Windows & Tabs

Everything opened in a workbench — a parts list, an order, a collection — opens as a tab across the top of the window. Only one tab shows at a time, so working with two views side by side, or dragging something from one to the other, means giving one of them a window of its own.

Tabs can be moved between windows freely, and a window is only ever a container: nothing is tied to the window it was opened in.

Pulling a Tab Into Its Own Window

Drag a tab out of the window and drop it anywhere outside — it opens in a window of its own, landing right where it was dropped. A dotted outline follows the cursor while dragging so it is clear what is about to happen.

To change your mind mid-drag, drop the tab back on the window it came from, or press Esc. Either way nothing moves.

The same thing can be done without dragging: right-click the tab and choose Open in new window.

Why this is useful: two windows for the same company can sit side by side, or on separate screens. It is also what makes drag-and-drop between views possible — such as dragging parts from the Parts Browser onto a part collection — since within a single window only one of them can be visible at a time.

Moving a Tab to Another Window

Once a second window is open, tabs can be dragged straight from one to the other: pick up a tab and drop it on the other window's tab area. This is also how a tab that was pulled out gets put back.

The outline under the cursor says what will happen when the tab is released:

Solid green — the tab will move into that window.
Dashed red — that window belongs to a different company, so nothing will happen. See below.
Dotted grey — the tab will open in a new window of its own.

Drop the tab on the other window's title bar rather than its tabs, and it opens in a new window instead of moving — which is how a new window can still be made even when windows overlap.

Tabs Only Move Between Windows for the Same Company

Each workbench window belongs to one company, and a tab can only be moved into a window belonging to that same company. Dropping a tab on another company's window does nothing at all — the tab stays exactly where it was.

This is not a restriction so much as a safeguard: a tab showing one company's orders would be actively misleading sitting in a window titled with another company's name. The outline turns dashed red as soon as the cursor is over a window that will not take the tab, so this is visible before letting go rather than after.

What a Move Keeps

Moving a tab never loses work. A part collection that has been started but not saved keeps every part added to it, and anything typed is still there.

There is one difference worth knowing between the two gestures:

Dragging a tab to another open window moves the view exactly as it is — scroll position, selected rows and expanded groups all stay put.
Pulling a tab out into a brand-new window reloads the view as it arrives, so a long list returns to the top and selections are cleared. The data and any unsaved work are unaffected.

Tip: if you are deep into a long parts list and want it on another screen, open the second window first (pull any tab out, or use Open in new window), then drag the parts tab across. It arrives exactly where you left it.

Closing Tabs and Windows

A window closes on its own once its last tab leaves it — whether the tab was dragged to another window, pulled into a window of its own, or closed with its X. Empty workbench windows are never left lying around.

Closing a window does not affect any other window. Backbone MRP exits when the last window closes.

Closing the very last tab exits Backbone MRP, since there would be no windows left. Backbone asks first in that one case, so it never happens by accident.