Attention widget

Attention is where PlexiDesk keeps the things that need you: tasks, reviews, replies, decisions and dates. The Attention widget puts that queue on a desk. It shows the items filed on that desk, or all of them, and lets you deal with each one in place.

Use it on a project desk to keep that project's open loops in sight, or on a desk you start your day on to see everything at once.

More about this widget Coming soon

Before you start

The Attention widget is included on every plan. Attention itself is off until you turn it on, so do that first:

1. Click the gear at the right end of the header to open Settings.
2. Click the AI tab.
3. Under Attention, tick Attention layer.

This turns on capturing items, the Attention page and its notifications. If you turn it off later, anything already captured stays and shows again when you turn it back on. See Turn Attention on or off Coming soon.

Add the Attention widget

1. Open the desk.
2. Click Add widget in the middle of the header.
3. Click Attention.

Attention is in the Plan & track column of the Add widget menu. You can also type "attention" in Search widgets… and press Enter.

You can also press ⌘ K (Ctrl K on Windows) and choose Add Attention.

This desk or All

Two buttons at the top choose what the widget covers. It remembers your choice.

• This desk (the default) shows the items filed on this desk, with their number beside it, such as This desk · 3. If nothing open is filed on this desk yet, the widget shows everything instead and says nothing here yet — showing all.
• All shows every item, wherever it was filed, and adds the Stale desks section.

Items filed on a desk include its tasks, so tasks you add in a Tasks widget on this desk appear here too.

Pick a section

The row of small icons under the scope buttons picks a section. Rest the pointer on an icon to see its name. Each widget remembers its own section.

Snoozed items stay out of All, To Do, Review and Respond until they come back. Items in the other queues, such as Decide or Discuss, appear under All.

Under the icons, the section's name and the number of items in it are shown. The widget lists up to seven. Click the section's name to open the Attention page, where you can see them all. See Attention: everything that needs you Coming soon.

Work with an item

Each row shows:

• a coloured strip at the left in the colour of the item's queue;
• a circle that closes the item, using the queue's own word (rest the pointer on it to see, for example Reviewed — close this item);
• the item's name, and under it why it is here, such as Past due, Due in 3 days or Suggested by Plexii;
• its due date, in red when overdue;
• its status. Click the status to change it to Not started, In progress, Waiting, Blocked or Delegated, or to close it with the queue's word.

Closed items, in Completed, show a green tick instead.

Closing can ask one more question:

• If the item still has open subtasks, Close its subtasks too? lets you close them all with it, close just this one, or cancel.
• If it was the last open item on a desk that is still open, Desk complete? offers Mark the desk done or Leave it as is.

Open an item in place

Click an item's name. The row opens in place and shows what Attention knows about it: its notes, why it is here, its priority and due date, the desk or plan it belongs to, where it came from (such as a meeting or a message), mentions and tags, and how many of its sub-items are closed. A meeting invitation also shows when and where it is, and lets you answer yes, maybe or no.

A row of buttons sits underneath. Rest the pointer on each to see its name:

• When the item has a source, the first button opens it: the spoken moment in a meeting, the message in its conversation, or the web page the item came from.
• Open the whole desk it came from, when the item belongs to a desk.
• Start it with Plexii: opens a chat with Plexii, filled in from the item.
• Snooze until tomorrow morning: hides the item until 9 am tomorrow.
• Archive: keeps the item, out of the way.
• Open the item: the full item, right where you are.
• Open the Attention page.

Click the name again to close the row. To go straight to the full item, double-click its row. See Close, snooze, archive and edit an item Coming soon.

Add things to Attention from a desk

• The bell on a widget's title bar. Click the outlined bell beside any widget's name to capture an item that points back to that widget. You confirm it before it is filed. Once the widget has a live item, the bell is filled in: click it to open Attention, or click the circle beside it to close the item.
• Right-click menus. Right-click a widget and choose Add to Attention…. With several widgets selected, the menu offers to add them all.
• Tasks. Every task on this desk is already an Attention item.

See Capture something into Attention Coming soon for every way to capture.

The same widget in other places

• On Home. The Home dashboard has its own Attention widget, which shows everything. See Attention widget (Home).
• In the Plexii panel. The panel's Attention tab shows the same sections, with a + to capture a new item.

Good uses

• A project desk. Keep the widget on This desk and the All section to see every open item filed on the project's desk, and close them as you go.
• A start-of-day desk. Switch to All and pick Coming up to see what is due soonest.
• Catching replies. Pick Respond to see who is waiting on you.
• Finding forgotten work. Switch to All and pick Stale desks to see which open desks have gone quiet.

Common questions

The widget is empty, or says "nothing here yet — showing all"

Nothing open is filed on this desk yet, so the widget shows everything. Add a task in a Tasks widget on this desk, or use a widget's bell, and This desk fills up. If you have only just turned Attention on, nothing has been captured yet: capture an item and it appears.

I can't see the bells on my widgets

The bells, and Add to Attention… in right-click menus, appear only while the Attention layer is on.

Where is Stale desks?

Stale desks is only offered with All. Click All first.

Why is an item missing from All?

All leaves out snoozed items until they come back, and items raised by agents and by PlexiDesk itself, which are under System. Closed items are under Completed.

Related tasks

• Attention: everything that needs you Coming soon
• Turn Attention on or off Coming soon
• Capture something into Attention Coming soon
• Queues, closing verbs and grouping Coming soon
• Close, snooze, archive and edit an item Coming soon
• Attention widget (Home)
• Plan and track widgets