The tool rail on the right of a desk

Every desk has a tool rail on its right edge. Folded up, it is a small panel with a grip and a hammer-and-wrench icon. Point at it and it opens to show tools for the desk you are on: adding widgets, desk history, a button for each section, and ways to arrange and view the canvas.

Open the rail

1. Move the pointer over the rail at the right edge of the desk.
2. The rail opens downwards and shows its buttons, each with its name.
3. Move the pointer away. The rail folds up again after a moment.

What is on the rail

Add a widget from the rail

1. Open the rail and click Add widget. The Add to this desk picker opens, with the search box ready for typing.
2. Find the widget you want:
   • Browse the groups: Notes, Web, Files, Tools, Comms and Layout.
   • Click Advanced at the bottom for more kinds of widget. Click it again to hide them.
   • Or type in Search widgets and objects. The search covers every widget, including the advanced ones.
3. Click a tile to add that widget next to the widget you have selected, or in the middle of your view if nothing is selected. Or drag the tile onto the canvas and drop it exactly where you want it.

A Document, Spreadsheet or Slides tile first asks whether to start a new file, bring one in or use one you already have. A tile with a padlock is part of a paid plan; clicking it shows the plan you need. To close the picker without adding anything, press Esc or click outside it.

The header has its own Add widget button in the centre, with every widget grouped by what you are doing. Use whichever is closer. See Add a widget to a desk.

Bring in a synced widget or a file

When the search box is empty, two more options sit at the bottom of the picker:

• Bring a synced widget…, under From elsewhere, adds a live-linked copy of a widget from another desk. Edits to either copy show up in both. See Duplicate widgets and keep copies in sync.
• Import file…, under Import, opens a file picker. Choose a text, Markdown, CSV or JSON file and PlexiDesk turns it into a widget on this desk. See Turn a file into a widget.

Open desk history

1. Open the rail and click History.
2. The desk's history opens. Move through earlier saved states of the desk, then restore one or branch it into a new desk.

See Desk history: restore or branch a past state.

Jump to a section

Sections are labelled frames that group widgets. Each section on the desk gets its own button on the rail, named after the section, with an icon in the section's colour.

1. Open the rail.
2. Click the section's button. The view moves so that the section sits in the middle of the screen, at your current zoom.

Sections that are pinned to the screen do not get a button, because they are always in view. See Section widget Coming soon.

Group widgets by type

Use this when a desk has filled up with loose widgets and you want them sorted.

1. Open the rail.
2. Click Stack by type or Tile by type.
3. PlexiDesk makes one new section for each type of widget among the loose widgets, names it after that type (for example Sticky or Browser), and moves the widgets into it.

• Stack by type uses the stacked layout for each new section.
• Tile by type lays each new section out as a grid.

Only loose widgets are moved: widgets already in a section, and pinned widgets, stay where they are. The new sections are placed below any sections already on the desk. To change a section's layout or name afterwards, see Section widget Coming soon.

Clean up the layout

1. Open the rail.
2. Click Clean up. The widgets and sections on the canvas are arranged in rows, the same as clicking Tidy in the header.

For other layouts, such as a square grid or a single column, rest the pointer on Tidy in the header. See Desk quick actions in the header and Tidy, auto-arrange and Smart Stack.

Fit everything on screen, or reset the view

• Home zooms and moves the view so that everything on the desk fits on the screen. It zooms out as far as it needs to, down to 25%, and never zooms in past 100%. On an empty desk it does the same as Reset view.
• Reset view puts the zoom back to 100% and returns to the starting corner of the canvas, at the top left.

For every other way to move around, see Move around the canvas.

Move the rail

The rail starts on the right edge of the desk, halfway down. You can put it anywhere.

1. Press on the top of the rail, where the grip and the hammer-and-wrench icon are, and drag.
2. Let go where you want it.
3. To put it back on the right edge, double-click the top of the rail.

If you drop the rail near the top or bottom of the window, it lies flat as a row. The row has History and the other tools, but not Add widget: use the Add widget button in the centre of the header instead, or double-click the rail to put it back.

When the Plexii panel is open, the rail sits beside it instead of underneath it, and it moves along as you open, close or resize the panel. A rail you have dragged somewhere else is kept clear of the panel too, so the panel never hides it. See Open, move and resize the Plexii panel.

Common questions

Add widget is missing from the rail

The rail has been dragged to the top or bottom of the window, where it lies flat without Add widget. Double-click the top of the rail to put it back on the right edge, or use Add widget in the centre of the header.

The rail is covering a widget I need

Drag the rail somewhere else by its top, where the grip is. Double-click the top later to put it back.

I can't see any section buttons

They appear only when the desk has at least one section that is not pinned to the screen. To make sections from your loose widgets, use Stack by type or Tile by type.

Related tasks

• Add a widget to a desk
• Desk history: restore or branch a past state
• Desk quick actions in the header
• Move around the canvas
• Section widget Coming soon