Editing Google Desktop (section)

===Sidebar===
A prominent feature of the Google Desktop is the [[Sidebar (computing)|Sidebar]], which holds several common Gadgets and resides off to one side of the desktop.  The Sidebar is available on the Windows and Linux versions of Google Desktop.  The Sidebar comes pre-installed with the following gadgets:
* '''Email''' – a panel which lets one view their own [[Gmail]] messages.
* '''Scratch Pad''' – here the user can store [[Notetaking|notes]]; they are saved automatically
* '''Photos''' – displays a slideshow of [[Photograph|photos]] from the "My Pictures" folder (address can be changed)
* '''News''' – shows the latest headlines from [[Google News]], and how long ago they were written. The News panel is personalized depending on the type of news that users read.
* '''Weather''' – shows the current weather for a location specified by the user.
* '''Web Clips''' – shows updated content from [[RSS]] and [[Atom (standard)|Atom]] web feeds.
* '''Google Talk''' – If [[Google Talk]] is installed, double clicking the window title will dock it to the user's sidebar.

Like the Windows Taskbar, the Google Desktop sidebar can be set to Auto-Hide mode, where it will only appear once the user moves the mouse cursor towards the side where it resides. If not on auto-hide, by default the sidebar will always take up about 1/6 – 1/9 of the screen (depending on the screen resolution), and other windows are forced to resize. However, the sidebar can be resized to take less space, and users can disable the "always on top" feature in the options. With the auto-hide feature on, the sidebar temporarily overlaps  maximized [[Window (computing)|windows]].

Another feature that comes with the Sidebar is alerts.  When the Sidebar is minimized, new email and news can be displayed on a pop-up window above the Windows Taskbar.