This page gets you oriented in about five minutes. Read it once and the rest of the dashboard will start to make sense.
The Sidebar Is Your Map
The sidebar on the left of the dashboard is the simplest way to understand Referenta. Each item in the sidebar is a different kind of workspace. Once you know which kind of work fits where, you'll rarely need to click around to find things.
You'll see five main areas:
| Area | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Assistant | Drafting, asking questions, working in conversation |
| Tools | Specific guided tasks: text cleanup, legal comparison, transcription |
| Analysis & Research | Finding documents, monitoring press coverage, building source collections |
| Outreach | Managing contacts and distribution lists |
| Organization | Admin tasks: users, settings, help |
How Most People Use Referenta
A real day rarely fits inside one area. A typical flow:
- You need to write a position paper on a new energy bill.
- You open Analysis & Research → Knowledgebase, filter for recent parliamentary documents on energy, and bookmark the ones that matter.
- You open Press Monitor to scan recent coverage and note which angles the press has picked up.
- You open the Assistant, point it at your bookmarked sources, and ask it to draft a first version of the paper.
- If you need to polish the language, you move into Tools → Text Processing for a more structured edit.
- When the paper is ready to send, you open Outreach → Distribution Lists and send it to the right group of recipients.
That's the shape of most work in Referenta: research first, draft in the middle, send at the end.
What To Read Next
Dashboard Structure
A closer look at each sidebar item and what it actually contains.
Working Patterns
When to use the Assistant vs. a Tool vs. a Research surface — with examples.
Common Tasks
Step-by-step walkthroughs for the jobs people do most often.
Glossary
Plain-language definitions for every term you'll see in the dashboard.