An element is one thing in a column: a heading, a picture, a button, a form. The rail lists them on six shelves, and every one is edited the same way - click it, and change its settings in the panel beside the page.
The screens pictured here are an example ministry’s, so the names and figures in them are not yours. Everything they show works the same way in your own admin.
Open a shelf on the rail, then drag an element onto the page where it should sit, or click it.
As you drag over the page a line shows where it will land, and says why when it cannot land there. It also drops into a column in the outline. A click puts it in the column you have selected. On a page with no column yet, dropping or clicking an element brings a new one-column Section with it, switched off like any section you add. Type in the box at the top of the shelf to find one by name.
Click the element to edit it where it is.
Its settings fill the panel on the right, with only the settings that kind has: words, a picture, a link, a figure, and the page redraws as you change them. The small bar above it moves it by its grip or one place up or down, switches it live or hidden, and deletes it. Double-click words to type them right on the page. A picture dragged from your computer onto a Picture element, or into a column, is uploaded and put there.
Change what it is shown as, where a family of looks exists.
A Figure can be a number that counts up, stars out of five, or a bar towards a goal. Links can be the links you type, this page's own headings, or a trail back to Home. Social icons can be your accounts or share buttons. Buttons can be one that opens a pop-up. Picture grid can be a row of logos; Icon can be a list of lines beside the icon. Choosing one keeps what you typed.
"Shown as": one element, several looks. Reorder elements by dragging them, between columns too.
A piece dragged from the left column to the right moves; the band stays where it is.
Remove an element with the red trash can in its settings, or switch it off to keep it.
An element that is switched off is kept on the page and not drawn.
Some elements draw content that lives elsewhere - a product, a team member, your contact details - and say so when you open them. Change the thing where it lives and every page showing it changes too.