When you start GNOME, you automatically enter the Activities overview. The overview allows you to access your windows and applications. In the overview, you can also just start typing to search your applications, files, folders, and the web.

To access the overview at any time, click the Activities button, or just move your mouse pointer to the top-left hot corner. You can also press the Super key on your keyboard.

At the bottom of the overview, you will find the dash. The dash shows you your favorite and running applications. Click any icon in the dash to open that application; if the application is already running, it will have a small dot below its icon. Clicking its icon will bring up the most recently used window. You can also drag the icon onto a workspace.

Right-clicking the icon displays a menu that allows you to pick any window in a running application, or to open a new window. You can also click the icon while holding down Ctrl to open a new window.

When you enter the overview, you will initially be in the windows overview. This shows you live thumbnails of all the windows on the current workspace.

Click the grid button (which has nine dots) in the dash to display the applications overview. This shows you all the applications installed on your computer. Click any application to run it, or drag an application to the onto a workspace shown above the installed applications. You can also drag an application onto the dash to make it a favorite. Your favorite applications stay in the dash even when they’re not running, so you can access them quickly.

Application menu, located beside the Activities button, shows the name of the active application alongside with its icon and provides quick access to windows and details of the application, as well as a quit item.

Click the clock on the top bar to see the current date, a month-by-month calendar, a list of your upcoming appointments and new notifications. You can also open the calendar by pressing Super+M. You can access the date and time settings and open your full calendar application directly from the menu.

Click the system menu in the top-right corner to manage your system settings and your computer.

When you leave your computer, you can lock your screen to prevent other people from using it. You can also quickly switch users without logging out completely to give somebody else access to the computer, or you can suspend or power off the computer from the menu. If you have a screen that supports vertical or horizontal rotation, you can quickly rotate the screen from the system menu. If your screen does not support rotation, you will not see the button.

When you lock your screen, or it locks automatically, the lock screen is displayed. In addition to protecting your desktop while you’re away from your computer, the lock screen displays the date and time. It also shows information about your battery and network status.

GNOME features a different approach to switching windows than a permanently visible window list found in other desktop environments. This lets you focus on the task at hand without distractions.