# The sidebar

> The sidebar is two cards on the left of the screen. One holds Home, Messages and your clusters. The other is Files — everything in a cluster, on the board or not — with tabs for the cluster, Recent and Starred, search, Quick look, and Upload above your plan's storage. Drag files onto another cluster to move them; hold Option (Ctrl on Windows) to copy. ⌘\ hides Files, and F opens the full Files page.

_Source: https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/clusters/sidebar · Updated 2026-10-21_

The sidebar is where everything in a workspace is reachable from: the places
you go, the clusters you work in, and the files inside them. On a computer it
floats over the left of the screen as two cards; on a phone it is the drawer.

## What's in it

The top card:

- **The workspace** — its name opens the switcher, to change workspace or start
  a new one. Under it, who else is here right now, or whose workspace it is
  when it was shared with you.
- **Search** — the magnifying glass, or `⌘K`, searches everything in the
  workspace. See [search](/docs/organize/search).
- **Home** and **Messages** — [Home](/docs/clusters/home-graph) is where your
  projects are; [Messages](/docs/collaborate/messages) opens over the cluster
  you are in and shows an unread count.
- **Your clusters** — the cluster tree, with **Shared with me** and your
  [tags](/docs/organize/tags) below it. Click a cluster to open it; the chevron
  shows the clusters inside it. Right-click a cluster for its menu, which adds
  **Star** and, if you can edit it, **Always open in Files** to the
  [usual cluster actions](/docs/clusters).

The second card is **Files**.

## Files

Files lists everything in a cluster: photos, video, audio, PDFs and other
files, notes, docs and links. **A file is in Files whether or not it is on the
board.** Files you add from the sidebar wait there, marked with a dot and
**Not on board**, until you drag them onto the board or choose **Put on board**
— see [Not on board](/docs/clusters/list-view#not-on-board).

Everything is sorted onto shelves — **Photos**, **Video**, **Audio**,
**Files**, **Notes**, **Links** and **Other**. Each shelf's ⤢ opens the
[full Files page](/docs/clusters/list-view) on just that shelf.

### The tabs

| Tab | Shows |
|---|---|
| The cluster's name | The files of the cluster you are in. Press it again for a list of every cluster — type to find one — and see its files without leaving the board. **Back to** returns to the cluster you are in, and **Open** goes to the one you are looking at |
| **Recent** | The newest things added anywhere in this workspace, by anyone |
| **Starred** | The files and clusters you starred. Stars are yours alone; star a file or a cluster from its menu |

`←` and `→` move along the tabs, and `↓` on the cluster's tab opens its list.

### Search, show, sort and group

The search box searches the tab you are on as you type. When nothing there
matches, `Enter` searches the whole workspace instead (`⌘Enter` does that at any
time).

The menu beside it — it reads **All files** until you change it — has three
parts:

| Part | Choices |
|---|---|
| **Show** | All files, or one kind: Photos, Video, Audio, Files, Notes, Links, or the files that are **Not on board**. A kind with nothing in it isn't offered |
| **Sort** | Newest first, Name, Size or Canvas order |
| **Group by** | Type (the shelves), or Canvas groups — the [groups](/docs/canvas/groups) on the cluster's board |

### Looking at a file

- **Click** a file for **Quick look**: it opens large, in front of the board.
  `←` and `→` step through the files beside it; `Esc` closes it.
- **Double-click** it, or press `Enter`, to go to it: the board flies to its card
  and selects it, or, for a file that isn't on the board, the full Files page
  opens with it picked out.
- **Right-click** it, or press `⇧F10`, for its menu: Quick look, Show on board
  (or Show in Files), Put on board, Star, Download, Share file…, Move to…,
  Copy to… and Delete. Delete has an undo.

### Selecting several

`⌘`-click adds a file to the selection and `⇧`-click selects a run of them. A
bar appears with **Move…**, **Copy…** and **Delete** — and **Put on board**
when the selection is waiting off the board. `Esc` clears the selection, and
`⌫` deletes it, with an undo. `↑` and `↓` walk the files, as they walk the
clusters in the card above.

