Gallery widget

The Gallery holds a set of pictures as one widget. Instead of a separate widget for every photo, you get the whole set side by side in a tidy grid, and you can click any picture to look at it properly.

Use it for anything that is easier to judge as a group: a mood board, design options, product photos, site photos, or the screenshots that explain a problem.

More about this widget Coming soon

Before you start

• The Gallery is on every plan.
• You need a desk open.
• Have the pictures on your computer, in Finder or File Explorer. You add them by dragging them onto the gallery.

Add a Gallery

1. Open the desk you want the gallery on.
2. Click Add widget in the centre of the header.
3. Click Gallery.

The Add widget menu groups widgets into columns by what they are for. Gallery is the first item in the Files & documents column. You can also type gallery in the search box at the top of the menu and press Enter to add it.

You can also right-click an empty part of the desk and choose Add object > Files > Gallery, which places it where you clicked, or press ⌘ K on a Mac or Ctrl K on Windows and choose Add Gallery.

A new gallery is empty. It says Drop pictures here, with a note that pictures are copied into the workspace.

Add pictures

1. On your computer, select the pictures you want in Finder or File Explorer. You can select several at once.
2. Drag them onto the gallery. A coloured outline shows when you are over it.
3. Let go.

The pictures appear in the grid, after any that were already there. You can keep adding more the same way.

Only picture files are added. If you drag in other kinds of file along with your pictures, the gallery skips them and keeps the pictures.

Each picture is copied into your workspace as you add it. The gallery does not depend on the original file, so it keeps working if you move, rename or delete the picture on your computer.

Look at a picture

The grid shows every picture at the same size, trimmed to fit its tile, so you can take in the whole set at once.

1. Click a picture. It fills the gallery, shown whole against a dark background.
2. To go back to the grid, click anywhere on the picture, or click the close button in its top-right corner.

To see pictures larger, make the gallery itself bigger:

• Drag an edge or corner of the widget to resize it. The grid fits in as many pictures per row as there is room for.
• Use Expand in the title bar and choose Larger on desk, or Focus mode to give the gallery a whole pane. See Open widgets full screen and side by side.

The title bar

The title bar's buttons appear when you rest the pointer on the gallery.

• The name. Until you rename it, the title bar says Gallery followed by the number of pictures in it. To give it your own name, such as "Kitchen options", double-click the name or click Rename (the pencil), type the name and press Enter. A name you choose replaces the picture count.
• Pin keeps the gallery in a corner of the screen while you move around the desk.
• Expand offers Larger on desk and Focus mode.
• × removes the gallery from the desk. PlexiDesk asks Remove from the desk? first. If you remove one by mistake, undo it straight away. See Undo and redo.

Right-click the title bar for the menu that every widget shares. See The controls on every widget.

The title bar starts with an AI button (the sparkle). The Gallery has no AI of its own, so this button opens the Plexii panel with the gallery attached, and you can ask Plexii about it. See Use a widget's AI button.

Sharing, import and export

• Bringing pictures in: drag them from your computer, as described above.
• Getting pictures out: your original files stay where they were on your computer, so there is nothing to export from the gallery.
• Live views: if you publish a live view of the desk, the gallery is not shown on it; visitors see a placeholder in its place. See Publish a live view of a desk.

Good uses

• Mood board. Collect inspiration pictures for a design, a room or an event in one place.
• Compare options. Drop in the three logo drafts or four floor plans you are choosing between and look at them side by side.
• Before and after. Keep progress photos of a job together on the job's desk.
• Show the problem. Gather the screenshots behind a bug report or a support question next to your notes about it.
• Visual brief. Put reference pictures beside a Document widget that holds the written brief.

Common questions

I dropped a file and nothing appeared. The gallery accepts picture files only. Check that the file is a picture; other kinds of file can go in a File or link widget instead.

What happens if I move or delete the original picture? Nothing changes in the gallery. Each picture was copied into your workspace when you added it.

Can I change the order or take a picture out? A gallery keeps pictures in the order you added them. To show a different set, add a new Gallery, drop in the pictures you want, and remove the old one with × in its title bar.

Should I use one Gallery or several File or link widgets? Use a Gallery when the pictures belong together and you want to see them as a set. Use File or link when you want one picture at its own shape and size, or want to open it in another app.

Related tasks

• Files and documents widgets
• File or link widget
• Image widget Coming soon
• Drop files, links and apps onto a desk
• The controls on every widget