Saving Real Estate with Auto-hide feature for Palettes - Part 1 *Applies to: AutoCAD 2004 and 2005*
With the introduction of AutoCAD 2004 they
redesigned the Dockable Container. The Dockable Container is the
modeless interface that was used for Properties and Design Center when
they were introduced back in 2000. The new Palettes have a
feature called Auto-hide which allows you to keep the interface
floating about your drawing, but kept as wide as a single toolbar.
The new interface still can be docked on the left or right side of the
screen, but that forces you to give up some Real Estate (or drawing
area).
Step 1 -
You will want to make sure that the Palette
that you want to enable and use Auto-hide on must be floating
over the drawing area. If it isn't already floating
position the mouse over the double lined grip bar at the top of
the Palette. Click and then drag it to the center of the
drawing area.
Step 2 -
Located at the bottom of the caption bar for
the Palette you will find two images. The lower image
brings up the Properties menu for the Palette and the one right
above that controls the Auto-hide feature or what some call the
Roll-up capability.
Step 3 -
The feature is disabled when the image
appears to look like two back to back arrows <>. Click it
once and the feature is then enabled. Once the feature is
enabled the button should look like the image below.
Step 4 -
Now move the mouse away from the Palette and
it will Roll-up and when the mouse is moved back over the
Palette it Rolls out.
