How can I always show Android Studios Preview?

Question

I have probably hit some setting in Android Studio. So my problem is, my Preview window hides every time I click somewhere in the xml code.

Obviously I want the preview available the entire time I'm in the xml editor so that I can view my changes, and also without having to click the Preview button all the time.

Any ideas?

you mean the "design tab" ? – Ahmad Sanie Jun 08 '15 at 08:59 — Ahmad Sanie, Jun 08 '15 at 08:59
I mean the tab called "Preview" – Yokich Jun 08 '15 at 09:00 — Yokich, Jun 08 '15 at 09:00

score 48 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 08 '15 at 09:03

48

Found the answer. The tabs in Android Studio seem to have different amount of actions attached to them, but you can access some more if you go to Window -> Active Tool Window (with the preview tab selected/focused) and then click "Docked Mode", an option previously unavailable in the tabs options. When Docked mode is activated for the tab it is now available in the tab options!

answered Jun 08 '15 at 09:03

Yokich

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it was driving me crazy. Thank's – Marco Dec 26 '15 at 18:07
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Ironically, the option is there to uncheck it, but then it disappears and cannot be checked anymore except from that menu. – LWChris Mar 16 '17 at 06:56
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With better illustration : https://stackoverflow.com/a/30160082/1411055 – Kennedy Nyaga Jan 12 '18 at 16:44
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I think `Pinned Mode` also needs to be selected along with the `Docked Mode`. – h8pathak Oct 30 '18 at 07:08

score 33 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 09 '17 at 06:09

33

I need preview layouts when writing code.

click [android studio] > [preferences] > [layout editor]
uncheck [Hide preview window when editing non-layout files.]

It works for me.

answered Feb 09 '17 at 06:09

haseda

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This was actually the setting I needed, it is very useful when editing dimensions. – LWChris Mar 16 '17 at 06:57
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Access _"[android studio] > [preferences]"_ in `File -> Settings... -> Editor -> Layout Editor` – FirstOne Sep 14 '18 at 00:03
Worked like a charm! – Jose Flavio Quispe Irrazábal Apr 17 '19 at 21:07
You are a genius! Thank you so much! – kriztho Apr 24 '19 at 16:17
This actually failed to work on my mac. I'm pretty sure it's a bug in the beta version of AS – Rafsanjani Feb 04 '20 at 14:10

Vivek Pratap Singh · Answer 3 · 2019-11-14T10:51:34.663

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A shortcut is also available for seeing preview in android studio

press ctrl + tab and a switcher window will open

you can select preview from there using arrows key

edited Nov 14 '19 at 10:51

answered Oct 28 '15 at 06:20

Vivek Pratap Singh

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score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 08 '15 at 09:16

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Click on View -> Tools Window - > Preview, on the left of preview have small setting icon, click on it and select Pinned Mode.

It works for me.

answered Jun 08 '15 at 09:16

CodeMonster

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I tried the pinned mode earlier before I set it to docked, didn't work for me – Yokich Jun 08 '15 at 10:38

How can I always show Android Studios Preview?

4 Answers4