# Arrange scan panels

> Add, remove, resize and drag scan panels, change their scan, switch LIVE and LOG views, mute the bell, send a row to a desk, and every option in the cog.

Source: https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/scanner-panels
Guide 8.5, Scanner. Beginner, 7 min read.
Checked with Scalpel 1.12.8 on 2026-10-15. By Scalpel Team.

**In short:**

On a scan desk, click **Add panel** in the desk header to add a scan panel, pick its scan from the dropdown in the panel's title, drag the gap between panels to resize them, and drag a title onto another panel to swap them. Each title bar has **LIVE** or **LOG**, a bell to mute alerts, a cog for that scan's settings and an **X** to remove the panel. Click a row to load the stock onto a free desk, or click a coloured square to pick the desk.

A scan desk is a stack of scan panels you can shape to the way you trade: one big IBKR scanner list, or a tall Setups panel with a small High of day momentum strip under it. This guide covers every control on the desk and on each panel, with the details that are easy to miss, such as which settings are shared between panels.

**Before you start:**

- A desk switched to **SCAN** ([guide 8.1](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/set-up-ibkr-scanner)).
- At least one trader desk open, so rows have somewhere to load ([guide 2.2](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/arrange-desks)).

## The scan desk and its panels

A new scan desk opens with three panels, top to bottom: **IBKR scanner**, **High of day momentum** and **Running up**.

*Screenshot: A scan desk: Add panel in the desk header (1), the scan dropdown in each panel's title (2), and the gap you drag to resize two panels (3). Demo data.*

Every panel's title bar carries the same controls:

*Screenshot: The title bar: the scan dropdown (1), the row count (2), LIVE or LOG (3), the bell (4), the cog (5) and the close button (6).*

## Arrange the panels

### 1. Add a panel

Click **Add panel** in the scan desk's header. The new panel appears at the bottom, split from the lowest panel, and shows the first scan not already on the desk. On the default desk, that is **Setups**.

### 2. Choose its scan

Click the scan name in the panel's title and pick **IBKR scanner**, **High of day momentum**, **Running up** or **Setups**. [Guide 8.2](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/scan-types) explains what each one finds.

*Screenshot: The scan dropdown open on a panel's title.*

### 3. Resize panels

Drag the gap between two panels up or down. Give the panel you read most the most rows: each row is 21 pixels, and a panel scrolls when it has more rows than fit.

### 4. Reorder panels

Drag a panel by its title bar and drop it on another panel: the two swap places.

### 5. Remove a panel

Click the **X** at the right of the title bar. A scan desk always keeps at least one panel, so the last one has no X. To switch the whole desk back to trading, click **SCAN** in the desk header. **Hide** in the desk header closes the desk altogether (when more than one desk is open).

Scalpel saves the layout as you change it, per desk, so it is the same next time.

## LIVE and LOG views

Click **LIVE** (green) to switch the panel to **LOG** (blue), and click again to go back.

- **LIVE** shows the stocks on the scan right now, in rank order or your chosen sort.
- **LOG** is the scan's alert history, newest first, up to 200 entries: every time a stock entered the scan this session, with a **TIME** column (now, 40s ago, 3m ago, 2h ago).

*Screenshot: High of day momentum in LOG view: the newest alert flashing blue, older rows fading over a few minutes, and a red dot on the row where each stock first appeared. Demo data.*

In LOG view a fresh entry flashes blue for a couple of seconds, rows fade as they age so the newest read brightest, and the row where a stock appeared for the first time keeps a red dot, so you can see at a glance that ABCD's latest break, 40 seconds ago, was its second.

**Clear** (LOG view only) empties the log. It also resets the scan's memory of which stocks it has seen, so the next appearance of each one counts as new again and alerts again.

**Note.**

View, sort and bell belong to the scan, not to the panel. Two panels showing the same scan always share them: switch one to LOG and both switch.

