In the following, the most important parts of the Activities Overview are explained.
Dash
The Dash is the bar positioned on the center left. It contains favorite applications and all applications with open windows. If you move the mouse pointer over one of the icons, GNOME will display the name of the corresponding application nearby. A light glow indicates that the application is running and has at least one open window.
Right-clicking an icon opens a menu which offers different actions depending on the associated program. Using Add to Favorites, you can place the application icon permanently in Dash. To remove a program icon from Dash, select Remove from Favorites. To rearrange an icon, use the mouse to drag it to a new position.
Search box
On the top, there is a search box that you can use to find applications, settings and files in your home directory.
To search, you do not need to click the search box. You can begin typing directly after opening Activity Overview. Search starts immediately, you do not need to press Enter.
Workspace selector
On the right, there is an overview of available workspaces. To switch to the selected desktop, click the preview of it.
To move a window from one workspace to another, drag a window preview from one workspace preview to another.