How do I delete a Panel?

Right mouse click on the panel you want to remove and select Remove Panel.

How do I change order of my panels?

Enable the Panel Title by Right Clicking on the panel and selecting Show Panel Title.
Click and Drag the panel title to your desired position.

Note: The Lock option needs to be disabled from your sidebar. To do so, Right mouse click on the sidebar and check that the Lock option is unchecked.

How do I change the height of a panel?

Turn OFF Autofit by right mouse clicking on the panel and selecting Autofit Panel.
Click and Drag the bottom of the panel to your desired height.

How do I change the appearance of Desktop Sidebar? (Using Skins)

Right mouse click on Desktop Sidebar and select Options.
Click the Appearance Tab.
Select your desired Skin from the Skin: drop down list.

Note: There are many skins that have been developed by Desktop Sidebar users. You can find and download many of these from the Skinning Forum. If you have download a skin to your Desktop Sidebar directory and it doesn't show in the list restart Desktop Sidebar and check again.

How do I change a panel’s settings?

Right mouse click on the panel you want to edit and select Panel Properties.
Once you are finished changing the panel's settings click OK to save the changes.

I have MSN Messenger, and Desktop Sidebar won't show the information in the panel!

To use the MSN Messenger with this panel you will need the latest version of BOTH the Windows Messenger and the MSN Messenger for the Messenger Panel to work properly.

To use the MSN Messenger you NEED to set a couple of options in the Windows Messenger:

Open the Windows Messenger.
Click on Tools and selection Options and choose the Preferences Tab.
Disable the Run the Windows Messenger when Windows starts option.
Enable the Allow Windows Messenger to run in the background.

How do I add a RSS feed to the Newsroom Panel

Right mouse click on the Newsroom Panel and select Panel Properties.
Click on the Add button and select Enter rss newsfeed url.
Enter the RSS URL in the text field and click OK.
Click OK in the Panel Properties.

How can I display newsfeeds from HTML page?

Make sure you have Desktop Sidebar integrated with Internet Explorer.
While on the website that you want to add click the XML Button, or select Subscribe in Desktop Sidebar from the Tools menu.
In the new window select the Preview tab to see a preview of the website acquired.
Highlight and Copy one of the headlines on the page.
Paste the headline in the Sample Headline: text field and click the Find button.
If found, select the HTML code surrounding the Headline (example below) in the Source window and click the Create Expression button.

<td>
<a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=2&u=/ap/20040420/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq"
class=reg>Iraq Leaders Create Tribunal for Saddam
</a> <span
class=timedate>(AP)</span>
</td>

If not found, Go back to the preview and select another headline to find.
The Program will automatically setup the RegEx code needed to download the Newsfeed for you.
If you want to start or stop the headline generation at a certain point on enter the text in the Start after text or Stop after text box respectively

When finished click OK and then Add. You should see your new newsfeed in the Newsroom Panel.

How can I save my RSS feeds from the Newsroom Panel?

You can go to the Panel Properties to see all your feeds for the Newsroom Panel. Look for the "Other" button and then select "Export Channels". It will give you the option to name the file and to choose the type of file. DSC files will allow you to save the HTML parsed feeds you have as well as the RSS feeds. The OPML file is only meant for just RSS/XML/RDF feeds. If you have an HTML channel in your OPML file, then it will not import correctly if needed be.

How do I integrate Desktop Sidebar with Internet Explorer?

Right mouse click on the Newsroom Panel and Click on Panel Properties.
Click the Integration tab and check Integrate with Internet Explorer.
When enabled there should be an Orange XML button available in the toolbar of Internet Explorer and a Subscribe in Desktop Sidebar option under Tools on the Toolbar.

How can I use the Command Line Panel to search for a phrase on Google?

Type '?' before the text that you want to search for.

How do I display specific folder in Toolbar Panel?

Right Click on the Toolbar Panel and select Panel Properties
Click the Radio Button next to Folder
Either manually enter the Folder Path or click on the button next to the text field and Browse for your Folder
Edit you View preferences to enable/disable Show text, Show large icons, Show folders, and/or Display folder as menu
Click OK

How do I change the Notes Folder used in the Outlook Notes Panel?

Right mouse click on the Notes Panel and select Panel Properties.
Click on the "..." button to browse the Outlook folders available and select the Notes Folder you wish you use.

How do I remove the Sound Notification when a New Email Arrives?

Right mouse click on the Mail Checker Panel and select Panel Properties.
Click on the Rules Tab
Deselect the Play a sound when new mail arrives Rule.
Click OK

How do I add my Hotmail/Yahoo email account to the Mail Checker Panel?

Hotmail and Yahoo both now charge for access via POP3 to your email. In order for you to be able to check your email through POP3, you need to know the mail server name, the username, and the password.
There are some 3rd party tools that can help you access those web-based email accounts. See this thread.

Why did my Sidebar disappear?!

The most common cause is because the user has enabled Auto-hide and the sidebar has retracted to the side off the screen.

Move your mouse pointer to the edges of the screen to allow Desktop Sidebar to pop back up.

How do I reset my Desktop Sidebar settings?

