A molecular modeling task can be demanding enough without having to hunt for the right panel. Maybe you need to inspect a selected molecule, find a command, or get back to the action history—and the interface feels unfamiliar. A useful first step is to stop thinking of the workspace as one large window and instead learn what each area is for.
This quick orientation is for the moment when you know what you want to do, but not where to look. Once the main landmarks are familiar, it becomes easier to follow tutorials, recover a hidden panel, and move on to loading or navigating a structure.
Eight areas, eight different jobs
- Menu: Find commands, workspaces, and open documents. Installed SAMSON Extensions contribute functionality to the menu, so its contents can vary.
- Viewport: See the document as a three-dimensional scene. This is the visual space you will use when viewing and navigating structures.
- Document view: Explore a structured representation of the document, rather than relying only on what is visible in the viewport.
- History: Review a list of actions that have been performed. It can help you regain context when you are unsure what changed.
- Inspector: Access parameters for chosen nodes, such as atoms, residues, or molecules.
- Status bar: Look here for messages from the application.
- Asset Browser: Access asset libraries for adding atoms, fragments, and molecules to a system.
- Animator: Create a presentation and add or modify animation effects.
A practical way to use this map is to match the question you have with the panel that answers it: What is in my document? Start with Document view. What are the parameters of this selection? Open Inspector. What did I just do? Check History. How do I add an asset? Look in Asset Browser. This small habit can save time when a tutorial mentions a panel by name.
Bring a hidden panel back quickly
Panels can be shown or hidden from the Interface menu, but keyboard shortcuts are handy when you are working and do not want to search through menus. On Windows, the shortcuts use Ctrl; on macOS, they use Cmd.
- Document view: Ctrl+1 / Cmd+1
- Inspector: Ctrl+2 / Cmd+2
- History: Ctrl+3 / Cmd+3
- Asset Browser: Ctrl+4 / Cmd+4
- Animator: Ctrl+7 / Cmd+7
Other available shortcuts include the Periodic Table (Ctrl+5 or Cmd+5), Job Manager (6), Python console (8), and Code Editor (9), using the same platform-specific modifier. SAMSON AI is available with 0. You do not need to memorize every shortcut at once: learn the panels you use most, then keep this list nearby while building your workflow.
Make the workspace fit the task
If a panel is in the way, the Document view, History, and Inspector can be rearranged by dragging their title bars. Widgets can also be docked together. Try changing the layout for a particular task, such as keeping the viewport visible while making the Inspector easy to reach. Your customized interface is saved and loaded the next time you open SAMSON, so you do not have to rebuild the same arrangement each session.
You can also switch workspaces to change how the menu is represented. To find a command, app, editor, or documentation entry without guessing where it lives, use Find everything at the top of the menu. The shortcut is Shift+E.
When you find commands, apps, or editors you use regularly, add them to favorites using the star shown when you hover over them. Favorites appear in dedicated sections of the ribbon menu and in the Editors viewport menu. This turns a broad menu into a shorter personal starting point for recurring work.
The goal is not to memorize the whole interface. Learn the landmarks, use search when a command is hard to locate, and customize the layout only as your work requires. For the full panel reference and more details, see the SAMSON first-look documentation.
Note: SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Get SAMSON.