Visualizing, zooming and navigating tracks

The Side Panel is shown to the right of a track opened in the View Area. The settings available in the side panel are specific to the type of track open, but usually allow users to navigate the track using a specific position on a specific chromosome, to find a particular nucleotide sequence or annotation, and to change the text format. In addition, it is possible to change the track layout. For example, you can learn more about Reads track side panels here: Reads track output from a read mapping. Once you have changed the visualization of the track to your liking, it is possible the settings as described in View settings for the Side Panel.

It is possible to zoom in and out in a track using the buttons in the lower right-hand corner of the View Area.

When zooming out you will see that the data is visualized in an aggregated format using a density bar plot or a graph.

You can also use the zoom and scroll shortcuts described in the table below:

Action Windows/Linux macOS
Vertical scroll in read tracks Alt + Scroll wheel Alt + Scroll wheel
Vertical scroll in reads tracks, fast Shift+Alt+Scroll wheel Shift+Alt+Scroll wheel
Vertical zoom in graph tracks Ctrl + Scroll wheel Image command_key_web + Scroll wheel
Zoom Ctrl + Scroll wheel Image command_key_web + Scroll wheel
Zoom In Mode Ctrl + 2 Image command_key_web + 2
Zoom In (without clicking) '+' (plus) '+' (plus)
Zoom Out Mode Ctrl + 3 Image command_key_web + 3
Zoom Out (without clicking) '-' (minus) '-' (minus)
Zoom to base level Ctrl + 0 Image command_key_web + 0
Zoom to fit screen Ctrl + 6 Image command_key_web + 6
Zoom to selection Ctrl + 5 Image command_key_web + 5
Reverse zoom mode press and hold Shift press and hold Shift

It is possible to open some tracks as a table. When that is the case, it is usually helpful to open the table in split view so that both the track and the table can be seen at the same time. In particular, because track and table are connected, it becomes possible to navigate and zoom the track by selecting successively the different rows in the table. To open a track as a table in split view, press Ctrl (Image command_key_web on Mac) while you click the table button at the bottom of the track view. You can also right-click on the track tab, and select "Show View | Table".

For comparison tools specific to resequencing and variants, please see Resequencing.