The thoughts collected through the Collect Thoughts screen are displayed one by one, in the same order as entered. A counter indicates how many thoughts still need to be processed. If this screen has been called when re-processing an Item or Action, or if any "tickled" Someday/Maybe items need to be looked at, the corresponding thought will be displayed first.
This screen is where you decide what to do with a thought. First of all, you need to decide if the thought is actionable or not. The default is actionable.
Single action or Project?
We recommend that you first think about the thought and enter the successful outcome for this activity. The display of the successful outcome field is configurable (see Actions Preferences). It is then easier to decide:
You must enter the description of the next physical action that should be done. The description is defaulted to the thought description but it can be overwritten.
A context for this action can also be selected. You can also enter notes for that action. The display of the following fields is configurable:
Action Status
You now have five choices for this action as follows.
There are two user options for this delegation emailing in Actions Preferences as follows:
- you can opt to append the text "Email sent" followed by the current date, to the end of the notes field.
- you can change the character encoding. You may need to do this if your particular email client program does not properly accept the details passed to it.
Please note that to use the email functionality on Linux, a proper email address (containing a "@") needs to be entered.
Project
Based on your decisions at the beginning, check the project check box if a new project is required. A new project will be created automatically. The project description is defaulted to the thought description but it can be overwritten. If the action does not have a thought, or if you leave the project name blank, the action description will be used.
If the thought is related to an existing project (current or future), press the button. A pop-up window opens with two tabs: Projects and Future Projects. From the appropriate tree, select the project (or sub-project) the action (and possibly the new project) belongs to. In the tree, a project can be expanded or not and you can change the order to alphabetic using the buttons above the project tree.
Notes field transfer
If Notes were entered for the thought, they will be copied into the action's notes and to the project's notes (if applicable).
Priority fieldAn action created under an existing project will take the priority of that project, unless the user has entered a priority for that action. A sub-project created under an existing project will take the priority of that project.
If the thought is not actionable, you can do one of the following:
Lastly you press the Process Thought button or its Shortcut Key The next thought is then displayed at the top and the entry fields are reset.
For 'tickled' Someday/Maybe items, the word 'Tickled' + tickle date will be appended at the beginning of the thought description.
For any date selection: the calendar window "Select Date" will open, allowing you to Select a date, Clear it or Cancel. You can select a date by double-clicking on it. You can also enter the date directly. You can set the date format and what is the first day of your week (Sunday or Monday): see Dates.