# Sidebar > The WPF Sidebar: ten predefined panels, layout by alignment, pinned or as a dialog, opened from ribbon buttons by name, or showing your own FrameworkElement. - **Product:** TX Text Control .NET for WPF - **Section:** Documentation - **Kind:** Topic - **Path:** TX Text Control .NET for WPF > Overview > Components > Sidebar - **866 words** - **Web URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/overview/components/sidebar/ - **LLMs URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/overview/components/sidebar/llms.txt - **LLMs-Full URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/overview/components/sidebar/llms-full.txt --- Search results, styles, comments, tracked changes and the merge fields of a template are easier to work with in a panel beside the document than in a dialog box that covers it. The WPF `Sidebar` is such a panel: it shows one of ten predefined panels or an element of your own, pinned into the window or floating as a dialog. What follows introduces the panels, the layouts, the ribbon buttons that open a sidebar and your own content, with links to the pages that configure each of them. ### What the Sidebar Is [Sidebar](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/reference/txtextcontrol-wpf/sidebar/llms-full.txt) in the `TXTextControl.WPF` namespace is a control, derived from `System.Windows.Controls.Control`, that gives quick access to a feature of a `TextControl` or to a `FrameworkElement` of your own. It must be placed inside another element, typically a `DockPanel` that also holds the editor, and it is one of the items of the **TX Text Control 34.0** toolbox tab. Two properties decide what a sidebar shows: - [TextControl](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/reference/txtextcontrol-wpf/sidebar/textcontrol-property/llms-full.txt) names the editor that the predefined panels work with, by the `Name` of the `TextControl`. - [ContentLayout](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/reference/txtextcontrol-wpf/sidebar/contentlayout-property/llms-full.txt) selects the panel. Its default is `None`, which shows nothing. The following picture shows the Conditional Instructions panel of the TX Words sample, pinned at the right of the window, with its pin and close buttons in the title bar: ![The TX Words sample with a booking request form in the editor and a Conditional Instructions sidebar at the right, which lists the instructions of the form and shows the condition and the action of the selected one.](https://docs.textcontrol.com/assets/img/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/conditional-instr-sidebar.e7bf0dc0.webp) ### The Predefined Panels [Sidebar.SidebarContentLayout](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/reference/txtextcontrol-wpf/sidebar/sidebarcontentlayout-enumeration/llms-full.txt) has a value for each panel, from `Find` and `Styles` to `FieldNavigator`, `ConditionalInstructions` and `DocumentSettings`. [The Panels](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/document-editor/ribbon-ui/sidebar/#the-panels) describes each one, and [Adjust the Title and the Elements of a Panel](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/document-editor/ribbon-ui/sidebar/#adjust-the-title-and-the-elements-of-a-panel) shows how to hide an element of a panel by its name. ### Layout, Pinned or as a Dialog The alignment of a sidebar decides whether its panel is arranged for a place beside the document or for a strip above or below it, and users can resize it and pin it into the window or let it float as a dialog. [Place Sidebars in XAML](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/document-editor/ribbon-ui/sidebar/#place-sidebars-in-xaml) explains the layouts and showing or hiding a sidebar with `IsShown`, and [Show a Sidebar as a Dialog](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/document-editor/ribbon-ui/sidebar/#show-a-sidebar-as-a-dialog) sets the style, size and location of the dialog. The title uses Calibri Light at size 24 by default. ### Open Sidebars From Ribbon Buttons The Home, Proofing, Form Fields and Reporting tabs have properties that take the name of a sidebar, and a click on the button opens the sidebar with the matching panel. [Open Sidebars With Ribbon Buttons](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/document-editor/ribbon-ui/sidebar/#open-sidebars-with-ribbon-buttons) lists these properties and shows the XAML. ### Show Your Own Content With `ContentLayout` set to `Custom`, a sidebar shows any `FrameworkElement` of your own, with the same title bar, docking and dialog mode as a predefined panel. [Show a Panel of Your Own](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/document-editor/ribbon-ui/sidebar/#show-a-panel-of-your-own) shows the code. ### Next Steps - [Add a Sidebar](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/getting-started/document-editor/sidebar/llms-full.txt) — add a sidebar to a window step by step. - [Sidebar and Panels](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/document-editor/ribbon-ui/sidebar/llms-full.txt) — configure the panels and their items in detail. - [Ribbon Tabs, Toolbars, Rulers, and Status Bar](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/overview/components/ribbon-toolbars/llms-full.txt) — the tabs whose buttons open the sidebars. - [Track Changes](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/document-editor/track-changes/llms-full.txt) and [Comments](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/document-editor/comments/llms-full.txt) — the features behind two of the panels. --- ## Nearby - **Previous:** [Ribbon Tabs, Toolbars, Rulers, and Status Bar](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/overview/components/ribbon-toolbars/llms-full.txt) - **Next:** [MailMerge](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/overview/components/mailmerge/llms-full.txt)