Drawers

A drawer is an extension of a panel. You can open and close a drawer in the same way that you can show and hide a panel. A drawer can contain all panel objects, including launchers, menus, applets, and other drawers. When you open a drawer, you can use the objects in the same way that you use objects on a panel.

You can open a drawer by clicking the drawer's icon. To close the drawer, click the icon again or click the drawer's hide button.

The following figure shows an open drawer that contains two panel objects.

Figure 4-9 Drawer Panel

The arrow on the icon indicates that it represents a drawer or menu.

You can add, move, and remove objects from drawers in the same way that you add, move, and remove objects from panels. You can add a drawer in the same way as you add other objects. For more information, see Adding an Object to a Panel.

How to Add a Menu as a Drawer to a Panel

1. Open a submenu in any one of the following:

   • Main Menu applet

   • Applications

   • Places

   • System menu in the Menubar applet

2. Right-click a launcher item on the submenu.
3. Choose Entire menu → Add this as drawer to panel.

How to Add an Object to a Drawer

1. Right-click a vacant space on a drawer to open the drawer pop-up menu.
2. Choose Add to Drawer.

   The Add to Drawer dialog is displayed. The available drawer objects are listed in alphabetical order, with launchers at the top.

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   Note - You can type a part of the name or description of an object in the find box to narrow the list to those objects that match what you type. To restore the full list, delete the text in the find box.

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3. Either drag an object from the list to a drawer, or select an object from the list and click Add to add it at the spot on the drawer where you first right-clicked.

How to Modify Drawer Properties

You can modify the properties of individual drawer. For example, you can change the visual appearance of the drawer and whether it has hide buttons.

1. Right-click the drawer, and then choose Properties.

   The Drawer Properties dialog appears and displays the General tab.

2. Select the properties for the drawer. The elements on the General tab are as follows:

   • Size – Specifies the width of the drawer when it is open.

   • Icon – Chooses an icon to represent the drawer. Click the Icon button to display an icon selector dialog. Choose an icon from the dialog and click OK to confirm your choice.

   • Show hide buttons – Displays hide buttons on your drawer. Click one of the buttons to close the drawer.

   • Arrows on hide buttons – Select this option to display arrows on the hide buttons, if the hide buttons are enabled.

3. You can use the Background tab to set the background for the drawer.

   For information on how to complete the Background tab, see Setting Panel Properties. You can also drag a color or image on to a drawer to set the color or image as the background of the drawer. For more information, see About the Background Properties Tab.

4. Click Close to close the dialog.