I had this issue in Max 2017 and maybe this will help in Max 2018. Go to 'Help' and then to the 'Welcome' screen. Setup up a custom Max layout and save it there as the default. When I did that in Max 2017 it stuck and I had what I wanted. Doing it any other way would not stay.
Rob Holmes
![EESignature EESignature](http://autodesk.i.lithium.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/1272565i464DC3DC646B4F11/image-size/original)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3ds Max (2023-2025), V-Ray 6.2, Ryzen 9 3950-X Processor, DDR 4 128MB, Gigabyte Aorus X570 Master motherboard, Sabrent Rocket NVMe 4.0 M.2 drives, NVidia RTX 4090, Space Pilot Pro, Windows 11 Pro x64, Tri-Monitor, Cintiq 13HD, Windows 11 x64
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------