In the IDE 2, can I move the monitor window?

[Beminetonight]

I just got around to moving over from version 1.8.19 to 2.3.4, and mostly I like the new version. But they claim it's a good feature that the monitor window is integrated with the editing window as opposed to popping up a new window when the monitor opens, and I don't like it at all. What it takes away is the ability to have the two windows side by side, where now they put the monitor at the bottom, and all you can do is change the relative amounts of height each part takes up. Typically the lines of code in a sketch, and also the stuff that you'd print on a monitor, are pretty short, so with a landscape-oriented screen, that leaves lots of empty space over on the right-hand side and very little display room vertically. Am I stuck with this, or is there some control that I'm not seeing which would let me move the monitor to the side?

[ptillisch]

Hi @Beminetonight. Although it is not currently possible to move Serial Monitor to a dedicated window as it is in Arduino IDE 1.x, it is possible to move it from the default location in the bottom panel of the Arduino IDE window to the right side panel. It sounds like that placement might be just the ticket for you.

I'll provide instructions you can follow if you want to configure the Serial Monitor location to the right side panel:

1. Press the Ctrl+Shift+P keyboard shortcut (Command+Shift+P for macOS users) to open the "Command Palette".
   A menu will appear on the editor toolbar:
   
   
2. Select the "Preferences: Open Settings (UI)" command from the menu.
   ⓘ You can scroll down through the list of commands to find it or type the name in the field.
   A "Preferences" tab will open in the Arduino IDE main panel.
3. Type arduino.monitor.dockPanel in the "Search Settings" field of the "Preferences" tab.
4. Select "right" from the menu under the "Arduino › Monitor: Dock Panel" setting.
5. Close the Preferences tab by clicking its X icon.

[Beminetonight]

Very good! That worked exactly as you said, and it solves the problem for me. I'm just surprised that something so useful is so complicated to reach. I had looked under the "Preferences" selection on the Files menu, but nothing of that kind was offered. But it is a good feature that once I've selected the side-by-side monitor placement, it persists until I run the IDE again. So thanks for your help. If you'd accept a suggestion, I think it would be helpful to have a "move monitor" control in the monitor pane itself, so a user could select this easily.

[UKHeliBob]

At one time you could click and drag the Serial monitor to any edge of the IDE window but then the IDE was "enhanced" and the facility was removed.

There is also a long standing request to allow the Serial monitor to be in its own floating window so that it could be positioned and resized to suit the user but nothing has happened on that front for years now so don't hold your breath

You can partially achieve the same effect by opening a second instance of the IDE associated with the same COM port and using the Serial monitor in that instance to display the output, but that is a clumsy substitute for the real solution

[Beminetonight]

Thanks, I do agree that having full control over the size and placement of the monitor window would be ideal, just like in the old IDE. But most of the time, I'd say it's good enough to be able to split a single window into two panes side by side. A one-above-the-other split isn't nearly as good (and yet it's the default).