Please Bring back the floating TOOL BOX its a deal killer,,,I don't want to upgrade just for this reason..pined to the side is just horrible..thats why i still use V1

[Erik Steinmeier]

[Hangman]

Hi @Erik Steinmeier and welcome to the forums,

You can still undock the tools in V2 so it is floating... View > Dock Tools... What made you think you couldn't?

[Done]

.

[Barry Newman]

The above tips are correct and with the move tool active, you can also double-click somewhere on the toolbar - most conveniently at the bottom - to switch between docked and floating.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, Barry Newman said:

... you can also double-click somewhere on the toolbar ...

Just to avoid any confusion about this, it is the Tools panel (not Toolbar) that works for this.

[Erik Steinmeier]

5 hours ago, Hangman said:

Hi @Erik Steinmeier and welcome to the forums,

You can still undock the tools in V2 so it is floating... View > Dock Tools... What made you think you couldn't?

 

2 hours ago, R C-R said:

Just to avoid any confusion about this, it is the Tools panel (not Toolbar) that works for this.

 

[lphilpot]

I wish (in Photo, at least) it was possible to dock / pin the Tools panel to the right side of the image area (but left of the right-hand panels, i.e., next to the image), not just to the far left of the entire app screen. For right-handed users, me at least, that's a very inconvenient location. I've undocked it and keep it to the right, but by default Ctrl-0 (fit to size view) still puts the image slightly under the Tools panel. And if you move the app window, the Tools panel doesn't stay in its relative location to the app -- In fact it doesn't move at all, it just stays in place, orphaned.

Actually, being able to dock it anywhere -- as is often conventional with most GUIs --  would be best.

[thomaso]

On 7/12/2023 at 12:01 AM, Barry Newman said:

you can also double-click somewhere on the toolbar - most conveniently at the bottom - to switch between docked and floating.

Good catch! (for fast toggling Tools panel)

10 hours ago, lphilpot said:

I've undocked it and keep it to the right, but by default Ctrl-0 (fit to size view) still puts the image slightly under the Tools panel.

To avoid elements become hidden by this floating tools panel it may help to place the Tools panel right of the right panels / at the edge of your screen and therefore to reduce the application window width according to the Tools width / number of columns in your Tools panel. For instance:

[lphilpot]

That's true, but then I have to manually place / size the main app window and can't maximize it (I'm on Windows 11, BTW).

Strange thing is, sometimes (rarely) Ctrl+0 does size the image to clear the Tools panel, other times it doesn't. However, I've done zero research on that, so it could (maybe?) be due to cropped (invisible) but still there content. Just a guess, no idea yet.

[walt.farrell]

9 hours ago, lphilpot said:

Strange thing is, sometimes (rarely) Ctrl+0 does size the image to clear the Tools panel, other times it doesn't.

If the Tools panel is docked, it should not interfere with the image. If it's Floating, it can. But if that doesn't explain the difference, I'm out of ideas  

[lphilpot]

I'm referring to when it's not docked. Dunno.

[thomaso]

9 hours ago, lphilpot said:

sometimes (rarely) Ctrl+0 does size the image to clear the Tools panel

What do you mean by "clear"?

In case of "hidden/covered": To me (in V1) a floating Tools panel only gets covered by the Toolbar fly-out menu – whereas it stays in front with the fly-out menu of the Context Toolbar:

  <–>

[lphilpot]

What I mean is, if the Tools panel is floating and I press Ctrl+0 to fit the zoom level to available space, it usually still puts the edge of the image under the Tools panel. The image doesn't automatically and reliably clear the Tools panel.

[R C-R]

3 hours ago, lphilpot said:

The image doesn't automatically and reliably clear the Tools panel.

If it is floating, it is not supposed to. It just sits wherever on the screen that you put it.

[lphilpot]

18 minutes ago, R C-R said:

If it is floating, it is not supposed to. It just sits wherever on the screen that you put it.

