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The controls on every widget

Every widget's title bar lets you move, rename, link, pin, resize, expand or remove it, and right-clicking it opens the widget's full menu.

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Almost every widget has the same strip across its top: the title bar. It carries the widget's name and a short row of buttons, and it is also the handle you drag to move the widget. Once you know it on one widget, you know it on all of them.

A Section has a header of its own instead. See Section widget Coming soon.

Move, resize and work in a widget

  • Move it. Drag the title bar.
  • Resize it. Drag any edge or corner of the widget. A widget can be no smaller than 180 by 120 pixels this way.
  • Work in it. Click inside the widget. It becomes the active widget: a small blue dot appears beside its name, and scrolling scrolls inside the widget rather than moving the desk. To leave it, press Esc or click an empty part of the desk.
  • Select several. Hold Shift and click title bars to build a selection, then move or act on them together. See Select, move and arrange widgets.

The left side: name and status

The name

Each widget shows an icon and a name. Until you give it a name of your own, the name comes from what is in it, such as the first line of a note or the website a browser is showing.

To rename a widget:

  1. Double-click its name, or click Rename (the pencil) on the right of the title bar.
  2. Type the new name.
  3. Press Enter to keep it, or Esc to cancel. Clicking away also keeps it.

To go back to the automatic name, delete the name you typed and press Enter.

Status marks

Small marks beside the name tell you more about the widget:

  • A blue dot means it is the active widget.
  • An amber pin means it is pinned to a corner of the screen.
  • A link icon means it is a synced copy: its content, name and colour stay the same as its other copies, even on other desks. To make this copy independent, right-click the title bar and choose Advanced > Unlink from synced copies. See Duplicate widgets and keep copies in sync.
  • An eject button appears on widgets inside a section. Click it to move the widget out of the section and back onto the desk.

The Attention bell

When the Attention layer is turned on in Settings > AI, each widget's name has a bell beside it.

  • An outlined bell means the widget is not in Attention. Click it to capture the widget into Attention. You confirm the item before it is added.
  • A filled bell means the widget is already in Attention. Click it to open Attention.
  • The circle beside a filled bell completes that item. Rest the pointer on it to see what it will do, such as Done.

See Capture something into Attention Coming soon.

The right side: the buttons

The first button is AI, a small sparkle. Rest the pointer on it to see what it does for this widget. On many widgets it opens the widget's own AI, for example to draft a sticky's to-dos or propose a table's columns, and nothing changes until you approve it. On others it opens the Plexii panel, with the widget attached when Plexii can read it, so you can ask about it. See Use a widget's AI button.

The other buttons, from left to right:

  1. Rename (the pencil) lets you type a new name for the widget.
  2. Link to another widget: click it, then click another widget to connect the two. See Link widgets and set up wires.
  3. Pin keeps the widget in one corner of the screen while you move around the desk. Click it and choose Top left, Top right, Bottom left or Bottom right. To put it back on the desk, click the pin again and choose Unpin — return to canvas.
  4. Minus and plus change the size in steps. Plus makes the widget 50% bigger, up to 1400 by 900 pixels. Minus makes it smaller, down to 180 by 120. Pressing plus and then minus brings it back to the size it was.
  5. Expand offers two choices. Larger on desk grows the widget where it is, so you keep the desk around it. Focus mode opens the widget to fill the window and hides everything else. See Open widgets full screen and side by side.
  6. Remove (the cross) takes the widget off the desk. PlexiDesk asks Remove from the desk? first.

Inside a section, the Pin, minus and plus buttons are not shown, because the section arranges its widgets. While you are typing a new name, the AI and Rename buttons are hidden.

Bring back a widget you removed

After you remove a widget, a message offers Undo. You can also press ⌘ Z on a Mac or Ctrl Z on Windows. The widget comes back where it was, with its links to other widgets. See Undo and redo.

Right-click the title bar

Right-click a widget's title bar to open its full menu. What you see depends on the widget, but the menu keeps the same order:

  • Add to Attention…, when the Attention layer is on.
  • The widget's own actions. For example, a Sticky offers Build with AI and Make a checklist. When a widget has more than two of its own actions, the first is shown and the rest are under More actions.
  • AI Assist, on widgets with text. See AI Assist: rewrite, summarise and translate text.
  • Create & link makes a new widget already connected to this one: Automate with an agent, Send to a URL, Sticky, Note, Markdown, Page, File, Field, Table or Color. On widgets with text, a Copy into list below them copies the text into a new Sticky, Note, Markdown or Page.
  • Organise: Bring to front, Pin to corner, Recolor (Yellow, Pink, Blue, Green, Orange or Clear color) and Flag as a decision. Inside a section, Move out of section is here too.
  • Share: Copy text, when the widget has text, and Share... to share the widget. See Share a widget, document or file Coming soon.
  • Advanced: Make this a Desk..., Duplicate (keep synced), Duplicate (independent copy), Duplicate into another Room / Desk... (not inside a section), and Unlink from synced copies on a synced copy. See Turn a widget into its own desk.
  • Remove: Archive or Delete.

When several widgets are selected, right-clicking one of them shows actions for the whole selection instead. See Right-click menus.

Sizes

Each widget opens at a size that suits it. A Sticky, a Card and a Field grow taller on their own as you add to them. See Widget sizes, limits and what some widgets need.

Common questions

Double-clicking the name moved the widget instead. Double-click directly on the name's text, or click Rename (the pencil) instead.

There is no bell beside the name. The bell only appears when the Attention layer is on. Turn it on in Settings > AI. See Attention: everything that needs you Coming soon.

The Pin, minus and plus buttons are missing. The widget is inside a section. Click the eject button beside its name to move it out first.

I removed a widget by mistake. Click Undo in the message that appears, or press ⌘ Z on a Mac or Ctrl Z on Windows.

The arrow keys move around the desk instead of inside my widget. Click inside the widget first so that it is active. Press Esc when you are done to use the arrow keys on the desk again.

Still need help? Contact support at [email protected].