Floating Explorer

An always-on-top window that gives you full access to your project's folder tree, Smart Clipboard, workspaces, and search — without leaving the app you are working in.

The Floating Explorer is the same Project Navigator sidebar, lifted out of the main window into its own floating panel. It stays on top of other windows so your project files are always one click away, whether you are writing code in VS Code, researching in Chrome, or drafting in Word.

Opening the Floating Explorer

  • Click Floating Project Navigator in the main ThinkForge window toolbar
  • Use the Float button in the Project Navigator toolbar
  • Run the toggle_cortex command from the Power Strip
  • Press Win+Shift+F to force-show the explorer from any application

Closing the Floating Explorer hides it — it does not shut down. Toggle it back open with any of the above methods.

Visual modes

The display mode button in the title bar cycles between three states:

  • Always Open — the tree is fully expanded at your saved height
  • Title Bar Only — collapses to a thin 36-pixel strip. Click or hover to expand.
  • Expand on Hover — stays collapsed until your cursor enters the window. The tree appears while you hover and collapses a moment after you move away.

Title Bar Only and Expand on Hover are useful when you want quick access without a permanent panel taking up screen space.

Docking

From the options menu (☰), choose Dock Left, Dock Right, or Float:

  • Float — the default. Position and resize the window freely anywhere on screen.
  • Dock Left / Dock Right — snaps the explorer to the edge of your screen as a vertical panel. A resize grip lets you adjust the docked width.

When docked in Title Bar Only or Expand on Hover mode, the explorer appears as a thin strip along the screen edge and expands when you hover over it. Drag the title bar to undock and return to floating mode.

Per-app profiles

The Floating Explorer remembers its position, size, dock state, and visual mode separately for each application. When you switch to a different app, the explorer automatically loads that app's saved layout.

For example, you might dock it on the right side when Chrome is in the foreground, float it in a corner when VS Code is active, and hide it entirely when using a full-screen presentation app.

From the options menu:

  • Save position for this app — saves the current layout for the app you are working in
  • Do not display in this app — automatically hides the explorer when this app is in the foreground

If you have hidden the explorer for a particular app, press Win+Shift+F to force it open regardless of the per-app rule.

Quick actions

The lightning bolt button (⚡) in the title bar opens a dropdown with shortcut commands you can run without opening the main ThinkForge window:

  • Quick Note — opens a compact note editor. Type a title and body, then save. The note is stored as a Markdown file in your active project.
  • Paste Image — saves the current clipboard image to the selected folder (or the project's capture folder if nothing is selected)
  • Save Clipboard — saves clipboard content (text, files, or images) to the selected folder

Content preview

When you click a document in the tree, a preview popup appears beside the Floating Explorer showing the document's content, tags, relationships, and metadata. This is similar to the right panel in the full Project Navigator but displayed as a popup.

  • Click a folder to see its contents in the preview
  • Double-click a document to open it in a full editor window
  • Press Escape to dismiss the preview

What it includes

The Floating Explorer contains the same content as the main Project Navigator sidebar:

  • All navigator sections — Smart Clipboard, Workspaces, Pinned, Shortcuts, Recents, Tags, Folders, Automations, Tool Library, Deployed Tools
  • Tabs — Folders, Search, and custom filter tabs
  • Full context menus — pin, rename, delete, copy path, move to project, run agent
  • View modes — Modern, Compact, Classic
  • Activity heatmap and folder focus dimming
  • Project switching via the project dropdown

Cross-app drag and drop

Drag files and folders out of the Floating Explorer directly into other applications. The explorer uses native OS drag format, so drops work in Windows Explorer, VS Code, Chrome upload fields, email clients, and any app that accepts file drops.

You can also drag items from other applications into the Floating Explorer's folder tree to move or copy them into your project.

Using it with Chrome

The Floating Explorer is particularly useful alongside a web browser. With the Chrome extension connected, additional actions appear when hovering over your project's capture folder:

  • New Forge Doc — creates a new Forge Doc from the current browser page
  • Capture Page — saves the current page content to your project
  • Capture Image — captures an image from the current page

Combined with per-app docking, you can keep your project tree visible alongside Chrome at all times — researching in the browser while organizing files, dragging captures into folders, and running agents on saved content.

What it does not include

The Floating Explorer is the navigator sidebar only. It does not include the center workspace views (Content, Home, Insights, Clusters, Automation) or the Document Info panel available in the full Project Navigator. For those, open the main ThinkForge window.

Related

  • Project Navigator — The full workspace that includes the sidebar, center views, and info panel
  • Smart Clipboard — The temporary clipboard stack available in the Floating Explorer
  • Power Strip — Quick command launcher that can toggle the Floating Explorer
  • Chrome Extension — Enables browser capture actions from the Floating Explorer