How to split dofile-editor off from Stata's main window

[Chen Samulsion]

Dear Stata users,

Does anyone know how to split dofile-editor off from Stata's main window? By "split" I mean to arrange dofile-editor and Stata's main window side-by-side in Microsoft Windows OS without changing default setting of Windows OS. I know we can use Sublime Text alike to replace Stata's own dofile-editor, however Sublime Text is not as convenient as I supposed. Thank you very much.

[Maarten Buis]

If you have Windows 10, then you can grab the do file editor by the title bar and drag to one side (more than half way across one of the sides). If you let go, then that window will snap to fill half your screen, and in the other half you can choose which application will fill the other half, and you would choose the main Stata window.

[Chen Samulsion]

Dear Maarten Buis thank you very much. I use Windows 7 now. Hope there will be some modifications of interface in the coming Stata 18.

[Leonardo Guizzetti]

Since you probably weren't aware, in Windows you can use the keyboard shortcuts Windows + left/right arrow to automatically move the window in a left or right direction. Similarly, Windows + up arrow maximizes the window, and Windows + down arrow minimizes or restores the window.

If you start from a maximized state then move the window left or right, Windows will automatically make the window half the monitor width and full height. In Windows 10 (and maybe 7), Windows automatically prompts you for which window you would like to occupy the opposite half of the screen. Supposing you have the Do file editor and Stata Window tiled in this way, you can move the mouse to their common border and "resize" the width and Windows will automatically snap both windows to the shared border so you can can change the share of area to something other than 50:50.

This is really a Windows behaviour, so if you want something different, I don't understand.

Note: there is also Microsoft tool called Power Toys for Windows 10 (and maybe 7, I can't recall), but it lets you define "hot zones" so you can drag any program to any custom-defined zone so you can have more flexible layouts, such as tiling 3 windows in any configuration.

[Chen Samulsion]

I recommend Notepad++ to substitute for the default do file editor or Sublime Text. After setting it appropriately, Notepad++ can execute Stata codes in line or as a whole. It can be an ideal IDLE (Integrated Development and Learning Environment) for Stata16 now.

[Laura Vossen Engblom]

As well meant as they are, these solutions are really workarounds and are not efficient. Every time I switch between stata and another program I have to click back the do-file. As a new stata user it really surprises me that this issue hasn't been solved in 2024. Honest question to Stata developers: is there a specific reason for why the do-file window has never been integrated with the rest of the Stata program?