Attention: everything that needs you
One page for everything that needs you, filed by what each item asks of you, with counts, a Start here strip, queue tabs and today's calendar.
Attention is the one place in PlexiDesk that lists everything that needs you: things to do, things to review, decisions to make, people waiting for a reply, meetings to set up, topics to talk through, and things worth remembering or knowing. Each item is filed by what it is asking you to do, and each one closes with its own word, such as Done, Reviewed or Responded.
Items stay where they belong. An item captured on a desk still belongs to that desk, and tasks you add on a desk show here too. The page says it in its own words: "Items live with their desks — this is the lens, not the drawer." Use Attention to see it all at once and decide what to do next, rather than as a second place to keep work.
Before you start
- Attention is available on every plan.
- Attention items belong to your Personal workspace. If you are working in an organisation, switch to Personal in the workspace switcher at the top of the side menu to see and capture them.
- Items get here in three ways: you capture them, Plexii suggests them and you accept, or you add tasks on a desk. See Capture something into Attention.
Open the Attention page
Do any of these:
- In the side menu, under Desk, click Attention.
- Click the bell with a number in the header. It appears when something needs you, and its tooltip says Attention — what needs you.
- In the Capture window, click Open Attention →.
- On the Attention widget, or the Attention tab of the Plexii panel, click the section name.
To open Attention with a filter already applied, such as Overdue or Waiting, click the small arrow at the right of the Attention row in the side menu and pick a filter. See Filter Attention.
What you see on the page
The page has a working column on the left and a short rail on the right. From the top:
| Part | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Attention heading, with Select and Capture | Capture opens the Capture window. Select lets you pick several items to close, dismiss, archive or hand to Plexii together. |
| Analytics | Six count tiles: Open, Due today, Overdue, In progress, Waiting and Closed · 7d. Press a tile to narrow the list to those items. Breakdown shows each queue's mix. See Filter Attention. |
| Start here | Up to three items Plexii suggests you start with, a box to ask Plexii about your queue, and Plan my day →. See Get started with Plexii from Attention. |
| Queue tabs | All, then To Do, Review, Decide, Respond, Meet, Discuss, Remember and Know, each with its count. Click one to see only that queue. |
| Group by | Queue, Due or Origin: three ways to group the same items. See Queues, closing verbs and grouping. |
| Tags | Your ten most used tags. Click one to show only items with that tag. This row appears once your items have tags. |
| The list | Your open items, one section per queue (or per due date, or per origin). |
| From your desks | Nudges about desks and plans that are due soon or have gone quiet. See Desk nudges, notifications and the Attention count. |
| Detached | Items whose desk was removed or moved. The items were kept; give each one a new desk with Move…. |
| Recent activity | Items captured and closed in the last seven days. |
| Recently closed | Items you closed in the last seven days. Click the heading to show or hide them. |
| Archived | Items you archived. Click the heading to show them; Unarchive puts one back in the queues. |
| Today (right rail) | Today as a day column from your calendar. Drag an item onto it to book time. Calendar opens the full calendar. See Book time for an item from Attention. |
| Overdue radar (right rail) | Items past their due date, and under Next 48 hours, items due soon. |
Queue sections, From your desks, Detached, Recently closed and Archived appear only when they have something in them. When nothing needs you, the list says Nothing needs you.
Read an item
Each item is a row:
- a coloured stripe down the left edge, in its queue's colour
- an empty circle you click to close the item with its queue's word
- its title, and under it small chips for its plan, its desk, where it came from (such as a meeting or a message), the people, desks, rooms and plans it mentions, and its tags
- a short reason when there is one, such as Due today, Past due, Due in 3 days or Suggested by Plexii
- along the right: a flag when its urgency is not Normal (red for Urgent, amber for High, grey for Low), a status pill such as Not started or In progress, the due date (red once it is overdue) and the initials of people it mentions
Rest the pointer on a row to show its actions: open its source, open the desk it came from, start it with Plexii, snooze it until tomorrow morning, archive it, copy its full text, or open it to edit. Double-click a row to open the whole item. See Close, snooze, archive and edit an item.
Attention in other places
You do not have to open the page to work through Attention:
- The Attention widget on Home shows the same items in sections such as To Do, Review and Respond. See Attention widget (Home).
- The Attention widget on a desk can show just that desk's items. See Attention widget.
- The Attention tab in the Plexii panel shows the same list beside whatever you are doing, with a + to capture. See Open, move and resize the Plexii panel.
- The bell on a widget or a message shows whether something there is already in Attention. A filled bell means it is; click it to open the Attention page.
Good ways to use it
- Start the day here. Look at Overdue and Due today in the Analytics tiles, then work down Start here.
- Clear one kind of work at a time. Click the Respond tab and answer everyone in one sitting, or Review when you have a block of quiet time.
- Capture as you go. Press ⌘ K (Ctrl K on Windows), type
@attentionand what needs you, and get back to work. Sort it out later from this page. - Review the week. Open Recently closed to see what you finished, and From your desks to pick up anything that has gone quiet.
Common questions
The page is empty. If it says Nothing needs you, there may simply be nothing open. Check that you are in your Personal workspace, that no filter is applied (click Attention itself in the side menu to clear one), and that no Analytics tile or tag is selected.
Why is a task from my desk here? Tasks you add on a desk, for example in a Tasks widget, are also Attention items in the To Do queue. It is the same task in both places: close it here and it is done on the desk too. See Tasks widget.
Is Attention shared with my team? No. Attention items belong to your Personal workspace. People you mention on an item are kept with it for your reference; they are not sent anything.
Where did an item go? Snoozed items hide until their snooze ends. Closed items move to Recently closed, archived items to Archived, and items whose desk was removed to Detached. Items in Remember that nobody touches for 14 days fade out on their own.
Related tasks
- Turn Attention on or off
- Capture something into Attention
- Check and file a captured item
- Queues, closing verbs and grouping
- Filter Attention: due today, overdue, waiting and more
- Close, snooze, archive and edit an item
- Reorder, nest and bulk-close items
- Get started with Plexii from Attention
- Desk nudges, notifications and the Attention count
- Book time for an item from Attention
Guides in Attention
- Turn Attention on or offSwitch the Attention layer on to capture and file what needs you, and let Plexii suggest items. Switch it off and everything you captured is kept.
- Capture something into AttentionGet 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.
- Check and file a captured itemSee how Plexii read your capture, change its category, urgency, date, people or desk, add tags and notes, then file it with Enter or File it.
- Queues, closing verbs and groupingThe eight Attention queues, the word each one closes with, the queue tabs, desk groups, and grouping the list by Queue, Due or Origin.
- Filter Attention: due today, overdue, waiting and moreNarrow Attention with the six side-menu filters, the Analytics tiles and your tags, and read the Breakdown of each queue.
- Close, snooze, archive and edit an itemWork through an item on the Attention page: close it with its own verb, change its status, snooze or archive it, open its source, or edit every detail.
- Reorder, nest and bulk-close itemsDrag Attention items into your own order, nest them as sub-items, move them between queues, and select several to close, archive or hand to Plexii at once.
- Get started with Plexii from AttentionUse Start here on the Attention page to see your most pressing items, ask Plexii about your queue, and open a ready-written chat for any item.
- Desk nudges, notifications and the Attention countHow Attention reminds you: desk and plan nudges on the Attention page, notifications for due items and closed loops, and the count in the header.
- Book time for an item from AttentionDrag an Attention item onto the Today column to book half an hour for it, then move, resize, complete or focus on the block, and watch the Overdue radar.
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