The Spark desktop is made up of tool windows that do not overlap, so that they never obscure each other.
A representation of each desktop is displayed in the Minibar at the bottom of the screen.
The active tool window for the current desktop is highlighted with a blue title bar.
You can use the Quick Popup to check something without disrupting the desktop layout.
You create new windows by splitting existing windows.
The Layout menu in the toolbar shows some common ways to split a window.
/ h to split in half horizontally/ v to split in half vertically/ 2 to split in half in the dimension that is larger/ 4 to split in to quarters/2,3,4,6,8,10,12,16,18The More button in the Layout menu allows you to split a window into up to 6x6 smaller windows, and automatically link them.
Drag the gap between the windows to make one side smaller and the other larger.
To remove a window, drag the gap between it and a neighbouring window to make it smaller.
While dragging, when the window gets small enough, its titlebar will turn pink, indicating that that's as small as it can go.
Keep dragging all the way until the window disappears.
Type Ctrl Z to undo.
F1..F10 to go to the 1st through 10th desktopDrag the desktop in the Minibar while holding Shift and drop it on a different desktop in the minibar.
You can also copy a desktop layout to another screen by dragging it to the other screen's minibar.
The data displayed by each tool is dynamically adjusted based on the width and height of the window. This ensures that all data displayed within Spark is easy to read, properly spaced, and never obscured. It also ensures optimal data density and makes efficient use of the screen space. Spark automatically applies abbreviations to certain data columns where appropriate.
Narrow windows display fewer data fields/columns than wider windows, and additional data columns are only added if the window size allows.
The priority and order of the data columns displayed are automatically determined based on the tool being used and the settings applied to that tool. For example, if a watchlist is displayed in a very narrow window and ordered by % change, only the most relevant columns such as Code, Last, and Change % will be displayed. When the window is made wider, additional columns such as Change, Volume, and Bid/Offer will be progressively added.
The priority in which columns appear in a tool is generally sensible and suited to most use cases. However, users can override the default column priority settings if necessary.
Press Z to zoom a window to take the entire desktop space.
Press Z again to restore the window to its original size.
A tool's settings are accessed by typing Ctrl P or right-clicking on the tool.
Use the Shift key to broadcast code changes to all stock related windows on the desktop.
e.g. Shift BHP Enter will set all tools on the desktop that are currently showing stocks to BHP.
Ctrl Shift X clears the desktop layout to the single active window.
Pressing this key combination again will clear the window of any stock or tool.
Ctrl Shift L snaps all windows to grid to tidy up your layouts.