ChessBase: customizing the windows layout

by Albert Silver
4/6/2017 – One of the nice things about a program such as ChessBase or Fritz is the ability to be able to customize it the way you like. It is no secret you can move the pane (windows) around so the engine window is on top, on the bottom, on the side, but this is not always obvious. In this quick tutorial, you will learn how to move them around and how to save your favorite setup.

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Let’s suppose you open ChessBase 14, and then a game to study, but what you find is this:

The board is not only very small but the database stats are under the board on the left, and the engine analysis is at the bottom taking up the entire window

Now let’s suppose that what you really want is for all those information windows to be on the right, and the board to be full-sized on the left. Easy-peasy Japanesey.

Click on the top bar of the pane/window you want to move, and keep the mouse button press as you move the window away

You see the window move away as if you were holding it, but a bunch of strange arrows appear now all over the screen. These are not there to tell you which direction to move, they are literally where you need to move the mouse.

In other words, that arrow to the left is not a signpost telling you which direction to go, the arrow is where you need to move your mouse cursor to.

The instant you move the mouse on top of one, you will see a strange sort of inverted color appear on the screen. This is a preview to show you where the pane will appear.

The instant you let go, the colors will return to normal, and the window you moved will now be there. Now just do this for the others.

What if the window disappeared and you cannot find it? For example, above the entire notation window is gone. Oh no!

No panic. Just go to the View tab at the top on the right. You will see check mark squares for the various panes. Put a check into Notation and it will return. Don’t forget that if it is not where you want, you can move it.

Ok, you have reached your ideal layout, and don’t want to go through this hassle in case something gets out of place. Just go to the View tab, and click on the Save.

It will allow you to save your configuration, and if you want to return to it, just click on Load and choose your file.

Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.
LordAsbury LordAsbury 5/15/2019 12:36
It is good there is an ability to change the layout. However it would be ideal to be able to store it as the default layout. It is very annoying to have to go through multiple clicks to get what I want almost every time.
Shabble Shabble 10/27/2018 05:07
My layout changes everytime I open the program. It does not save my last setup.
Sometimed its just a ridiculous page!?
Mr TambourineMan Mr TambourineMan 4/7/2017 10:47
I mean that for many of us we have a hard time to choose how ta arrange windows and would like a button to press that have a default setup. I can understand that diffrent monitors, and what you want to see can make it hard to set up such a button. Yes Bertman diffrent people diffrent choice. But what some of us dont want is to have to put time into choosing what could already been done by someone else. Not that I have no problem with the limited choice of board size as in Chess Assistant, its quite nice to have fixed board size. But in CA one cant even move the board to the left and fill from top to bottom. In CB the other way around - too many windows to move around and if you open up a new function a new window pop up and rearange the windows once again.
Bertman Bertman 4/6/2017 07:33
Not sure what you mean. By default it will repeat your last setup when you closed a board. As to 'best by test', there is no such thing really. I have been with many players and there are inevitably variations.
Mr TambourineMan Mr TambourineMan 4/6/2017 04:00
Yeah but... I would like a button to press that have the best by test window default as setup. Yes I know I can save my choice thats ok, but... We dont have the choice to not choose.
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