Basic Positron Features

Overview

This unit familiarizes you with Positron’s basic layout and features.

Goals

  • Understand the basic features and layout of Positron.

Reading

Introduction

As is the case for many IDEs, Positron is set up such that you have quick access to different parts of your project. The main window is divided into different areas (known as panes), each tailored to a distinct part of a typical project workflow: writing code, running it, visualising output, working with files, debugging, inspecting the environment, etc.

The menu bars

The top menu bar in Positron is similar to most standard programs and likely requires little explanation. Since Positron is full-featured and highly configurable, there is a lot you can do. We discuss a few of the commands, the rest you will likely discover as you learn more how to use Positron. And it’s quite possible that there are some features you will never use.

The menu bar filled with icons that is typically found along the left is called Activity Bar. It gives you access to different views related to Positron and your editor. Whatever you click on will open to the right of the Activity Bar in an area called Primary Side Bar. You’ve already encountered the Extensions view.

The first icon on the activity bar, which looks like several sheets of paper, opens a view you likely use a lot, namely the file explorer view. You can use it to quickly open files and create new ones. The search view is also a handy tool to find things quickly and do search and replace operations. Several other icons are for specific extensions or functionality related to version control and coding, we’ll discuss some of them elsewhere.

The Editor Pane

The biggest window, located in the top middle of the IDE (unless you resize or move it), is the Editor pane/panel. The Editor is where you edit your documents, such as code, Quarto documents or any other text-based files. The editor has a lot of nice features, such as syntax highlighting, auto-completion, automatic formatting, etc. Multiple files open in tabs along the top.

Console, Terminal and more

Below the Editor is an area that gives you access to various other tools. The Console tab shows whatever programming language you are currently running. By default in Positron, that’s R. The Terminal is basically a Windows/Unix terminal, where you can enter commands. For instance you can use it to run Quarto commands. That’s also generally where other programming languages, e.g. Julia, run. The other tabs are helpful for showing you what happens when you run code.

Viewer Pane

The right side of the IDE has a second sidebar, which is by default split into two.

The bottom-right area is usually the Viewer pane. It automatically displays plots created by code, such as R’s ggplot2, Python’s matplotlib, or Julia’s Plots package. HTML widgets, data frames, interactive tables, and other items that can be previewed appear there. If you set Quarto to internal preview (the default), rendered Quarto documents will also show there.

Environment and History Pane

The top‑right pane shows your workspace objects/variables. Click any variable to further inspect it.

The Command Palette

In the top middle you will find what looks like a search box, but is actually much more. This is where, among other things, you can find the command palette. If you click into the search box, then select “Show and Run Commands”, you can quickly execute a lot of commands, without trying to figure out which menu they belong to. For instance, if you start typing Quarto you will see a lot of commands related to Quarto functionality. You can also use the search box to, well, search. Once you start using Positron more, you will find that little box very convenient.

Many more features

This was a very brief overview of Positron’s main layout and features. As you start using Positron, you’ll find that sometimes, depending on what you have open or what code you run, more things appear in various panes. A lot will be self-explanatory, but there is also a lot that requires exploring. Like other complex pieces of software (e.g. MS Word or Excel), Positron has a lot of features. Over time you’ll discover more of them.

Summary

The Positron IDE consists of different areas/panes that give you access to different parts of your project. As you start working with Positron, you’ll quickly figure out how to set things up to make them work for you.

Further Resources

  • Official Positron Layout Documentation - not very detailed, but gives you an overview of the different panes and their purpose.
  • The arrangement of the different windows is very flexible, so you can customize them and move them around. This article describes how to do that. Remember, Positron is basically a variant of VS Code, so the same concepts apply.

Test yourself

Which Positron pane is designed to show plots, HTML widgets, and rendered Quarto previews?

The Viewer pane displays visual output such as plots, HTML widgets, and internal Quarto previews.

  • True
  • False
  • False
  • False

How do you open the command palette to quickly run commands in Positron?

Use the search box at the top of the window, pick “Show and Run Commands,” and type the command you want.

  • False
  • False
  • False
  • True

What is the primary purpose of the first icon (file explorer) on the Activity Bar?

The file explorer view lets you browse and manage project files from the left Activity Bar.

  • True
  • False
  • False
  • False

Practice

  • Explore a few different layouts. Go to search box in the top middle of Positron, select “Show and Run Commands” and start typing “customize”. An entry called “Customize Layouts” should appear. Open it and click around on some of the settings to move different panes around. Configure it in a way that suits you best. You can always change again later.