Fig. 2. Arranging the desktop by tab “Desktop” and by drag and drop selected windows

Tool Action

Steps to Perform 

Opening Desktop Tools

To maximize your work area, keep open only those tools you use. To open a tool, select the tool name from the Desktop menu. Opened tools have a check mark before them in the menu. The tool appears in the location it occupied the last time it was open. The sizes of other tools adjust to accommodate the newly opened tool.

Documents and the tools they are associated with can be part of the desktop, but you do not open them via the Desktop menu. Instead, you open a document and it opens the associated tool.

Navigating Among Desktop Tools

The Window menu displays all open desktop tools and documents, as well as tools for other MathWorks products. Select an entry in the Window menu to go directly to that tool or document. Another way to access an undocked desktop tool is by selecting its entry in the Windows task bar, or the equivalent for your platform.

Closing Desktop Tools

To close a desktop tool, select the item in the Desktop menu, which clears the check mark in the menu and closes the tool. Or click the close box (X) in the title bar for the tool.

Resizing Tools

To resize tools in the MATLAB desktop, drag the separator bar, which is the bar between two tools. You can hide the title bars for tools in the desktop so the tools use less space--select Desktop -> Titles.

Moving Tools Within the Desktop

To move a tool in the MATLAB desktop, drag the title bar of the tool toward where you want the tool to be located. As you drag the tool, an outline of it appears. When the outline nears a position where you can keep it, the outline snaps to that location. Release the mouse button. The tool stays at the new location. Other tools in the desktop resize to accommodate the new configuration. The inside edges of the desktop container and tools all act as if they are "sticky," so you can position a tool along any inside edge. 

Moving Tools Out of the Desktop (Undocking)

Move a tool out of the desktop to make it larger or easier to work with. To move a tool outside the MATLAB desktop (called undocking), select the tool to make it active, and then select Desktop -> Undock -> Toolname. The tool appears outside the MATLAB desktop and an entry for it appears in the Windows task bar, or the equivalent for your platform. Tools within the desktop resize accordingly. Another way to undock is by using the undock arrow in the tool's title bar.

Moving Tools into the Desktop (Docking)

To move a tool that is outside the MATLAB desktop into the desktop, click the dock arrow in the tool's menu bar, or selectDesktop -> Dock Toolname.

Grouping (Tabbing) Tools Together

You can group tools so that they overlay each other in the MATLAB desktop, and then access each tool via tabs. To group tools together, drag the title bar of one tool in the desktop on top of the title bar of another tool in the desktop. To make a tool active, click its tab.