Working with multiple windows

Click to enlarge
articy:draft supports multiple application windows. Each window comes with a splittable workspace and tab system.

You can open a new window either through the main menu 1 or by clicking the "New window" button in the master toolbar 2.

Flexible workspace layout

Each articy:draft window contains a splittable workspace. The workspace consists of panes and each pane can show a different part of the project.

Layouting the workspace works like this:

You can split panes either by dragging new panes out of window borders 3 or by holding down SHIFT while you grab any splitter between two panes 4.
To resize panes just drag a splitter between two panes without holding down the SHIFT key 5.

Smart splitting allows you to change the splitting scope by moving around the mouse. Following the example in the image above, try this:
6 Drag out a new pane from the bottom of the left pane.
7 Keep the mouse button pressed and move the mouse over to the right pane.
See how the new pane now spreads across both panes.

Resetting the workspace

If you've messed up your workspace entirely, you can let articy:draft tidy up via the "Reset layout" entry in the main menu.

Synchronized Panes

Sometimes it is helpful to see more than one view on the same object at the same time. If you browse through the flow you might want to have the property sheet of the selected flow fragment visible in another pane. However you don't want to manually select the object in both panes all the time.

The synchronized pane feature allows you to make one pane "listening" to the selection of another pane and, in the case the selection changes, automatically changes its own selection. This way, you can wander through your flow by clicking one flow fragment after the other and automatically seeing the properties of the selected flow element in the synchronized pane.


To turn a regular pane into a synchronized pane, click the small broadcast icon 8 in the pane's upper-right-hand corner. The broadcast icon will turn orange and change into a receiving icon 9, signifying the change from broadcasting to receiving. To change the pane back to normal, simply click the icon again and it will return to broadcasting form.

Property Inspector

The fastest way of setting up a new pane that always shows the properties of a selected object in another pane is, to drag out a new pane (a jumpstart appears) and double-click the Property Inspector10 icon there.