Panels hold the apps you use to study a site. Put the map, its layers, and the numbers that matter for a deal side by side, so you can see a change to a building's massing show up in its yield without switching screens.
What a panel holds
A panel is a container for one or more apps. Each app in a panel gets its own tab in the panel's tab bar. Click a tab to show that app.
Each app opens once per layout. There is one Map, one Layers, one Properties, and so on. You can split the window into as many panels as you need, side by side or stacked, and resize each one.
Your panel arrangement is saved as part of a layout.
Parts of a panel
Grip: the dotted handle at the start of the tab bar. Drag it to move the whole panel.
Tabs: one per app. Hover over a tab to see the app's name.
Add tab: the + button at the end of the tab bar. Click it to add an app to this panel.
App area: the rest of the panel, where the active app appears.
Every other panel action lives in the right-click menu. Right-click a tab, or right-click an empty part of the tab bar.
Add an app to a panel
Click the + button, Add tab, on the panel's tab bar.
Type in the Search apps… box, or scroll the list. Each app is listed by category and name, for example Analysis ▸ Solar.
Click an app. It opens as a new tab in that panel.
Apps are grouped into four categories: Map, Design, Analysis, and Data. Apps you install from the Marketplace appear under Other. To search inside one category, type the category and then the app name, for example "analysis solar."
An empty panel shows an add an app button in the middle. Click it to open the same list.
To add an app that isn't in your project yet, click Add App at the bottom of the list. See Add an App.
Add an app that is already open
An app that is already open in your layout appears faded in the list, with open next to its name. Each app opens once per layout, so picking it again does one of two things:
If the app is open in the same panel, Giraffe switches to its tab.
If the app is open in a different panel, Giraffe asks what to do. Click Move here to move the app into this panel. Click Focus to switch to it where it is.
Close a tab
Right-click a tab and choose Close tab. To close every tab in the panel except that one, choose Close others.
Closing the last tab in a panel closes the panel too.
Color a tab
Right-click a tab and choose Color, then pick a color. The color tints the tab's icon, or shows as a dot when the panel shows text only. Choose None to remove it.
The colors are Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink, Light Pink, Bisque, Blanched Almond, Tea Green, Powder Blue, and Thistle.
Change tab position
Right-click a panel's tab bar and choose Tab position, then pick Top, Right, Bottom, or Left. The panel's tab bar moves to that side. A check mark shows the current position.
Change tab style
Right-click a panel's tab bar and choose Tab style, then pick Icon, Text, or Icon + Text. Tabs show icons only by default.
Split a panel
Right-click a panel's tab bar and choose a split:
Split vertical: adds an empty panel to the right.
Split horizontal: adds an empty panel below.
OR
Drag a tab to the edge of any panel. When Split appears, drop the tab to put it in a new panel on that side. You can only split a tab off its own panel when that panel has more than one tab.
Move tabs and panels
Drag a tab to move one app. Drag a panel's grip to move the whole panel and every tab in it. Where you drop decides what happens:
On another panel's tab bar: the tab or panel joins that tab bar where you drop it.
On the middle of another panel, a dragged tab shows Merge. Drop it to move the tab into that panel.
On the middle of another panel, a dragged panel shows Swap. Drop it to swap the two panels' places.
On the edge of another panel, either one shows Split. Drop it to put it in a new panel on that side.
Resize a panel
Drag the divider between two panels. The divider highlights when you hover over it. Drag a panel small enough and it collapses to its tab bar.
Collapse and expand a panel
Right-click a panel's tab bar and choose Collapse. The panel shrinks down to its tab bar. Click any tab in the collapsed panel, or choose Expand from the same menu, to open it again.
Collapse is only available when the panel's tab bar runs the same way the panel is stacked:
A panel with its tabs on the Top or Bottom collapses when it sits above or below another panel.
A panel with its tabs on the Left or Right collapses when it sits beside another panel.
Fullscreen a panel
Right-click a panel's tab bar and choose Fullscreen. That panel fills the whole window. Choose Restore from the same menu to bring back the other panels.
Press Ctrl+\ to fullscreen the panel showing the Map, or restore it. This shortcut uses Ctrl on both Mac and PC.
Fullscreen isn't saved with your layout. Switching layouts restores every panel.
Close a panel
Right-click a panel's tab bar and choose Close panel. The panel closes with every tab in it.
Closing a panel removes the apps from your layout. Your project data stays exactly as it was. Add the apps back any time.
Open an app from a menu
Open an app without using a panel's + button from either of these places:
The Apps menu in the top bar. Apps already in the project are listed under In this project, with a check mark next to the ones open in your layout. Giraffe's own apps are listed by category under Giraffe: Map, Design, Analysis, and Data. To add an app that isn't in your project yet, click Add App at the bottom.
The command palette lists every app under Tools ▸ Apps. Press
SpaceorCmd/Ctrl+Kto open it, then type the app's name.
📷 Screenshot placeholder: The Apps menu open, showing In this project, the Giraffe categories, and Add App. Replace this block with the image.
If the app is already open, Giraffe switches to its tab. Otherwise the app opens in the panel you last closed it from, or in a panel that holds a similar app.
Where panel changes are saved
Changes to panels save to the active layout: tabs, splits, sizes, tab position, tab style, tab colors, and collapsed panels. Fullscreen is the one exception, and isn't saved. A project's layouts are shared with everyone who can edit the project.
In a read-only project, you can still rearrange panels. Your changes last until you leave the project.
In a published view, panels are locked. You can switch tabs. Adding, moving, and closing tabs is turned off.
Panels in a space
Panels work the same way in a space. A space offers a smaller set of apps: Map, Layers, Properties, Project Settings, Content Library, and any apps you've installed from the Marketplace. A space's layouts are separate from a project's layouts.