## The full Files page

⤢ at the top right of Files, or `F`, opens the cluster's files full screen:
the [full Files page](/docs/clusters/list-view) — this card grown, with
folders, a grid or a list, Info and downloads. While it's open, this card
folds to a bar, **Files · full screen**, so the files are listed once; its
**Shrink**, `F` again or `⌘\` brings the board back. Opening the page this way is yours alone; it never changes how
the cluster opens for anyone else. To make a cluster open in Files for
everyone, choose **Always open in Files** from its menu in the sidebar.

## Moving and copying files

Drag files to move them between clusters. The label at the pointer says what
letting go will do before you do it.

| Where you let go | What happens |
|---|---|
| A cluster's name in the sidebar | The files move into that cluster's Files, off its board |
| The Files card showing another cluster | The same: into its Files, off its board |
| A board, from another cluster | The files move onto that board, where you let go, and leave the cluster they were in |
| The board they are already in | A file waiting in Files goes onto the board there |

**Hold Option (⌥) on a Mac, or Ctrl on Windows, while you let go to copy
instead.** On Windows, Alt copies too. **Move to…** and **Copy to…** in a
file's menu do the same with a list of clusters to pick from.

- **A move** takes the file's name, tags, comments, star and share link with
  it. The toast that follows says where it went, offers **Put on board** for
  files that landed in Files, and **Undo** puts everything back where it was.
- **A copy** is a new card showing the same stored file: nothing is uploaded
  again and it takes no extra storage, but it counts toward your plan's card
  limit. The original stays where it was, with its comments, star and share
  link. A note or doc is copied whole.
- **Files stay in their workspace.** A cluster in another workspace — one
  shared with you, say — won't take them, and the label says why before you let
  go.
- **A cluster you can only view** can't take files, and its files can only be
  copied out of it, never moved.

Holding a file over a folded cluster in the tree for a moment unfolds it, so
you can drop it into a cluster inside.

## Upload and storage

The foot of Files shows how much of your plan you have used: on the free plan,
your cards and your storage on one line — the free plan stops at whichever
fills first — and on a paid plan, storage alone. The bar turns red when it is
nearly full. Click it for [Plan and billing](/docs/account/plans).

**Upload** beside it adds files to the cluster you are in, or, from Home, to a
cluster you pick. They go in as Not on board, and you stay where you are while
they upload. Dragging files from your computer onto a cluster's name in the
sidebar does the same for that cluster, even one you don't have open — the
row shows the upload's progress.

## Hiding Files, and sizing the cards

- **Hide**, on the Files card, or `⌘\`, folds Files to a **Files** bar under
  your clusters and gives the board the room. Press the bar, or `⌘\` again, to
  bring it back. (Inside a note or a doc, `⌘\` clears formatting instead.)
  `⌘K` → "Hide files in the sidebar" does the same. While the full Files page
  is open, the card is already folded, and `⌘\` brings the board back instead.
- `⌘B`, or the button at the top of the sidebar, hides the whole sidebar.
- **Each card has its own size.** Drag a card's right edge, its bottom edge or
  its corner. Double-click a handle to put that size back.
- **Side by side or stacked.** Files sits under the clusters, or beside them.
  The button at the top of Files switches, and dragging a stacked card wide
  enough puts Files beside the clusters on its own; dragging the pair narrow
  enough stacks them again. Side by side chosen with the button stays that way
  until you press it again. A window too narrow for both keeps them stacked.

Sizes and arrangement are remembered on your device, not your account: they
belong to the screen.

## On a phone

On a phone the sidebar is the drawer, behind **Open menu** at the top left.
It holds the same things — Home, Messages, your clusters and Files, with the
same tabs, search and menus — at full width, without the sizing handles. The
list of clusters opens as a sheet from the bottom, with **Done**. Hold a file
for its menu; its **Select** puts a check on every file, so taps pick several
for the bar at the bottom of Files, which ends with **Done**. Going to a file, or opening the full Files page, closes the
drawer.