# Introduction to P4V

## Terminology

P4V menus and forms use a general approach to SCM terminology and actions, to ensure that that users with a variety of backgrounds can best understand what to do. If you have experience with P4Win or the P4 command line, note the following differences in terminology in P4V.

P4/P4Win term | P4V term
Client | [Client] Workspace
Sync | Get revision
Open for edit | Check out
Submit | Check in (plugins)
Open for add/delete | Mark for add/delete
Reopen | Change attributes
Revert | Undo add/checkout (Plugins)

## Layout

P4V displays one main window with two panes: the left pane, which is also called the Tree pane and the right pane, which is where you do most of your work in P4V. These panes, as well as the other parts of P4V are described in detail below.

Toolbar and tooltips
Across the top of the screen, there is a toolbar. To get information about the items in the toolbar, as well as other Perforce objects and P4V button, position the mouse cursor over the object without clicking. P4V displays a small window (tooltip) containing status or explanatory information about the object. P4V makes extensive use of tooltips.

Address bar
Under the toolbar, there is an address bar. Use this area to navigate through P4V as well as to determine your location. You can cut and paste information from this toolbar which allows you to go quickly to specific locations.

Log pane
The log pane is located at the bottom of the P4V screen. To display the log of Perforce activity performed by P4V, choose View>Show/Hide>Log Pane.

Context menus
This help system says "context-click" when directing you to display a context menu. To display the context menu for an object:

- Macintosh: option-click or click and hold
- Linux and Windows: right-click (on most windowing systems)

### The left (Tree) pane

The Tree pane has two tabs:

- The Workspace tab shows the files on your computer, including files that are not in the depot.
- The Depot tab shows all of the files in the depot.

To view the contents of a folder in the right-hand pane, click on that folder, and select View> Files in Folder.

### The right pane

The right pane displays objects in the server to which you are connected, including changelists, labels, clients, users, jobs, and branches.

To select which objects are shown in this pane, go to the View menu and select items to view. Each list is shown on a separate tab. To close any tab in this pane, context-click the tab and select Close Tab.

The Details tab
Double-click on any non-file item in to view its details in the Details tab. If you have viewed more than one item, the Back and Forward buttons are enabled, allowing you to page through the objects that you have looked at.

Click the Tear off button to capture that Details view in a separate window. This allows you to compare two different objects, side-by-side.

To view any tab in a separate window, context-click the name of the tab and select Undock tab. To return it to the right pane after undocking it, context-click the tab and select Dock tab.

## Modifying views

There are several ways to modify the way that information is presented in P4V's panes. At the top of these panes, you may see the following buttons:

Bookmarks
Bookmarks acts like shortcuts to locations in the tree. Set a bookmark by context-clicking on a directory and selecting Bookmark. You can then use this dropdown link to go to that location.

Sort order
Use this drop-down button to sort the order of the list that you are viewing. The sort options are shown when you click the button.

Filter
This drop-down button allows you to filter your view in a couple of ways:

- It allows you to show or hide different types of files, such as deleted files and/or local files.
- In the Tree pane, the filter also allows you to "re-anchor" your tree to the bookmarks that you have created. If you select a bookmark from this list, that bookmark location becomes the top of your tree view.

Tear Off
This button allows you to "tear off" the current view. This is useful for comparing two different forms side-by-side. Once you have torn off a view, you can close the tear off by simply closing that window.

If you have several views torn off, you can view the list of them by clicking the Tear Off pulldown menu in the toolbar at the top of the screen. When you hover your mouse over it, it says "View tear offs."

File list view
On the Files in Folder and the File History tabs, use this icon to view files listed by file name or as thumbnails.