Turn a brain dump into one next action

Choose the status that describes the commitment

Inbox holds something you still need to think through: “A reading corner by the window”. Next Actions holds work you are ready to do: “Measure the space beside the window”. Scheduled describes work you have chosen to plan: “Approve the shelf sketch”. Add the actual date separately when there is a time agreement.

Waiting For records an outside response or result, such as “Receive the carpenter’s sketch”. You can add optional text explaining who or what you are waiting for. Someday keeps an idea you want to revisit, such as “Explore a larger bookcase later”. These five choices help you decide what to inspect at different times.

Tasks, Lists, Projects, and Areas each have their own status. Habits and Spaces serve other purposes and do not use this classification. A Project’s status does not change its child Tasks’ statuses. Existing records without a recognized classification begin in Inbox, so your first Inbox can include plans you already created.

Turn one idea into a useful next action

Open the reading-corner idea from Inbox during Clarify. If it represents a result with several steps, keep that result in a Project and create or choose a Task such as “Measure the space beside the window”. Give the Task Next Actions when it is ready to do. Review the Project’s own status independently.

After taking measurements, you might create “Receive the carpenter’s sketch” as Waiting For. Once the sketch arrives, “Approve the shelf sketch” can become a separate ready or scheduled action. The statuses describe your decisions about those records; moving a record between them does not manufacture the next Task for you.

You can still use dates, tags, priorities, Spaces, and the hierarchy alongside GTD. A work tag plus Next Actions can form a Smart filter for actionable professional work across several Projects.

Set timing and completion separately

Choose a date and reminder when a commitment belongs to a particular time. Scheduled itself supplies no date. Waiting For can have a reminder for your own follow-up, and Next Actions can remain undated until you decide when to act.

To change classification, use a saved row’s Status menu or edit Organise → Status and Save. A completed record stays completed when you reclassify it. Turning GTD off preserves saved statuses and returns the ordinary All view, so the rest of your planning remains usable.

Use clarification and review for different decisions

Clarify begins with Inbox records that need a decision. Review revisits the records already classified. Use a status tab’s Review for that category, or All items → Review items to work more broadly through saved commitments.

An editor step advances after Save; Skip keeps the saved record unchanged. A Project or Area outside Inbox opens its details so you can inspect the result, contents, and Next Actions. Choose Next to acknowledge that review step. Saving a child Task alone does not acknowledge the Project’s review.

Closing a full review retains progress in that review context. Reopen the same Space and scope through Continue review when you want to continue. The weekly notification opens Analytics; start this GTD review inside Workflow when you are ready to make decisions about your plans.

Build a reading-corner plan

Start with a Project called “Set up a reading corner”. Add Tasks such as “Measure the space beside the window”, “Choose a lamp”, and “Purchase the chosen shelf”. A Shopping List can hold the items you need to buy. If you organize household responsibilities together, place the Project in a Home Area.

Each level answers a different question. The Task tells you what to do. The List keeps related actions together. The Project names the result you want. The Area gives that result a lasting home alongside other household responsibilities.

You can also keep “Buy a lamp” as a standalone Task or make a short Shopping List without a Project. Choose enough structure to find and review the work comfortably.

Choose where a record belongs and what it contains

A Task can have a List, Project, or Area as its parent. A List can belong to a Project or Area; a Project can belong to an Area. You can therefore add a Task directly to a Project when a separate List would not help.

Parent or Add to describes where the record you are editing belongs. Linked works in the other direction: while editing a List, Project, or Area, select the existing records you want it to contain. A List supports Tasks, a Project supports Tasks and Lists, and an Area supports Tasks, Lists, and Projects.

Smart filters can add automatically matching contents to these same containers. A Space can show related records from across the hierarchy when you switch context, such as from home to work. These options complement the structure instead of requiring copies of the same records.

Tasks, Lists, Projects, Areas and Habits support files, photos and links. In item editors, Attach becomes Attached with previews; removal sits beside each row. Location is below the materials, with a small map and an optional full-screen view. Open materials from the editor or the record’s details. In “Attach”, tap “Arrive” or “Leave” in the location reminder title to choose when to be notified. “Arrive” is selected by default. Save keeps that choice; notification and location permissions still apply.

Check the contents before changing the whole container

Completing a container also completes its child records. Use that action when the whole result is finished, such as after the reading corner is ready. When only “Purchase the chosen shelf” is done, complete that Task instead of the Project.

Deletion and recovery also follow the stored hierarchy. Deleted retains relationships for recovery, so inspect the container and its contents before deleting or restoring it. Automatically matched Smart contents and manually linked children have different membership rules; the Smart guide explains how to check them.

A Session lets you record time against a Task, List, Project, or Area. Stop Session ends that time tracking without completing the Project or its Tasks. This is useful when you have worked on part of a larger plan and will continue later.