How it works
Getting started
Orbital puts everything you read on one big screen, so you can highlight it, ask questions about it and write next to it. This page takes you from a new account to your first notes in about ten minutes.
Five words you will see everywhere
Canvas
The big workspace. Zoom out to see everything you have, zoom in to read one thing.
Pane
One item on the canvas: a paper, a web page, a video, a note or an AI answer. Drag it by its title bar.
Feed
The column on the left. It lists everything you added and did, newest first, and it has the box where you paste links.
Tag
A label you put on a pane or on a passage. Tags have colours and can be grouped.
Vault
Your whole collection: every pane, tag and note. It belongs to your account and can be exported in one file.
Your first ten minutes
Do these six things once and you know how Orbital works.
- Create an account and sign in. An email and a password; naming your vault is optional. The vault opens with the feed on the left and an empty canvas on the right.
- Bring in your first item. Paste a link into the box at the top of the feed and press Save. Or right-click the empty canvas and choose 📎 Import PDF…. The item appears as a pane.
- Move it where you like. Drag a pane by its title bar. Drag its bottom-right corner to resize it. Pinch, or hold Ctrl and scroll, to zoom the canvas.
- Highlight a passage. Select some text in a paper and right-click it. Pick one of the four highlight colours. The mark stays on the words.
- Ask about it. Select some text, right-click, and choose 🤖 Ask about selection. The answer opens as a new pane, linked to the text it came from.
- Find it again later. Press Ctrl + Space and type part of a title. Or scroll the feed on the left, where everything is listed in order.
When you want more
Each page below covers one thing you will do, in the same plain steps.
What you see on screen
The canvas, the feed, the tag map and the task board.
Add things
Files, links, videos and social posts, and what happens to each.
Read and highlight
Colours, comments, citations and the bibliography.
Ask the AI
Questions, follow-ups, and which AI service answers.
Organize and find
Tags, pins, and the fast ways back to a pane.
Write
Notes and documents beside your sources, and how to export them.
Save from your phone or browser
Send links to your vault from anywhere.
Backup and export
Take your whole vault out, and bring it back.