User Interface Basics

Vitamin-R “lives” in the menu item bar behind the (R) icon. Clicking this icon will bring Vitamin-R to the front. You can also right click on the icon to get a menu with some quick actions.

The main window is divided into two main sections:

The Workflow View shows you everything you can do in the current state. The Pad View gives you access to a number of optional tools that make working with Vitamin-R more effective.

The Workflow View

The title section of the Workflow View shows what state Vitamin-R is currently in, e.g. “Define Time Slice”. Next to the title is a pull down menu that allows you to choose state-wide options. Here you can switch parts of the UI on and off to suit your own preferences and requirements. In some states, you can also choose alternative UIs for section of the view.

At the bottom of the Workflow View are the default buttons that represent the actions that you will usually be expected to take to get to the next step. Once you have been using Vitamin-R for a little while, each of these buttons also shows a small Auto-Forward badge that can advance the workflow for you automatically — letting Vitamin-R start the next time slice, log a rating, or begin a break on its own. See Auto-Forward for the details.

Between the title and default button sections, you will see a number of controls that allow you to configure this or the next state, such as specifying durations, setting options, writing objectives, etc. Some of these sections have a cog wheel button to the right of the section title. You can customize the sections further using the options in the cog wheel button.

Pad View

On the right of the main window, you can choose to see one of a number of pads.

You choose which pad you want to see by clicking on the appropriate icon in the Pad Selector in the window title bar.

You can select between the:

If you click on the same icon twice, the Pad View is collapsed if you prefer a “leaner” look.

While the Pad View is open, it may be automatically switched to an appropriate pad. You can switch this off in the Title section of the respective state.

Keyboard Navigation & Global Shortcuts

Vitamin-R 4 is designed for streamlined keyboard interaction.

The global Control-R keyboard shortcut will open Vitamin-R’s Command Pop Up from any application, and of course from within Vitamin-R as well. From there, you can use the arrow keys to navigate to any command or just start typing to filter down the commands to all those that match.

Many Vitamin-R features also have pre-defined keyboard shortcuts that you can explore in the menus or the Command Pop Up.

Vitamin-R also supports fully customizable global keyboard shortcuts that are available from any application, and can be configured from within the Preferences ⇒ Shortcuts section.

Quick Start · Auto-Forward · The Command Pop Up

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