Tool windows

Last modified: 28 June 2024

View | Tool Windows

Tool windows provide access to development tasks: viewing your solution structure, running and debugging your application, integration with version control systems and other external tools, code analysis, search, navigation, and so on. By default, tool windows are attached to the bottom and sides of the main window. However, you can rearrange and even detach them to use as separate windows, for example, on another monitor.

Some tool windows are always available (for example, Explorer and Structure), some are activated when a specific plugin is enabled , and some appear only when you perform a certain action (for example, Run, Debug, and Find) .

For example, the Run tool window appears only after you run your code. It is accessible from the main menu View | Tool Windows | Run or using the shortcut as long as there is some output in the console, and you don't close all the tabs in it.

Open a tool window

To show or hide a tool window, do one of the following:

  • Go to a tool window under View | Tool Windows.

  • Use the corresponding shortcut, for example, to open the Explorer tool window . If there is no shortcut for a tool window, you can assign it as described in Customize keyboard shortcuts.

  • Click the corresponding tool window button on the tool window bar.

  • In the Classic UI, hover over the quick access button Icon for quick access to tool windows/the Tool windows icon in the lower left corner of the main window and select a tool window.

tip

In some tool windows that display items in tree-like or list-like views, such as Find and Stacktrace , you can use the and shortcuts to navigate between the items.

Hide the active tool window

  1. Press or select Window | Active Tool Window | Hide Active Tool Window from the main menu.

    To show the hidden tool window, use the shortcut assigned to it (go to View | Tool Windows to see the full list of tool windows with shortcuts).

  2. Right-click the tool window's icon on the toolbar and select Hide.

  3. Click the Hide button (the Hide icon) on the tool window's header.

To focus your attention on the editor, you can hide all tool windows and when necessary, quickly restore all windows that were open when you've hidden them.

Hide or restore all tool windows

  1. Press .

  2. Double-click the editor tab that you want to maximize. This will only work if Perform 'Hide All Tool Windows' / 'Restore Windows' with double-click on editor tab is enabled on the Advanced Settings page of settings  .

  3. Select Window | Active Tool Window | Hide All Windows/Restore Windows from the main menu.

  1. To change focus from a tool window to the last caret location in the editor, press .

  2. If you selected a code item in a tool window, for example, a search result, a code issue, or a bookmark, press to open the corresponding file and locate this item in the editor.

  3. To change focus from the editor back to the last active tool window, press or select Window | Active Tool Window | Jump to Last Tool Window from the main menu.

Tool window bars and buttons

The bars on the sides of the main window contain icons of tool windows. Click an icon to show or hide the tool window. A right-click on an icon will open the context menu, where you can hide or move the tool window. You can also drag tool window icons to rearrange tool windows.

Tool window bars

Show or hide tool window bars

  • Go to View | Appearance in the main menu and then select or clear Tool Window Bars.

When the tool window bars are hidden, you can double-press and hold to show them.

Tool window components

Generally, a tool window has a header and a content pane.

Tool window layout

Some tool windows also have toolbars that contain controls used to perform various actions.

Tool window toolbar

Tool window header contains the options menu Options for changing the viewing mode and the position of the tool window, as well as a set of related settings or actions. You can also access these options by right-clicking the header.

A tool window may include several different views. To switch between views, such windows have either tabs or a dropdown selector in the header.

To show a dropdown menu, right-click the header and select Group Tabs. To show tabs, disable this option.

The Project tool window with the Group Tabs option enabled

To cycle through the tool window tabs, press and .

You can click the Hide button to hide the tool window and use other buttons that may be on the header. For example, click The Expand All button and The Collapse All button to expand and collapse the contents of the tool window, or click The Select Opened File button to locate and select the file from the editor in the tool window.

By default, the icons in tool window headers are displayed only when you hover over a tool window or when a tool window is in focus. To always display tool windows header icons, go to the Advanced Settings page of settings  and select Always show tool window header icons in the new UI.

Actions from the tool window toolbar are usually also available in the main menu and context menus. Some of them can also be executed with a default shortcut. You can assign shortcuts for actions as described in Customize keyboard shortcuts.

For all tool windows that display tree-like structures (for example, Solution Explorer) you can display vertical lines that mark indent levels in tree views and help you better understand the hierarchy of the components in your solution. To display these lines, enable Show tree indent guides on the Appearance and Behavior | Appearance page of settings  .

JetBrains Rider: Tree indent guides in tool windows

You can use the following shortcuts to manage JetBrains Rider's tool windows:

Hide Active Tool Window

Hide All Tool Windows

Jump to Last Tool Window

Stretch to Left

Stretch to Right

Stretch to Top

Stretch to Bottom

Show Solution window

Show Bookmarks window

Show Find window

Show Run window

Show Debug window

Show Problems window

Show Structure window

Show Services window

Show Version Control window

Show Commit window

Show Build window

Show NuGet window

Show Unit Tests window

Show Terminal window

Show Database window

For the full list of JetBrains Rider keyboard shortcuts, refer to Keyboard shortcuts in predefined keymaps.