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Action bar electron density

The action bar for an electron density puzzle. The Foldit window has been set to a narrow width, so the action bar appears on three rows. A selection, a band, and a segment note have been added, so most of the tools are active and not grayed out.

Note: this page is being updated to reflect how Foldit works in 2023. A number of tools aren't covered yet.

Tools are used to manipulate proteins and small molecule ligands in Foldit.

Many Foldit tools are available in as icons in the action bar. The action bar appears on the lower edge of the Foldit window. Most of the action bar tools also have a hotkey or keyboard shortcut, allowing them to be selected using a single keystroke. Some tools don't appear in the action bar, and don't have a hotkey, but require clicking on the protein or ligand or making a selection.

Different puzzles may have different action bar tools available.

Some action bar tools require a selection of one or more segments to be present. Other tools are only active if bands or segment notes are present. Action bar tools are grayed out when they are inactive.

Some tools, especially Shake and Wiggle, work on all segments if nothing is selected. Otherwise, these tools work on just the selected segments.

Most action bar tools can change the Foldit score by changing the shape or design of a protein or ligand. Tools such as Freeze don't change the score by themselves, but do affect how other tools, like Shake and Wiggle work.

Some tools don't appear on the action bar. In general, these tools involve clicking directly on the protein.

The Pull tool is probably the most basic tool in Foldit, and it doesn't appear on the action bar. Clicking on the backbone or a sidechain and dragging pulls the protein into a new shape. Ligands can be dragged in the same way.

Bands are another special case. There's no "Create Band" icon in the action bar, although there are icons for Remove Bands and Disable Bands. Control-clicking and dragging on protein or ligand adds a new band. Band properties can be adjusted by right-clicking on a band.

The Tweak tool also lacks an action bar icon. Instead, tweak arrows appear on the protein when a section of helix or sheet segments are selected. Double-clicking a sheet or helix is the easiest way to start the tool. Clicking on the arrows rotates a helix and either rotates or flips a sheet. Tweak can also straighten a helix or a sheet. Clearing the selection dismisses the tweak tool.

Cutpoints are another special case. Creating a cutpoint requires an action bar tool. Closing a cutpoint requires clicking on the cutpoint.

Some tools open additional controls or windows. The Remix tool displays controls which allow reviewing and selecting new positions for the selected part of the protein. The Blueprint tool in a protein design puzzle opens a two separate windows that allow applying ideal shapes to part of the protein. Ligand design design and other small molecule design tools open one or more additional windows.

Many tools, such as Shake, Wiggle, and Remix, have equivalent Lua functions available for use in recipes. Other tools, such as Pull, Move, Tweak, and Trim, can't be accessed from a recipe.

Common tools

The most common action bar tools include:

  • Pull - clicking and dragging on protein or a small molecule ligand pulls it to a new position
  • Shake - adjusts sidechains, for either all or selected segments
  • Wiggle - adjusts backbone and/or sidechains, either all or selected segments
  • Move moves all or part of a protein or a ligand
  • Tweak - rotates or straighten a helix or a sheet, can also flip sheets
  • Freeze - freeze or unfreeze either all or selected segments
  • Remove Bands - removes all bands
  • Disable Bands - toggles all bands between enabled and disabled
  • Trim - temporarily hides a selected part of the protein
  • Rebuild - rebuilds either all or selected segments
  • Remix- remixes selected segments
  • Rama Map - displays the Rama Map of the protein
  • Cut - opens a cutpoint between two selected segments

Small molecule design tools

Action bar small molecule design

The action bar for a small molecule design puzzle adds small molecule tools, but eliminates several other common Foldit tools.

Small molecule design puzzles involve creating a small molecule ligand that binds to an existing protein. This type of puzzle adds several new tools to the action bar. Some of the common Foldit tools are available, but others, like Remix and Rebuild are not. The small molecule tools include:

Protein design tools

Action bar protein design

The action bar for a protein design puzzle

Foldit design puzzles involve creating a new protein, either from scratch or by modifying an existing protein.


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