Introduction > The User Interface > Options & Keyboard Shortcuts

Help & Manual is extensively customizable. Most customization options are available in the View section in the ribbon. Almost all functions can be controlled with keyboard shortcuts, which you can configure with Customize in the View section of the ribbon. In addition to this you can also undock the Project Explorer by double-clicking on it and add items to the Quick Access Toolbar by right-clicking on them.

•	Select the View tab in the Ribbon to access the options for changing Help & Manual's appearance and behavior.

•	Select the drop-down gallery on the right of the Quick Access Toolbar to customize the Quick Access Toolbar.

•	Right-click on any item in the Ribbon to add it to the Quick Access Toolbar.

•	Select View > Program Options in the Ribbon to access the detailed program configuration dialog.

•	You can configure the appearance of the program, the layout and contents of the Ribbon Toolbar, the behavior of the editor, automatic update checking and many other things.

Keyboard shortcuts:

You can assign keyboard shortcuts to most functions in Help & Manual, many functions are already configured with keyboard shortcuts.

•	Select View > Program Options in the Ribbon to view and edit keyboard shortcuts.

•	You can also assign keyboard shortcuts to styles. Select Write > Styles > Edit Styles in the Ribbon to access the styles editing dialog.

Accelerator keys:

The Ribbon interface has an advanced accelerator keys interface which can also be used by authors with vision handicaps.

1.	Press the ALT key once briefly (you may have to press it twice if you have just clicked on a control in the Ribbon). Small icons showing accelerator letters and codes will be displayed on the Ribbon controls.

2.	Type the accelerator letters on the keyboard to perform the corresponding actions. If multiple letters are displayed type them one after another – these are not key combinations!

If Ribbon menus are displayed they will show more accelerator keys.

•	Double-click on the Project Explorer title bar or drag it out of the program window to display it as a separate window.

•	To re-dock the Project Explorer double-click on its title bar again.

•	Click on the "pin" tool in the Explorer title bar to "pin" the Explorer to the left margin of the window. The Explorer will then be hidden while you are editing and will only be displayed when you mouseover the Explorer title in the left margin.

•	To "unpin" just mouseover the Explorer title to display it and then click on the pin tool in the title bar again.

You can "split" the Project Explorer to display projects or parts of projects in a separate Explorer pane. This makes copying and pasting topic files and TOC branches easier, both within projects and between different projects.

1.	In the Project Explorer click on the project or the section of the TOC you want to split.

2.	Select Explore > Split Explorer in Project > Manage Topics.

Undocking, docking and pinning Explorer panes

•	Click in the title bar and drag the new Explorer pane out to the left to display it in a separate window.

•	Drag it to the right onto the main Explorer pane to display it in a tab.

•	Double-clicking on an Explorer pane title bar also docks and undocks.

•	You can also "pin" individual Explorer panes to the left margin by clicking on the pin tool in the pane's title bar (see above).

You can't undock the tab but you can change its position and display it to the left or right of the main editor pane. To do this just drag its tab:

Repositioning to the left and right:

Drag the tab to the left or right to change its position in relation to the other tabs. Release the mouse button when the shaded outline shows the new position:

Displaying next to the main Editor pane:

Drag the tab to the left or right margins of the Editor pane to display it next to the Editor. To dock on the right of the editor release the mouse button when the shaded outline shows the new position at the side and the mouse pointer is over the right margin (make sure that the mouse pointer is over the margin when you release – if you move it too far it won't work:

You can return the tab to its "tabbed" position by dragging its title bar back down onto the other tabs:

Pinning the window:

You can also "pin" the window to the margin so that it hides itself automatically and then rolls out over the Editor when you mouseover the pinned tab:

This works best when you pin to the left side of the Editor. If you pin it on the right it will roll out vertically rather than horizontally.