Unity Layout — Free productivity boost
Messy desk doesn’t stop you to do your work. Old hardware, a small trackpad, only a mouse to draw and so much more does not mean certain failure. However, it can slow you down. Being in a clean and easy-to-find environment does a lot. Even things as simple as resizing XYZ windows 5 pixels smaller. Sadly this article cannot solve all of your organizational mess. What it can do is helping understanding how you could organize your Unity environment to be more productive and losing less time.
Time is money? Stop searching where you put that window and get more productive!
Unity Editor is super customizable. You can open and close editor windows and rearrange them to fit your workflow. You can also save your layout and make a different layout depending on your preference and current project.
This story does not explain what certain windows can do. To get more information about what the default tabs Unity offers, go to THIS story of mine.
We can start by having a look at the full editor window. This configuration is the default setup you should see when you first open Unity. The Scene view in the middle, Hierarchy on left, Inspector on the right and Project on the bottom.
If you have made a change and want to get back to the default Unity layout, you have a menu on the top right of the editor. It may have a different name than default. If you click on it a drop-down menu will appear with all your current save layouts. You may click on default to switch to it.
On this menu, you may try the existing layout.
At any time, when you are in the Unity Editor you can hold click on TAB and drag it. When dragging you may change order, move it to another section, create a new section (which is shown by a placeholder) and simply pop the tab out and have a floating window.
To make a floating window/tab all you need to do is grab a tab and getting it outside of the Editor.
This is really useful if you have a multi-monitor setup.
As the Editor’s window itself, all tabs and floating windows can be resized by putting the mouse over the edge of it then dragging it.
Also, on the floating window, you have the option to maximize the window to fill the screen. Note that some tab and windows have a minimum size.
You can also close every tab by right-clicking on the tab name and select Close Tab.
Also, on any tab, you can right-click and choose Add Tab. There you will have the basic tab will be offered to be added
However, the Add Tab only has few options. There is a lot more tab/window in the Window menu on the top.
You may check the Analysis/Profiler.
AND finally, the best part! The save feature!
You now have moved, open, snap, close, shift, resize and many other things to these tab/window and now it suits you perfectly, but you want to be sure to never need to redo it again. Also if your workflow requires different planning.
I personally use 2 layouts on my day to day basis with Unity. These layouts are my preference and my 3 monitors setup. Since I am a solo developer I mainly use this layout:
— Programing Layout
Tips and Tricks
Shift + Space Enlarge the currently selected Tab to full editor.