When you first install and run ConstructConnect Takeoff, the Takeoff Items and the Typical Groups Panes are stored in the left-side dockbar of the Takeoff Tab which is pinned open, meaning that the dockbar is visible, always. If you are short on-screen real estate (for example, if you are using a laptop or only one monitor) or you are simply viewing plans and do not need to see the Takeoff Items or Typical Groups Panes, you may want to unpin the left-side dockbar so it slides-out only when needed. By default, the right-side dockbar is un-pinned, meaning the Panes docked in it are slid out-of-the way until needed.
Unpinning dockbars keeps the tools you need at your fingertips without taking up a lot of screen space. If you have the screen space (a large monitor or multiple monitors), you can undock individual Panes and move them outside the main application window. We cover docking/undocking in the next article.
This is how the Takeoff Tab looks by default. The left and right dockbars work the same and Panes can be moved between the two, if desired.
To unpin (hide) Panes, such as the Takeoff Items and Typical Groups Panes,
Click the thumbtack in the upper right corner of the Pane (notice, its point faces down when the dockbar is pinned open).
When you click the thumbtack, it turns sideways to indicate the dockbar is no longer pinned.
After a second or two, the dockbar slides into the side of the application.
Notice, we now see placeholders for the Takeoff Items and Typical Group Panes. The dockbar can be slid out to show either Pane.
Let us say we need to grab a Takeoff Item to draw some takeoff.
Click on "Takeoff Items" and the dockbar slides out with the Takeoff Items Pane open. (From here, we could toggle between any Panes docked in the active dockbar (in our example, we could toggle between the Takeoff Items and Typical Group Panes.)
Grab the Takeoff Item you want to use, and when you click within the Takeoff window, the dockbar, along with the Takeoff Items and Typical Group Panes, slides back into the side of the application.
The Right Side Dockbar