GIMP Version: 2.10
Operating System: Windows
OS Version: 10
GIMP Experience: Basic Level

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Irregular user of GIMP over the years. Recently upgraded to Win 10 (I know late to the party) & 2.10 and having trouble arranging screen as I want it. I can't find any useful help but it may be that I'm not using the correct terms when searching so pls bear with me on this as I can't believe it's the first time it's been asked.

I'm lucky enought to have a large 4K screen, so for me the ideal layout is Main window and tools down the right hand side of the screen in one column. Ideally I'd like a single column, dockable to the right or left which then contains one or more of tools (selection drawing and transformation); colour palette; tool options; layers and at times things like fonts, histogram, gradients etc. However I don't want them displayed in tabs as GIMP seems to want to do, I want to see them one under the other, all at once with their content, as many as I can fit in in the column.

I don't care if it has to be multiwindow or single to achieve this but what I don't want is these to be displayed as tabs or to have lots of multiple windows that I have to move around separately. If I find that the column is obscuring detail of the image I just want to pick it and all the info up in one go and move the whole thing to the other side. It's just too much faff having them all over the place.

I'm pretty sure that back in 2.6 the interface was much like this anyway but I could be misremembering.

I've tried many combinations of the dockable dialogues and there seems to be a mass of flexibility but I'm struggling to understand the help/instructions to achieve what I want.

Any help or links to clear instructions to do this greatly appreciated.

...and then if this is possible, is there a way to make this the same across all image windows if I have mutliple ones open?

Thanks.

I go back to Gimp 2.2 days and things were much simpler then however



It might not be possible, some Windows + 4k display users have problems with click-n-drag and finding those little hot-spots for resizing. It could just be a hardware problem, some mouse are not as precise as others.
I do not have a 4k display and generally use linux, so this is the best I can show in a Win10 VirtualMachine. Just an example.

About 2 and a half minutes, no audio. https://youtu.be/FTNRofjzsrg

If you are using the default dark theme (ughh) it might help (temporarily) using the system theme.

Then, go into multi-window mode. The positions of the windows determines positions when returning to single window mode. One window with all the resources on the left side, the main (image) window on the right.

Close any tabs not needed, and there are plenty in the default setup.

Then it is click-n-drag a tab into the bottom of the dock looking for that change in color.

If you reverse the positions, main window left, tools etc right, there is an area that used to labeled 'you can drop docks here' You still can but also re-size down to (almost) nothing.

I can do the single column tools if I turn a few things off. (That may be why they also put them in groups this time.) Can always find the ones you dont use often and if you know shortcuts you can have less on your screen. That may be the best way to go. Assign shortcuts for the tools you use a lot (if not already done so) and then you dont need them to click on.

You can hit the [Tab] key on your keyboard if you don't want to see any tools to have the full canvas uncluttered,
Hit the [Tab] key again, all tools will re-appear
the [Tab] key is working as a toggle switch

Wow, thanks all.

I didn't know about the <TAB> hide thing so that's something I'm sure I'll use going forward, even easier than dragging a tool bar right or left. Nor have I set up k/b shortcuts, which I may use also. Combination of not reading the manual completely and only occasional use I guess.

Most of all though, drag to the bottom! How simple when you know how. I now have a column with the 5 most used dialogues and it's great. I was still looking for the three dots for the hotspots but once I tried that and saw the bottom thicken when I hovered over it, that was enough.

The only thing that I can't fathom at this point is I'm after a single column at the right, which as you say is set by the position in multi window, so I get a column at the right but for some reason when I switch back to single window (which I prefer at the moment) not only does the column dock right but a blank column appears on the left with noithing in it, reducing the main window size.

Anyway, I'll play around a bit and see if I can overcome that. If not, maybe with the other tips I'll just stay multi window.

Thank you again.

That is the bit I mentioned earlier, a previous text message 'you can drop docks here' The text was removed, pressure from the must-look-like-PS lobby but the area is still there. Fortunately it can be reduced to (almost) nothing. You need to find the hotspot.

This is an old Gimp 2.10 with the message still there.



Try opening a blank canvas and look, just the left side of the ruler:
20 second demo https://i.imgur.com/YQjLL3V.mp4

Edit:
If you have problems finding that hot spot and do not mind a little editing, (use a decent editor such as notepad++ or you might be back to defaults ) then the width setting is held in your Gimp user profile C:\Users\"yourname"\AppData\Roaming\GIMP\2.10\sessionrc
Look for the left-docks-width setting

Thanks again. I didn't link that sentence to overall positioning and as I'd never seen that text there it didn't spring to mind.

It's now exactly as I want it. I thought it ought to be possible, one of the benefits of Gimp is that it is particularly customisable/extendable etc. (not that I have spent enough time with it to need most of that)

It's a shame that when developers or UX folk start wanting to play with look and feel (and knock on issues arising in functions) that there are rarely manuals any more and when there are they aren't updated for months/years, nor more importantly do the release notes contain many detailed info on changes. It isn't just Gimp it industry wide and paid as well as GPL software. In fact about the only ones I've come across that do this well with release notes are LibreOffice and Autocad's various design products.

...and that's just the documentation, I'm avoiding my Grumpy Old Man stance on why change things that work to make them more intuitive. They rarely are unless you were involved in the design of them...

In answer to your previous question no, I switched off Dark almost instantly and use legacy where I can. I don't want to spend time relearning all the things I've got used to over the years. That's just wasted time.

On the plus side I am very grateful to all the developers that keep such a functionally rich program alive, progressing and intriducing many good function changes.

Anyway, thanks again for your help. You've encouraged me to go and look at some of the minor things that bugged me as well.

Nothing wrong with 'grumpy-old-man' mode I use it all the time (as others will surely tell you)