Exactly. That's why I'd like to be able to dock it somewhere other than the far left edge of the app window. Presumably if it were docked anywhere, then "fit to view" would accommodate that docked location and stay clear of it.

[R C-R]

Just now, lphilpot said:

Exactly. That's why I'd like to be able to dock it somewhere other than the far left edge of the app window. Presumably if it were docked anywhere, then "fit to view" would accommodate that docked location and stay clear of it.

While you can't lock it to the left, you can reduce the app's window size a bit to the right so that the Tools panel never covers anything in that window, so it is almost the same thing.

[walt.farrell]

12 minutes ago, R C-R said:

While you can't lock it to the left, you can reduce the app's window size a bit to the right so that the Tools panel never covers anything in that window, so it is almost the same thing.

Are you suggesting Floating it to the right of the Right Studio, like this:

rather than to the left of the Right Studio (like this):

[lphilpot]

17 minutes ago, R C-R said:

so it is almost the same thing

Maybe for some value of "almost". 🙂 But in practice it's not. Here's how I'm currently setup:

I don't want the Tools panel to the right of the other panels, that defeats the purpose of having it close to the image and convenient for right-hand use (particularly with a tablet / pen). I'd like it docked to the left edge of the right-hand panels, between them and the image. Plus, if I put it to the outside right of the app window, as I mentioned upthread, I have to manually size the app window, can't maximize and if I move the app window (e.g., to another monitor) the Tools panel stays put where it is. This screen capture also illustrates how the non-docked panel overlaps the image.

From a UI / dev viewpoint I can't imagine why this should be impossible. It might mean using a different type of UI widget / control but virtually every UI toolkit I've come across allows for user-defined docking. It just has to be coded that way. Seems like an arbitrary decision by Serif to not allow it to be docked elsewhere.

Edited July 13, 2023 by lphilpot
typo

[lphilpot]

3 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Are you suggesting Floating it

Not floating, but docked / attached -- Between the image's right side and the right-hand panels' left side (roughly where I have it floated in my screenshot, but docked instead). That way it would form a logical border within which 'fit to view' would work properly.

[walt.farrell]

3 minutes ago, lphilpot said:

Not floating, but docked / attached

I was asking R C-R to clarify the suggestion I quoted from

[lphilpot]

Ah... sorry, my bad.  🙂

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

Are you suggesting Floating it to the right of the Right Studio, like this:

Yes, that is what I was suggesting. Obviously, it isn't the same as what @lphilpot wants, but it is the only way to guarantee that the panel doesn't ever cover up anything else in the app if it is on the right.

1 hour ago, lphilpot said:

From a UI / dev viewpoint I can't imagine why this should be impossible.

It probably is possible, but AFAIK, few if any users have ever made a feature request for that, so if you want it maybe look for or post in that forum?

[lphilpot]

11 minutes ago, R C-R said:

It probably is possible, but AFAIK, few if any users have ever made a feature request for that

You may well be correct, but it seems a rather obvious oversight to me, FWIW. I'll post a request ...after I confirm I haven't already done so. I mentioned this same 'request' in a post once and I may (??) have officially asked for it. Memory fails...

[R C-R]

1 minute ago, lphilpot said:

You may well be correct, but it seems a rather obvious oversight to me, FWIW.

Just guessing, but I suspect it just isn't something the devs thought many people would be interested in using vs. the time it would take to implement it.

[Alfred]

2 minutes ago, lphilpot said:

I mentioned this same 'request' in a post once and I may (??) have officially asked for it. Memory fails...

There’s no need to rely on your memory! The ‘See their activity’ button on your profile page invokes a list of all your posts:

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/profile/178302-lphilpot/content/

Alternatively, use the search box on any forum page to search ‘Everywhere’ for posts on the topic, and then use the ‘More search options’ button to access the ‘Search By Author’ text box:

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/search/&q=Floating&quick=1&author=lphilpot&search_and_or=and&sortby=relevancy