Show a desk as columns, a list, a table or a gallery

A desk is a free canvas by default: widgets sit wherever you put them. When you want to see the same widgets another way, switch the desk's view. Columns lays them out in scrollable columns you can sort by hand, by status or automatically. List, Table, Gallery and Compact give you a quick overview of everything on the desk.

Changing the view never moves anything on the canvas. Switch back to Free canvas and your layout is just as you left it.

Views work on every plan. Grouping columns by Topic uses AI, so it needs AI set up. See AI credits and where your AI runs Coming soon.

Switch the view

1. Open a desk.
2. Click the view button beside the desk's name at the top of the window. It shows the current view, such as Free canvas.
3. Under Views, click the view you want: Free canvas, Columns, List, Table, Gallery or Compact.

The current view has a tick. In any view other than Free canvas, the view button sits in the view's own bar at the top, so you can switch again from there.

Choose the view a desk opens in

PlexiDesk remembers the view you last used on each desk and opens the desk that way next time. To give a desk a default view:

1. Open the view menu.
2. Click the star on the view you want. A filled star marks the desk's default view.

The default applies when you open a desk you have not switched views on yet. Both the last view you used and the default are remembered on this device.

Columns

Columns shows the loose widgets on your desk as cards in side-by-side columns. Each column scrolls on its own, and the set of columns scrolls sideways. Each card shows the widget's content.

Choose how the columns are made with the buttons in the bar at the top:

The number beside each column's name is how many cards it holds.

Arrange your own columns (Freeform)

1. Click Freeform.
2. To add a column, click Add column. It appears at the end as New column.
3. To rename a column, click its name, type, and press Enter.
4. To move a card, drag it by the handle at the left of its title into another column. Or click its move button (Move to another column) and choose Move to and the column's name.
5. To reorder columns, drag a column by the handle beside its name and drop it on another column. It moves in front of that one.
6. To remove a column, click the × beside its name. Its cards move to the first column. You always keep at least one column.

Use a status board (Status)

1. Click Status.
2. Drag a card into another lane, or click its move button (Move to another lane) and choose a lane.

The lane is the widget's status, and it is saved with the widget. Your freeform columns, column widths and grouping choice are remembered for each desk on this device.

Group by topic with AI

1. Click Topic. Plexii reads each widget's title and text and suggests a topic for it, then builds a column for each topic.
2. Click Regroup at any time to ask again, for example after adding widgets.

Topic uses your PlexiDesk AI credits when you are signed in, or your own Anthropic key. If AI is not set up, a note under the bar says so, and the cards stay in one column until it is. See Add your own API keys.

Work with a card

Each card has buttons on its title row:

• Open in focus mode shows the widget full screen. See Open widgets full screen and side by side.
• Show on the canvas switches back to the free canvas and makes that widget the active one.
• Move to another column or Move to another lane appears in Freeform and Status.

In Type, Colour, Connections, Sections, Recency and Topic the columns are worked out for you, so cards cannot be dragged there. Switch to Freeform or Status to arrange cards by hand.

Resize a column

Drag a column's right edge. Cards fill the column's width, so they grow and shrink with it.

Go back to the canvas

Click Canvas at the right of the bar, or choose Free canvas from the view button beside it.

List, Table, Gallery and Compact

These four views are quick overviews of everything on the desk, including widgets inside sections. Items are listed with the most recently changed first, and the bar at the top shows how many there are.

Click any item to open that widget full screen in focus mode. Press Esc to come back to the view. See Open widgets full screen and side by side.

These views are for finding and opening things. To change a widget, open it, or switch back to Free canvas.

Tips

• Run a desk as a board. Group Columns by Status and drag cards across as work moves on. The status travels with each widget.
• Find something on a crowded desk. Switch to Compact or List, click the item, and it opens full screen.
• Set a default for each kind of desk. Give a planning desk Columns and a research desk Gallery, using the star.
• Tidy the canvas too. Views leave the canvas alone. To lay out the canvas itself, see Tidy, auto-arrange and Smart Stack.

Common questions

I cannot find the view button. It appears only while a desk is open, beside the desk's name at the top of the window. In Columns, List, Table, Gallery and Compact it sits in the view's own bar.

A widget is missing from Columns. Columns shows the loose widgets on the desk. Widgets inside a section appear when you group by Sections, and in List, Table, Gallery and Compact. Pinned widgets are not shown in Columns.

I cannot drag cards. Dragging works when you group by Freeform or Status. The other groupings are worked out automatically.

Topic puts everything in one column. Topic needs AI. Sign in to use your PlexiDesk AI credits, or add your own Anthropic key, then click Regroup.

My freeform columns are different on another computer. Freeform columns, widths and the grouping you chose are kept on each device. A widget's status is saved with the widget, so a Status board matches everywhere.

Related tasks

• Open widgets full screen and side by side
• Tidy, auto-arrange and Smart Stack
• Select, move and arrange widgets
• Section widget Coming soon
• The header bar
• Desks, rooms and the canvas