# Capture something into Attention

> Get a thought, a widget, a highlight or a message into Attention from the Capture window, ⌘K, @attention, a widget's bell or a right-click.

Source: https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-capture
Section: Focus and flow > Attention
Plans: All plans
Updated: 2026-10-15

Capturing is how something gets into Attention. You write down what needs you, or point at the thing that does, and PlexiDesk shows you how it will be filed before anything is saved. It takes a few seconds, so you can note something the moment it occurs to you and get straight back to what you were doing.

There are several ways in. They all end at the same check step, where you confirm or change how the item is filed. See [Check and file a captured item](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-file-an-item).

## Before you start

- Capture is available on every plan.
- Turn on the **Attention layer** in **Settings > AI**. Until you do, the shortcuts on this page do not appear. See [Turn Attention on or off](https://plexiidesk.com/help/settings-ai-attention).
- Capture in your **Personal** workspace. Attention items belong there.
- If you capture while a desk is open, the item is filed on that desk. You can change the desk on the check step. Shared desks are left out: a capture over a shared desk is filed with no desk.

## Use the Capture window

The Capture window is the plain way to write something down.

1. Open it in any of these ways:
   - On the Attention page, click **Capture** at the top right.
   - In the Plexii panel, on the **Attention** tab, click **+**.
   - On the Calendar page, click **New**.
   - Press `⌘` `K` (`Ctrl` `K` on Windows) and choose **Attention — open Capture**.
2. In **WHAT NEEDS YOU?**, type the thing in your own words, for example `Reply to Sam about the venue by Friday`. While the box is empty, its placeholder cycles through ways to start, such as "Remind me to…", "Review the…" and "Decide whether…".
3. If you want, add context in **NOTES**: links, names, what you already know.
4. Press `Enter`, or click **Continue**. The check step opens with your words already read and filed. See [Check and file a captured item](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-file-an-item).

Press `Shift` `Enter` for a new line in either box. Press `Esc`, or click outside the window, to close it without filing anything.

### File exactly as typed

To skip the check step, press `⌘` `Enter` (`Ctrl` `Enter` on Windows) instead of `Enter`. The item is filed straight away with your words as they are, in the **Remember** queue, with no date.

Use it for a quick thought you want kept but do not want to sort now. Items in **Remember** that you do not touch for 14 days fade out on their own, so move it to another queue if it turns out to matter. See [Queues, closing verbs and grouping](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-queues).

## Type @attention

Wherever you type `@attention`, what follows it is captured. The words open straight at the check step.

### In the command palette

1. Press `⌘` `K` (`Ctrl` `K` on Windows).
2. Type `@attention` and what needs you, for example `@attention book the venue for the launch`. The tag can also go at the end of the line.
3. The top row reads **Attention — capture** with your words. Press `Enter`.

To open the Capture window empty, type `@a` and press `Enter`. See [The command palette](https://plexiidesk.com/help/command-palette).

### In a message to Plexii

In the Plexii panel's chat, type `@attention` and what needs you, then press `Enter`. The check step opens just above the message box, so you never leave the conversation. When it is filed, a short line above the box confirms it.

Where you put the tag matters:

- **At the start**, as in `@attention call the printer tomorrow`, the message is only a capture. Plexii does not see it.
- **Anywhere else**, as in `draft the launch email by Friday @attention`, the words are captured **and** sent to Plexii without the tag, so Plexii can start on it while the item waits in Attention.

To change your mind, click **Cancel** or the **×** on the card. Your message goes back into the box with `@attention` in front.

### In the Home bar

1. On your Home dashboard, click in the bar at the top and type `@att`.
2. An **attention** row appears, marked "Capture — Tab to arm". Press `Tab`, or click the row. An **@attention** tag appears at the start of the bar.
3. Type what needs you and press `Enter`.

Press `Backspace` in the empty bar, or `Esc`, to remove the tag. See [The Home bar: ask, search and jump](https://plexiidesk.com/help/home-bar).

## Add a widget to Attention

When something on a desk needs you, such as a document to review or a table to update, add the widget itself. The item points back to the widget, so you can open it again from Attention.

