New User - Inbox

[Lewie Dunsworth]

I collected tasks in my inbox, assigned due dates, but they are still in my inbox.  Is that the way the system works?

[Steve Gledhill]

Hi Lewie.

welcome to MLO - I'm sure you'll like it. 

The inbox is a great way to quickly capture a Todo and I use it regularly.

You can assign it to contexts as well as dates as you create it using the quick entry box but you can also tell it what folder or Project it belongs to. You click the "Parent" button at the top of the Rapid Task Entry Box and it opens up your full MLO Structure and you can choose where it should go. I don't use this as often as I should so I have too many todos in the inbox. Try to get into the habit of using the "Parent" button for most tasks.

I still like to send them to the inbox because it gives me a chance to review the inbox and add more comments or settings to the task before it gets 'lost' in the project. For example, I could be on a phone call with someone and make "Action Notes" in the Rapid Entry form during the call. At the end of the call (or later ...) I can go to my inbox and start assigning contexts, due dates etc to each task. This method allows me to concentrate on the call but also make actionable notes that I know I will not lose.

I hope this helps a little

Steve 

[Lewie Dunsworth]

Thanks for the response; from the actual inbox, and not the quick entry box, is there a way to assign the task to a parent project, folder, etc.?

[Stéph]

Tasks will stay in your in box until you assign a new parent or (on the desktop version) move them to a different branch.

Stéphane

[Lewie Dunsworth]

I understand that.  From the inbox, how do I assign a task to a "parent"?  I don't see the option under "Properties".

[Dwight Arthur]

Hi, Lewie. I know three ways to change the parent of a task that already exists.

1. drag and drop. Drop the task onto the folder that will be its new parent. I assume that this is self-explanatory.

2. right click the task and select "Move to..." from the context menu. This brings up a popup showing all of the tasks in the current view, so to be safe you should probably use this command from an All-Tasks view. In ther popup, select the item you want to be the new parent and click OK.

3. click on the task name in any to-do list and add a -tofld command at the end of the task name. -tofld commands are documented in the user guide in the section on parsing for the rapid task entry dialog. For an example if you have a task "balance checkbook" in your inbox and you want it in the folder named Work you would edit the task name to say "balance checkbook -tofldWork" and please note no space before "Work". with the task name still highlighted for entry/edit, position the cursor at the end of the task name and hit alt/Enter

A couple of other observations:

-adding due dates is entirely unrelated to organizing tasks into folders. You can do either, both or neither. If you really like managing your tasks by due date then it's an important thing to do. For a look at a really good way of managing tasks that de-emphasizes due dates, have a look at the book "Getting Things Done" by David Allen

- MLO is very flexible in that it will provide you with several options for handling a situation and let you pick the one that works best for you. So for example, folders and contexts have overlapping uses. I use folders to break up my thousand plus tasks into smaller pools (like Home, Work, Errands) for easier searching, while I use contexts for things I need to work on the task (@computer, @phone, @car)

-Dwight