Find your way around PlexiDesk

PlexiDesk keeps the same frame around everything you do, whether you are on your Home dashboard, working on a desk or writing a document in Office. Once you know the parts of that frame, you can always find your way back to anything.

This page is the map. Each part of the window has its own article with the detail.

The window at a glance

• The side menu, on the left. This is where you go. At the top are the workspace switcher and the four area tabs (Desk, Office, People and Brain). Below them are the places in the area you are in. In the Desk area, that means Home, Attention and Rooms. See The side menu.
• The header, across the top. This is what you can do. It holds the back and forward arrows and, while a desk is open, the desk's name, its view button, Add widget and the desk's quick actions. Search and the Settings gear are always at the right. See The header bar.
• The middle. The desk, page or app you are working in.
• The open-items strip, near the bottom. A tab for each desk, document or app you have open, so you can switch between them in one click. It appears as soon as you have something open. See The open-items strip.
• The footer, along the very bottom. Your version number, update and sync status, and the account you are signed in with on the left. Terms of Use, Help & support and What's new are on the right. See The footer.
• The Plexii button, at the bottom right. Click it to open Plexii, the assistant, or press and hold it to talk. See Meet Plexii.

The four areas

PlexiDesk is organised into four areas. The tabs near the top of every side menu switch between them, and each area has its own menu below the tabs.

• Desk is your Home dashboard, your desks and rooms, and Attention. Clicking the Desk tab takes you to Home.
• Office is for documents and communication. Its menu lists the apps (PlexiiDocs, PlexiiSheets, PlexiiSlides, Diagrams, PlexiiDesign, PlexiiDraw, the Browser and Files) and a Communicate group that includes Mail, Inbox, Calendar, Chat, Meet and Sign. See Office overview Coming soon.
• People is your organisation: who is in it and how it fits together. See People overview Coming soon.
• Brain is what your workspace knows, for asking, searching and mapping it. See Brain overview Coming soon.

In Office, People and Brain, the button at the top right of the menu (its tooltip says Back to PlexiDesk) takes you back to the Desk area.

If a tab is greyed out with a small padlock, that area is not available on your plan or in the organisation you are working in. Rest the pointer on it to see why. Desk is always available. For more, see The four areas of PlexiDesk.

What moved in 4.3.25

If you have used PlexiDesk before, a few things have new homes:

• Calendar is in Office, under Communicate, beside Mail and Inbox. See Calendar overview Coming soon.
• Files is in Office, under Apps, beside the Browser. See Files overview Coming soon.
• Vault is in Settings, on the Data tab. See Vault Coming soon.
• Connected apps are managed in Settings, on the Advanced tab. They appear in the side menu only while a desk is open. See Connected apps Coming soon.
• The Plexii hub has no row in the side menu. Open it from the Plexii wordmark at the top of the assistant, or press ⌘ ⇧ K on a Mac (Ctrl Shift K on Windows). Press the same keys again to step back out. See The Plexii hub.
• The area tabs sit just under the workspace switcher in every side menu. The switcher itself lists only Personal and your organisations.

Go back and forward

PlexiDesk remembers the screens you have visited, the way a web browser does.

• Click the back or forward arrow at the left end of the header. An arrow is greyed out when there is nowhere to go in that direction.
• On a Mac, press ⌘ ← to go back and ⌘ → to go forward. While you are typing in a text box, these keys move the cursor instead.
• If your mouse has back and forward buttons, they work too.
• On Windows, use the header arrows or your mouse buttons.

Search and run commands

Press ⌘ K on a Mac or Ctrl K on Windows, or click the magnifying glass near the right end of the header, to open the command palette. Type to find what you are looking for or to run a command. Press the same keys again, or Esc, to close it. See The command palette.

See every keyboard shortcut

Press ⌘ / on a Mac or Ctrl / on Windows to open Keyboard shortcuts. It lists the shortcuts that work Everywhere and those that work On the canvas. Press the keys again, or Esc, to close it. Inside a document editor, the same keys open that editor's own list instead. See Keyboard shortcuts.

Let the app explain itself

Rest the pointer on a button for a moment and a tooltip says what it does. Many tooltips include the shortcut, such as Search and commands (⌘K) or Back (⌘←). When something is greyed out, its tooltip usually says why: a locked area tab gives the reason, and a disabled button says what it needs.

Get help

• Help & support in the footer opens this help centre in your browser.
• What's new in the footer lists the changes in every release. A dot on it means there are changes you have not looked at yet. You can also read What's new on our website.
• After PlexiDesk updates itself, the first time you open it shows a short What's new in PlexiDesk summary of that release, once.
• On a Mac, the Help menu in the menu bar has Help & Support, which opens this help centre, and Check for Updates.... On Windows, press Alt to show the menu bar.
• To replay a tour, open the command palette and choose Take a tour, or open Settings, go to the Data tab and click Take a tour / replay onboarding. See Tours and onboarding.

Common questions

The side menu has shrunk to a column of icons. It is minimised. Click the expand button at the top of the column to bring the full menu back. In Office, People and Brain, a minimised menu leaves a small button with the area's name (for example PlexiOffice) at the top left; click it to show the menu again. See The side menu.

I cannot see the open-items strip. It stays hidden until you open a desk, a document or an app. Open one and it appears above the footer.

Add widget is missing from the header. It appears only while a desk is open. Open a desk from Home or from Rooms in the side menu.

Where did the Plexii row go? The hub opens from the assistant now. Click the Plexii button at the bottom right, then the Plexii wordmark at the top of the assistant, or press ⌘ ⇧ K (Ctrl Shift K on Windows).

Everything in this section

• The side menu: every row of the Desk area's menu, and how to minimise and resize it.
• The header bar: back and forward, the desk's controls, Add widget, Search and Settings.
• The footer: version and updates, sync status, your account, and where to get help.
• The open-items strip: switch, pin and close tabs, and send a document to a desk.
• The command palette: search everything and run commands from the keyboard.
• Undo and redo: take back a change to your desks and widgets.

New to PlexiDesk? Start with Get started with PlexiDesk.