# Open widgets full screen and side by side > Open any widget full screen in focus mode, step through the desk with the arrow keys, and drag widgets from the dock to work on up to four side by side. Source: https://plexiidesk.com/help/canvas-focus-mode Section: Desks and the canvas > Arrange and view Plans: All plans Updated: 2026-10-10 Focus mode opens one widget so it fills the window, with the rest of the desk blurred behind it. Use it when you want to write, read or work on one thing without the rest of the desk in view. From there you can step through every widget on the desk, start a new document, ask Plexii a question, or put up to four widgets side by side. Focus mode works on every plan. The **AI Chat** tab uses AI, so it needs AI set up. See [AI credits and where your AI runs](https://plexiidesk.com/help). ## Open a widget in focus mode 1. On the desk, rest the pointer on the widget so its title bar buttons appear. 2. Click **Expand** (the outward arrows). 3. Choose **Focus mode**. The other choice, **Larger on desk**, makes the widget bigger where it is instead. See [Select, move and arrange widgets](https://plexiidesk.com/help/canvas-select-arrange). You can also open a widget in focus mode from these places: - **Columns view.** Click **Open in focus mode** on a card. See [Show a desk as columns, a list, a table or a gallery](https://plexiidesk.com/help/desk-views). - **List, Table, Gallery and Compact views.** Click any item. - **Attention.** On an item that came from a widget, click **Open it here** (the outward arrows). PlexiDesk opens the item's desk and shows that widget full screen. See [Close, snooze, archive and edit an item](https://plexiidesk.com/help). ## What you see - **The widget**, full size, with its name in the bar along the top. - **Where you are**, such as **3 / 8**, shown in the bar and above the dock. - **Previous** and **Next** arrows at the left and right edges of the window. - **Maximize** in the bar, which removes the margin so the widget fills the whole window. Click **Restore** to bring the margin back. - **Close** (**×**) in the bar. - **The desk's name** at the top left, so you always know which desk you are on. - **The dock** along the bottom, with a thumbnail for each widget on the desk. It is described below. ## Move between widgets Focus mode walks through the desk in reading order: top to bottom, and left to right along each row. From the last widget it goes round to the first. - Press `→` for the next widget and `←` for the previous one. - Click the **Previous** or **Next** arrow at the edge of the window. - Swipe sideways with two fingers on a trackpad. - Scroll the mouse wheel while the pointer is over the space around the widget. Scrolling over the widget itself scrolls its content. - Click a thumbnail in the dock to jump straight to it. If you are typing in a field that already has text, the arrow keys move the cursor in your text. Use the arrows at the edges of the window instead. Pinned widgets and sections are not part of focus mode. Widgets inside sections are. ## Leave focus mode Any of these takes you back to the desk: - Press `Esc`. - Click **Close** (**×**) in the bar. - Click the empty space around the widget. ## The dock The dock along the bottom shows a live thumbnail of every widget you can open, with a small icon for its type. The one you are on is raised with an accent ring. - **Click a thumbnail** to show that widget. - **Scroll** over the dock to move along it when the desk has a lot of widgets. - **Right-click a thumbnail** for the widget's menu. **Focus this widget** at the top jumps to it. See [Right-click menus](https://plexiidesk.com/help/right-click-menus). After a thin divider at the end of the dock are two tabs that are always there: **Add** and **AI Chat**. ### Add: create or open a document without leaving Click **Add** to see **Add to this desk**: 1. Under **Create new**, click what you want to make: **Document**, **Spreadsheet**, **Slides**, **Flowchart**, **Design**, **Artwork** or **Page**. 2. Or, under **Open existing**, find one of your documents. They are listed with the most recently changed first. Type in **Search documents** to narrow the list, then click the one you want. Either way, the document is added to this desk as a widget and opens right here in focus mode. See [Create a document, sheet, deck, diagram, design or artwork](https://plexiidesk.com/help). ### AI Chat: ask Plexii while you work Click **AI Chat** to talk to Plexii, your workspace assistant, without leaving focus mode. Type in **Ask your workspace…** and press `Enter` to send. It is the same assistant, with the same conversations, as the Plexii panel, so a conversation you start here is there for you later. See [Meet Plexii, your assistant](https://plexiidesk.com/help/ai-assistant). ## Put widgets side by side 1. Open a widget in focus mode. 2. In the dock, press on the thumbnail of another widget and drag it up into the view. A space opens to show where it will go. 3. Let go. The two widgets now sit side by side, each in its own pane. 4. Drag more thumbnails up to add panes, up to four in all. As you add panes, the layout goes from two side by side, to one on the left with two stacked on the right, to a grid of four. With a single widget showing, dropping the new one on the left puts it on the left. You can drag the **Add** and **AI Chat** tabs into a pane too, for example to keep Plexii open beside a document. While panes are showing: - **Click a pane** to work in it. The pane you are in has an accent border. - **Remove a pane** with the **×** in its title. When only one pane is left, you are back to a single widget. - **Maximize** and **Close** sit at the top right of the window, and the top left reads **Split** and how many panes, such as **Split · 2 panes**. ### Your side-by-side groups are saved As soon as two or more panes are showing, PlexiDesk saves them as a group for this desk: - **The group stays when you leave focus mode.** Next time you open any widget in the group, the whole group opens with that widget's pane active. - **The group has its own tab in the dock**, with a small preview of its layout. Its widgets leave the row of single thumbnails while they are grouped. - **To leave a group without changing it**, click another thumbnail or tab in the dock. - **To break a group up**, remove its panes until only one is left. ## Tips - **Write in peace.** Open a Page or Note in focus mode and click **Maximize**. See [Page widget](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-page). - **Compare two things.** Put a brief beside the draft it describes, or a browser beside your notes. - **Keep Plexii beside your work.** Drag **AI Chat** into a pane next to the document you are writing. - **Review a whole desk.** Open the first widget in focus mode and press `→` to walk through everything on it. ## Common questions **The arrow keys do not move to the next widget.** The cursor is probably in a text field that has text in it, so the keys move the cursor. Click the **Previous** or **Next** arrow at the edge of the window instead. **Focus mode closed when I clicked.** A click in the empty space around the widget leaves focus mode. Click inside the widget, or on the bar along the top, to keep working. **A widget is missing from the dock.** Pinned widgets and sections are not shown. If the widget is in a side-by-side group, look for the group's tab in the dock. **I can only add four panes.** Four is the most focus mode shows at once. Remove a pane to make room for another. **AI Chat shows a note about an API key.** That note appears when you have not added an Anthropic key of your own. When you are signed in, Plexii can answer using your PlexiDesk AI credits. See [AI credits and where your AI runs](https://plexiidesk.com/help). ## Related tasks - [Show a desk as columns, a list, a table or a gallery](https://plexiidesk.com/help/desk-views) - [Select, move and arrange widgets](https://plexiidesk.com/help/canvas-select-arrange) - [Tidy, auto-arrange and Smart Stack](https://plexiidesk.com/help/canvas-tidy) - [The controls on every widget](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-title-bar) - [Meet Plexii, your assistant](https://plexiidesk.com/help/ai-assistant) - [Desks, rooms and the canvas](https://plexiidesk.com/help/desk-overview)