Manage the display state of the ribbon

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This video will teach you the methods you can use to display the

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ribbon in a manner that makes sense for you and your workflow.

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After this video,

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you will be able to

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use the ribbon minimization state's control to cycle through or set a state,

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add or remove ribbon panels and tabs

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expand a panel for additional commands, access style dialogs,

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float a panel away from the ribbon and return it.

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Let's look at the customization features of AUTOCAD ribbon menu

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for this video. We'll be using a blank new drawing.

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Of course,

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the changes we'll make here can be done at any time from your open drawings.

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By default AUTOCAD ribbon is set to display fully expanded.

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You can also choose from three minimized states which can save

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you screen space or it might just become your personal preference.

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You'll control the display states from the ribbon display

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state icons to the right of the ribbon tabs.

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There are two parts to the control.

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I'll first click on the right side or the pull down menu which

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allows you to choose a preferred state or to cycle through all,

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which is the default,

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I'll exit by pressing the escape key.

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The left side is the action button.

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Notice that hovering over either shows you the next ribbon display state.

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Let's click on the pull down menu again and examine each option.

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We'll start with the bottom option state,

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minimize the panel buttons and work our way up.

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Let's click on it. Now,

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as you see the panels have become buttons

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to use them in this state,

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change tabs by clicking on them just as you would. Normally,

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when you hover over a panel button, all of the tools within that panel will display,

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click on a tool. As usual to select it,

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move your mouse away from the ribbon panel to collapse the panel.

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Let's continue with the other two display states.

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We'll go back to the display states, icon,

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expand the pull down and choose minimized panel titles.

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When I do so,

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you can see that the buttons that were displayed

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now only show their titles beneath the respective tab.

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In this display state,

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your usage will be the same as the panel button state,

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just hover over the panel title.

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As before

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again, I'll pull my mouse away to collapse it.

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Open the display states pull down again

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and click on the final state which is minimized to tabs.

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When this option is selected, the only thing left is the ribbon tabs and their names

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using this display state differs from the other two

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as you have to click on the tab to activate its contents instead of hovering over it

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also, instead of a collapse panel of all the tools,

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you'll get the full ribbon view as if the ribbon were fully expanded.

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As usual, click on your tool of choice

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while we're in the minimized state,

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let's look at the functionality of the left side

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of the layer state icon or the action button.

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When any of the three minimized states are in use,

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the action button will toggle between that state

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and the full ribbon view.

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Notice again that hovering over it will display a tool tip

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with the name of the next display state to change to

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if we were to click on it. Now it would change back to the full ribbon.

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There is one other option in the pull down, but I wanted to save it till last.

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It's called cycle

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all and it's actually the default selection.

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Let's select cycle all

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the left side action button will now

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cycle through all four available ribbon states.

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For the remainder of this video,

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we'll leave the ribbon in its default fully expanded state.

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Moving on in our exploration of the ribbon,

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we'll look at adding and removing elements from the ribbon

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for this. Let's change to the view tab.

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I'll right click on the blank area on any

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panel and Autocad will display two options for me,

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show tabs and show panels.

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If you happen to right, click on a tool icon,

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you'll get an additional menu item that allows you

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to add the tool to the quick access toolbar

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rolling over the show tabs will display a flyout

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menu where you can turn on or off tabs.

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I'll select the visualized tab to turn it on.

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Repeat the procedure to uncheck it or turn it off.

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The show panel's flyout works the same way.

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Check or uncheck items to display them or not.

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Here. I'll display the navigate panel.

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Notice it's now added to its default position at the end of the ribbon.

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You'll also notice some gray area that has no panels.

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Right?

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Clicking within this area will display an

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expanded pop up dialogue with more options

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from the top. You can define your tool pallette group.

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Next are the show tabs and show panels menus that we just looked at.

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You can turn the panel titles on or off.

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You can undock the ribbon and move it anywhere you like,

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which is outside the scope of this lesson.

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Finally, you can close the ribbon entirely. Let's do that. Now

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doing so runs a command called ribbon close.

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It's important to know that if you do close the ribbon accidentally or not,

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you'll need to run a companion command called ribbon to make it display again.

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Next,

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let's look at how you can find extra

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commands that may not be accessed quite as frequently

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for this. Let's change to the insert tab.

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Notice next to the block definition label, there's a small down arrow.

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This indicates that there are additional commands you can access.

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Not all ribbon panels have this though,

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you can click anywhere within the panel title to open the additional commands area.

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The display of the area is temporary.

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As long as your mouse cursor is within it, it will remain displayed.

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Once you select a tool or move your focus from its extents,

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it will automatically collapse.

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However, you can pin it into place by clicking on the small pin icon.

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In the lower left corner,

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the icon will change its appearance and now you can move your cursor freely about

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the pinned menu will stay in place until you unpin it or until you change ribbon tabs.

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Here, I'll change to the annotate tab.

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In certain ribbon panels,

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you'll also see a small arrow in the lower right corner of the panel title.

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This is the style dialog manager dialogue display icon.

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There is a corresponding style dialogue for panel items,

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clicking this icon will display it

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again. Not all panels will have this feature.

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Let's close this dialogue.

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Finally,

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let's explore floating and managing ribbon panels.

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You can move a ribbon panel away from the ribbon

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and allow it to appear elsewhere on your screen.

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This is called a floating panel

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to float a panel. Left, click anywhere in the panel where there is no tool icon,

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keep your mouse key depressed and drag it away.

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Unlike the additional commands pull down,

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this is not temporary and it will stay floating until you put it back.

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Also notice that the additional commands icon has shifted to the right

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and is no longer at the bottom next to the title,

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hovering anywhere over the floated panel will display a sidebar on either side.

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The left side bar allows you to reposition the panel.

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And the right one has two important controls that appear

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as small icons at the top of the sidebar.

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Although you can also reposition it with this sidebar as well.

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Again, let's go from the bottom up.

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The bottom icon will toggle the position of the

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additional tools menu from the side to the bottom.

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Notice there is no pin function for the additional tools menu.

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When the panel is floating,

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the top icon allows you to return the panel to its previous location on the ribbon.

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Notice, I didn't say it returns it to its home position.

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It's important to note that you can drag and drop ribbon panels into a new position.

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Let's float the panel again.

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And this time instead of using the return icon,

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I'll drag it to the end position of the ribbon.

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From here, I'll float the panel again

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and this time use the return icon.

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Notice it goes back to where it was when it was floated.

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I'm used to it being in the second position of the annotate tab.

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So I'll drag it back to where I expect it to be