Creating a space
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.
The space home
Every space opens on a home board, the same shape as Home but scoped to that space. It is both the landing page for the space and the place where you create new content in it. The cards sit in two columns.
One column holds:
- Space: the space itself, its description and configuration
- Types: the types defined in the space, with a row for making one and All types for everything scoped to that space. Click a type to open its type page
- Create: Doc, Task, Canvas, and More for everything else
- Meetings: what is next in the space, then what has already happened, newest first
The other holds:
- Pinned: a tile grid of the space's pinned items, with Find and pin in the heading
- Ongoing chats: always scoped to this space, so everyone sees the same list
- Recently edited: the space's documents by when they last changed
Pinned items
A space's pins are shared and set by hand, so everyone in the space sees the same ones. Use Find and pin in the card heading, or drag any item from the space onto the card. Unpin by right-clicking and selecting "Unpin."
Chat
Ongoing chats lists the conversations in the space. Starting a new one scopes it to the space, so the AI receives the space's context and follows its AI instructions. See AI chat.
A space home has no search box of its own: Search in the sidebar covers the whole organization, and All types and See all links scope the Library to the space.
Configuration
Open "Configure Space" from the toolbar overflow menu on the space home.
Name, description, color
The name and description explain what the space is for. The color is a hue slider that colors the space avatar throughout the interface. Every reference to the space, whether in the sidebar, search results, or document breadcrumbs, shows the same color, making it easy to recognize visually which space content belongs to.
AI instructions
Custom instructions the AI follows when working in this space. This is how you give the AI context about the team, project, or domain.
For example, a product design space might say: "This space contains product design documents. When creating tasks, always include a priority field. When writing specs, follow our format: problem, solution, tradeoffs, success criteria."
Every chat, skill, and outcome generated in this space inherits these instructions. This is what gives each space its own AI personality.
Skills
Skills created in this space are listed in the configuration for reference. See Skills for how to create and use them.
Nested spaces
A nested space is simply a space that lives inside another space rather than at the top level. Create one with the + in the top right of the parent space and choose Space. Like any item, a space has a Lives in location; nesting just sets that location to the parent. The nested space appears in the parent's content list and inherits its access by default, and changing a space's location (from its Location pill) moves it and everything inside it, so a space works as a portable container for its context.
Use nesting for a genuine sub-area that has its own focus or members, for example a department space with a sub-space per team. When you just have many of the same kind of thing, reach for a type instead, so you do not end up with a sprawl of spaces.
Access modes
Every document, space, and meeting has access controls. Open the location and access settings from the toolbar (the lock or participant icon) to manage who can see it. The popover is organized into accordion sections for Scope, Access, People, and Guest link, so each concern has its own place.
Three access modes:
- Everyone in : All members of the organization or space can access the content.
- Only me: Only you can see it. This is the default for new spaces.
- Only selected people: You choose exactly who has access. Add people from your organization using the search field, and remove them individually.
How access inherits
Access flows from outer containers to inner content:
- Organization → all members are added automatically when they join
- Space → inherits from the organization, can restrict to specific members
- Document or meeting → inherits from its parent (space or org), can restrict further
An item inside a restricted space is visible only to people who have access to the space, even without its own explicit restriction. You can tighten access on individual documents beyond the space's settings, but you cannot open it wider than the parent allows.
Every document has a location shown in the location and access popover. You can move documents between spaces from the same popover, which changes both where the document lives and which access rules it inherits. Types can only be moved up to the organization level, not between spaces.
Link sharing
Enable "Anyone with the link can view" in the access settings to create a public link. Anyone with the URL can view the document without signing in to Tana.
This is useful for sharing meeting outcomes, docs, or artifacts with people outside your organization who do not need edit access.
The public viewer renders typed items with their full type chip, workflow state pill, assignees (as an avatar stack matching the in-app view), fields grid, and embed cards. Embed cards are clickable; embeds for items that do not have their own public page render as plain item cards. The browser tab title reflects the document's title once the page loads. Turning link sharing off applies immediately and the shared URL stops working. If you open a link whose sharing has been turned off, you see a Sign in call to action that returns you to the authenticated view.
Real-time collaboration
When multiple people have access to a document, they can work on it at the same time. Changes appear in real time for all participants. Docs and canvases show live cursor presence with each person's name and color, so you can see who is editing where.
People in the sidebar shows who is online (green dot indicator). Click a person to see everything you share with them.
Sharing outcomes
Meeting outcomes and chat results can be shared independently from the conversation they came from. Each outcome has a Share button for managing its access settings.
This is common when AI extracts action items or documents from a meeting that stakeholders outside the meeting need to see. Share the outcome with them without sharing the full meeting.
Organization members
Invite and manage your team from Settings (admin only):
- Invite new members by email. An invitation is good for 30 days
- View pending invitations, each with a copy-link button to re-copy the invite URL, and the option to revoke it
- Manage existing members, switching anyone between Member and Admin
All organization members can be added as participants to spaces, documents, and meetings. People, under More in the sidebar, shows every member.
Deleting a space
Delete a space from the overflow menu on its home page. Deleting a space removes the space and all its contents, including nested spaces. A confirmation dialog warns before proceeding.