03.Terminal, Tabs & Split Views
03 Terminal, Tabs & Split Views
This chapter covers the core operations of the WxTerm terminal area: multi-tab management, tab groups, vertical split, copy/paste, find, clear screen, and more.
3.1 Multi-Tab (Tabs)
WxTerm uses multi-tab management for multiple sessions, similar to the browser tab experience.
New Tab
- Menu “File → New Session” → after selecting a session, it opens automatically in a new tab.
- Toolbar “New Session” button.
- Shortcut
Ctrl+Shift+T(new tab). - Double-click a session in the session sidebar.
Tab Operations
| Operation | Method |
|---|---|
| Switch tab | Click tab / Ctrl+Tab (next) / Ctrl+Shift+Tab (previous) |
| Close tab | Click × on the tab / middle-click / Ctrl+Shift+W |
| Rename tab | Right-click tab → “Rename” |
| Clone tab | Right-click tab → “Clone” (new connection with same config) |
| Reconnect | Right-click tab → “Reconnect” |
| Disconnect | Right-click tab → “Disconnect” |
Tab Context Menu
Right-click a tab to bring up the full tab context menu:
Main functions:
- Close / Disconnect / Reconnect / Clone
- Rename: customize the tab display name
- Copy / Paste
- Send Command: send a command to this tab (see 08 Scripts & Batch Commands)
- Lock Session / Unlock Session: session password protection (see 3.5)
- Open in WxEditor: launch the standalone product WxEditor (remote file editor) based on this session and browse/edit remote files in a new window. WxEditor is a separate application that must be installed on its own; this item only appears for SSH tabs
- System Management: open the system management dialog based on this session
- File Transfer: upload/download files
- Send to New Tab Group / Clone to New Tab Group / Close Tab Group
- Send to New Window / Clone to New Window / Open in New Window (window detach feature)
Some features are subject to plan restrictions; grayed-out non-clickable items indicate the current plan does not support them; see 13 Plan Feature Matrix.
3.2 Tab Groups
Tab groups allow multiple related sessions to be organized in a group; tabs within a group share the same terminal display area, and groups can be displayed side by side (split).
Create a Tab Group
- Tab right-click → “Send to New Tab Group”: move the current tab to a new tab group.
- Tab right-click → “Clone to New Tab Group”: clone to a new tab group with the same config.
Tab Group Operations
- Close Tab Group: right-click any tab in the group → “Close Tab Group” to close all tabs in the group.
- Switch group: click the tab bar of different groups, or switch via the split layout.
- Drag to split: there is a draggable splitter between groups to adjust each group’s width/height.
Tab group feature is available in all plans, but Free / Trial versions have a limited number of tabs (see 13 Plan Feature Matrix).
3.3 Vertical Split
Split view lets multiple tab groups be displayed side by side or stacked in the main area, making it easy to observe multiple sessions simultaneously.
Split Direction
| Direction | Description | Status bar icon |
|---|---|---|
| Horizontal side-by-side (default) | Tab groups arranged left-right | ⇆ |
| Vertical stacked | Tab groups arranged top-bottom | ⇅ |
Switch Split Direction
- The split toggle button on the right side of the status bar.
- When there is only one tab group, the split toggle button is not shown.
Adjust Split Size
- Drag the splitter between tab groups (Splitter Handle) to adjust each group’s proportion.
Vertical split feature is available in all plans.
3.4 Copy, Paste and Selection
Select Text
- Mouse drag: hold left button and drag to select text.
- Double-click: select a word.
- Triple-click: select the whole line.
- Select all: menu “Edit → Select All” or
Ctrl+A.
Copy
- Selected text is automatically copied to the system clipboard (auto-copy can be disabled in settings).
- Menu “Edit → Copy” or
Ctrl+C(when there is no selection,Ctrl+Csends the interrupt signal^C). - Toolbar “Copy” button.
Paste
- Menu “Edit → Paste” or
Ctrl+V. - Toolbar “Paste” button.
- When pasting a large block of text, a paste confirmation dialog appears to preview the content and confirm before sending, preventing accidental pasting of dangerous commands.
The trigger threshold for the paste dialog can be configured in settings.
3.5 Session Lock
Session lock sets an independent password for a tab; after locking, a password is required to view the terminal content, suitable for protecting sensitive sessions when stepping away temporarily.
Lock Session
- Tab right-click → “Lock Session”.
- In the dialog that appears, set a lock password; you can choose:
- Lock all sessions: lock all currently open tabs at the same time.
- Hide output: after locking, in addition to requiring a password, the terminal display is cleared until unlocked.
Unlock Session
- Click the locked tab and enter the password to unlock.
- You can choose “Unlock all sessions” to unlock all at once.
Session lock feature is available in all plans.
3.6 Find
Search for text in the terminal content.
Open Find
- Menu “Edit → Find” or
Ctrl+F. - Toolbar “Find” button.
Find Operations
| Operation | Description |
|---|---|
| Enter keyword | Highlights matches in real time |
| Find next | F3 or click “Next” |
| Find previous | Shift+F3 or click “Previous” |
| Close | Esc or click the close button |
Find searches the terminal’s scrollback buffer (including historical content that has scrolled off screen).
3.7 Clear Screen and Clear Scrollback
| Operation | Menu path | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Clear screen | Edit → Clear Screen | Clears the current visible screen, keeps scroll history |
| Clear scrollback | Edit → Clear Scrollback | Clears all scroll history records |
3.8 Font Zoom
| Operation | Shortcut | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Zoom in | Ctrl+= or menu “View → Zoom In” |
Increase terminal font |
| Zoom out | Ctrl+- or menu “View → Zoom Out” |
Decrease terminal font |
| Reset | Ctrl+0 or menu “View → Reset Zoom” |
Restore default font size |
The base value and font family of the font size can be set in the “Options → Font Size” dialog; see 09 Personalization.
3.9 Fullscreen Mode
- Menu “View → Fullscreen” or
F11. - In fullscreen mode, the title bar, menu bar, toolbar, sidebar, and status bar are hidden; the terminal area fills the entire screen.
- Press
F11orEscagain to exit fullscreen.
3.10 Show/Hide UI Elements
Via the “View” menu you can toggle the visibility of each UI element (✓ indicates currently shown):
| Menu item | Shortcut | Toggled element |
|---|---|---|
| Sidebar | Ctrl+B |
Session sidebar |
| Toolbar | — | Toolbar |
| Status bar | — | Status bar |
| Fullscreen | F11 |
Fullscreen mode |
3.11 Window Detach
You can detach a tab or tab group into an independent window, convenient for split-screen work in multi-monitor setups.
How to operate
- Tab right-click → “Send to New Window” / “Clone to New Window” / “Open in New Window”.
Detached windows share the same event loop with the main window; closing the main window also closes all detached windows.
Window detach feature is available in all plans.
3.12 Terminal Encoding
Each session can set its terminal character encoding independently, supporting:
- UTF-8 (default)
- GBK / GB2312 / GB18030 (Simplified Chinese)
- Big5 (Traditional Chinese)
- Shift_JIS / EUC-JP (Japanese)
- EUC-KR (Korean)
- ISO-8859-1 / Windows-1252 (Western European languages)
Encoding can be set when creating/editing a session, or changed as the default in the “Settings” dialog (see 11 Settings Dialog).
3.13 Terminal Log
After enabling session logging, all terminal output is simultaneously written to the specified log file for auditing and review. Configuration is described in 02 Session Management.