Loading...
Help Center / Apps & Extensions / Workspace App Overview

Workspace App Overview

Workspace

1. What it is

Workspace bundles a message board, grouped to-do lists, a schedule, recurring check-ins, and Hill Charts onto one scrollable canvas per project. Each workspace also gets its own Shared Drive automatically the moment it is created.

  • Enablement: Workspace requires a licence. An admin enables it for the business in the Apps Marketplace; it is off by default.
  • What it is not: Workspace is not a standalone task manager. To-dos inside a workspace are the same task records the org-wide Tasks app uses, scoped to one project instead of living in a separate system.

2. Standing it up

  1. Go to Admin → Apps Marketplace and enable the Workspace app. It requires a licence.
  2. Open Apps → Workspace → Settings. Review who can create workspaces — the default is Manager or above. You can widen this to everyone, specific groups, or restrict it to app admins only.
  3. Toggle canvas sections on or off. Every section (message board, tasks, schedule, check-ins, Hill Charts, linked tools, Kanban, and more) ships enabled. Disable any section your organisation does not need — workspaces will no longer show it.
  4. Create the first workspace. Go to Apps → Workspace → Workspaces and click New workspace. Give it a name, an optional description, and an icon/colour. You become the owner.
  5. Add members. Open the workspace canvas, scroll to the Members section, and add people by name. Members receive a notification that they have been added.
  6. Confirm it worked. Members see the workspace on their Dashboard tab, which shows their workspaces, assigned tasks, pending check-in drafts, and recent messages.

Silent-dependency note: The Shared Drive that each workspace provisions relies on the Drive app. If Drive is not enabled, the files section of the canvas will be empty.

3. How it fits together

Roles

Every workspace membership carries one of three roles.

  • Owner — created the workspace (or had ownership transferred to them). Can edit the workspace, manage members, archive, duplicate, export, reorder the canvas, and toggle per-workspace features. There is exactly one owner.
  • Member — can post messages, create and complete to-dos, add events, answer check-ins, and add links.
  • Viewer — read-only. Can browse messages, tasks, and events, but cannot create or edit content. Personal state (marking a message as read, muting, saving a filter) is not gated by this restriction.

App admins (business admins and users granted the Workspace app-admin role) can perform any owner action on any workspace, regardless of membership.

Canvas sections

A workspace canvas is a single scrollable page divided into sections. The owner drags sections between the left and right columns and toggles sections on or off from the Features modal. Business-level settings control which sections are available at all; the owner can only disable within that set, never re-enable something the admin turned off.

Worked example. Suppose an admin disables Hill Charts business-wide. Every workspace loses that section. An owner who previously disabled and then re-enabled Hill Charts in their workspace will not see it return — the admin gate takes precedence.

To-do lists and tasks

To-dos live inside named lists (e.g. “Launch checklist”, “Adoption milestones”). Each list holds tasks that are the same records as in the org-wide Tasks app. Tasks can be assigned to members, given a due date, and marked complete. When a member is removed from a workspace, their open tasks are automatically unassigned so they surface as unowned.

Hill Charts

A Hill Chart tracks progress on a named scope as a single dot on a 0–100 uphill-then-downhill curve. The left half represents figuring out the problem; the right half represents executing the solution; reaching 100 means done. Every position change is recorded as a history point, so you can review how a scope progressed over time.

When the AI agent is enabled and Auto-Propose Hill Chart Positions is on, the system periodically proposes a new position based on completed to-dos and recent activity. The proposal appears as a pending badge; the owner accepts (which commits the move) or dismisses it. The AI never moves a dot without approval.

Recurring check-ins

A check-in is a question asked on a schedule — daily, weekly, or monthly. When a check-in fires, each member gets a response form. If Auto-Draft Check-In Responses is on, the AI drafts an answer from the member’s recent workspace activity and notifies them that a draft is waiting. The member reviews, edits if needed, and approves. No AI draft ever posts without explicit approval.

Check-ins can be paused and resumed. A paused check-in stays visible on the canvas with a “Paused” badge and does not fire until resumed.

Templates

A workspace template captures the structure of an existing workspace — its to-do lists, Hill Charts, and check-in questions — without copying messages, files, or members. Creating a workspace from a template pre-populates that structure so projects of the same shape do not start from scratch.

Templates come in two kinds: system templates (shared across all businesses, managed centrally) and business templates (saved by your team, editable and archivable). An archived template drops out of the picker but is never permanently deleted.

Client portal

The client portal lets you invite an external party — someone without a MangoApps account — to follow a workspace. You issue a magic link by email; it expires in 30 days and can be extended or revoked at any time. The client sees messages, tasks, events, and Hill Charts, but never anything marked as internal-only. Clients can reply to messages from the portal.

