Getting Started

Your first 5 minutes with MetaDock, from launch to a fully organized workspace.

What happens the first time I open MetaDock?

When you open MetaDock for the first time, it starts with an empty workspace: no panels, nothing open yet. Press Ctrl+T to open the New Tabpage. Think of this as your home screen; it's where everything starts.

What is on the New Tab page?

The New Tab page is your command center. Here's what each section does:

URL Bar

Type any URL (like tradingview.com) or a search query (like bitcoin price) and press Enter. MetaDock opens it as a browser panel right in your layout.

Profile Selector

Choose which browser profile to use before opening a site. Each profile has its own cookies, cache, and extensions, so you can be logged into Gmail with two different accounts at the same time. Hover over a profile to see action buttons.

App List

App Support is off by default. Turn it on under Settings → Applications, and running Windows applications appear here. Click one to embed it directly into your MetaDock layout: Discord, VS Code, MetaTrader, most apps with a normal window.

Launcher Tiles

Quick-access tiles for Settings, Bookmarks, Downloads, and more. One click to open any of these as a panel.

Choosing how content opens

Before you open a URL or app, pick an opening mode. This controls where the new content appears:

Mode	What happens	Best for
Current Window	Replaces the New Tab page	Quick single-site browsing
New Tab	Opens as a tab alongside New Tab	Tabbed browsing within one panel
New Window	Opens as a new panel in the grid	Building a multi-site dashboard
Floating	Opens as an overlay window	Temporary reference, quick lookups

Tip

Example: Setting up a trading workspace? Use “New Window” mode, then open TradingView, Yahoo Finance, and your broker one by one. MetaDock auto-tiles them into a grid. Save with Ctrl+S and it restores next time.

What can I do from the URL bar?

The URL bar is MetaDock's universal launcher. You can open it from anywhere, even when you're deep in a multi-panel layout.

Actions and the keyboard shortcuts bound to them
Action	Shortcut
Show or hide the floating URL bar	`Ctrl`+`K`
Show or hide the floating URL bar (same command)	`Ctrl`+`O`
Focus URL bar in current browser	`Ctrl`+`L`

Ctrl+K and Ctrl+Oare two bindings for the same thing: both toggle the layout's floating URL bar, so pressing either one again dismisses it. Keep whichever you find easier and rebind the other if you want the key back.

What you can type

The URL bar is smart; it detects what you're typing and responds accordingly:

tradingview.comOpens the URL directly in a browser panel

bitcoin price chartSearches with your configured search engine (Google by default)

Tip

Pro tip: Ctrl+Kis the one shortcut you should memorize. It's the fastest way to get anywhere: open sites, launch apps, switch profiles, or search. Think of it like Spotlight on macOS or the VS Code command palette.

How do I launch MetaDock from the command line?

You can launch MetaDock with a URL argument to go straight to a specific page on startup:

bash

metadock.exe https://tradingview.com/chart

This opens the specified URL in the first layout after your workspace loads.

Practical uses

Desktop shortcuts

Create a Windows shortcut with metadock.exe https://app.slack.com as the target. One double-click opens MetaDock directly to Slack.

Automation scripts

Call MetaDock from batch scripts or task schedulers to open specific dashboards at market open, at the start of your workday, or on a schedule.

Note

Command line launch opens the URL in your startup workspace. To control which workspace loads, switch to the one you want and pick Set startup workspace from the workspaces menu, or press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S. It is a property of the workspace rather than a row in Settings.