Regions Layouts

A Regions Layout is a saved, ordered placement policy. Its Regions describe opportunities for matching workspace items; they are not fixed taskbar slots and do not form a separate order.

The important distinction is between policy and workspace state:

• Application Regions match Tasks by application identity. Decoration Regions refer to a particular Decoration definition. Launcher and Widget Regions apply to those categories, not to particular Launchers or Widgets.
• Repeated Application, Decoration, Launcher, and Widget Regions are allowed. A layout may contain at most one Unassigned Region.
• The layout does not store which particular runtime item occupies a Region. The actual Tasks, Launchers, Widgets, and Decorations remain individual items in the shared workspace Order.
• Launcher and Widget Regions do not create Launchers or Widgets. Applying a layout can create a missing Decoration placement for a Decoration definition in the layout. It does not create Tasks.
• Order remains shared and singular. For more on item matching, see Launchers and Regions and Decorations and Regions.

For automatic placement, the Active Regions Layout helps determine where a new item that matches its policy belongs. Existing items are not rearranged as a side effect. An unmatched Task, or another eligible item such as a Decoration without a matching Decoration Region, can use Unassigned if that Region is present. Launchers and Widgets never fall back to it; they need their own category Region. Hiding a Launcher changes its visibility, not its membership or treatment as a Launcher for Regions.

Arrange Now explicitly applies the selected saved layout, whether or not it is Active. TaskManSync places items that participate in Regions policy according to the ordered opportunities. Other runtime items are kept in their current relative order after the arranged items; they are not deleted, but their absolute positions can change. A Region with no matching item can remain empty, except that applying a Decoration Region creates a missing Decoration placement when possible. A Scripted Decoration can have only one active placement.

Adding, removing, reordering, or editing Regions changes the policy, not the current workspace Order. Use Arrange Now to reconcile existing items. Automatic placement does not continually enforce the layout, and Regions do not replace normal workspace recovery after Plasma restarts.