Layers palette doesn't expand

[The-Design-Guy]

When I click to view the Layers tab, I can only see three layers. I have to scroll down to see the additional  layers. I realize I can pull the Layers tab out and expand it to see more, but I would prefer to view it in the dock with the other palettes. (see attachment)

 

When I attempt to resize it by pulling down the divider between it and the Layers and Character tabs below, I get the circle-with-slash symbol. If I select the Text Styles tab instead of the Character or Paragraph tab, then I CAN resize the Layers panel by pulling down on the divider. 

 

Any ideas why this would happen? Too many palettes in my palette bar? 

 

I would like to suggest that the Layers palette should expand automatically when you click on the tab as it is so critical to the workflow. Also, I would like to see an easy way to minimize palettes when they are not being used. Right now, the place where I would expect to find this "minimize" icon is occupied by two extremely-low-contrast lines that don't seem to do anything. Earlier, it was occupied by an

extremely-low-contrast "x" icon that deleted the tab bar entirely. I'm not sure how I managed to switch from one to the other.

 

I guess, bottom line, what I'd really like is to see an instructional video on configuring and using the palette bar. I haven't discovered that yet. In the interim, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

[R C-R]

Some of the palettes like the Character one are not adjustable for height -- they always have the same height, whether docked in the Studio or free floating. Because their height cannot be changed, their dividers can't be moved.

 

The Text Styles palette is height-adjustable so if you select its tab instead of the Character one, as you have seen you can drag the divider between it & the Layers panel to change how much of the adjustable space they share is allocated to each one.

 

Palettes can be minimized by double-clicking on their text name. For a tab row, double-clicking on any palette's name will minimize the entire tab row. Single-clicking on any of the minimized names returns it or its tab row to the original height.

 

The two low contrast lines indicate where to 'grab' the entire tab row to drag it out of the Studio.