Show the work that belongs to this context

Create a Work Space you can predict

Suppose your Work Area contains a Presentation Project, and you also have several standalone Tasks tagged work. Create a Work Space, open Linked, and select the Area or specific Project you want to keep available. Confirm the selection in the Space editor.

To include tagged work automatically, add a Smart tag condition for work. You can add other conditions and choose All when every condition must match, or Any when one is enough. Check a few records so the combination expresses the context you intended.

The manual selection and Smart results form one view. A manually selected Project stays included even if it lacks the work tag. A record included through both routes appears once. This lets you keep a particular commitment visible alongside a changing automatic collection.

See what changes when you activate the Space

After saving and selecting Work, Home, Habits, Nearby, and Big View use that context for their supported contents. Switch to a Home Space when you move to household plans, or return to no Active Space to browse the full workspace. You are changing which existing records you see.

Show habits controls both the Habits tab and the Habits section in Today. Turn it off when a context should keep those surfaces out of view, or leave it on when Habits belong in that part of your day. Their definitions and history remain saved either way.

A Space can be empty if no manual records or automatic results are included. When a plan seems to disappear, return to the full workspace and search for it before changing the record. Deleting the Space removes its saved context and keeps the records it referenced.

Keep the context useful as work changes

When the Presentation Project ends, review both its manual selection and any Smart conditions. Unlinking a manually selected record does not hide it while an automatic filter still matches. Likewise, changing its tags does not remove an explicit Linked selection.

Use a Space for a recurring context such as Work, Home, or a particular period of attention. Use a List, Project, or Area when you want to organize the work itself. A Space can draw from several parts of that hierarchy without forcing everything into a new parent.

Configure the Focus List widget separately

Apple’s system Focus Filters can choose a Mement List for the Focus List widget. In Apple Settings, open Focus, select a mode, and inspect its Focus Filters for Mement. That system setting chooses the widget’s List; it does not create or edit an in-app Space.

If a widget and Mement show different records, compare the system Focus List choice, widget configuration, and in-app Active Space. Keeping their purposes clear helps you choose the right setting instead of changing unrelated plans.

Create “Unfinished high-priority work”

Create a List with that name. In Smart → Edit, use Tasks, choose All, set completion Status to Incomplete, and select High Priority. Confirm the filter and save the List. It now finds matching Tasks from your workspace as their saved fields change.

“Send the revised quote”, unfinished and High, matches both conditions. “Book the repair”, unfinished with no priority, fails the priority condition. “Submit the application”, completed and High, fails the unfinished condition. These examples give you a way to inspect your own result rather than relying on the List’s name.

Change All to Any and the result broadens: an unfinished Task can match through completion state, while a completed High Task can match through priority. The interactive example lets you change conditions and see those different results on fictional Tasks.

Combine automatic results and selected contents

A List supports Tasks; a Project supports Tasks and Lists; an Area supports Tasks, Lists, and Projects. Keep at least one supported type selected. With no active conditions, all non-deleted records of those chosen types are eligible for automatic matching.

Linked adds the records you want included manually. Those records remain included even if they fail the Smart filter. If a Task is both manually selected and automatically matched, it appears once. Removing its manual link leaves it visible while it still matches; removing Smart keeps the manual contents.

Collect work you are waiting on

For a Waiting on work List, choose Tasks, All, completion Status Incomplete, Tags include work, and GTD Status Waiting For. “Receive the signed quote” fits when those fields are saved. A Task tagged work but classified Next Actions does not fit this All combination.

Completion Status and GTD Status are distinct conditions. A waiting commitment can still be unfinished, and a completed record can retain its previous classification. Optional waiting text helps you remember the person or result without changing those filter meanings.

Find work in a chosen period

Choose Tasks, All, Incomplete, and a Date condition for the period you need. A dated Task inside the selected interval matches; a Task without a date fails that condition. The editor also offers Today, Tomorrow, and Weekend presets.

When reusing a saved custom period, inspect its actual boundaries. Do not assume a saved range moves forward simply because the List has a title such as “This week”. The title describes your intention; the saved conditions determine the result.

Include one context and exclude another

Choose All, include the work tag, and exclude home. A record tagged work matches; a record tagged both work and home fails the exclusion. Inside a tag group, several included tags accept any one of those tags, while all excluded tags must be absent.

For example, including phone and email finds records with either label. Excluding reviewed finds records without reviewed, including records with other tags. That specific exclusion is different from a general “has no tags” condition, which the current visual editor does not offer.

Use the saved place name when filtering by location

A Location condition for Office compares the saved place name without case sensitivity. A different place nearby does not match merely because it is close. Use Nearby when you want distance-based planning; the Smart location condition answers a name-based question.

Combine location with record types and other conditions when it helps. A Project can collect Tasks and Lists for a place; an Area can additionally collect Projects. Those options let you organize more than one kind of record through the same filter language.

Explain a surprising result

Inspect the record type, saved values, All or Any, included and excluded tags, and Linked. Check that a GTD condition uses the record’s actual status rather than assuming a date implies Scheduled.

Previously saved GTD filter groups keep working if you turn GTD off; adding a new GTD group is hidden in that state. Smart rules are edited in Mement’s filter editor. Current Shortcuts actions do not provide parameters for editing those rules.