Question regarding the behavior of "Comment Styles" and "Stamps" Palettes in SDI mode (New Window Mode) SOLVED

[rakunavi]

Hello all,

I have a minor question regarding the UI behavior of the "Comment Styles Palette" and "Stamps Palette" when the preference option "Open each new document in a new window" is enabled.

Current Behavior observed:
When using the SDI (new window) mode, a new duplicate instance of the Comment Styles Palette (or Stamps Palette) automatically opens whenever a new document window is created.

For example:

1. Open Document A and open the "Comment Styles Palette" (or "Stamps Palette").
2. Open Document B (or create a new blank document) -> A duplicate Palette appears alongside Document B.
3. Inside the Stamps Palette, select a stamp and click the "Edit Stamp" button -> Since the stamp opens in a new editing window, another duplicate Stamps Palette appears.

• Animation.gif

Interesting Findings:

• I noticed that when I add or delete a style in one palette, all other open palettes are updated in real-time. This confirms they share the exact same global data model.
• When a document window is closed, its associated duplicate palette also closes together.

My thoughts/Suggestion:
In the default MDI (Tabbed) mode, only one instance of these palettes is kept open globally, which feels very clean and intuitive. Since these palettes handle identical application-wide user data, displaying multiple identical instances in SDI mode might be redundant for the user workspace.

Unless this is an intentional design choice specific to the SDI environment, would it be possible to consider unifying this behavior so that only a single instance of the palette is maintained globally, just like in MDI mode?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this behavior.

Best regards,
rakunavi

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[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, rakunavi

At this time it is intentional that this happens - but I will pass along the feedback to the Dev team.

Kind regards,

[Vasyl - PDF-XChange]

Hi rakunavi.

Unless this is an intentional design choice specific to the SDI environment, would it be possible to consider unifying this behavior so that only a single instance of the palette is maintained globally, just like in MDI mode?

This looks like a good idea until the user decides to dock the stamp palette pane to one of those windows. And then he may just close that window, for example. The docked pane will also be closed as well. I think this new problem will be bigger than the initial one.

Perhaps the solution must be combined: when the pane is docked, it multiplies itself through the main windows. When it is undocked, it remains single, despite the actual number of main windows. This is possible to implement, but not easy...

Another point - the 'single instance only for floating pane' solution will eliminate this ability, for example:

image.png

Cheers.

[rakunavi]

Hello Vasyl and Daniel,

Thank you both for your great support, and especially to Vasyl for providing such deep insight into the UI philosophy with a concrete example.

Your explanation made me realize a crucial point that I had overlooked. While the underlying data model is global, having separate palette instances allows each window to maintain its own unique "display state".

For instance, even with the Stamps Palette where selection focus is synchronized, the search filter state remains independent for each palette. This means a user can keep different filtered sets visible simultaneously in each workspace across multiple monitors.

In that light, the current behavior is highly rational and beneficial for advanced multi-tasking workflows. I am fully convinced, and this topic can now be successfully resolved.

Best regards,
rakunavi

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]