Getting started

Five words you will see everywhere

Your first ten minutes

Do these seven things once and you know how Orbital works.

1. Say who you are. The first time you open your space, a welcome card asks three short questions: who you are (pupil, student, teacher…), what you want to do first, and how much of the interface you want to see. If you pick something to do, Orbital prepares a ready-made project — a document with a plan and its first tasks. You land on Home, the first view of the column on the left.
2. Add a document. On Home, press Add a document — or Add in the bar at the bottom of the workspace, or right-click the empty workspace. Import a file… takes a PDF, a Word or PowerPoint file, a book, pictures or a video, several at once if you like; Add a link… takes a web page or a video. Each one appears as a window.
3. Move it where you like. Drag a window by its title bar. Drag its bottom-right corner to resize it. Pinch, or hold Ctrl and scroll, to zoom the workspace.
4. Highlight a passage. Select some text: a small bar appears above it — pick a colour. Or right-click the selection and choose Highlight. The mark stays on the words.
5. Ask about it. Right-click the selection and choose Ask the AI: your own question, or a ready one — Explain it simply, Summarize it, Give me an example, Quiz me on it. To ask about a subject, press Ask a question on Home and choose the form of the answer: a simple answer, an illustrated page, a revision sheet or a quiz.
6. Note it and file it. Write a note about it… keeps what you think beside the words. Organize — in the right-click and in every window's title bar — puts a window or a passage in a project, gives it a tag or makes it a task.
7. Find it again later. Home shows what to continue, what is due and your projects. Type any word in the search box at the top of the column, and everything that holds it comes back.

Choose how much you see

Orbital does a great deal. You choose how much of it is shown, and you can change your mind at any time: ⚙ Settings ▸ Essentials, the foot of Home, or ⌘K. Changing level never deletes anything — what you made at a fuller level stays where it is.

Learning mode (⚙ Settings ▸ Essentials) asks the AI to explain step by step, check that you follow and give hints, rather than doing the work for you. It is on for a pupil from the start.

When you want more

Each page below covers one thing you will do, in the same plain steps.