Navigating the Dashboard
Published March 6, 2026 · Last updated March 6, 2026 · 4 min read
This guide gives you a quick tour of the Obvious interface so you know where everything lives.
The sidebar
The sidebar runs along the left edge of your screen — your primary navigation for projects.
At the top, the Obvious logo (click to go home) and your workspace menu — a dropdown for managing members, Settings, workspaces, or signing out.
Below that, a new project button and a search icon let you create projects or find existing ones quickly.
The rest of the sidebar organizes your projects into collapsible sections:
- Teams — Projects grouped by team
- Favorites — Projects you've starred for quick access
- Recent — Projects you've opened lately
- Workspace Projects — Everything shared across your workspace
- Shared With Me — Projects others have given you access to
Click any project to open it. Right-click for options like renaming or deleting.
The chat panel
When you open a project, the left side of your workspace becomes the chat panel, where you talk to the Obvious agent — ask questions, give instructions, steer the work.
At the bottom, the message input is where you type. Next to it, a mode selector lets you switch agent modes (Auto, Fast, Deep Work, and others). Type / to open a shortcut menu with saved prompts. Click + to open the artifact type menu and quickly create a new workbook, document, presentation, folio, dashboard, timeline, or other artifact directly from chat.
The chat panel is resizable. Drag the divider between chat and your content to adjust the split, or collapse chat entirely to give your content more room.
The content area
The right side of your workspace is where your content appears — workbooks, documents, views, and everything else you create or open.
Tabs run along the top. Each open item gets its own tab, so you can switch between a workbook and a document without losing your place. Close tabs you don't need, or drag them to reorder.
Pro tip: Right-click any tab to quickly close all tabs at once.
Below the tabs, your workbook, document, or view fills the space. What you see depends on the type — a sheet with rows and columns, a document with formatted text, a Kanban board, a calendar.
Toggle between grid view and list view to see everything in your project at a glance.
Right-click any artifact to open its context menu — where you'll find options to rename, duplicate, copy, and move. To download an artifact, click the download button (the inbox arrow icon) in the toolbar above the content area. Download format options depend on the artifact type: documents export as PDF, Word (.docx), or Markdown; presentations as PDF, PowerPoint (.pptx), or HTML; workbooks as CSV or Excel.
The toolbar
The toolbar runs across the top of your workspace. From left to right:
- Project name — Click to rename.
- Search — Scoped to your current project. Find content, threads, and files. Press ⌘K (Mac) or Ctrl+K (Windows) to open it from anywhere.
- Presence avatars — See who else is in the project.
- Files — Access uploaded files attached to the project.
- Share — Control who can view or edit.
- More menu (⋯) — Duplicate, view activity, open Connectors, or delete the project.
Getting around fast
A few shortcuts that save time:
- ⌘K / Ctrl+K — Open search from anywhere in a project.
- / — Press forward-slash in the chat input to open the shortcut menu.
- Sidebar search — Click the search icon at the top of the sidebar to filter across all your projects.
- Drag the divider — Resize the chat and content areas to match how you're working.