Altium (Disable) Fractal Panel Grouping - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: cjurczak
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2019, 02:49:22 pm
content: I am having trouble getting the panels to stay where I want them. I keep getting panels in the fractal grouping, and its pain to correct. I have three monitors so I have no need for saving space. Is there a way to disable fractal grouping, I combed the settings to no avail, but I thought someone else might have some insight how to prevent my panels from getting grouped this way.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2019, 03:07:54 am
content: what is fractal grouping ?

author: cjurczak
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2019, 01:13:14 pm
content: Quote from: free_electron on January 21, 2019, 03:07:54 amMultiple panels in a group displayed at the same time.https://www.altium.com/documentation/15.1/display/ADES/Working+with+Panels+in+Altium+Designer#!WorkingwithPanelsinAltiumDesigner-FractalPanelGroupingI'm trying to have only tabbed groups, where only one panel shows at a time. But it seems whenever I open a new panel, or rearrange a panel I get them go to the fractal groups instead.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2019, 04:45:54 pm
content: then your option is to make them tabbed. you can have a tab group left and a tab group right.I too run triplehead. one screen PCB , one schematic , one the rest ( Vault browser , scripts , chrome etc )in schematic i have on the left a tabbed panel with projects and on the right propertiesin pcb on the right : properties, on the left : pcb filter and pcb

author: goodnaysayer
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 19, 2019, 03:41:46 pm
content: Hey cjurczak, to answer your question months later: I also have not found a way to disable fractal grouping.One thing I found that helped reduce my frustration with windows sometimes getting stuck in fractal grouping is by saving my preferred panel arrangement in Preferences->System->View so I can load that arrangement when they get "out of whack"

author: daves.toolroom
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 25, 2019, 12:19:47 am
content: I also had problems with this, but eventually figured out that I need to click directly on the title of one of the panels in the fractal grouping, then drag it away from the other docked panels.After this, you drag the moved panel back to the docked panel. Make sure you drop it in the middle of that panel (not onto the arrows that appear when you hover over the existing panel before dropping it). It should then appear in a tabbed arrangement.Hope this helps.

author: henmill
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2019, 05:02:59 pm
content: I registered for this forum just to say thanks. Fractal grouping drives me crazy! Silly that you have to click the title of the panel and I didn't see that anywhere in the documentation.Cheers

author: Pseudobyte
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2019, 02:24:08 pm
content: For all those who prefer to see what is up.To Setup Fractals:To Undo Fractals:

author: lazerj
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 13, 2020, 10:48:43 pm
content: Thank you for this fractal panels are the worst. I was getting really frustrated that I couldn't figure out how get rid of them.

author: dnparadice
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2020, 03:54:07 pm
content: Thanks for posting this. I thought my Altium install had a bug, I didn't realize it was a "feature". Hopefully they squish this "feature" as it sure is annoying.

author: Pseudobyte
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2020, 08:04:48 pm
content: Update for all you fractal panel haters. They are very nice when you are working on a 4k monitor, but if you must disable them this is how:

author: envisionelec
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2020, 12:58:23 pm
content: Quote from: Pseudobyte on May 04, 2020, 08:04:48 pmNot available in 19.1.9 - what version are you using?

author: Pseudobyte
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2020, 02:12:20 pm
content: Quote from: envisionelec on May 08, 2020, 12:58:23 pmI believe that post was done in 20.0. I am running 20.1 now though.

author: olkipukki
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2020, 05:51:20 pm
content: The option has been added in version 20 only.https://www.altium.com/documentation/release-notes-for-altium-designer-version-20-0Quote

author: MikeOxlong69
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 14, 2020, 01:43:37 am
content: Quote from: Pseudobyte on May 04, 2020, 08:04:48 pmUnfortunately this option only prevents YOU from fractal paneling. It doesn't prevent Altium from doing it on its own. And it's still a pain to undo. You can't make this sh*t up. Yet another reason I want to move to a company that uses Mentor.

author: Pseudobyte
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 15, 2020, 01:08:01 pm
content: Quote from: MikeOxlong69 on June 14, 2020, 01:43:37 amHAHAHA you think you are going to have a better time with PADS or DX Designer?

author: alexwhittemore
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 22, 2020, 02:39:43 pm
content: Quote from: Pseudobyte on June 15, 2020, 01:08:01 pmI just spent 8 months working at a company bitching back and forth with a coworker of mine, me about Altium's weird UI oddities and him about DX's (company uses both, depending on project). To be honest, it sounded to me like he had it worse.That said, now that I'm using AD again for the first time in a few years, I could have sworn AD20 was auto-fractalizing on my when I switched views. Good to know I'm not crazy. Super annoying.

author: thekeystoneclimber
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 11, 2021, 08:40:02 pm
content: I see I'm not the only one that thinks that panel management is one of Altium's worst "features". Don't even get me started on semi-context-aware panel groups and the inability to close the Components panel in the symbol editor window or the footprint editor window without also automagically closing it in the schematic editor. Or even the inability to reorder unused tabs in one window (to the end of the tab list) without them being reordered in another.