my screen is full of color palettes and there is hardly any room for the drawing. How do I change to a single column at the right side of the page?

Open the "Palettes" docker. You can get there through Window>Dockers>Palettes, or through Window>Color Palettes>Palettes.

If you have checked some "high level" checkbox - for example, "Palette Libraries" - then you have turned on visibility for all palettes that are under that checkbox.

Uncheck as necessary. Or, use Window>Color Palettes>Close All Palettes.

For some of these things, they can take so long that you may think that the program has gotten hung up.