What is a space and how do I set one up?
Select "Space" from the create menu. New spaces are private to you by default. Add team members through the location and access settings when you are ready to share, or restrict access further on individual documents inside the space.
Opening the create menu from inside a space creates a subspace nested under that space. See Nested spaces.
What types of documents can I create?
Select "Doc" from the create menu, or from the "+" button on any space home or date in Today. A Doc is the default item kind for freeform writing, and the create menu, types table, space home buttons, slash command, and AI tools all use the label Doc. The slash-menu aliases "note" and "document" still match the same option, so existing muscle memory keeps working.
When you create a typed entry inline (from the kanban board's "+" buttons or the slash command), the Inline document popover protects in-flight work: while the new doc is still in proposal state, clicking outside or pressing Escape no longer discards what you typed. Only the Create button (to keep it) and the Discard trash icon (to drop it) close the popover. Editing an existing doc is unchanged: outside-click and Escape still dismiss the popover.
How do I organize my workspace with types?
The fastest way to create a type is to ask AI. In any AI chat, describe what you want to track ("a Bug type with priority, assignee, and steps to reproduce") and the AI will create it, with fields, workflow, and AI instructions. No templates to pick from, no pre-made catalogue. Every type you need, you can just ask for.
To create one manually, select "Type" from the create menu. Give it a name, add fields, and optionally enable a workflow. Types can live in a space or at the organization level.
How do I navigate the interface?
The sidebar is the main navigation in Tana. It sits on the left side of the screen as a flat list of destinations: Today, Activity, Tasks, People, Library, and your spaces. A bottom section groups Search and Account. There are no tabs.
On wider screens the sidebar is always visible and can be resized by dragging its right edge. On narrower screens it appears as an overlay when opened.
How do I create new things?
The create menu is accessible from the pencil icon in the sidebar toolbar, or from the "+" button on space home pages and dates in Today. It is a searchable palette with these options:
- Meeting, Doc, Canvas, Task, Chat, Type, Space, Skill
- Custom types: Any types you have defined, grouped by space
When used from a space context, created items are scoped to that space and the Space option is hidden.
Tasks open as inline cards rather than navigating away. Everything else navigates to the new document.
How do I search for something?
Click the magnifying glass in the sidebar toolbar or navigate to the search page. Type a query for full-text search across your workspace.
The Library and Search share one filter bar of round pills:
- Space: show items from a specific space (Search only)
- Meetings and Chats: quick pills that narrow to those kinds
- Created by: a people picker, with you pinned to the top as "(you)" and an "Anyone" option to clear it
- More (⋯): a type palette for any other kind, including the types you have defined
Without a query, the filters act as a browse mode. Recent items appear under "Recently Updated".
Narrow to Meetings only and the view becomes a dedicated meetings table (title, the space it lives in, time, attendees, and a lock for private ones), sorted with the most recent first. Two sub-filters appear next to the Meetings pill: a time window (Upcoming, Today, or Past, with Today in your local zone) and Attendees, a multi-select people picker that shows meetings including everyone you pick. The Chats pill, Created by, and the type palette hide while meetings-only is active.
Where do items that are not in a space live?
Open the Library to see your whole workspace as a grid of space cards, narrowed with the same filter bar as Search. Anything that does not live in a space or on a meeting lives in the Library, and its location shows a book icon with a "Library" label. In the sidebar, each space can be expanded to show the types defined in it. Click a space to open its home page, or click a type to see all items of that type.
How do I see my notifications and recent activity?
Activity sits right below Today as a two-column dashboard: your Notifications on the left and Recents, a time-grouped list of recently updated items, on the right. The columns stack on narrow screens, and the sidebar entry carries a blue badge with your unread count.
Notifications cover when someone:
- Adds you to a document or meeting
- Assigns you a task
- Starts a call you are waiting on
- Sends you a chat message
Each notification shows who triggered it, what it is about, and when it happened. Click it to navigate to the source, and unread ones show a blue dot. "Mark all read" in the Notifications header clears them, and a "+" in the toolbar opens the create menu.