"... What is the functionality, other than the icon, you're looking for?"
Yes (Lisa). That's the question I suppose. It's just that notes are not tasks and they're not folders. Maybe the request is mainly theoretical? I don't know why it's so important to me to carefully flag notes, but I use a separate context (#Note) and an automatic formatting rule to add a note icon in the icons field. Dwight is correct that once you start having "notes" then the next (logical) step is likely to be formatting and attachments; then maybe a whole new set of properties. I would not want MLO to change from being a super task manager. Also, like SRhyse says, we all use our own techniques in MLO to manage hundreds of tasks and how we view them. I agree that there are actually only a small sub-set of tasks we really need to see (bring to our attention) and it's how we handle the rest that I think this note category may help with. Having notes as a different category would allow you to: 1. Easily format them (with a new Note Format in the Options, Themes and Formatting) to distinguish from the other categories. 2. Easily produce views showing them, e.g. Outline: Notes; or Notes by Project, etc. 3. Recognise that it is OK to have a lump of data that informs our process model and helps us get stuff done but which is not a defined task. GTD asks the first question about incoming data items: Is it actionable? This is where notes comes in. No, they are not actionable; but notes can be very useful in processing incoming items and reviewing our tasks. Here is a bit more explanation about how I manage my tasks, or rather manage them when I actually do review them, since I'm not very disciplined. Apart from notes to help inform and facilitate new tasks, I would also like a method to move existing tasks down the attention ladder. Sure at the top end we have the starred and goal methods to lift critical tasks up above regular tasks to get our attention, but how about tasks at the bottom end? Ones which we don't want to delete or complete, but are useful to remind us during a review that a topic may come up again or will change into a new set of tasks. I like to turn these into notes, so that they drop out of the To-Do, but remain as items for review under a project or topic. The idea is that the task becomes data for a while until it either stops being useful (delete or archive), or turns into a new task. I know these can simply be tasks without dates or hidden in To-Do, but I'd really like them not to be tasks anymore, because they are not. They are not actionable, they are notes. In fact any data which helps to manage my tasks and is useful right next to them is in MLO. A lot of it is in the task notes field, but sometimes a separate data task (note) is more useful. For work I usually have several projects on the go, each has a different set of people. So I use a simple list of the people involved in the project (internal people and external customers, with job titles, phone number and email address) in a sub-task in the MLO project. Then I can use the task properties to set a reminder or review date, rather than leave it as a note in the project task itself. This is what I mean by active data, stuff that changes and I need to keep tabs on or refer to quickly, but not a task in the project because it is never a real committed task and is never completed. I view it as data, or a note. I also have meeting checklists, design priorities (I work as a solution architect), risks and life-cycle considerations as active notes for some (but not all) projects. I don't want these to appear in my To-Do list, but I do need to review them occasionally. If I need to formalise them (maybe 15% of them), then they become a task (or spawn a new task) until my commitment is complete, then they can become a note again. They can spawn tasks because (for example), after a review, one of the risks seems more likely or some action needs to happen. Maybe this is just another way to move tasks between someday/maybe and things we have commitments on. But for me, someday/maybe usually means forget it. Having a notes category of task allows me to easily keep data visible in the project (in Outline view) that I need instant access to, but which does not appear in the To-Do list, unless I want it to (switch to a task). I think we need some better ways to manage the tasks and meta-information at the edges of our core task set and for me a note category of task would do nicely and fit well with how MLO works. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. 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