Working on molecular systems often demands focus, clarity, and efficiency. And yet, one of the most common frustrations voiced by new and experienced SAMSON users alike is finding and organizing the right tools at the right time. Between document views, multiple editors, and customizable modules, it can sometimes feel like there’s too much on your screen—or not enough where you need it.
If you’ve ever wished for a cleaner, more tailored interface in SAMSON to suit your work style or task, this post is for you. Let’s walk through how to customize the SAMSON interface and rediscover control over your molecular design environment.
Why customize?
SAMSON is designed to flexibly integrate multiple Extensions—apps, editors, commands—tailored to what you’re working on. But every user works differently. Customizing your interface helps:
- Reduce visual clutter
- Speed up access to frequently used tools
- Create task-specific environments (e.g., modeling vs. presentation)
- Improve overall productivity
Drag-and-drop simplicity
Most of the interface’s elements—like the Document view, History, and Inspector—are completely dockable. You can drag windows via their title bars and attach them to different parts of the SAMSON layout. Want your Inspector next to your document history? It’s a simple drag and release.
You can even group multiple widgets in tabbed layouts to save space. Everything from Extensions to the asset browser can be positioned your way.
Favoriting tools with one click ⭐
Tools that you access regularly can be added to your Favorites. These favorites appear at the top of the ribbon menu and are also available in the Editors viewport menu.
To add something to your favorites:
- Click the Find everything box (or press Shift+E).
- Search for an app, editor, or command.
- Hover over it and click the ⭐ icon.
And if you ever want to remove it? Just click the ⭐ again.
Keeping control with keyboard shortcuts
Sometimes speed matters. You can toggle parts of your interface on and off with simple shortcuts:
- Ctrl+1 (or Cmd+1 on Mac): Toggle Document view
- Ctrl+2: Inspector
- Ctrl+3: History
- Ctrl+4: Asset browser
- … and so on up to Ctrl+9 for Code Editor
These shortcuts are especially useful when you need to quickly clear your interface—or bring back something you closed by accident.
Task-specific workspaces
Almost everything you do in SAMSON is connected to a workspace. In fact, even the menu contents change based on the currently selected workspace.
Just select the workspace that best fits your task from the top-left corner of the menu. You can even create your own.
Always-on-top windows 📌
Some SAMSON Apps can be pinned using the 📌 icon so they remain above everything else. This is handy for monitoring real-time data or keeping certain tools nearby without docking them.
Finally, your entire customized layout is saved between sessions. That means once you have a configuration you like, SAMSON will remember it the next time you launch the software.
Conclusion
Whether you’re building, simulating, or presenting molecular systems, a tailored interface helps you focus on what really matters. Taking a few minutes to customize your SAMSON environment can spare hours of distraction and searching later.
To learn more about the SAMSON interface and all its options, visit the full documentation page: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/first-look/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net