Shortcuts widget

A Shortcuts box is a set of tiles you choose yourself. Each tile takes you somewhere in one click: a desk, a room, a document, a website, a connected app, a widget on one of your desks or a person you message. A tile can also do something, such as start a meeting.

You can give each box a name and add as many boxes as you like, for example one for a client and one for your Monday routine.

Before you start

• Plans. Shortcuts works on every plan.
• People tiles use live presence, which is part of the Team plan. On other plans the People online list does not appear.
• Where it is saved. Your boxes and their tiles are saved on this computer, along with the rest of your dashboard layout.

Add a Shortcuts box

You can add Shortcuts to Home, Office Home, People Home and Brain Home.

1. Open the dashboard you want, for example Home from the side menu.
2. Click Customize at the top right, then click Add widget.
3. Find Shortcuts. Type in Search widgets, or choose the Navigation category.
4. Click Shortcuts, then choose a size with the arrows beside the preview or the dots under it: Small, Medium, Large or Stack. The Sizes section below says what each one fits.
5. Click Add widget. The box is added at the end of the board.
6. Drag it to where you want it, then click Done.

A new box is empty. It says Take yourself anywhere: desks, documents, websites, apps. with an Add tile above. Click Add to start filling it.

Fill the box

Click Add (or Add shortcut in the larger sizes). The shortcut editor opens. It has three parts:

• the box's name at the top, with Done beside it
• a search box: Paste a link, or search desks, rooms, documents, apps
• In this box: the tiles already in the box

Tiles you add, move or remove are saved straight away. The box's name is saved when you click away from it or close the editor.

Name the box

Click the name at the top of the editor and type a name, such as Client: Q4 launch. Until you name it, the box is called Shortcuts.

Add a website

1. Paste or type the address into the search box, for example plexiidesk.com/help. You do not need to type the https:// part.
2. Press Enter, or click the row that appears below the search box. It says Add link.

The tile is named after the website's address, without the www. at the start, and shows the site's own icon once it has loaded. Until then, or if the site has no icon, the tile shows a globe.

Add a place, an app, an action or a person

Before you type anything, the editor lists what you can add straight away:

• Actions: New meeting and Transcribe.
• Connected apps: up to six of your connected apps.
• PlexiDesk sections: Rooms, Desks, Shared, Plans, Tasks, Calendar, Documents, Files and Vault.
• People online: up to five teammates who are online now (Team plan).

Click any of them to add it to the box. Items already in the box show a check mark. Clicking a checked item takes it out of the box again.

Find a desk, room, document or widget

Start typing in the search box. The results are grouped under Actions, PlexiDesk sections, People online, Desks, Rooms, Documents, Desk widgets and Connected apps, with a few results in each group.

• Names that contain what you type are listed first.
• From the second letter, PlexiDesk also searches inside your desks, rooms and documents, so you can find a document by a phrase in it.
• Desk widgets finds widgets on your desks that match, so a tile can take you straight to one table or note on a busy desk.

Click a result to add it. If nothing fits, the editor says Nothing matches.

Arrange, rename and remove tiles

The tiles in the box are listed under In this box, in the order they appear on the dashboard.

• Reorder: drag a row by the handle on its left.
• Rename a website tile: click the pencil (Rename), type a name and press Enter. The tile then shows your name, with the website's address underneath. Clear the name to go back to the address.
• Remove a tile: click × (Remove) on its row.

Desk, room, document and app tiles always show the item's own name. When you rename the desk or document, its tile changes too.

When you have finished, click Done. Pressing Esc or clicking outside the editor also closes it, and keeps your changes.

What each tile does

• Website: opens the page in your web browser.
• PlexiDesk section: goes to that page, such as Plans or Documents.
• Desk: opens the desk.
• Room: opens the room with its desks.
• Document: opens the document in its editor.
• Connected app: opens a web app inside PlexiDesk, or starts an app installed on your computer.
• Desk widget: opens the desk and moves the view to that widget. If the widget has since been removed, the desk opens on its own.
• Person: opens Chat with that person, and starts a conversation if you do not have one yet.
• New meeting: opens the New meeting dialog, where you start or schedule a meeting. See New meeting widget.
• Transcribe: starts recording straight away, and transcribes the recording when you stop. See Transcribe widget.

In the Medium, Large and Stack sizes, each tile has a short line under its name that says what it is: Website (or the address, for a renamed website), PlexiDesk, Desk (with its room, for example Desk · Marketing), Room, Document, Spreadsheet or Deck (with the folder it is filed in, when it has one), App, Action, Message, or On and the desk's name for a widget. In the Small size, point at a tile to see the same detail.

Sizes

• Small (one cell): square tiles with an icon and a name. Fits five shortcuts and the Add tile.
• Medium (two cells wide): three columns of tiles with a name and a detail line. Fits five shortcuts and Add shortcut.
• Stack (one cell wide, two tall): a single list. Fits seven shortcuts.
• Large (two cells wide, two tall): a list in two columns. Fits thirteen shortcuts.

When a box holds more tiles than its size fits, the last space shows how many more there are, for example +3. Click it to open the editor and see them all. Every tile is kept, whatever the size.

To change the size later, click Customize, then click the size button at the widget's top right corner. It shows the current size, such as SM; each click moves to the next size. Click Done when you have finished.

When a tile's target is gone

If a desk, room, document or connected app on a tile is deleted, archived or moved to Trash, its tile fades. In the Medium, Large and Stack sizes it says Gone. Click to fix.

1. Click the faded tile. The shortcut editor opens.
2. Under In this box, the tile's name is crossed out and marked Gone.
3. Click × to remove it, and add something else if you like.

Tiles keep the name they had when you added them, so you can still tell what a missing tile used to be. If you restore a desk, room or document, its tile works again.

Remove a box

1. Click Customize.
2. Click × (Remove Shortcuts) at the box's top right corner.
3. Click Done.

This removes the box and its tiles. The desks, documents and other items the tiles pointed to are not touched.

Good ways to use it

• A box per client or project. The room, the proposal document, the shared spreadsheet and the client's website, together in one place.
• A start-of-day box. The desks you open every morning, Plans, and the people you check in with.
• A meetings box. New meeting, Transcribe and the document where you keep meeting notes.
• Go straight to the right widget. On a desk with many widgets, add the one table or note you keep looking for as a Desk widget tile.

Common questions

Can I have more than one box? Yes. Add as many Shortcuts widgets as you like, and give each one its own name.

Can I rename a desk or document tile? Only website tiles can be renamed in the box. Other tiles always use the item's own name, so rename the desk or document itself and the tile follows.

Why does a website tile show a globe instead of the site's icon? The icon is still loading, or the website does not offer one. The tile works either way.

I used to have a Quick links widget. Where is it? Quick links became a Shortcuts box. It is called Quick links and holds the same places it had before. Rename it or add more tiles like any other box.

Will my boxes appear on my other computer? No. Each computer keeps its own dashboard layout, including your Shortcuts boxes. Set them up on each computer where you want them.

How is this different from the App launcher widget? The App launcher shows your favourite connected apps and nothing else. A Shortcuts box can hold anything, apps included, in the order you choose. See App launcher widget.

Related tasks

• The Home dashboard
• Customize your Home dashboard
• App launcher widget
• Room portal widget
• Add and use connected apps Coming soon