## Mute a scan

Click the **bell**. A crossed-out bell means that scan is muted: no toast, no sound and no voice for it, though the rows and the log still update. It is the same switch as **Alert on new entry** in the cog. By default IBKR scanner, High of day momentum and Setups are armed and Running up is muted.

## The cog: a scan's settings

Click the **cog** for that scan's settings. They apply as you change them; close the window with the X. What is in it depends on the scan:

- **IBKR scanner**: **Alert on new entry**, and a note that its filters are in Settings under Connection ([guide 8.1](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/set-up-ibkr-scanner)).
- **High of day momentum** and **Setups**: **Alert on new entry** only. They show every listed stock that triggers.
- **Running up**: **Alert on new entry** plus its own price, gap, relative volume, shares out, volume and market cap filters ([guide 8.2](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/scan-types)).

Every cog ends with the same **Global** block, shared by all panels:

*Screenshot: The IBKR scanner's cog, with the Global block outlined.*

| Global switch | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| **Require news catalyst** | Off | Running up shows only stocks with a headline in the last 24 hours |
| **Setup chips** | On | The coloured setup letters beside symbols. The Setups panel always shows them |
| **Intel column** | On | The dilution, catalyst and borrow chips on every scan panel. The desk strips and chart lines stay on either way |

Turning off **Intel column** gives the other columns more room on a narrow scan desk.

## Sort a panel

Click a column header to sort by it, biggest first; click it again to flip the order. The arrow beside the header shows the active sort. SYM, PRICE, CHG%, SQZ, RVOL, SHS OUT, SHORT, MKT CAP and VOL sort; RANK, VWAP and INTEL do not. The sort is saved per scan. Sorting the IBKR scanner by CHG%, biggest first, matches its live rank order.

## Send a row to a desk

- **Click a row** to load the stock onto a trader desk: an empty desk first, otherwise one with no open position. If the stock is already on a desk, that desk takes focus instead. If every trader desk holds a position, the toast **No free desk: every trader desk holds a position** says so; if every desk is a scan desk, **No trader desk open: click SCAN on a desk to switch it to TRADER** tells you what to do.
- **Click a coloured square** in the **DESK** column to load the stock onto that desk. There is one square per open trader desk, in the desk's colour, which is what the scan desk's header hint means by "Click a desk color to load".

*Screenshot: The DESK squares up close: PQRS is on the green desk, so its square is filled; XYZA is on none.*

A filled square means that desk already holds the stock. Clicking a filled square empties that desk. A desk holding a position never changes symbol: you get "D2 holds a position: close it before changing the symbol" instead, so a click on the scanner can never orphan an open trade.

Scan alert toasts work the same way: click one to load its stock. [Guide 2.1](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/load-symbols-and-desks) covers loading symbols in general.

## What can go wrong

- **Clicking a row does nothing visible.** The stock is already on a desk and that desk just took focus, or no trader desk is free (check for the toast).
- **The LOG view emptied itself.** Someone pressed **Clear**, or Scalpel restarted: the log lives for the session.
- **A panel shows fewer rows than the count.** The panel is shorter than its list. Scroll it, or drag the gap to give it more height.

## Questions

**Can I put the same scan on two panels?**

Yes, but both panels share that scan's rows, sort, LIVE or LOG view and bell, so it is mostly useful across two scan desks on different screens.

**How many scan panels can a desk hold?**

As many as fit. Each Add panel splits the lowest panel in two, so in practice three or four panels per desk stay readable.

**Do scan panels use market data lines?**

Not by themselves. The IBKR scanner's list uses one line per listed stock whether or not any panel is open, and the other scans read the same quotes.

**Does Clear stop alerts?**

No, the opposite. Clear resets which stocks the scan has seen, so each one alerts again the next time it appears. Mute the bell to stop alerts.

**Why do the rows have alternating shading?**

That is the zebra striping for readability. Turn it off in Settings > Appearance > Zebra stripes.