Why do contexts start with different special characters

[Dwight Arthur]

In a postscript to a post in the thread at https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mylifeorganized/HRJm9Zql4to/KSjl-ATn3PMJ John Smith asked what the significance is of the first character in context names like @work, #calls, etc. Answer: no significance, people just use them to create some grouping in the sorted list of contexts. For example, I have about a half dozen contexts that are tied to a location for use with location alarms on Android. I start them all with "@" so that they are together in my context list.

An issue for many new users is that the built in sort sequence in Android and Windows is different, so a group of contexts you put at the top may come out at the bottom on a different platform. See https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mylifeorganized/exXXp1Ov3CQ/eQegqH6jCosJ for some help with that issue.

-Dwight

[Trish Putnam]

As an add-on, I have my own personal "code" for what the first character means - 

@ represents an action type - @Call, @Waiting, @Online, @Computer and so on (@Computer in terms of action means something I need to use a computer for, not a specific location)

~ is specifically for shopping needs, and generally designates a shopping location, sometimes specific, sometimes a generic location, i.e. ~Costco, ~GroceryStore, ~Safeway, ~Amazon, ~Mall

# is a "location" context (other than shopping) - #Office, #Home, #DevComputer, #HomeComputer, #Laptop (#HomeComputer is a specific machine I need to be at, in this case.  Yes, it overlaps with the action type @Computer, but they are used for two different things in my setup)

+ is used to denote a person or group of people like +Family, +Eric, +Colleagues, etc.  

There are others, but you get the idea.

Regards -

Trish Putnam

trish....@gmail.com

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[pottster]

Interesting. Every one is different! I would go with the use of @ and ~ although I would use flags because for me, the use of status and physical location are mutually exclusive i.e. only one of the tags would apply at any one time. Also, I would use sections of the outline for specific areas of my life and for people as those attributes are reasonably fixed. Delegating to someone would be an exception - I'd use flags for that because I might easily switch the task. To be clear for those who don't use them, there can only be one flag per task. There can be multiple contexts per task but I've stopped using them because it meant too much maintenance. I've found that multiple tags are great for a database where records are fairly static once created e.g. browser bookmarks - less so for more dynamic data such as a task.

[Trish Putnam]

Oh, don't get me wrong. My tasks do not all have context tags, and typically if they do, it's at most two, but more likely just a single one. They are specifically used to drive specific views where items may come from several locations in my outline.

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From: pottster
Sent: ‎12/‎4/‎2014 14:00
To: mylifeo...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [MLO] Why do contexts start with different special characters

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/cf4fd2ff-c361-420c-9af5-dfebf8f6b45e%40googlegroups.com.