--- title: "Panel Control Overview" ms.date: "03/30/2017" f1_keywords: - "Panel" helpviewer_keywords: - "grouping controls [Windows Forms], Panel control" - "Panel control [Windows Forms], about Panel control" ms.assetid: b6b83636-2c39-4dad-89d6-f0fa41049a74 --- # Panel Control Overview (Windows Forms) Windows Forms controls are used to provide an identifiable grouping for other controls. Typically, you use panels to subdivide a form by function. For example, you may have an order form that specifies mailing options such as which overnight carrier to use. Grouping all options in a panel gives the user a logical visual cue. At design time all the controls can be moved easily — when you move the control, all its contained controls move, too. The controls grouped in a panel can be accessed through its property. This property returns a collection of instances, so you will typically need to cast a control retrieved this way to its specific type. ## Panel Versus GroupBox The control is similar to the control; however, only the control can have scroll bars, and only the control displays a caption. ## Key Properties To display scroll bars, set the property to `true`. You can also customize the appearance of the panel by setting the , , and properties. For more information on the and properties, see [How to: Set the Background of a Panel](how-to-set-the-background-of-a-windows-forms-panel.md). The property determines if the panel is outlined with no visible border (), a plain line (), or a shadowed line (). ## See also - - [GroupBox Control](groupbox-control-windows-forms.md) - [How to: Group Controls with the Windows Forms Panel Control Using the Designer](group-controls-with-wf-panel-control-using-the-designer.md) - [How to: Set the Background of a Windows Forms Panel Using the Designer](how-to-set-the-background-of-a-windows-forms-panel-using-the-designer.md)