Brand new to ClickUp? Make the most of our customizable platform by learning these core features!

For an overview of everything ClickUp offers, take a look at our features page. To see a comparison of our plans by feature, go to our pricing page.  

ClickUp 2.0 and ClickUp 3.0

There are two versions of ClickUp available, 2.0 and 3.0.

This article covers both versions. Take a look at our article Intro to ClickUp 3.0 to learn more about the newer version's upgrades and improvements.

Desktop app and mobile

You can access ClickUp through your browser, the Desktop app, or mobile.

Prefer to do your work and browse the web separately? Try the ClickUp desktop app.

Checking your ClickUp Notifications or Inbox on the go? Keep track with the ClickUp mobile app.

Intro to user roles

Your first step in ClickUp is creating a Workspace or being invited to join an existing Workspace.

Companies, organizations, small businesses, or individuals using ClickUp share a Workspace. When people are invited to join a Workspace, the owner or admin can assign them one of the following user roles:

• Owner: The person who created your Workspace, or had ownership transferred to them. Each Workspace can only have one owner. An owner is an admin with a few extra permissions.
• Admins: People who are responsible for managing the Workspace including billing, permissions, and integrations.

  Admins have a lot of freedom to edit and set up features. We recommend that admins are only 10–15% of your total number of users.

• Members: People in your organization who actively work in ClickUp. 

• Guests: People you've invited to your Workspace by sharing specific items with them. There are two guest types:

  • External guests: External guests are people from outside your organization like partners and contractors.
    Charges for inviting them are calculated according to your permission-controlled guest-to-member ratio. There is no charge for inviting external view-only guests. 
  • Internal guests: People from inside your organization. 
    Inviting internal guests costs the same as adding a member to your Workspace.
  • Make sure you have all the info. Learn about our pricing model. Also, take a look at when and how we charge for adding members, guests, or admins. 

  The two guest types are based on several things, including SSO authentication and email domain.

• Custom roles: Business Plus and Enterprise Plans also offer custom roles. 
  

Intro to the Hierarchy

The Hierarchy helps organizations of all sizes sort their work into easily managed tasks. The Hierarchy has the following benefits:

• Provides a scalable structure for your work. You can expand your Hierarchy as your organization grows. 
• Items and locations can be either private or shared. You can manage access to sensitive information. 
• Items and locations can be set up to allow individuals specific actions. You can manage who can do what and where. 

There are six Hierarchy levels, starting with the Workspace. 

1. Workspace:

   Contains your entire organization and all of your work. We recommend having one Workspace per organization. Your organization can grow and all of your work remains visible and in one place.
   

2. Spaces: Arrange your different workflows or types of work. You can organize Spaces by departments, teams, high-level initiatives, clients, or anything that makes sense for you to group together.

   Each Space has its own settings and can be shared with everyone in your Workspace or made private, allowing you to choose who has access.

3. Folders: Folders are optional, but are helpful for more complex workflows. You can add Folders to a Space, and then add Lists inside Folders to keep projects organized. When you create a new Folder, it automatically gets a List.

   Agile software teams, you can use Sprint Folders to keep your sprints organized.

4. Lists: Contain tasks of a similar type or that have a similar outcome or goal.

   Lists can be added to Spaces or Folders. Agile software teams, you can include regular Lists in a Sprint folder alongside your sprints. Lists are perfect for managing a backlog of tasks before adding them to a sprint.

5. Tasks: Organize the actionable parts of your projects within your tasks. Task view 3.0 is easier to use and has several new features!
   Tasks come with a set of default sections and customizable options to hold all of the info about your work, including:

   • Add details about the work to the task description. You can use text or media, including videos and screenshots.
   • Add accountability by setting assignees and start and due dates. 
   • Discuss task progress with assignees and stakeholders in the task comments. 
   • Estimate the amount of time a task will take to complete. Track or enter hours worked on the task. 
   • Attach related materials, like Docs and Whiteboards. 
   • Track key data points using Custom Fields. 
     

     Custom Fields are important if you're interested in later running reports in Dashboards. If you're using ClickUp 3.0, take a look at our Custom Field Manager.

   Tasks also have default and customizable options to:

   Add details about the work to the task description. You can use text or media, including videos and screenshots.
   • Share tasks with other Lists. This is helpful because each task has one parent List by default. 
   • Link tasks using our Relationships and Dependencies features.
   • Organize tasks by sorting.
   • Find tasks in long Lists by using Filters.
   • We display breadcrumbs in the upper-left of a task so you can easily see where in your Workspace it's located. We also call this task location.   
     
6. Subtasks: Add subtasks to a task to keep track of more granular action items. For complex projects, you can create layers of nested subtasks. 
   

   Nested subtasks is a ClickApp that must be enabled by an owner or admin. Software teams, nested subtasks can be used for epics. Or you can organize the cross-functional teams working on the same feature by creating product, design, and engineering nested subtasks.

Navigate your Workspace

The Sidebar

The Sidebar is mission control! This is the home of your Hierarchy. It's where you set up, organize, and navigate your Workspace.

