When modeling complex molecular systems, it’s easy to find yourself juggling various tools that manipulate, select, or construct parts of the model. SAMSON streamlines this experience using editors — interactive tools designed to help you edit molecular models efficiently. But here’s the catch: only one editor can be active at a time.
This might seem limiting at first, especially if you’re coming from environments where multiple tools can be activated simultaneously. However, understanding why this design choice exists — and how to work within it — can actually make your workflow smoother and more intuitive.
What Are Editors in SAMSON?
Editors in SAMSON are interaction-based tools that respond to user inputs such as mouse or keyboard actions. They can do things like create nanotubes, move atoms using rigid-body transforms, or provide selection boxes to choose parts of your model. Think of them as specialized assistants, each dedicated to a particular type of molecular editing task.
The active editor determines what happens when you click, drag, or press keys in the SAMSON viewport. To avoid conflicts and unexpected behavior, it’s essential that only one editor is active at a time — you don’t want a nanotube builder trying to work at the same time as a deformation tool, for instance. This simplicity keeps interactions consistent and focused.
Switching Editors: Where and How
You can switch between editors in several ways:
- Editor Menu: On the left-hand side of the SAMSON viewport, you’ll find the editor menu. This displays installed editors. Selecting one activates it.
- Quick Access Commands: In the top-left corner of the viewport, you’ll find context-sensitive shortcuts for the current active editor.
- Search Box: Use the “Find everything” box at the top of the SAMSON interface to quickly locate and activate editors.
It’s also worth noting that SAMSON includes a suite of default editors out of the box. Need more? You can discover and install additional editors from SAMSON Connect.
Making the Most of Editor Limitation
If you’ve been switching tools frequently, here are several tips to simplify your workflow given the one-editor-at-a-time principle:
- Group your operations together: For example, finish all your atom selections using a selection tool before activating a geometry deformation editor.
- Use SAMSON’s built-in keyboard shortcuts or quick commands to switch faster between your most-used editors.
- Create a personalized workflow: Rearrange or favorite useful editors using the interface so they are always within reach.
If you’re building your own tools, you can even create custom editors tailored to your task using the Extension Generator — ideal for those who need unique editing capabilities in their modeling process.
By respecting the one-editor-at-a-time rule, SAMSON maintains a clean user experience while still providing all the power you need for molecular modeling and design.
To learn more, visit the official documentation at https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/editors/.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.