Arranging Your Workspace

Beginner

Show or hide the navigator, properties, toolbox and AI panels, switch workspace modes, and use Focus Mode to give the center view the whole screen.

Metapad's workspace is a set of panels around a central view:

  • Navigator (left) — the tree of everything in your model.
  • Center — the active view: a diagram, the Explorer, or a document.
  • Properties (below the center view) — the details of the selected element.
  • Toolbox (right) — the palette you drag node and relationship types from. It shows on diagrams, simulation dashboards and in the Explorer.
  • AI Assistant (far right) — the chat panel, when AI is available for the model.

The Metapad workspace in Designer mode, with all four panels

You can show or hide each panel to suit the task at hand.

Show or hide panels

Above the central view, at the right end of the toolbar row, are icon buttons for Navigator, Properties and Toolbox, next to the Focus Mode and AI Assistant buttons. Hover over one to see its name. Click to hide a panel; click again to bring it back.

Workspace modes set sensible defaults

The Designer / Reader / Explorer switcher at the left of the same toolbar row does more than change the central view — each mode comes with a layout that fits it:

  • Designer — navigator, properties and toolbox.
  • Explorer — navigator, properties and toolbox, around the force-directed graph.
  • Reader — navigator only, next to the reading view.

If you hide or show panels within a mode, Metapad remembers your choice for that mode for the rest of your session — switch away and back, and your arrangement returns.

Focus Mode

Need to concentrate on the content alone? Click Focus Mode (also in the canvas right-click menu) to collapse all the surrounding panels and give the center view the whole screen. Click Exit Focus Mode to restore your panels exactly as they were. The AI Assistant panel stays as it is.

Resizing

Every panel can also be resized by dragging its edge — independent of showing or hiding it.

More in the Navigator panel

The Navigator panel also has the Versions and Settings tabs (for editors).

Tips

  • Hide the toolbox and properties panel when you just want to read or present.
  • Use Focus Mode for screen-sharing or distraction-free writing.

Try it live

Open these working examples in the app and explore them yourself.

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Creating Your First Model

This content was written collaboratively with AI.