# Keep a living summary of a desk

> Two ways to get an AI summary of a desk that keeps itself up to date, a Living Doc or a living Page, and how they refresh, pause and stop.

Source: https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-living-summaries
Section: Widgets > Write and capture
Plans: All plans
Updated: 2026-10-10

A living summary is a document on a desk that AI writes for you from everything else on that desk. You say what it should keep track of, and it rewrites itself as the desk changes, so there is always one place that says where things stand.

There are two ways to get one:

- **A Living Doc widget**, a document made for the job. You give it a brief and it starts summarising.
- **A Page you make living.** Any Page widget can become a living summary with **Make living**, and can later be turned back into an ordinary page that you edit yourself.

Both read the same things, refresh on the same timing and can be paused the same way.

## Before you start

- Living summaries are on every plan.
- They use AI. Sign in to use your PlexiDesk AI credits, or add your own Anthropic key in **Settings > AI**. See [AI settings](https://plexiidesk.com/help/settings-ai).
- Put the material you want summarised on the same desk: notes, pages, tables, files, voice notes and so on.

## Which one to use

| | Living Doc | Living Page |
| --- | --- | --- |
| How it starts | Asks for a brief, then writes | Starts with a general brief and writes straight away |
| Can you edit the text? | No, it is always written by AI | Not while it is living; yes after **Convert to manual page** |
| Stop it for good | Pause it or remove it | **Convert to manual page** keeps the text and makes it editable |

Choose a **Living Doc** for a summary that should always stay live. Choose a **living Page** when you might later want to freeze the summary and carry on writing it yourself.

## Option 1: Add a Living Doc

1. On the desk, click **Add widget** in the header and choose **Living Doc**.
2. Type a brief in the box, such as "the decisions made so far and who owns each next step".
3. Click **Start living doc**, or press `Enter`.

For everything else about it, see [Living Doc widget](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-living-doc).

## Option 2: Make a Page living

> **Note:**
> **Make living** replaces what is on the page with the summary as soon as you click it, and the page can no longer be edited while it is living. Use a new, empty page, or one you no longer need.

1. Add a Page: click **Add widget** in the header and choose **Page**, or press `P` on an open desk with no widget selected. See [Page widget](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-page).
2. In the bar across the top of the page, click **Make living** (beside **AI draft**).
3. The page becomes a living page. Its brief starts as **A running summary of everything on this task.** and it writes the first summary straight away.
4. To change what it summarises, click the brief in the bar, type a new one and press `Enter`. The page writes a new summary straight away. Press `Esc` to cancel.



### The living page bar

- **Living page** and when the summary was last written, such as **updated 2 min ago**. Rest the pointer on the time to see the exact date and time. While it is writing, this reads **regenerating…**, and while it is paused, **paused**.
- **The brief** underneath. Click it to edit it. Its tooltip reads **Click to edit the query**.
- **Regenerate now** (the circular arrow) writes a fresh summary straight away.
- **Pause auto-updates** (the pause button) stops automatic updates. It becomes **Resume auto-updates** while paused.
- **Convert to manual page** (the last button) stops the updates for good. See below.

While a page is living, **AI draft**, the **/** block menu and typing on the page are switched off, because the AI owns the text.

## How living summaries refresh

These rules apply to both a Living Doc and a living Page:

- **Changes on the desk start a refresh.** When something on the desk changes, the summary waits until the desk has been quiet for about 45 seconds, then rewrites itself.
- **At most once every 90 seconds.** However much is changing, a summary rewrites itself no more often than that.
- **While the desk is open.** Automatic refreshes follow changes made while the desk is open in PlexiDesk.
- **Paused summaries wait.** A paused summary changes only when you click **Regenerate now** or resume it.
- **Regenerate now works at any time**, paused or not. On a Living Doc you can also right-click it and choose **Regenerate now**.
- **Changing the brief** writes a new summary straight away.

## What a living summary reads

Each time it writes, a living summary reads the desk's name and notes, and the text of every other widget on the desk, such as stickies, notes, pages, cards, table rows, documents and voice-note transcripts. It does not read other Living Docs or living pages, so summaries on the same desk never summarise each other.

It writes only from what is on the desk. If there is not enough there to answer the brief, it is asked to say so rather than guess.

## Pause, resume or stop

- **Pause for a while.** Click **Pause auto-updates**. The summary stays as it is until you click **Resume auto-updates** or **Regenerate now**.
- **Stop a living Page for good.**
  1. Click **Convert to manual page** in the living page bar.
  2. PlexiDesk asks **Stop auto-updating this page? Its current content will become editable.** Click **OK**.
  3. The page goes back to being an ordinary Page. The last summary stays on it, and you can edit it, use **AI draft** or make it living again.
- **Stop a Living Doc for good.** Pause it, or remove it from the desk. To keep an editable copy of its text, select the text, copy it and paste it into a Page or Note first.

## Tips

- **Be specific in the brief.** "Open questions, grouped by topic" gives a more useful summary than "summarise everything".
- **One summary per question.** You can have several living summaries on a desk, each with its own brief, for example one for decisions and one for risks.
- **Keep the material together.** A summary reads only its own desk. If notes for the work are spread over several desks, bring them onto one.
- **Talk instead of typing.** Voice notes on the desk count too: the summary reads the text the voice note is showing. See [Voice note widget](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-voice-note).
- **Pause before a big tidy-up.** Each refresh is a new AI request. Pause the summary while you reorganise, then click **Regenerate now**.
- **Want an agent to write the summary into a page?** A Desk agent can do that on every change or at a set interval. See [Keep a running summary with a desk agent](https://plexiidesk.com/help).

## If something goes wrong

- **It says there is no source material on the canvas yet.** The desk has nothing else to summarise. Add notes, files or pages, then click **Regenerate now**.
- **It says no AI key is set.** Sign in to use your PlexiDesk AI credits, or add your own Anthropic key in **Settings > AI**. Then click **Regenerate now**.
- **It has not updated.** Check that it does not say **paused**, and that you are on the desk. Changes are picked up about 45 seconds after the desk goes quiet. Click **Regenerate now** to update straight away.

## Related tasks

- [Living Doc widget](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-living-doc)
- [Page widget](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-page)
- [Write and capture widgets](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widgets-write-and-capture)
- [Voice note widget](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-voice-note)
- [Keep a running summary with a desk agent](https://plexiidesk.com/help)
- [Add a widget to a desk](https://plexiidesk.com/help/add-a-widget)