Tabs, Split View & Groups
Work with many sessions at once in NetStacks: the tab strip and tab menu, split view with up to four panes, reopening closed tabs, pop-out windows and saved groups of tabs.
Tabs
Every terminal, console, document, topology map, MOP and the Settings page opens as a tab. Each tab shows an icon for its type, a status dot, its title and a close button (×). Terminal tabs use the session's color when one is set.
- New terminal: the + at the end of the strip (tooltip New Terminal) or ⌘T / Ctrl+T. Standalone opens a local shell (“Local Shell”, “Local Shell 2”…); enterprise opens your jumpbox shell on the Controller.
- Switch: click a tab, ⌘⇧] / ⌘⇧[ (Ctrl+Shift+] / Ctrl+Shift+[), or ⌘1–⌘8 (Ctrl+1–Ctrl+8) for tab 1–8 and ⌘9 / Ctrl+9 for the last tab.
- Reorder: drag a tab along the strip.
- Select several: ⌘/Ctrl-click toggles a tab, Shift-click selects a range.
- Close: ⌘W / Ctrl+W; close all with ⌘⇧W / Ctrl+Shift+W. You are asked to confirm if a tab has unsaved edits.
- Reopen closed tab: ⌘⇧T / Ctrl+Shift+T. Up to the last 10 closed tabs for saved sessions that had connected are remembered, and reopening reconnects them.
Extra icons on a tab show when Multi-Send is on ( “Multi-send enabled”) and, in enterprise mode, when the session is shared (“Sharing — click to manage”) with a viewer count.
Tab Right-Click Menu
Right-click a tab for these items (some only apply to certain tabs):
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Reconnect | Reconnects the session. |
| Duplicate Tab | Opens another tab for the same session, titled “< title> (copy)”. |
| Pop Out Terminal | Moves the terminal into its own window. |
| Group Selected Tabs (N) | Shown when two or more tabs are selected. |
| Split Right / Split Down | Puts this tab in a split view side by side or stacked. |
| Session Settings | Edits the saved session (standalone). |
| Open Console | Opens the out-of-band console (see Out-of-Band Console). |
| Device Details | Opens the device details view. |
| Share Session | Enterprise only. See Session Sharing. |
| Open File Browser / Close File Browser | See SFTP File Browser. |
| Enable Multi-Send / Disable Multi-Send | See Multi-Send. |
| Select All Tabs | Turns on Multi-Send for every terminal tab. |
| Group Tabs... | New Group..., Move to “<group>”, Remove from Group. These are temporary groupings used for topology discovery. |
| Discover Topology | Builds a topology from the devices in the tab's group. |
| Close Tab, Close Other Tabs, Close Tabs to the Right, Close All Tabs, Reopen Closed Tab |
Split View
Split view shows two to four terminals at once. It works in both modes and in the web terminal.
Create a split
- Right-click a terminal tab → Split Right (side by side) or Split Down (stacked). If no other terminal is open, a new one is created for the second pane.
- Or drag a tab to the left, right, top or bottom edge of the terminal area. Dragging more tabs in adds panes, up to four.
Layouts
| Panes | Layouts |
|---|---|
| 2 | Side by side or stacked |
| 3 | Side by side, stacked, two on top and one below, or one on top and two below |
| 4 | 2 × 2 grid |
Click the layout button in the first pane's header (tooltip Layout: <name> (click to change)) to cycle layouts. Drag the dividers to resize panes, drag a pane header to reorder panes, or drag a pane out of the area to remove it from the split.
In the tab strip, the split appears as one combined tab titled A | B. Its × (tooltip Exit split view) ends the split without closing the terminals. Splits are not kept across restarts; use Saved Groups to reopen a set of sessions.
Split View Menu
Right-click a pane header or the combined tab:
- This Tab: Move Up, Move Down, Remove from Split, Close Tab
- Split View (N tabs): Add Tab to Split (pick another open terminal), Create Group from Split, Create Group & Discover Topology, Enable Multi-Send on All / Disable Multi-Send on All, Exit Split View, Close All & Exit
Saved Groups
A saved group remembers a set of open tabs (saved-session terminals, topology maps and documents) so you can reopen them together, for example “Site A core” or “BGP change window”. Saved groups are a standalone feature.
Save the open tabs as a group
- Open the Sessions sidebar and switch to the Groups sub-tab.
- Click ＋ Save current, or press ⌘⇧D / Ctrl+Shift+D.
- Enter a name in Name this group.
Drag a tab onto a group row to add it to that group. Each row shows the tab count and chips for its tabs; its ⋯ menu (or right-click) has Rename, Run topology discovery and Delete group.
Launch a group
Click the group. The Launch “<name>” dialog offers:
- Open alongside — add the tabs next to your current tabs.
- Replace current tabs — close all current tabs and open the group.
- Open in new window — open the group in a new app window.
Tick Don't ask again — always do this to skip the dialog next time. Sessions that are already open are reused rather than opened twice.
Pop-Out Windows
Right-click a terminal tab and choose Pop Out Terminal to move it into its own window (desktop app). On macOS, Window → New Window (⌘⌥N) opens another NetStacks window.
Zoom and Font Size
- ⌘/Ctrl + mouse wheel over a terminal changes that terminal's font size (8–32 px).
- ⌘= / ⌘- / ⌘0 (Ctrl+= / Ctrl+- / Ctrl+0) zoom the whole interface in 10% steps between 50% and 200%.
- Both reset when the app restarts. For a lasting change, set the font size in Settings or per session (see Themes & Appearance).