Source: jaxenter.com

I sometimes use NetBeans for PHP projects on my Windows laptop. I recently ran into a really annoying problem when doing a “Find in Projects” search. The search works fine, but when I double-click on a search result, the source file opens in the output panel right next to the search results. It should, of course, be opening in the main window with the other source file.

This was driving me nuts, until I finally found the solution:

Reset the windows from the menu with Windows –> Reset Windows

That solved the problem instantly.

FYI, I think weird symptom started happening after I accidentally un-docked and then re-docked the output panel or the search results tab.