Dockable and Floating Toolbars in CorelDRAW

CorelDRAW provides a highly customizable workspace where virtually every toolbar can be rearranged to suit your workflow. Users can dock toolbars along any edge of the main application window or leave them floating freely over the canvas or on a secondary monitor. This guide details every default toolbar that can be docked or floated in CorelDRAW and explains how to manage their placement.

Primary Toolbars Eligible for Docking and Floating

CorelDRAW treats almost all on-screen control clusters as modular toolbars. The following built-in bars can be detached, moved, and docked anywhere along the workspace borders or kept as floating palettes:

  • Toolbox: Contains the fundamental drawing, editing, and selection tools (Pick tool, Shape tool, Pen, Rectangle, Text tool, etc.). By default, it is docked vertically on the left side of the screen, but it can be oriented horizontally and docked at the top, bottom, right, or floated as a multi-column window.
  • Standard Toolbar: Houses primary file-level and clipboard commands such as New, Open, Save, Print, Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo, Redo, Import, and Export. It typically sits horizontally below the Menu Bar.
  • Property Bar: A context-sensitive toolbar that automatically updates its controls based on the currently active tool or selected object. Although usually docked horizontally beneath the Standard Toolbar, it can be floated as an independent palette or docked on any perimeter.
  • Status Bar: Displays real-time information about selected objects, cursor coordinates, color profiles, fill and outline properties, and operational tips. While docked at the bottom of the screen by default, it can be dragged to any edge or floated.
  • Menu Bar: Unlike many other graphic suites, CorelDRAW treats the top-level Menu Bar (File, Edit, View, Layout, Object, Effects, etc.) as a standard toolbar. When unlocked, it can be detached, moved to another edge, or floated freely.

Specialized and Secondary Toolbars

In addition to the primary interface elements, CorelDRAW includes several task-specific toolbars that can be displayed, docked, or floated:

  • Text Toolbar: Offers quick access to character and paragraph formatting options, such as font family, font size, alignment, bullets, and drop caps, without opening the full Text Docker.
  • Transform Toolbar: Provides dedicated input fields and buttons for numeric repositioning, rotating, scaling, sizing, and skewing selected artwork.
  • Zoom Toolbar: Contains shortcuts for quick navigation, including Zoom In, Zoom Out, Zoom to Fit, Zoom to Page, and Pan tools.
  • Macros Toolbar: Provides controls to record, pause, stop, and run automation scripts and VBA macros.
  • Print Merge Toolbar: Appears during data-merge operations to navigate records and insert variable fields directly onto the canvas.
  • Internet Toolbar: Available in various versions to assign URLs, bookmarks, and web targets to vector objects.
  • Custom Toolbars: Any custom toolbar created by dragging commands from the Tools > Options > Customization > Commands menu inherits the exact same docking and floating properties as native toolbars.

How to Dock and Float Toolbars

  1. Unlock Toolbars: Right-click any blank space on an active toolbar and ensure Lock Toolbars is unchecked.
  2. Float a Toolbar: Click and hold the grabber handle (the vertical or horizontal dots or bar) at the edge of any docked toolbar, then drag it toward the center of the canvas and release.
  3. Dock a Toolbar: Click and drag the title bar of a floating toolbar toward any edge of the CorelDRAW window. A visual outline will snap into place to indicate where the toolbar will dock. Release the mouse button to confirm.
  4. Quick Dock/Float Toggle: Double-clicking the title bar of a floating toolbar automatically snaps it back to its last docked location. Double-clicking the grabber handle of a docked toolbar un-docks it instantly into a floating window.