# 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.

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

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.

> **Note:**
> Attention is off until you switch it on. Turn on **Attention layer** in Settings, on the **AI** tab. Until you do, nothing new can be captured or filed into Attention. See [Turn Attention on or off](https://plexiidesk.com/help/settings-ai-attention).

## 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](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-capture).

## 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](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-filters).

## 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](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-filters). |
| **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](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-start-here). |
| 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](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-queues). |
| **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](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-nudges). |
| **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](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-book-time). |
| **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](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-work-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)](https://plexiidesk.com/help/home-widget-attention).
- **The Attention widget on a desk** can show just that desk's items. See [Attention widget](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-attention).
- **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](https://plexiidesk.com/help/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 `@attention` and 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](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-tasks).

**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](https://plexiidesk.com/help/settings-ai-attention)
- [Capture something into Attention](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-capture)
- [Check and file a captured item](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-file-an-item)
- [Queues, closing verbs and grouping](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-queues)
- [Filter Attention: due today, overdue, waiting and more](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-filters)
- [Close, snooze, archive and edit an item](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-work-an-item)
- [Reorder, nest and bulk-close items](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-organise)
- [Get started with Plexii from Attention](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-start-here)
- [Desk nudges, notifications and the Attention count](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-nudges)
- [Book time for an item from Attention](https://plexiidesk.com/help/attention-book-time)