Zen mode is a distraction-free focus mode for the editor. It hides the chrome around your work so only the board, sheet, dashboard or form on the tab remains, which is ideal for reading, sharing your screen, or thinking without the buttons in the way. It is purely a view setting: it changes nothing in the plan and is not synced to anyone else, so each person can focus independently.
What it hides and keeps
When zen mode is on, the editor hides the header (with its pills and Share), the tab bar and its quick controls, the menu button and the Explorer, and the buttons in the bottom-right corner: Undo and Redo, Trash, New, Find, Types, the comments button and Style.
What stays is the part you came for:
- the tab's content, a board with its own header, a sheet, a dashboard or a form, with live cursors and everything else working as normal,
- the session tools (Timer and Vote) while a session is running, so whoever runs it still can,
- on a Sheet tab, the zoom controls,
- an Exit zen mode button in the bottom-right corner, so there is always a visible way out.
You can still work as usual (if your role allows), and keyboard shortcuts keep working too, undo and redo included. Zen mode is available to everyone, including view-only visitors, since focusing is read-only. It also only ever affects your own screen: the people you are working with keep their chrome.
Turning it on and off
There are two ways to turn zen mode on:
- The keyboard. Press Z. It never fires while you are typing into a card, a cell or any other field, and it is listed under Tools in the shortcut reference (the Keyboard category in Settings). If you have switched keyboard shortcuts off there, use the command palette instead.
- The command palette. Press ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux) and run Enter zen mode. See The Command Palette.
Viewers on a shared link also have a Zen mode button in the bottom-right corner.
To come back, press the Exit zen mode button in the bottom-right corner, press Z again, press Escape, or run Exit zen mode from the command palette. Zen mode is not remembered: reloading the page brings the chrome back.
Reach for zen mode when you share your screen on a call: your board fills the view with no buttons to distract from what you are showing.
Was this article helpful?