Trying to edit with the timeline undocked

I thought that you were able to edit a story when the timeline was undocked. The past couple of days, I've tried but only a handful of functions work when the timeline is undocked (i.e., shape fill), but it won't let me edit animations of an object it the timeline is undocked. Another example is that it'll let me add a slide transition with the timeline undocked, but it won't allow me to remove the transition undocked. Anyone else experiencing editing quirks? If so, any way to resolve this?

 

Thanks,

eric