# The side menu > Every part of the Desk area's side menu, from New desk, the workspace switcher and the area tabs to Attention, Rooms, connected apps and sync status. Source: https://plexiidesk.com/help/side-menu Section: Get started > Find your way around Plans: All plans Updated: 2026-10-10 The side menu runs down the left of the window whenever you are in the Desk area: on your Home dashboard, on a desk, and on pages such as Attention and Rooms. It is where you go to get somewhere. Office, People and Brain each have a menu of their own, with the same workspace switcher and area tabs at the top. ## Before you start - **Plans.** The side menu is the same on every plan. A few things in it depend on your plan or organisation, and those are noted below. - **Some rows need an account.** Your organisations appear in the workspace switcher only while you are signed in, and the sync status shows syncing only when you are signed in. ## The top row - **The Plexii wordmark** sits at the top left. - **New desk** opens the new-desk set-up with a name already filled in: the date and time you clicked. The name is selected, so you can type over it, or just press `Enter` to create the desk and open it straight away. Press `Esc` to cancel. See [Create a desk](https://plexiidesk.com/help/desk-create). - **The minimise button**, at the right end of the row, shrinks the menu to a narrow column of icons to give the desk more room. See Minimise the menu, below. ## The workspace switcher Below the top row is a box showing the workspace you are in: **Personal**, or the name of an organisation. 1. Click the box to open the **Workspace** list. 2. Click **Personal** or one of your organisations to work in it. A tick marks the one you are in. 3. Click **Manage organisation** to open your organisation's settings. See [Manage your organisation](https://plexiidesk.com/help). Press `Esc` or click anywhere else to close the list. Personal is always there. Organisations come from your account, so they appear only while you are signed in. Keeping several organisations and switching between them is part of the Team plan. See [Your organisation](https://plexiidesk.com/help). ## The area tabs Under the switcher are four tabs: **Desk**, **Office**, **People** and **Brain**. Click one to go to that area. - **Desk** is highlighted everywhere except Office, People and Brain. Clicking it takes you to your Home dashboard. - **Office**, **People** and **Brain** open that area with its own menu. - **A greyed-out tab with a small padlock** is not available to you. Rest the pointer on it to see why. If it is not on your plan and you can change the plan (on a personal account, or as an owner or admin of the organisation), clicking it opens the pricing page. Otherwise the tooltip tells you what to do, such as asking an admin to add it. Desk is always available. See [The four areas of PlexiDesk](https://plexiidesk.com/help/plexii-areas). ## Home **Home** opens your Home dashboard. See [Your Home dashboard](https://plexiidesk.com/help/home-dashboard). ## Attention and its filters **Attention** opens everything that needs you, in one list. See [Attention overview](https://plexiidesk.com/help). To narrow the list, click the small arrow at the right of the Attention row. Six filters open beneath it: - **Open**: everything still live. Finished items and items you have snoozed until later are left out. - **Due today**: items due today, plus anything already overdue. - **Overdue**: items past their due time. - **In progress**: items marked as in progress. - **Waiting**: items where the next move is someone else's. It gathers everything that is waiting, blocked, delegated, needs review or needs approval. - **Closed 7d**: items finished in the last seven days. Click a filter to open Attention with that filter applied. Click the arrow again to hide the filters. See [Attention filters](https://plexiidesk.com/help). ## Rooms, All desks, Shared and Trash **Rooms** opens all your rooms. The arrow beside it shows or hides three more rows, which are open when you start PlexiDesk: - **All desks**: every desk in one list. See [The rooms and desks pages](https://plexiidesk.com/help/rooms-desks-index). - **Shared**: desks and items other people have shared with you. A number beside it counts what is waiting there. See [Shared with me](https://plexiidesk.com/help/shared-with-me). - **Trash**: things you have deleted, ready to restore. See [Archive, trash and restore](https://plexiidesk.com/help/desk-archive-trash). ## Connected Apps While a desk is open, a **Connected Apps** section appears below Rooms. These are web apps and apps on your computer that you have connected to PlexiDesk, ready to drag onto the desk. - **Your favourites come first**: the apps you have pinned, then the ones you have used most recently and most often, up to six in all. Pinned apps always stay in this group. - **More apps** holds the rest. Click it to show or hide them. The number in brackets says how many there are. - **Open an app** by clicking