# List view

> Every cluster has a list view as well as a canvas — the same contents as a sortable, searchable file browser. It has table and gallery modes, sorting by name, type, size or date, filters by content type, and a detail panel with a large preview and metadata. Nothing is converted; it is one set of contents with two ways to look at it.

_Source: https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/clusters/list-view · Updated 2026-08-08_

The canvas is for arranging. List view is for finding.

Same cluster, same contents, different question being asked. Switch with the
view control in the cluster header.

## Table and gallery

**Table** — a row per item, with type, size and dates. Dense, scannable, sortable.

**Gallery** — a tile per item with a real preview. Better when you are looking
for something you would recognise by sight.

## Sorting and filtering

Sort by **name**, **type**, **size**, **date modified** or **date added**.

Filter to a single content type: Images, PDFs, Video, Audio, Files, Notes,
Links, Docs, Palettes, Other.

**Search** filters as you type, against names and content.

The combination is the answer to "where is that PDF someone dropped in here last
week" — filter to PDFs, sort by date added, done. On the canvas that is a
hunting expedition.

## Previews

Everything gets a real preview, not a generic icon. Images and video show
themselves; [grids](/docs/canvas/grids), [docs](/docs/documents),
[schedules](/docs/canvas/schedule), shapes, notes and links get schematic marks
that indicate their shape and content.

## The detail panel

Select an item for a large preview plus its metadata — type, size, dimensions,
dates, and where it lives. From there:

| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| **Open on canvas** | Jumps to the card, selected, on the canvas |
| **Download** | The original file |
| **Copy link** | A deep link that opens the board with the card selected |
| **Delete** | Removes it, with undo |

**Open on canvas** is the important one: it connects the two views, so finding
something in list view puts you in front of it in context.

## Adding files here

Drag files into list view, or use **Add files** in the toolbar. They land on the
cluster exactly as if dropped on the canvas, auto-placed in free space.

## Presence

List view shows who else is in the cluster, and what they have selected — the
same [presence](/docs/collaborate/presence) information the canvas shows, so
switching views does not mean losing sight of your collaborators.

## Every cluster is a drive

This is the framing worth internalising. A cluster is not "a canvas that also
has a list" — it is a set of contents that can be arranged spatially or browsed
like a folder. Teams that come from a shared-drive workflow can use Clusters
that way from day one and discover the canvas later.

That discovery is nudged exactly once, the first time a cluster gets full enough
for it to matter.

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Coming from a reference tool that only does one of these? See
[how Clusters compares](/docs/migrating).