Layouts

[igoldsmid]

It would be very nice to be able to create a Layout, then go to View/Layout/Save Layout As.... Custom Layout Name a, b, c, ...n

In other words, the first step of the Customize a new Layout process would be to create any new Layout of users choice, then "save it as" - not have it automatically change the existing Layout that one started in - but save as a new one - preserving the previous one, and to be able to create any number of custom Layouts:

and then - instead of UR defualt naming them as Layout 1, 2, ... 6 being able to give the Layouts meaningful custom names... Like:

Search Results - all Columns Visible
Child-Parent Items Full Horizontal
etc
etc
any number of them the user wants to create...

Regarding meaningful naming this would be akin to what Kinook provided for us when they gave us the ability to custom name Item Flags...

[dasymington]

That's an excellent idea. I've always found the way UR automatically saves layout adjustments to the current layout very confusing.

[Quantum7]

Agreed. This is the first thing which had me scouring through the help files (without quickly finding how it worked) until I came upon this thread.

[TMF]

Agreed with everything, that would be better than current functionality.

(Also, I didn't investigate properly, but it seems to me layouts don't get saved if I have more databases open - back then I had to close all databases, and change the layouts when only one was opened. I might be wrong about this though...)

[mikeg]

Layout functionality could definitely use some attention--even if it's just to improve the Help entries. Like others, I had to log into the forum and search to understand how layouts work.

Agree totally with an explicit layout save option and giving user control over the name and number of layouts as indicated above.

I'd also like toolbar buttons for my favorite layouts at some point, but that's less of a priority.

Still, there is real convenience in making changes to the current layout sticky, so I'd like to keep that behavior also.

Meanwhile, I just went into Layout 3, rearranged things, went back to layout 1 then back to 3 and my changes were gone. Are layout changes sticky or not? Maybe this is because I have two databases open as indicated by TMF above?

[kinook]

You can customize the names of layouts -- Tools | Customize, then click on View, Layouts on the menu, right-click on Layout 1, click on the Name field and enter the desired name.

You can also tear off the Layouts menu to create a Layouts toolbar (while not customizing [close the Customize dialog if opened as described in previous paragraph], Select View | Layouts on the menu, then drag/drop the top border above Layout 1), and the names of the toolbar items can also be customized as above.

You should have only one database open when customizing layouts, then exit UR and restart to save all layout changes so the customizations will be used for all databases that are opened.

[janrif]

Originally posted by kinook
You can customize the names of layouts -- Tools | Customize, then click on View, Layouts on the menu, right-click on Layout 1, click on the Name field and enter the desired name.[snip]

I know you're the boss but I think there is a missing step or I'm just missing it. These steps lead to &Layout. How does user get to layout sujb-menu to rename?

[kevina]

Here are the steps to rename Layouts with more detail:
1) click Tools | Customize
2) on the actual View Toolbar, click the Switch Layout button (which drops down the actual Layout list)
3) right click on the Layout you want to rename (Layout 1, Layout 2 ...), then click on and change the value in the Name "field"

[janrif]

Originally posted by kevina
Here are the steps to rename Layouts with more detail:
1) click Tools | Customize
2) on the actual View Toolbar, click the Switch Layout button (which drops down the actual Layout list)
3) right click on the Layout you want to rename (Layout 1, Layout 2 ...), then click on and change the value in the Name "field"

Thank you Kevin. Stupid here had ripped off the submenu to form a toolbar which might explain why it didn't appear from the view menu. I do know how to change the layout titles/image in the layout toolbar but I don't believe those changes are reflected in View | Layout submenu which still have layout 1, etc. Does this have to be customized separately then?

[mikeg]

Originally posted by kinook
You can customize the names of layouts -- Tools | Customize, then click on View, Layouts on the menu, right-click on Layout 1, click on the Name field and enter the desired name.

You can also tear off the Layouts menu to create a Layouts toolbar (while not customizing [close the Customize dialog if opened as described in previous paragraph], Select View | Layouts on the menu, then drag/drop the top border above Layout 1), and the names of the toolbar items can also be customized as above.

You should have only one database open when customizing layouts, then exit UR and restart to save all layout changes so the customizations will be used for all databases that are opened.

The more we dig the more customizable and feature-packed UR turns out to be! Hopefully usability will be gradually enhanced over time to make all that power easier to find, understand and use. Some of this is a matter of us (me) being patient, reading carefully and gradually trying things out, but providing multiple ways to do the same thing and improvements to Help would contribute a lot as well.

As for having to make sure only one database is open before customizing layouts, this is yet another factor convincing me to combine my two small (9 and 3 MB) databases into one. Multiple database integration is still somewhat of a patchwork.

One of the layouts I'm planning is a hoisted view of My Journal with the current year already selected/expanded. Let's say layout 2. I'm now wondering what happens with layout 2 if I close that database and open a different one which does not contain My Journal as compared to having both of these databases open at the same time?

[kinook]

Layouts are not database-specific. The layout will remain the same if a database is closed and another one is opened.