I would like to close some view windows that I opened accidentally.
See the image below:
Edit: another note: I tried searching for the solution, but only found things like "Join Area", which don't seem to work in this situation.
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1$\begingroup$ Also see blender.stackexchange.com/a/5633/12 $\endgroup$– iKlsRMar 30, 2015 at 16:36
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30$\begingroup$ blender is rocket science! Everything is so complicated and you need to watch you tube videos or ask here how to move just some view or something so simple. $\endgroup$– Vasil ValchevMay 23, 2016 at 19:04
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30$\begingroup$ Blender is so stupid, why just not have a close button? $\endgroup$– TimSimNov 13, 2016 at 16:16
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19$\begingroup$ My god, why? I honestly try to switch to Blender every few months but after an hour of utter frustration I have to go back. I love the Blender concept, the looks, the ideas, the fact it draws the UI using OpenGL the same way on all platforms. But the UI usability is beyond words. Can someone fork Blender and for once create a proper UI without all the stupidity? $\endgroup$– kaalusNov 14, 2016 at 14:55
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6$\begingroup$ Rocket science is easy...! (But not blender) $\endgroup$– Saravanabalagi RamachandranJun 8, 2018 at 17:03
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5 Answers
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Click and drag on the corner with the grabber (same one for making a new window) and drag DIRECTLY over the neighboring panel that you want to make disappear (if you drag anywhere else, you'll make a new panel). This will make a grey arrow which shows you which panel will get put on top of the other. Release the mouse button when your cursor is over the panel you want to go away.
Two caveats:
- when you click and drag, you must immediately cross the boundary between two panels, before dragging anywhere else. THEN it will make the grey arrow. If you click and drag into the same panel, you'll create a new panel.
- you can only join two windows that share a COMPLETE edge. If you have one full window on the left, and two windows (one on top of the other) on the right, then you have to join the two windows on the right together before you can join the window on the left.
Now, using this knowledge, you have a bit of a puzzle to solve. You have to close each of the windows in the red square individually. So I'd start with the smallest one first. Join it with the one with which it shares a complete edge, and the go to the next-smallest.
This is exactly what you need: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMBi1R7KB48
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16$\begingroup$ Thanks for the solution! I'd spent half an hour fiddling around with the corners and joins, but only made the problem worse. At one point, I think I had around 50 windows open. But your caveats tells me what I needed to know and couldn't find. After some plugging and chugging my workspace is back to normal. Thanks! $\endgroup$– BrentDec 17, 2013 at 22:21
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37$\begingroup$ Watch 3 minute video to be able to close a window? Are you guys out of your minds? $\endgroup$– kaalusNov 14, 2016 at 14:58
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12$\begingroup$ No. First, read the answer. Second, use the video for a visual demonstration of a necessarily visual process. Third, tone down your incredulity and behave with more courtesy in the community you've only recently joined. $\endgroup$– MattNov 15, 2016 at 20:41
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9$\begingroup$ Questions and answers such as these while make the life of Blender users definitely easier also are a solid proof of how poorly designed the UI of this software is. $\endgroup$ Mar 8, 2017 at 10:27
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5$\begingroup$ Because you can't "simply" close a view panel. Someone has to decide which panel replaces the one you just closed, and if that "someone" is the computer, and it expands the wrong one, then the result is even less useful than if you'd just left the panel open, because now you've got to clean up the computer's bad guess. When control can be given to the user in a simple way (like dragging the panel you want to keep ontop of the one you want to close) it's almost always better than asking the computer to guess what the user wants. $\endgroup$– MattOct 26, 2018 at 19:14
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To close an area, grab the tab that overlaps the area you want to keep and abuts the area you want to close:
There's a corresponding tab in the bottom left corner for closing areas below and to the left.
To close, drag the tab over the area you want to remove. An arrow will appear:
Release the mouse and the area with the arrow over it will disappear.
Another way
Hover between the areas so your mouse looks like this:
The right click and select Join area:
Then mouse over the area you want to remove and click to confirm.
For your situation, you must first close all the areas inside the area you want to close:
See the manual for more info.
answered Dec 17, 2013 at 21:54
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$\begingroup$ Neat gif and good explanation, too. Ultimately I needed more detail on the conditions that enable joining instead of splitting, which Matt's answer provided, but this answer is helpful, too. I'd upvote if I could. $\endgroup$– BrentDec 17, 2013 at 22:23
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$\begingroup$ @Brent You can vote on as many answers/questions as you want. You can only accept one answer on each of your own questions. $\endgroup$– gandalf3 ♦Dec 17, 2013 at 22:24
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1$\begingroup$ True, votes aren't exclusive, but they have a requirement of 15 reputation, which I currently don't have. $\endgroup$– BrentDec 17, 2013 at 22:45
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2$\begingroup$ I just checked and I'm pretty close--I've made a note to come back and upvote this once I reach 15 :) $\endgroup$– BrentDec 17, 2013 at 22:50
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2$\begingroup$ @PieterDeBie There are handles on both the bottom left and top right corners; use the top right one for closing in the up or right directions, use the bottom left one for closing in the down or left directions. I used the right click menu in the gif just for some variety. $\endgroup$– gandalf3 ♦Apr 1, 2018 at 6:34
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Just drag the hatched edge to another side and release the mouse button (when the big arrow appears).
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You can also do this if you're pixel-precise:
answered Sep 7, 2018 at 18:03
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I felt the need to post another answer here, because so many of these answers appear to refer to old versions of Blender, or just are not clear, and I spent a good half hour at least just trying to figure out basic window management, pulling my hair out.
In particular, I'm on V 2.93.4 and there are no "grabbers" or diagonal hashes in the corners of windows.
Like a lot off commenters on @Matt's top answer, I was really struggling to figure out why sometimes I was splitting the window and sometimes joining two windows. My mistake was that I was starting my drag exactly at the intersections of the windows.
What I have learned, through experimentation, is that it's only really predictable if you conciously start the drag with the crosshair inside of one of the panes:
To split the pane, you'll continue your drag further into the interior of the same pane where you begin the drag
Whereas to merge/join two pains you will drag across the pane boundary, immediately leaving the pane where you started, like this:
If you start with the crosshair exactly on the boundary, then it's a lot more difficult to know which of the two operations you are going to end up doing, so be conscious about trying to grab a little bit inside the window that you want to split, or in the case of merging, start your drag within the one that you want to keep, out of a pair of adjacent windows.
