The main Podium application window is a project window. Additional project windows can be opened with the New Project Window command in the Window menu. Having multiple project windows open allows you to for example view different parts of your project at the same time or view the same arrangement with different profiles and zoom settings.

If you select the Link Project Windows option in the Window menu then page navigation in any project window will be synced in all open project windows. Navigating for example into an arrangement in one window will automatically open the arrangement in the other windows as well. Each project window remembers the last used editor profile, so one window can be set to show a tracks profile and the other a mixer profile.

At the top of the window are page tabs showing where you are in the project. The first page is always the project object. When you enter into an object it will be added as a new page to the project window.

The window contains embedded track inspector and browser pages. Using the embedded pages can often be more convenient than opening separate inspector and browser windows. The inspector can be opened/closed by clicking the Inspector page tab, or by pressing the F1 to F5 shortcut keys. The browser can be opened by clicking the Browser page tab, or by pressing the F6 shortcut key. Opening one of the pages will automatically close the other page. When one of the pages is open, the help panel will appear below the page, provided that the Enable Help Panel option in the Help menu is selected. The pages can be resized by dragging the space between the pages.

The project page can be toggled between start page mode and folder page mode with the button at the top right corner of the page. See the project start page chapter for more information.

If you maximize a project window, the standard Windows border is removed and the project window is shown full-screen. When maximized, the menu bar will include the auto-hide, minimize, restore and close buttons. When the auto-hide option is selected the menu bar will disappear when the mouse cursor is moved away from the menu bar. The menu bar can be shown again by moving the mouse cursor to the top of the screen and holding it there for half a second.

• Project Properties: Opens the Project Properties dialog.

• New Project: Creates a new empty project. If your current project contains unsaved changes, you will be prompted if you want to save the changes. The project start page is shown after the empty project is created.

• Open Project...: Opens a file dialog for loading a project file. If your current project contains unsaved changes, you will be prompted if you want to save the changes.

• Merge Project...: Opens a file dialog for selecting a project to be merged into the currently loaded project. The merge project file is not modified. Arrangements imported from the merge project are modified to use matching devices found in the current project. Device objects in the merge project are imported as well, if matching devices are not already found in the current project.

• Save Project: Saves the project, but does not save any edited sounds. Saving sound files can take a long time, so use this command if you only want to save your project changes.

• Save Project As...: Opens a file dialog for saving the project to another filename. The project will be renamed to the new filename, and following project save commands will save to the new filename. Use this command if you want to keep backup copies of older revisions of your project.

• Save All Changes: Saves the project and any edited sound files.

• Explore Projects Folder: Opens a file explorer for the projects folder.

• Project Templates: Submenu for managing project templates. See the project templates section for more information.
  • Save Project as Template...: Opens the New Project Template dialog where you can enter a name for the template.
  • Explore Templates Folder: Opens a file explorer for the project templates folder.
  • Update Templates List: Use this if you have reorganized your template files while Podium is running. The list is automatically updated when you start Podium.

• Exit...: Exits the Podium application. If the project or sounds have unsaved changes you will be prompted if you want to save before exiting.

• MIDI/Audio Interfaces...: Opens the MIDI/Audio Interfaces dialog.

• Preferences...: Opens the Preferences dialog where you configure global application options.

• Colors...: Opens the Colors dialog where you configure all the color settings that are saved to color setup files.

• Favorite Folders...: Opens the Favorite Folders dialog where you configure the folders that will appear as favorite shortcuts in the Podium browsers.

• Editor Profiles...: Opens the Editor Profiles dialog where you configure all the different types of editor profiles.

• Restore Default Setup: Deletes the current setup and replaces it with the default setup.

• Restore Default Editor Profiles: Replaces the current editor profiles with the editor profiles from the default setup.

• Load Color Setup: Submenu with shortcuts to all the color setup files.

• Save Color Setup...: Opens a file dialog where you can save a color setup file. The files you save will appear in the Load Color Setup submenu.

• Load Setup...: Opens a file dialog where you can load a setup file you previously saved. Alternatively you can also drag and drop setup files on the Podium window.

• Save Setup...: Opens a file dialog where you can save a backup of the current setup.

• Explore Setup Folder: Opens a file explorer for the setup folder.

• New Project Window: Opens a new project window.

• Link Project Windows: Links page navigation between all open project windows.

• New Inspector Window: Opens a new track inspector window.

• New Browser Window: Opens a new browser window.

• Windows...: Opens the Windows dialog where you can manage all created windows and their assignment to different virtual screens.

• Screen 1, 2, 3, 4: Switch between different virtual screens.

