Build Smart collections that answer a useful question

Try it in Mement

1. Create or edit a List, Project, or Area and open Smart → Edit.
2. Choose the supported record types the container should include.
3. Select All when every active condition must match, or Any when one matching condition is enough.
4. Add the conditions you need, confirm the filter, then Save the container editor.
5. Open the collection and compare a few included and excluded records with your question. Check Linked for manual contents too.

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.

Before you finish

• The container’s supported types fit the records you want to collect.
• All or Any expresses the question you intended.
• You can explain automatic matches separately from manually linked contents.

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