1. Click the outlined bell beside the widget's name. Its tooltip says **Add to Attention**.
2. The check step opens with a title already written and a queue picked from the kind of widget. For example, a note or page opens as **Review…** in **Review**, a table as **Update…** in **To Do**, a chat or mail widget as **Follow up in…** in **Respond**, a calendar or timer as **Schedule…** in **Meet**, and most other widgets as **Attend to…** in **To Do**. A sticky note keeps its own text and opens in **Remember**.
3. Change anything you need and file it.

Once it is filed, the bell fills in. Click a filled bell to open the Attention page, or click the circle beside it to close the item. If the widget is a web page, the item remembers the exact address it was showing, even if the widget moves on.

You can also right-click the widget and choose **Add to Attention…**, which does the same thing. See [The controls on every widget](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-title-bar).

## Add a highlight to Attention

When the thing that needs you is a sentence or a list inside a widget:

1. Select the text.
2. Right-click it and choose **Add to Attention…**.

The first line of your selection becomes the title, and the whole selection is kept in the item's notes. If you selected a list of three or more short lines, or a bulleted list, each line becomes its own item, previewed together on the check step. Indented bullets are grouped under the line above them. A list of more than 12 lines stays as one item with the whole list in its notes.

The same works on text you select in a Plexii chat: right-click it and choose **Add to Attention…**. It opens in **To Do**.

## Add several widgets at once

Select two or more widgets, right-click one of them and choose **Add 2 to Attention…** (the number matches your selection). One item is created for the whole group, so your queue does not fill with near-identical rows. See [Right-click menus](https://plexiidesk.com/help/right-click-menus).

## Add a message to Attention

In a conversation, rest the pointer on a message and click the bell beside it. Its tooltip says "Add to Attention — you choose how it's filed (Respond by default)". The item opens in **Respond**, keeps the message in its notes, and links back to that exact message.

Once filed, the bell stays filled and a circle beside it closes the item. Read down a conversation and the filled bells are the messages still waiting on you.

## Let Plexii suggest items

Plexii can suggest Attention items too, for example when you ask it to plan something in a chat, or in the action items of a meeting's wrap-up. A suggestion shows as a card. Nothing is filed until you accept it. The item then carries Plexii's reason in its notes, and under **Group by** > **Origin** it sits under **Plexii**.

## What happens after you file

A note at the bottom of the window confirms it, such as **Filed to To Do — “Reply to Sam about the venue”**, with an **Undo** button for a few seconds. The item appears on the Attention page, in the Attention widgets and in the header count.

## Common questions

**There is no Attention row in ⌘K, and no bell on my widgets.** The Attention layer is off. Turn it on in **Settings > AI**. See [Turn Attention on or off](https://plexiidesk.com/help/settings-ai-attention).

**My capture went onto the wrong desk.** A capture made while a desk is open is filed on that desk. On the check step, click the **DESK** pill and choose another desk, or **No desk**. To move an item you have already filed, open it and change its desk. See [Close, snooze, archive and edit an item](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-work-an-item).

**I pressed ⌘ Enter by mistake.** The item went to **Remember** with your words as typed. Open it from the Attention page to change its queue, or drag it onto another queue's tab. See [Reorder, nest and bulk-close items](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-organise).

**Filing failed with a message about personal scope.** You are working in an organisation. Switch to **Personal** in the workspace switcher at the top of the side menu and capture again.

**Can I capture without the mouse?** Yes. Press `⌘` `K`, type `@attention` and your words, and press `Enter`. On the check step, number keys pick the queue and `Enter` files it. See [Check and file a captured item](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-file-an-item).

## Related tasks

- [Check and file a captured item](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-file-an-item)
- [Attention: everything that needs you](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-overview)
- [Turn Attention on or off](https://plexiidesk.com/help/settings-ai-attention)
- [The command palette](https://plexiidesk.com/help/command-palette)
- [Right-click menus](https://plexiidesk.com/help/right-click-menus)
- [The Home bar: ask, search and jump](https://plexiidesk.com/help/home-bar)
- [Open, move and resize the Plexii panel](https://plexiidesk.com/help/plexii-panel)