There are two methods to do this:

Start Desktop Sidebar in Safe Mode
- Select Desktop Sidebar (Safe Mode) from Desktop Sidebar folder in the Start Menu
- A window will popup asking if you want to Reset Desktop Sidebar's settings; Select Yes
- Allow Desktop Sidebar to start any programs that you want on your sidebar
- Restart Desktop Sidebar and add/remove the panels as you please
Manually remove the settings file
- The file is in a hidden folder, so you need to unhide hidden folders. To do this Open Windows Explorer and select Folder Options from the Tools menu. Select the View tab and select Show Hidden Files and/or Folders.
- Once you have hidden folders showing go to following directory: C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Desktop Sidebar\
- Delete the file sidebar104.settings
- The settings will be reset the next time you start Desktop Sidebar

How can I copy my settings to another computer?

You will need to copy a file named sidebar104.settings to the other computer, below are the steps to do this.

Unhide all hidden files/folders by Opening Windows Explorer and selecting Folder Options from the Tools menu.
Under the View tab and select Show Hidden Files and/or Folders.
Go to following directory: C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Desktop Sidebar\
Copy the file sidebar104.settings and place it in the corresponding folder on the second computer

Can I run Multiple Instances of Desktop Sidebar?

Yes. You can run multiple instances of Desktop Sidebar, each instance will keep it's own settings allowing you to set them up individually to your needs.

How

Open up any simple text editor like notepad. Enter the lines below or copy and paste them.

cd Program Files\desktop sidebar\
sidebar.exe -config "Desktop Sidebar 2"
exit

The "Desktop Sidebar 2" tells windows to run a instance of Desktop Sidebar with the name "Desktop Sidebar 2". This can be done as "Desktop Sidebar 3" or anything you like, just remeber that changing the name of it will get rid of all your settings for that instance, unless you rename it the same.

Click file > Save As > Browse to the root of your C: Drive. > Enter Sidebar.bat as the Filename > Choose All Files as the File type > Click Save

Locate the file and right click it > Chose Send To > Desktop (Create Shortcut). Now you can run the second instance of DS anytime you want to by clicking the shortcut.

Making Second Instance Run at Boot.

Copy and paste the shortcut in the 'Startup' folder in your Start Menu. Next time you boot the second instance of Desktop Sidebar should boot with windows, you should then be able to configure it to your needs.

There are also many different ways to code a .bat file to run DS. Use the best one that works for you.

I hate IE, can I use another web browser with Desktop Sidebar?

You can change your default browser as part of the service pack updates from Microsoft. Or you can use a 3rd party software utility to ensure that Windows does remember that you want to use another browser. See this post for those details. Click here.

I saw a cool skin in the Skinning section, how do I install it?

Close Desktop Sidebar first.
You should save the ZIP or RAR file to a location on your hard drive and uncompress it.
The resulting folder should be then put into the Skins folder (c:\program files\desktop sidebar\skins\...
Start Desktop Sidebar and you should be able to select the new skin from the Appearance tab under Options.

I want to learn how to skin, where do I start?

Please check skin file format description
Check the section on the forums called Skinning. Fill free to ask questions

How do I make my own panels?

There is an SDK available. You will find it in a ZIP file in /Program Files/Desktop Sidebar on your machine. It will contain sample code and information to give you a headstart. Developing panel requires the knowledge of programming in C++ or .NET.

I saw a cool plugin in the Plugins section, how do I install it?

For the time being, plug-ins for Desktop Sidebar do not have an auto-compile or auto-install feature. Please follow this procedure to install plugins for Desktop Sidebar.

Extract the files from the zip archive to your Desktop Sidebar folder (usually C:\Program Files\Desktop Sidebar). Don't copy dsidebarpia.dll unless you're using Build 66.
Close all instances of Desktop Sidebar running on your computer.
Open a DOS/Command Prompt window (usually Start > Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt)
Type " cd C:\Program Files\Desktop Sidebar " to navigate to the desktop sidebar directory.
Type this command:
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\regasm.exe PluginName.dll
or
C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\regasm.exe PluginName.dll
depending on your Operating System (instead of PluginName, you have to type the name of the file corresponding to the plugin you want to install, example, dsshutdown.dll or clipboardviewer.dll)
Restart your Desktop Sidebar and you can now add the new plugin from the Add Panel menu

Note: You need Microsoft.NET v1.1 framework for most plugins to work.

Please make **** Plugin.

Such requests can be made in the New Features Request Forum. Keep in mind that Desktop Sidebar is officially in beta. The current goal is to get its main functionality complete above everything else.

I have a PCTV card, can it be integrated into Desktop Sidebar?

This is one of the more popular requests. However, you should be aware of a couple of things first.

Most of the PCTV applications that are bundled with the cards/units are often very unstable.
If such an application was developed, it would be with an application that all PCTV cards will work with. Dscaler is the front runner, but that doesn't mean that one will be made anytime soon.
At this time, there is no plugin for Windows Media Player that will allow it to access the video from a capture card.

How can I add a separator panel?

You can put some space between panels with an Empty Stack Group Panel. Simply add a Stack Panel and make sure that the Autofit and Expand Options are enabled. The panel will dynamically resize to fill any empty space on your sidebar and push all panels below it to the bottom of the sidebar.

How can I change my Clock's Image?

Open the skin's XML file located in its individual skin folder in c:\Program Files\Desktop Sidebar\skins and open the XML file in notepad.

In notepad look for the following code:

<item name="clockFace">
<appearance name="standard" fillStyle="bitmap" fillImage="clock.png" />
</item>

Change clock.png (or whatever the current filename is) to the filename of your new clock image.
Save the edited XML file.
Restart your sidebar and enjoy your new clock image!