Today’s Question: When minimizing Photoshop, the panels do not minimize with the application. Can Photoshop be set up for a complete window to minimize including panels?
Tim’s Quick Answer: You need to make sure that all panels are docked in the Photoshop interface in order to have the panels minimize along with the application window.
More Detail: Photoshop includes a wide variety of panels that can be used to present information or perform various actions. For example, the Layers panel is helpful for adding adjustment layers and image layers to an image you’re working on and reviewing the layers that are currently included with the image.
If you have panels that are floating within the Photoshop interface rather than being docked, those panels will remain visible when you minimize the main Photoshop application window. In order to have panels get hidden along with the main Photoshop window you need to make sure those panels are docked.
You can dock a panel by clicking and dragging on the tab for the panel and dropping it along one of the edges of the Photoshop interface (or into an existing docked panel). When you hover while dragging a panel, a blue line or box will show you the destination for docking the panel if you release the mouse button at that position.
So, for example, you could drag a panel to the right edge of the Photoshop interface to dock the panel along that right edge. Once all panels are docked within the Photoshop application window, when you minimize Photoshop all panels will be minimized along with the main application window.