When started, EPLAN begins with a pre-configured user interface. You can choose between light and dark design for the user interface. You make the corresponding settings in the user settings for the user interface with the setting User interface design.

You can adapt the standard view of the user interface to suit your personal working habits. Many dialogs, such as the page navigator dialog, which you often use for editing data, can be permanently positioned on your screen while working with EPLAN and undocked from the EPLAN main window in the same way as independent windows.

You can position any of these "Windows" (in an undocked state), and every other dialog, by pulling the title bar of the dialog to the desired position while holding down the left mouse button.

If you have customized the EPLAN user interface for a special design task, you can define this configuration (position, size and settings for dockable dialogs) as a workspace and re-select it at any time.

Ribbon

A ribbon is positioned below the title bar of the EPLAN main window which contains the commands that you require to edit the devices, project pages, master data, etc. The functionalities of the program are arranged in a sequence of tabs In the ribbon.

The Tabs of the ribbon are divided into task-specific Command groups to make it easier for you to find the Commands. For example, the Home tab contains the following command groups: Clipboard, Page, 3D layout space, Graphical preview, Text, Edit and Find.

Context-dependent tabs

The tabs Insert, Edit and View are context-dependent. They are only shown once the editor is open. Depending on the editor being used, other command groups and commands are available in these tabs.

If an editor is undocked, the context-dependent tabs are available in the window of the editor as a separate ribbon.

You can customize the ribbon and add own tabs, command groups and - via API add-ins - own commands. If you require more space in the main window or in an undocked editor, you can also minimize the ribbon.

"Tell me what you want to do?" search field

With the "Tell me what you want to do?" search field in the ribbon you can quickly search for the functionalities required in a current situation. You are already familiar with such a search field from Microsoft Office products. With the entry of a search term (e.g. "Page") a list with the corresponding commands is displayed below this field (e.g. Navigator, New, Number, etc.). When a command is selected, the respective dialog is opened (for example the dialog New page for the command New).

An undocked editor also has such a search field. Since the ribbon is context-specific, only those commands which are available in the current situation are shown in the ribbon.

Minimizing the main window

If you reduce the size of the EPLAN main window, the ribbon is reduced in such a manner that you can still access all commands. To this purpose the text is hidden for some commands and only the icon is displayed. In addition the command groups are reduced to buttons for which the commands are accessible via drop-down lists.

If the main window is reduced even more, eventually only a part of the ribbon is shown. In this case you can move the displayed part of the ribbon via a button at the right or left edge of the ribbon.

Drop-down lists with commands

To save space some commands in the ribbon are arranged below other buttons. These are indicated by means of a small arrow which is located next to a button or below a command group designation. When you click the arrow, additional commands are shown in a drop-down list.

Quick Access Toolbar

For frequently used commands a small customizable quick access toolbar is available above the ribbon at the left edge of the title bar. By default commands such as Previous page, Next page, Undo list, etc. are shown here as buttons. With the button in the title bar you branch into a drop-down list and can deactivate non-required buttons of the toolbar by clicking the corresponding commands.

The Customize dialog allows you to add further commands to the toolbar.

Because of the changed user interface, toolbars from older EPLAN versions (Version 2.9 or older) cannot be imported in the current version.

Menu bar as transition help

You can have a menu bar with the "old" menus from Version 2.9 shown as a transition help for the new ribbon. To this purpose the Show menu bar command is available below the button (Workspace) in the drop-down list.

If you select a command, the menu bar is shown in the bottom of the main window above the status bar. An undocking of the menu bar is not possible. The menu bar shown cannot be saved in the workspace and must be shown again after each program start.

Status bar

If you have opened a page, a plot frame, etc. and the cursor is located in the respective editor, the following information for the editor is, for example, shown to you in the Status bar of the EPLAN main window:

• Status of connections: If the # sign is displayed, the Project has out-of-date connections. If the * sign is displayed, the open Page has out-of-date connections.
  The * character is also displayed if, prior to the saving of wire ducts, routing ranges, wiring cut-outs and manual routing paths, the program has determined that the routing path network of the layout space is not up-to-date.
• The character ~ indicates that the Routing path network is not up-to-date in a layout space of the project. If the routing path network has changed in a layout space, the ~ character is displayed until routing has been successfully performed project-wide.
  When editing the routing path network in the topology it is assumed during saving of the routing paths, routing points, topology interruption points or topology targets that the route is not up-to-date anymore. This state of the route not being up-to-date is also indicated by the character ~ in the status bar. The character is displayed until routing has been successfully performed project-wide.
  
• Error icon : If a new error occurs after the system messages dialog was last opened, then this icon is displayed at the right edge of the status bar. Clicking this icon opens the system messages dialog. Once you have viewed the system message and closed the dialog, the icon is removed.
• Direct editing : If the Direct editing mode is activated, this icon is shown at the right-hand edge of the status bar.
• "+" character: If you have activated "advanced" support log mode (using the "ELogFileConfigToolu.exe" logging program), this is indicated by this sign, drawing your attention, if necessary, to the reason why EPLAN has slowed down. In this case, you can deactivate "advanced" mode.

Status bar of the editors

The windows of the editors have their own status bars. To give you faster access to some functionalities for viewing or editing, information such as the cursor position, page scale, etc. and commands such as Object snap, Grid, Zoom window, etc. are not located in the ribbon but at the right-hand edge of this status bar.

If you have opened a page, a plot frame, etc. and the cursor is located in the respective editor, the following information for the editor is, for example, shown to you in the status bar of the editor:

• Cursor position (depending on the coordinate system in X / Y or RX / RY coordinates)
• Object snap
• Snap to grid
• Quick snap (only for 2D)
• Viewing angle (only for 3D)
• Grid size and display (on/off)
• Page report (logic or graphic) and the current data entry language, if text is input
• Page scale
• Zoom (window or entire page)

See also

Dialogs

Special Features of the Navigators

Filters

Working with Workspaces

Operating EPLAN with the Keyboard

Customizing the Ribbon

Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar