Manipulating the Tool Windows

You can manipulate the tool windows in various ways to adjust PhpStorm workspace to your needs.

• Showing a tool window
• Hiding an individual tool window
• Hiding all tool windows attached to the same tool window bar
• Hiding all tool windows
• Switching to the last active tool window
• Hiding or showing the tool window bars
• Hiding tool window buttons
• Attaching a tool window to a different tool window bar
• Resizing a tool window
• Increasing the number of tool windows shown at a time
• Saving and restoring the arrangement of the tool windows

Showing a tool window

Do one of the following:

• In the lower left corner of the workspace, point to and select the tool window in the menu that is shown.
• Click the corresponding tool window button on the tool window bar.
• Choose View | Tool Windows | <tool window> in the main menu.
• If the tool window has an associated quick access number, press Alt+<number> (for example, Alt+1 for the Project tool window).

Hiding an individual tool window

Do one of the following:

• Click the corresponding tool window button on the tool window bar.
• Click on the tool window title bar.
• Right-click the corresponding tool window button and select Hide from the context menu.
• Right-click the tool window title bar and select Hide from the context menu.
• Choose View | Tool Windows | <tool window> in the main menu.
• If the tool window has an associated quick access number, press Alt+<number> (for example, Alt+1 for the Project tool window).
• If the tool window you are going to hide is currently active, press Shift+Escape.

Hiding all tool windows attached to the same tool window bar

Do one of the following:

• Press and hold the Alt key, and click on the title bar of any of the tool windows attached to the corresponding tool window bar.
• Choose Window | Active Tool Window | Hide Side Tool Windows in the main menu. This command hides all the tool windows attached to same tool window bar as the active tool window or the last of the active tool windows.

Hiding all tool windows

Do one of the following:

• Choose Window | Active Tool Window | Hide All Windows in the main menu.
• Press Ctrl+Shift+F12.

Switching to the last active tool window

Do one of the following:

• Choose Window | Active Tool Window | Jump to Last Tool Window in the main menu.
• Press F12.

If all the tool windows are currently hidden, the last active tool window will be shown and made active.

Hiding or showing the tool window bars

You can hide all the tool window bars if you need more space in the PhpStorm window:

• In the lower left corner of the workspace, click .

If the tool window bars are hidden, you can bring them back onto the screen either permanently or for a short period of time:

• To restore the tool window bars, click in the lower left corner of the workspace.
• To see the tool window bars for a short period of time, double-press and hold the Alt key. The tool window bars appear on the screen making the tool window buttons accessible. The tool window bars are hidden again when you release the key.

Hiding tool window buttons

PhpStorm makes it possible to hide individual tool window buttons, without actually uninstalling the corresponding plugins.

To remove a tool window button from view:

1. Make sure that the tool window bars are visible.
2. Right-click the tool window button you want to hide.
3. Choose Remove from Sidebar

To restore the hidden tool window button, choose View | Tool Windows on the main menu, and then click the window with the hidden toolbar button.

Attaching a tool window to a different tool window bar

Do one of the following:

• Drag the corresponding tool window button onto the desired tool window bar (top, left, bottom or right).

  

• Right-click the corresponding tool window button or the tool window title bar to open the context menu. Choose Move to and then select the destination tool window bar (Top, Left, Bottom or Right).

  

Resizing a tool window

• Hover the mouse pointer over the tool window border. When the pointer becomes a double-headed arrow, drag the border in the required direction.

  

• You can also resize a tool window by moving its border to left or right, or up or down in steps. The following alternatives are available for doing that:
  • Right-click the corresponding tool window button or title bar and select Resize. Then select one of the available Stretch to options.
  • Make the tool window of interest active and do one of the following:
    • ChooseWindow | Active Tool Window | Resize, and then select the necessary Stretch to option.
    • Press Ctrl+Shift in combination with the corresponding arrow key.

Increasing the number of tool windows shown at a time

To increase the number of tool windows to be shown at a time, you should appropriately set the viewing modes for different tool windows. Consider the following:

• Generally, for a tool window to be visible always (i.e. even when inactive), the tool window should be pinned.
• There are no limiting factors for the number of visible floating windows and ones in the windowed mode. Note that the windowed mode is not available if you are using OS X.
• To be able to see two windows docked to the same tool window bar at a time (rather than one), one of the windows should have the split mode off and the other one on.
• Initially, three (out of four) tool window bars are used. You can "activate" the forth tool window bar (the top one) by moving certain tool windows to it.

Saving and restoring the arrangement of the tool windows

You can save the way the tool window are currently arranged by choosing Window | Store Current Layout as Default in the main menu.

At a later time, you can return to the saved workspace layout by choosing Window | Restore Default Layout (Shift+F12).