Using Eigen on your phone

Eigen runs in the browser on your phone, with the same account and the same files as on your computer. The apps rearrange themselves for the smaller screen rather than shrinking. This page covers what moves where, and the few things a phone cannot do.

One column at a time

On a computer most apps show two or three columns side by side: the sidebar, a list, and the item you picked. A phone shows one of them at a time.

Tap a message in Mail or a person in Contacts and the list is replaced by what you tapped. A back arrow appears at the left of the toolbar to take you back to the list. From the list, the same arrow opens the sidebar, which is where you switch folder, label, calendar, or chat room. Every app with a sidebar gives you that arrow, so there is always a way back to navigation.

The top bar

The top bar keeps its three jobs, in less space:

• The grid button on the left still opens the list of apps.
• The search box becomes a magnifying-glass button on the right. Tap it to open the same command palette you get with ⌘K on a computer.
• The bell keeps its place, with the same unread count.

What you can edit on a phone

Documents, spreadsheets, and boards are fully editable on a phone. You can write, enter data, move cards, and comment as you would on a computer.

Presentations and drawings are view-only on a phone, for everyone, including people who can edit them on a computer. The tools for moving and resizing objects on a canvas need a pointer and more room than a phone has, so a phone gets a clean read of the work instead.

Presentations on a phone

A deck fills the screen one slide at a time. Swipe left or right to move between slides, and the counter along the bottom tells you where you are, for example Slide 3 of 12. You can still present, read and write comments, and use the file menu. The strip of slide thumbnails is a computer-only panel, so there is no way to jump straight to slide nine.

Spreadsheets on a phone

The row of sheet tabs along the bottom is hidden on a narrow screen, because a tab strip and a spreadsheet cannot both fit. Two buttons stay in its place: All sheets, which lists every sheet so you can switch, and + to add one.

Boards on a phone

A board's columns are as wide as the screen, so you see one at a time and swipe sideways to reach the next. The Activity panel is a computer-only view, so it is not available on a phone. Comments on a card still are.

Controls fold into menus

Rows of icons turn into one ⋮ menu. In a document, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, or board, that menu collects what the toolbar icons do on a computer: Edit to rename, Find in document, Activity, Watch, Comments, and Share. Which of them you see depends on the app and on whether you can edit the file.

In Calendar, Today and the month or week choice move into a View options menu on the right of the toolbar. In Docs, the formatting row folds into a Format menu, which holds Font, Text, Heading, and Align.

Comments and activity

In documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, opening Comments or Activity takes over the screen instead of opening a panel beside your work. The pane has its own back arrow. Your document is waiting exactly as you left it, with the same scroll position and selection.