The Workspace at a Glance
| Article Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Category | Workspace |
| Difficulty | Beginner |
| Target OS | Windows · macOS (coming soon) |
| Summary | The File Browser, the editor, and the Companion Panel, and how they work together. |
The Workspace is where you write. Open it from the nav rail (the feather icon) or from the Dashboard’s Open Workspace button.
The three panels
Section titled “The three panels”| Panel | Where | Use it to |
|---|---|---|
| File Browser | Left | Create, find, and organize your sheets |
| Editor | Center | Write. This is the page that holds the open sheet’s text. |
| Companion Panel | Right | See and set details about the open sheet |
Each side panel has a collapse arrow at its top. When a panel is collapsed, a thin strip stays on the window edge: click it to bring the panel back.
The Companion Panel starts collapsed. Click the strip on the right edge to open it.
File Browser
Section titled “File Browser”- Structured / Freeform tabs: two ways to organize the same sheets. See Structured vs. Freeform.
- Search box: type to filter sheets and folders by name. Clear the box to return to your normal view.
- Click a sheet to open it. Right-click a sheet for Rename, Duplicate, Add to Quickview, and Delete.
Editor
Section titled “Editor”- The open sheet’s name appears in the bar above the page.
- Select text to bring up the Type Bar for formatting, comments, links, and images. See Format Your Text.
- Commented passages get a small bookmark in the comments bar to the right of the page. Click a bookmark or the highlighted text to read the comment.
Companion Panel
Section titled “Companion Panel”Inspector tab:
- Sheet Goal: the purpose of this sheet, in one or two lines.
- Tags and Status (Draft, Revision, Final).
- Word and character counts for this sheet.
- Linked Elements: the characters, locations, objects, and concepts in this sheet.
- Comments: show or hide the comments bar, and pick the highlight color.
- Notepad: loose notes for this sheet. Notes here never appear in your manuscript.
Click a section’s heading to fold it away. Cicero remembers which sections you’ve folded.
Navigation tab: an outline of the sheet’s headings. Click a heading to jump to it. The heading you’re currently reading is highlighted. Click the magnifier to filter the outline.
Top bar tools
Section titled “Top bar tools”| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Save indicator | Shows whether your latest changes are on disk. See Autosave & the Save Indicator. |
| Zen Mode (eye) | Hides everything but the page and the sheet’s name |
| Quickview (columns) | Opens a read-only second sheet in its own pane, below the editor. You can dock it to the right or left instead. See Quickview. |
Status bar
Section titled “Status bar”The dark bar at the bottom shows word and character counts for your Selection (when text is selected), the current Sheet, and the whole Project. The − 100% + control on the right zooms the whole app. Click the percentage to reset it.