, select the Default or Essentials workspace from the workspace switcher in the application bar.


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