• Enable Help Panel: The help panel is shown below the embedded Inspector or Browser page, if either one of them is open. When the help panel is open, it will show the help text that normally would appear as popup help.

• Enable Popup Help: A popup box with context help will appear next to the UI control currently under the mouse cursor. Popup help will only appear if the help panel is closed.

• Enable Online Help: If your PC is connected to the internet, you can use this option to get access to context help in the online Podium guide. In dialog windows you can click the Help button to open the guide page that describes the settings in the dialog. In non-dialog windows you can press Shift+F1 to open context help for whatever is under the mouse cursor. For example, if you hover the mouse over the Help menu button and then press Shift+F1, a link to this section will open in your default web browser.

• Open Podium Guide: Opens the local Podium Guide.pdf file which was installed with the Podium application.

• Browse Zynewave Website, Browse Podium User Community: Opens the corresponding website in your default web browser.

• Browse Podium Video Tutorials: Opens the ZynewaveDotCom YouTube channel in your default web browser.

• Browse Key Shortcuts: Opens the online key shortcuts page in your default web browser.

• About Podium: Shows a dialog with Podium version information.

Note: Help is also shown for individual menu items while a menu is open. The empty space at the top of the project window will show a more detailed description of the currently highlighted menu item.

Folder pages present child objects in a style that is similar to the tiles view mode in Windows Explorer. Each object is represented by a draggable tile that shows the object icon, name and further details. An object that contains child objects will show the number of child objects on a second text line. Preset and parameter objects will show configuration details on a third text line.

The key shortcuts and mouse actions you use to navigate and select objects are the same as those used in the standard Windows file explorer.

When you double-click an object or press the enter key for the focus object, the action will depend on the object type. If the object is an arrangement, sound or sequence, the object will be opened on a dedicated editor page. If the object is a folder it will be opened on a folder page. All other objects will open the object properties dialog. If you want to specifically open a folder page or a properties dialog, you can use the object right-click menu or the Ctrl+Enter and Alt+Enter shortcuts.

By default the objects are snapped to a grid. If you want to freely move the objects on the page, select the Layout Mode option in the Edit menu. The Layout Mode option is a property of the current page object, so it can be set individually for each object in the project. Typically you would only use Layout Mode on the main project page to lay out your arrangements in a more presentable style.

When Layout Mode is selected, the folder page Edit menu includes some commands that can help with aligning objects in columns and rows. The commands are available if multiple objects are selected. The Align X Position and Align Y Position commands will align the selected objects to the current focus object. The Align X Spacing and Align Y Spacing commands will space out the objects evenly, starting with the leftmost or topmost of the selected objects.

Objects can be dragged from any list or button that shows the object with its icon. You can use drag and drop to reorder objects in the project, or you can drag and drop objects in an arrangement editor to assign them to tracks or create events on the timeline. When you are drag-reordering objects in a list, you can hold down the Ctrl key to drop the object as a child of the object under the cursor. You can also drop an object onto the page tabs at the top of the project window, to drop the object as a child of the object on that page.

When you are dragging an object, a small translucent image will be attached to the mouse cursor showing the object icon and name. If you are dragging a multiple object selection, the folder icon is shown and the text tells you how many objects you are dragging.

If you drag the object over an area that does not accept the object, the mouse cursor turns into a ‘no go’ cursor. If you drag over an area that can accept the object, a translucent mask is drawn to highlight what will be affected by the drop.

As with any mouse drag operation in Podium you can abort the drag operation by right clicking while still holding the left button.

If you want to reorganize objects in the project, it is recommended that you move objects with drag and drop instead of using the cut and paste edit menu commands. When cutting objects to the clipboard they are removed from the project and thus any links to the objects in arrangements are reset. Moving objects with drag and drop will not break any links between the objects.

Stickie notes can be attached to objects in the project as well as tracks in arrangements. The project start page shows stickie note buttons in the object info panels. The track inspector shows a stickie note button for the focus track. Stickie notes can also be shown in project browser lists. A stickie note button will have a dimmed image when the note is empty, and a bright yellow image when the note contains text. Hovering the mouse over the button will temporarily pop up the stickie note.

To edit a stickie note for an object, open the stickie note window by clicking the stickie note button or by using the the Stickie Note command in the object right-click menu. Pressing Alt+N opens the stickie note window for the current focus object.

To remove a stickie note, just delete all the text (including spaces and linefeeds) in the stickie note window. The quickest way to do this is to press Ctrl+A to select all the text, and then press the delete key.

If you enable the Pop up project stickie note after loading project option in the Preferences dialog, then the project stickie note on the project start page will automatically pop up and stay open every time a project is loaded. To make the stickie note go away just move the mouse cursor over the stickie note button.