it. A web app opens inside PlexiDesk, and an app on your computer launches. - **Put an app on the desk** by dragging its row onto the desk. A web app becomes a browser widget showing that app, and an app on your computer becomes a launcher tile. See [Drop files and apps on a desk](https://plexiidesk.com/help/canvas-drop-files). - **Pin or unpin** an app by resting the pointer on its row and clicking the pin (**Pin to Favourites** or **Unpin from Favourites**). - **Add an app** with the **+** beside the Connected Apps heading. - **Fold the section away** by clicking the Connected Apps heading. To add, remove or pin apps when no desk is open, open Settings and go to the **Advanced** tab. See [Connected apps](https://plexiidesk.com/help). ## The upgrade card On the Free plan, a **PlexiDesk Pro** card sits near the foot of the menu, including while you are on a trial. - Click **Upgrade Now** to open a short upgrade window, where you choose how you would like to pay and continue to checkout in your browser. If you are not signed in, it opens the pricing page instead. See [Upgrade your plan](https://plexiidesk.com/help). - Click the **×** in the card's corner to hide it until the next time you open PlexiDesk. On Pro and Team the card does not appear. ## The sync status The foot of the menu shows whether your work is saved and synced. It has a coloured dot, a label and a time underneath. - **Synced** (green): your workspace is up to date across your devices. - **Syncing…** (blue): changes are on their way. - **Saved locally** (green): your work is saved on this computer and is not syncing, for example because you are not signed in. - **Offline, will retry** (amber): PlexiDesk cannot connect to sync right now. Your work is saved on this computer and syncs by itself when the connection returns. - **Sync error** (red): rest the pointer on it for the reason. Your work is still saved on this computer. The time underneath says how long ago the last sync or the last change was. When there has been activity, a small bar chart shows how many changes were saved in each of the last ten minutes. Rest the pointer on the status for a summary. See [Accounts and sync](https://plexiidesk.com/help/accounts-and-sync). ## Minimise the menu 1. Click the minimise button at the right end of the top row. 2. The menu shrinks to a narrow column of icons. Rest the pointer on an icon to see its name. 3. To bring the full menu back, click the expand button at the top of the column. The column holds, from the top: - **Expand menu**. - **Office**, **People** and **Brain**, for the areas available to you. - **Home**, **Attention**, **Rooms**, **Desks**, **Shared Desks** and **Trash**. - **Connected Apps**: click it to show your apps as icons, with a dashed **+** button to add another. Click an icon to open the app, or drag it onto a desk. PlexiDesk remembers whether the menu is minimised, so it stays that way the next time you open the app. > **Tip:** > On a desk, the desk carries on underneath the menu. Minimising the menu gives the desk almost the full width of the window. ## Make the menu wider or narrower - **With the mouse:** move the pointer to the right edge of the menu until it becomes a resize pointer and a thin coloured line appears, then drag left or right. - **With the keyboard:** press `Tab` until the menu's right edge is selected, then press `←` to narrow it or `→` to widen it. The menu can be between 232 and 480 pixels wide. PlexiDesk remembers the width you choose. ## Where things moved in 4.3.25 > **Tip:** > Calendar and Files now live in Office, Vault is in Settings on the **Data** tab, and the Plexii hub opens from the assistant: click the Plexii wordmark at the top of the assistant, or press `⌘` `⇧` `K` on a Mac (`Ctrl` `Shift` `K` on Windows). See [The four areas of PlexiDesk](https://plexiidesk.com/help/plexii-areas) and [Meet Plexii](https://plexiidesk.com/help/ai-assistant). For the details, see [Calendar overview](https://plexiidesk.com/help), [Files overview](https://plexiidesk.com/help) and [Vault](https://plexiidesk.com/help). ## Common questions **I cannot see Connected Apps.** They appear in the full menu only while a desk is open, because they are there to be dragged onto it. Open a desk, or manage your apps in Settings on the **Advanced** tab. **What is the number beside Shared?** It counts the desks and items other people have shared with you that are in your Shared list. **I only see Personal in the workspace switcher.** Organisations appear once you are signed in and belong to one. See [Your organisation](https://plexiidesk.com/help). **Can I get the upgrade card back after hiding it?** It comes back the next time you open PlexiDesk, as long as you are on the Free plan. ## Related tasks - [Find your way around PlexiDesk](https://plexiidesk.com/help/getting-around) - [The header bar](https://plexiidesk.com/help/app-header) - [The four areas of PlexiDesk](https://plexiidesk.com/help/plexii-areas) - [Meet Plexii](https://plexiidesk.com/help/ai-assistant)