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Layouts are your friend. Use them...

Our most popular Tips and Tricks from the Rainmeter Team and others
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jsmorley
Developer
Posts: 22628
Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
Location: Fort Hunt, Virginia, USA

Layouts are your friend. Use them...

Post by jsmorley »

I can't stress enough that you should get in the habit of creating a Layout of your normal setup, and keeping it current.

https://docs.rainmeter.net/manual/user-interface/manage/#LayoutsTab

https://docs.rainmeter.net/manual/user-interface/context-menus/#RainmeterContextMenus

Presumably you are going to get to a point where you have a "normal" Rainmeter setup on your system. The skins you like to use are loaded, positioned right where you want them, with all settings like "Position", "Draggable", "Keep on screen" and others set the way you want.

The first thing having a Layout of your normal setup does is allow you to mess around with things, changing the position of skins, loading skins you download to try them out, testing code you see on the forums or Reddit. Without a Layout, getting things back to "normal" can be time-consuming and aggravating. With a saved Layout of your normal setup, you simply load it, and you are right back to where you want to be.

The second thing that Layout can do for you is to keep your Rainmeter.ini file tuned up. It's important to understand that once a skin is loaded in Rainmeter, an entry for it is created in Rainmeter.ini, and that entry will basically stay there forever, even if you delete the skin itself. So over time, as you load and unload skins to try them out, the Rainmeter.ini file can get loaded up with unneeded and unwanted [ConfigName] entries. If you let this go long enough, it can actually impact how long it takes Rainmeter to "start up".

To get started, first get your current Rainmeter configuration exactly as you want it to be "normally". Load only the skins you normally use, position them where you want them.

Then use the Rainmeter tray icon or context menus to open Manage and change to the Layouts tab.
1.png
Then in the "Name:" field, type any name you want to give for your "normal" setup. Check the box labeled "Exclude unloaded skins". Click on "Save".
2.png
Immediately after saving this new Layout, you should "Load" it. This is what will get rid of the unneeded and unwanted entries in Rainmeter.ini. The Layout is saved without them, and when you load that Layout your actual current running version of Rainmeter.ini will be squeaky-clean.
3.png
Now any time you load or unload skins to try them out, or you execute a .rmskin that has its own Layout that replaces your setup, you simply load your "normal" Layout, and you are right back to where you want to be, and your Rainmeter.ini doesn't get loaded up with "cruft".

Do remember to keep this Layout "current" as you change the way you use Rainmeter over time. If you decide some new skin is going to be part of your "normal" setup, or you don't want to use a skin any more, just save your Layout again, being sure to check "Exclude unloaded skins" and immediately "Load" it to have your system using the new squeaky-clean Rainmeter.ini.
4.png
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GioRgSaVv
Posts: 62
Joined: February 7th, 2017, 10:02 pm

Re: Layouts are your friend. Use them...

Post by GioRgSaVv »

this is so f***ing useful!! thank's a lot! xD

Especially when installing a new skin removes all the other skins and then I have to enable the old ones again..
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iieeann
Posts: 26
Joined: September 8th, 2017, 12:29 am

Re: Layouts are your friend. Use them...

Post by iieeann »

This is the ultimate reason i switched to Rainmeter from windows gadget few days ago :D . I am so sick of gadgets messing with the screen whenever i travel within few fixed locations with different external monitors setup.

While rainmeter skin is usually lack of fast customization options like gadget, it offers more freehand if the user is willing to spend time to make it look exactly the way desired.
Laptop : Dell Precision 7720, E3-1535M v6, P5000, 8TB SSD. Windows 10.21H1
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jsmorley
Developer
Posts: 22628
Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
Location: Fort Hunt, Virginia, USA

Re: Layouts are your friend. Use them...

Post by jsmorley »

iieeann wrote:This is the ultimate reason i switched to Rainmeter from windows gadget few days ago :D . I am so sick of gadgets messing with the screen whenever i travel within few fixed locations with different external monitors setup.

While rainmeter skin is usually lack of fast customization options like gadget, it offers more freehand if the user is willing to spend time to make it look exactly the way desired.
Both a guitar and a radio can play music. Rainmeter is a guitar. The price is blisters on your fingers, but it's your music, no DJ picked it out for you.
Yaron2334
Posts: 13
Joined: January 19th, 2022, 7:22 pm

Re: Layouts are your friend. Use them...

Post by Yaron2334 »

I actually was thinking about cleaning up the Rainmeter.ini a couple of days ago. Then today I went through the featured guides and found this. Damn am I glad a put it off to "sometime when I feel like it". Down to 200 lines from over 3000. Thank you so much!