Build a workspace from panels

Understand the three levels#

A workspace is a named working environment. Each workspace can have several tabs and, on supported desktop platforms, several windows. A workspace tab contains a canvas. A canvas holds items such as a Chart, Watchlist & screener or Backtest; an item can supply several panels. A chart, a backtest configuration and its results are panels, rather than separate applications.

This matters when closing or moving content. Closing a panel may only hide a supporting table; closing an entire item can release its running session. Read the confirmation for the actual operation. A broker position is separate from a window: hiding a panel is not an instruction to close a trade.

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Add your first items#

1. Open the workspace switcher in the top bar and create a workspace, or use an existing workspace.
2. Use + to make an empty tab. Choose an item from the empty canvas or open its rail menu.
3. Add Chart and complete its instrument, account and data-source configuration.
4. Add Order ticket, Positions & orders or Watchlist & screener as needed. An add menu can contain specific panels as well as a new complete item.
5. Drag panel tabs to a docking target to arrange content beside or below other panels. Drop onto a tab stack to put panels behind one another.
6. Drag a divider to adjust its size. Pane minimum sizes prevent controls becoming unusable; when there is insufficient room, an item can open as a tab instead of a new split.
7. Save the workspace from its switcher or with the workspace Save command.

A narrow Order ticket or Depth of Market can leave usable free space beside it. Add to this tab suggests suitable companions; Show all items expands the choices. Hide the suggestions on one tab, or disable them in Settings → Appearance → Suggest items for free space in a tab. Right-click empty canvas space to show the suggestions again.

Find an item that is already open#

The rail is grouped into Trade, Automate, Research, Data and System. Current task labels include Chart, Order ticket, Depth of Market, Positions & orders, Watchlist & screener, Calendar, Strategies, Background alerts, Trading systems, Audit, Replay, Backtest, Optimize, Walk-forward, Batch, Portfolio, Instruments, Downloads, Brokers & feeds, Relay and Workers.

Rail clicks follow your Settings → Workspaces → Clicking a rail item preference. Depending on that choice and where the item exists, AMM can reveal it, add it, open a new tab or replace the current tab's visible contents. The rail can indicate where an item is open. Use its menu to choose an explicit action when you want predictable placement. Go to reveals an existing item rather than necessarily creating another copy.

Replace this tab sets existing items aside. The top-bar Back command restores the prior canvas step; Forward reapplies the later one. This is distinct from chart Back/Forward, which navigates a chart's own changes. Do not repeatedly add items simply because the current view no longer shows them.

Arrange and manage panels#

Right-click a panel tab for Maximize panel, Close panel, Close other panels in stack, Rename, move and item-close actions. The available entries depend on the panel. A double-click on a canvas tab can maximize it; Escape or the restore control returns the normal layout. Moving a panel and opening a new item are different operations.

The item's add menu restores supporting panels that were hidden. Charts are removable content: deleting a chart can also delete its local drawings after confirmation. A panel in its own desktop window can be restored with Dock back; Dock all back restores the item's panel windows. Browser sessions do not provide native panel windows.

Link a working desk#

Set the same coloured S symbol-link group on a screener, chart and ticket to pass selections between them. A compatible T timeframe-link group synchronises intervals separately. You can link symbols without linking timeframes, for example a daily equity overview beside a five-minute execution chart. Panels only expose channels they support; a positions table publishes selected records but does not become a timeframe chart.

Linking does not make unrelated provider symbols interchangeable. The same displayed ticker on two accounts can have different contracts, prices and sizes. Check the chart's account and feed after a linked selection, especially when reviewing a broker order or fill.

Example: a multi-asset desk#

Place a cTrader EURUSD chart beside a watchlist containing gold and index CFDs. Put an equity chart in another stack and a futures DOM in its own column. Use separate link colours for the FX/CFD desk and futures desk; add Positions & orders below. Choose each exact provider instrument instead of assuming a forex pair, stock, CFD and future share sizing rules.

Recover a confusing layout#

Use the top-bar tabs list, rail locations or Windows & workspaces to locate hidden content. Restore set-aside items with Back, reveal hidden supporting panels from their item menu, and dock panel windows back before starting again. Settings → Data → Reset layouts resets saved layout measurements for the current workspace scope; it keeps charts, canvas state, drawings and templates, and does not rewrite named workspace files. Export a named workspace before a substantial reorganisation.

Continue with related tasks#

Save, share and organise workspaces, Navigate charts and review trading records, Configure appearance, safety and saved preferences.