DO11: feature suggestion: pin / unpin panes

It would be a nice feature if panes such as the Folder Tree, Viewer, or Metadata, could be pinned or unpinned: this would allow for auto-hiding these panes and freeing up more room for the others on the screen.

Not sure what you mean by auto-hiding them. Auto-hiding in response to which events?

If you don't want them taking up space, you can close them entirely.

I mean having them automatically close when not in use, then open when the mouse pointer hovers or clicks on their pinned tab. Many Microsoft developer tools work this way. The file manager xplorer2 has this feature as well; when the folder tree pane is hidden, it's just a tab on the side like so:


. . . and when you hover the mouse pointer over that tab, it pops out like so:


Clicking on the pin icon in the folder tree pane title bar denotes whether to auto-hide the pane or not. It's a nice option to have for panes like viewers and metadata properties where you only need to see them when you need to see them, otherwise want them out of the way. Shortcut keys perform the same functionality, but when you're operating the mouse, it's handy to be able to view/hide panes simply by hovering.

You can achieve the same by using either shortcuts or by making buttons to toggle the panes.

I cannot figure out a way how to achieve auto-hide/show (on mouse hover) functionality by using existing shortcuts or buttons. Is there a way I'm missing? I know I can create a button that can be clicked to make a pane appear or go away, but the "pin/unpin" functionality would have panes appear or disappear upon simply hovering the mouse (or not) on the button/tab.

There's no way to do that, only to toggle the panels on and off.