Sidebar 3.0 introduces new features and flexibility to your Workspace!

The following sections are in your Sidebar:

Account and Workspace settings menus

In ClickUp 3.0, the Account and Workspace settings menus are in a new location. 

Depending on your user role, you'll have access to one or two settings menus:

Account settings menu: All users have access, though guests on certain plans have limited permissions. Customize your ClickUp experience by adding apps, setting up your language and timezone, choosing a color theme, and more!

Workspace settings menu: Owners and admins have access. Manage user roles, permissions, billing, security, and other operational duties. 

Home: Your most important tasks are here, so you always know where to focus. Home has several ways to prioritize your work. You can use some or all of them.
Home 3.0 has been completely redesigned with customizable cards!

Notifications: Communicate with all of the people in your organization. 

Inbox 3.0 replaces Notifications with an email-like design that's easier to use. 

Pulse: Pulse is a ClickApp that must be enabled by an owner or admin.

See a high-level activity report for your entire team at a glance, so you know who's online and what they're working on.

Goals: Use Goals to track progress on high-level objectives. 

Favorites: Bookmark the Workspace locations you use the most!

Spaces section: Navigate around the Spaces, Folders, and Lists in your Workspace. 

Shared with me: Access private items that have been shared with you. 

Dashboards: Access your private, shared, and favorite Dashboards. Dashboards are used to report on the activity in your Workspace using customizable cards and templates. 

Widgets were renamed to cards on March 9th, 2023.

Docs: Access your private, shared, and favorite Docs. You can use Docs to create one-page project plans or SOPs. Use pages and subpages to create a wiki. Then link your Docs anywhere in your Workspace!

ClickUp 3.0 Sidebar features:

• Item Hubs: Use Item Hubs to organize, search, and create these items from a centralized location. Accessing Dashboards and Docs is even easier with Item Hubs. In 3.0, Whiteboards also has a Hub in the Sidebar! 
• App Center: Use App Center to connect and integrate other apps.

Toolbar

The toolbar is only available in ClickUp 3.0.

Use the toolbar at the top of ClickUp to find content and get work done.

• Click the search bar to open the Command Center and find anything in your Workspace.
• Generate content using ClickUp AI. 
• Quickly create a task, Doc, Reminder, Chat view, or Whiteboard view.

Command Center

At the top of the Sidebar is our Search and Command Center Search bar. You can typeCmd + K(Mac) or Ctrl + K(PC) from anywhere within ClickUp to find anything in your Workspace.

Filters allow you to search by item, assign, and task status. Also, type create to quickly create Docs, Reminders, and tasks. 

ClickUp 3.0 has introduced Universal Search! Use Universal Search to find your work that lives outside of ClickUp. Use the App Center to connect apps you’d like to search from ClickUp.

Quick Action menu

You can open the Quick Action menu from anywhere in your Workspace.

• In ClickUp 2.0, this is located in the lower-right corner.
• In ClickUp 3.0, this is located in the upper-right corner of the toolbar. There are new features in the 3.0 version of the Quick Action menu!

This menu gives you quick access to an array of useful features, including Notepad, Track Time, Reminder, and Task tray.  

You can pin one or more of these features here to access them more quickly. You can also create a task from here!

Location Overview

Location Overviews is a ClickUp 3.0 feature. Overviews provide a high-level view of Spaces and Folders, allow you to see similar items in a central location, and to make changes quickly. 

ClickUp AI

Write better and faster using ClickUp AI. Whatever your role or job function, ClickUp AI can transform the way you work!

Our research-based tools ensure high-quality content by using prompts tailored to specific roles. You can also use ClickUp AI for everyday tasks like instantly generating a first draft, improving your first draft, or brainstorming.

Access ClickUp AI in the following locations:

• Command Center
• Task descriptions, comments, and Custom Fields
• Docs
• Email ClickApp
• Notepad
• Chat view
• Chat view Dashboard cards
• Inbox 3.0
• The toolbar 3.0

Settings menus

The ellipsis ... icons in the Sidebar are the settings menus for Spaces, Folders, and Lists. You'll use these for actions like creating new locations or copying the link to that location.

Create menus

The plus icons in the Sidebar contain actions like creating a new List, Doc, or Whiteboard and accessing Templates.

Bulk Action Toolbar 

Eliminate repetitive steps by managing tasks, subtasks, and Docs in bulk. For example, assign multiple tasks to a new person or set a start or due date for a group of tasks.

Resource Center

All of our learning and support resources are easy to access within the platform!

The Resource Center is located in the bottom-left corner. Click the question mark icon for Webinars, Community, Support, and more!

Additional resources

Be sure to explore these additional resources covering core ClickUp 2.0 features.

ClickUp University 

• View our Deep Dive Into the ClickUp Hierarchy, the first lesson in the Set Up Your Hierarchy course.
• Take the course ClickUp Layout Overview to learn how to use ClickUp's homepage and to navigate effectively across the platform.

Updated November 17, 2023 01:06