Toggle Floating Windows in Paint.NET
In Paint.NET, the four primary floating utility windows—Tools, History, Layers, and Colors—can easily be shown or hidden to customize your workspace and maximize canvas visibility. Whether you accidentally closed a panel or need more room to edit, you can toggle these windows on and off instantly using dedicated keyboard function keys, the top-right toolbar buttons, or by resetting them via the application settings.
Using Keyboard Shortcuts
The fastest way to show or hide the floating panels is by using the Function keys across the top of your keyboard:
- F5: Toggles the Tools window.
- F6: Toggles the History window.
- F7: Toggles the Layers window.
- F8: Toggles the Colors window.
Pressing any of these keys once will open the corresponding window if it is currently hidden, or close it if it is currently visible.
Using the Top-Right Toolbar Icons
If you prefer using your mouse, you can toggle the panels using the utility buttons located in the top-right corner of the Paint.NET interface, just below the minimize/maximize/close controls:
- Locate the row of four icons next to the Settings (gear) icon in the upper-right corner.
- Identify the icon for the window you need:
- Hammer icon: Tools
- Clock/Rewind icon: History
- Stacked rectangles icon: Layers
- Color wheel icon: Colors
- Click an icon to toggle its state. When a window is active, its corresponding icon appears highlighted with a blue background. When hidden, the icon appears flat with no highlight.
How to Restore Missing or Off-Screen Windows
If a window is toggled "on" but does not appear on your display (which can happen after changing monitor resolutions or disconnecting an external monitor), you can reset their positions:
- Click the Settings icon (the gear in the top-right corner).
- Under the General tab, scroll to the user interface options.
- Click the Reset window locations button.
- Click OK to return your Tools, History, Layers, and Colors windows to their default positions on your screen.