# Workspaces

A workspace is your private research environment in Alfred Scholar. Everything you work with - documents, manuscripts, citations, and chat conversations - lives inside a workspace. Think of it as a shared lab or office for your research team.

## Your first workspace

When you create your Alfred Scholar account, a personal workspace is automatically created for you. It is named after you (for example, "Jane's Workspace") and you are its **owner** with full control.

You can rename it, invite team members, and start uploading documents right away.

## Creating a new workspace

You can create additional workspaces to keep different projects, courses, or research groups separate:

1. Click on your **workspace name** at the top of the sidebar to open the workspace selector.
2. Click **Create Workspace**.
3. Enter a **name** for your workspace (for example, "Neuroscience Lab 2026" or "Thesis Project").
4. Click **Create**.

You are automatically set as the **owner** of any workspace you create.

> **Tip:** Use separate workspaces for separate research contexts. For example, keep your personal thesis work in one workspace and your lab's shared papers in another. This keeps documents, citations, and usage limits completely isolated.

## Switching workspaces

If you belong to multiple workspaces (your own plus any you have been invited to), you can switch between them at any time:

1. Click on the **workspace name** at the top of the sidebar.
2. Select the workspace you want to switch to from the dropdown.

When you switch workspaces, the sidebar, dashboard, and all data update to show only items from the selected workspace. Workspaces are completely isolated - documents, manuscripts, and citations in one workspace are not visible in another.

## Workspace settings

Workspace owners and colleagues can update workspace settings:

1. Go to **Settings** in the sidebar.
2. Click **Workspace**.
3. Update the **workspace name** as needed.
4. Click **Save**.

## Deleting a workspace

Only workspace **owners** can delete a workspace. Deleting a workspace permanently removes all its data, including documents, manuscripts, citations, and chat history. This action cannot be undone.

1. Go to **Settings** > **Workspace**.
2. Scroll to the **Delete Workspace** section.
3. Click **Delete Workspace** and confirm.

> **Warning:** Deleting a workspace is permanent. Make sure to export or download anything you need before proceeding.

## Shared usage limits

Each workspace has its own **plan and usage limits**. Usage is shared among all workspace members. When any member uploads a document, sends an AI message, or runs a plagiarism check, it counts toward the workspace's shared limits.

See [Plans & Billing](/docs/v1.x/plans-and-billing) for full details on plan limits and billing.

## Next steps

- **[Invite team members](/docs/v1.x/team-members)** to collaborate in your workspace.
- **[Understand roles](/docs/v1.x/roles-and-permissions)** to control who can do what.