Is the pin functionality (autohide toggle) removed in the development version?

[raindropsfromsky]

There is a setting to replace the pin with an Overlay button, but it is unselected by default.
So I should be seeing a pin button as in the stable version.

But the development version does not show the pin.

Secondly, I selected the "overlay" checkbox, and then clicked on the overlay button.
The ribbon vanished altogether and did not reappear on hover.
Instead, the side panels (tasks and tree) expanded upward till the top of the screen.

Since the menu bar also vanished along with the ribbon, I could not toggle it back.
Nothing works:

1. ESC
2. F4
3. Hover on the ribbon area and press F3

I have to crash FreeCAD and restart it.

Not sure if this a bug, and if it is, whether it is for Ribbon or FreeCAD itself.
(The F3/F4 functions have never worked properly on FC for me.)

[APEbbers]

Hi,

Regarding the pin button:
the pinbutton is moved to the bottom right of the ribbon:

Regarding the overlay function:
When you open a part with (ctrl+o) or create a new file (ctrl+n), the ribbon should appear when overlay is enabled.

The ribbon now works with FreeCAD's overlay function, so I removed the overlay button to simplify the process.
You now use only FreeCAD's overlay function. the buttons are in the view menu or left from the ribbon..

In the latest version of FreeCAD, the shortcut keys are removed by default. You can add them again your self if you 'd like.
In overlay, the tree widget's goes always to the top. That´s how FreeCAD is setup. I cannot change that unfortunately.

[raindropsfromsky]

pinbutton is moved to the bottom right of the ribbon:

Well, the pin icon was always there in the right-side-bottom corner!
And it worked reliably. I loved that functionality.

But now I see a square "overlay" icon in its place, which remains unchanged regardless of whether I select the checkbox in the Advanced settings. It never changes to the old "pin" icon you have shown in your screenshot.

[raindropsfromsky]

While experimenting, I landed in further trouble: My ribbon has got undocked from its place.

But I cannot drag it to dock it back, because it does not have a draggable handle!
I tried to kill FC and launch again, but the ribbon remains floating even in the new instance of FC.
How to drag the ribbon??

[raindropsfromsky]

Strangely, when I click on any "blank" area in the top line of the Ribbon and start dragging, I end up dragging the main FC window!
In other words, the ribbon stays fixed on the screen, and the whole FC window gets dragged with the mouse!

For example, if I click on the "beta functions" label, this happens.

[APEbbers]

Hi,

when you disable the overlay functions under ribbon-preferences, the ribbon will be placed back. Also, the pin button will be back.

[raindropsfromsky]

I used the Advanced settings dialog and disabled the main "overlay function" checkbox.

While the pin button reappeared, I am still unable to drag and dock the ribbon to the top edge of the window.
Even now, the main window gets dragged around, and the ribbon remains stationary.

[raindropsfromsky]

What is the effect of the drop-down list (2) in the screenshot above?
Does this setting play a part in this problem?

[APEbbers]

What is the effect of the drop-down list (2) in the screenshot above? Does this setting play a part in this problem?

no, this sets the type of view panel for each workbench.

What I can think of, is to:

1. enable overlay
2. toggle overlay overlay for the ribbon.
3. When a document is open, toggle overlay again. this should disable overlay again. (or drag it now back)
4. Disable overlay

[APEbbers]

Screencast_20260411_102559.webm

You might need to click twice on the overlay button. I'll look into that

[raindropsfromsky]

This is the strangest thing I have seen!
The Ribbon stays fixed in one place, but the whole FC window moves!

Yes, I had to click 2-3 times on the overlay button.
Only after that did the Ribbon show the control buttons at its left edge.
I followed your video and clicked on the third button to dock the Ribbon to the top edge.

But then I went to the Advanced settings and disabled the overlay checkbox.
FC restarted, and now the Ribbon is floating again (back to square one!)

In short, if I want to dock Ribbin, I have to select the Overlay option.

[APEbbers]

I might have a fix. But I'll look if I can improve the overall behaviour

[APEbbers]

Hi,

I found the cause of this behaviour. It is a windows specific issue. It is solved in the latest commit of the develop branch. (13:32 15-05-2026)

Kind regards

[raindropsfromsky]

Problems:

1. The toggle overlay button does not show whether the overlay mode is on or off.
2. When I clicked the toggle button, the Ribbon vanished. It reappeared only when I pressed CTRL+N.
   Now this is entirely unexpected and wrong: Why should the Ribbon need a new document to appear??
   (a) The user will never guess this!
   (b) A mouse-oriented user will not think of using the CTRL+N shortcut. He will feel totally at a loss.

[APEbbers]

That is how freecad is setup. I cannot change this behaviour. Personally, I only set the tree transparant and afterwards disable overlay again

[raindropsfromsky]

With just a couple of experimental clicks, I have reached a ridiculous situation where the entire FC window is blank now.
There are no panels (including the Ribbon, which is the most important of all, as I can recover if the menu is available).
I tried hovering in different areas, neat different edges, but there are no autohide panels to reappear.

Even the context menu has no options to recover.
A mouse-oriented person will be stuck, as he will not think of using ALT+F4.

[raindropsfromsky]

I crashed FC using ALT+F4. When I relaunched, the Ribbon reappeared (docked to the top edge).
But there were no other panels.
I checked out the View > Panels menu, only to find that all panels had turned off!
So how does the Overlay menu turn off panels??

[APEbbers]

No but FreeCAD resets the UI after a crash often. basically the crash fixed the issue..