Turning off Enable Client Portal in settings disables both new invites and existing magic links.

4. Running it

Creating a workspace from a template

  1. Go to Apps → Workspace → Templates.
  2. Choose a system template or one your team saved. Click Use this template.
  3. Name the workspace. The template’s to-do lists, Hill Charts, and check-in questions are pre-populated.

Duplicating a workspace

  1. Open the workspace you want to clone. Click the menu and choose Duplicate.
  2. The duplicate copies to-do lists (open tasks only), Hill Charts (reset to position 0), check-in configs, and linked tools. It does not copy messages, files, events, completed tasks, or memberships — you become the sole owner.

Exporting a workspace

  1. Open the workspace. Click the menu and choose Export.
  2. You will be asked to re-verify your identity (step-up authentication). The export is a CSV containing workspace metadata, member emails, all messages, and all tasks.

Inviting a client

  1. Open the workspace canvas and go to the Client Invites panel.
  2. Enter the client’s email address and send. They receive a magic link valid for 30 days.
  3. To extend a link, click Extend on the invite row — it adds another 30 days from the current expiry. To revoke, click Revoke.

Using the quick-add bar

The quick-add bar on the canvas accepts typed commands:

  • task: <title> — creates a to-do in the first list (or an auto-created “Inbox” list)
  • msg: <title> -- <body> — posts a message
  • link: <url> <title> — adds a linked tool
  • event: <title> at <date/time> — adds a schedule event

Text without a prefix is treated as a short message.

5. Settings

All settings are at Apps → Workspace → Settings. Only business admins and Workspace app admins can reach this page.

AI features

Setting Default What it changes
Enable Workspace AI Agent On Master switch for all AI features in the app
Auto-Propose Hill Chart Positions On Whether the agent periodically proposes Hill Chart dot moves based on completed work
Auto-Draft Check-In Responses On Whether the agent drafts a response from recent activity when a check-in fires
Enable Client Digest Generation On Whether workspace owners can generate a client-facing digest summarising recent activity
Email the weekly client digest to invited clients automatically Off Puts digest delivery on a weekly cron that emails people outside your company. Off by default because no tenant consented to external outbound by enabling the app

Canvas sections

Each of these can be toggled off to hide the section across all workspaces in the business. All default to On.

Setting What it hides
Enable Message Board The message-board section on the canvas
Enable Tasks The to-do lists section
Enable Schedule The schedule / events section
Enable Recurring Check-Ins The check-ins section
Enable Hill Charts The Hill Charts section
Enable Linked Tools Section The “Doors” section for pinned external URLs
Show Wikis Section on Canvas The Wikis section (requires the Wikis app)
Show Library Section on Canvas The Library section (requires the Libraries app)
Show Forms Section on Canvas The Forms section (requires the Forms app)
Enable Client Portal Client portal invites and existing client links (turning it off disables outstanding links)
Enable Kanban View The Kanban board view for tasks
Enable Reports Tab The Reports tab in the sidebar (visible to managers and above)
Enable Comments on To-Dos Threaded comments on individual tasks
Enable Recurring Tasks Recurring task creation
Enable Emoji Reactions Emoji reactions on messages and tasks
Enable iCal Feed for Schedule iCal feed export for workspace events

Capacity limits

Setting Default What it changes
Max Workspaces Blank (unlimited) Maximum active workspaces in the business
Max Members per Workspace Blank (unlimited) Maximum members per individual workspace

Access control

Setting Default What it changes
Who can create workspaces Manager or above Controls which roles may create a new workspace. Options: everyone, managers, app admins only, or specific groups

Notifications

Each of these toggles one notification channel. All default to On.

Setting What it controls
Notify on New Message Email and in-app notification for new message-board posts
Notify on New Comment Notifications for new comments on messages
Notify on @Mention in Message Notifications for @mentions in messages
Notify on @Mention in Comment Notifications for @mentions in comments
Notify on Task Assigned Notification when a task is assigned
Notify on Check-In Due Reminder when a check-in is due and no AI draft was created
Notify When AI Draft Ready for Approval Notification when the AI has drafted a check-in response
Notify on Member Added Notification when a user is added to a workspace
Notify Assignee on Task Comment Notification to the task assignee when someone comments
Notify on @Mention in Task Comment Notification for @mentions in task comments
Email Magic Link to Client Invitee Whether the magic link is emailed to the client (the URL is still issued and shown in the UI regardless)
Notify when an event is added Notification for new schedule events
Remind before an event starts Reminder before a schedule event starts

Content governance

Setting Default What it changes
Enable Content Governance On Whether message-board posts are subject to the platform’s content-governance pipeline

6. More help

  • Workspace FAQ — specific setup and operating questions
  • Ask AI — the assistant answers questions about Workspace from these articles.