Quick Actions

Quick actions are shortcut buttons displayed at the top of every dashboard. They give you one-click access to the tasks you perform most often, regardless of your persona. This article covers each action, available keyboard shortcuts, and navigation tips to help you work efficiently.

Available Quick Actions

Create New Project

Opens the new project form. You provide a title, description, and optional tags. The project is immediately created and added to your project list. From there you can invite collaborators, link publications, and begin organizing your research.

• Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+P (macOS)

Upload Publication

Opens the upload dialog where you can drag and drop PDF files, Word documents, or other supported formats. AcaTrove extracts metadata automatically and adds the publication to your library. You can assign it to a project during or after upload.

• Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+U (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+U (macOS)

Start Writing

Launches the AI Writing Assistant with a blank document. If you have a project selected, the new document is automatically linked to it. The writing environment includes access to citation tools, outline templates, and AI-powered suggestions.

• Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+W (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+W (macOS)

Search Papers

Opens the global paper search interface. You can search your personal library, your institution's connected resources, and external databases. Results include title, authors, journal, year, and availability status.

• Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+K (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+K (macOS)

Open AI Panel

Toggles the AI research panel on the right side of the screen. The panel lets you ask questions about any document, get summaries, compare papers, and run analyses. It maintains context within your current session.

• Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+A (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+A (macOS)

Quick actions bar at the top of the dashboard

Command Palette

In addition to the quick action buttons, AcaTrove includes a command palette that provides access to all actions and navigation targets. Open it with Ctrl+K or Cmd+K and begin typing to filter available commands. The palette searches across actions, pages, projects, and recent documents.

Command palette showing filtered results

Navigation Tips

• Sidebar navigation -- The left sidebar provides access to all major sections: Dashboard, Projects, Publications, Labs, and Settings. Collapse it by clicking the toggle icon at the bottom to gain more screen space.
• Breadcrumbs -- Every page shows a breadcrumb trail below the header. Click any segment to navigate back to that level.
• Recent items -- Press Ctrl+Shift+R or Cmd+Shift+R to open a list of your most recently viewed projects, documents, and pages.
• Browser back/forward -- AcaTrove supports standard browser navigation. Use your browser's back and forward buttons to move through your history.

Tips

• Quick action availability is consistent across all personas. The same five actions appear whether you are on a professor, librarian, or administrator dashboard.
• Keyboard shortcuts work from any page in AcaTrove, not just the dashboard.
• If you prefer a minimal interface, you can hide the quick actions bar in Settings > Preferences > Dashboard Layout.