Keep a living summary of a desk

A living summary is a document on a desk that AI writes for you from everything else on that desk. You say what it should keep track of, and it rewrites itself as the desk changes, so there is always one place that says where things stand.

There are two ways to get one:

• A Living Doc widget, a document made for the job. You give it a brief and it starts summarising.
• A Page you make living. Any Page widget can become a living summary with Make living, and can later be turned back into an ordinary page that you edit yourself.

Both read the same things, refresh on the same timing and can be paused the same way.

Before you start

• Living summaries are on every plan.
• They use AI. Sign in to use your PlexiDesk AI credits, or add your own Anthropic key in Settings > AI. See AI settings.
• Put the material you want summarised on the same desk: notes, pages, tables, files, voice notes and so on.

Which one to use

Choose a Living Doc for a summary that should always stay live. Choose a living Page when you might later want to freeze the summary and carry on writing it yourself.

Option 1: Add a Living Doc

1. On the desk, click Add widget in the header and choose Living Doc.
2. Type a brief in the box, such as "the decisions made so far and who owns each next step".
3. Click Start living doc, or press Enter.

For everything else about it, see Living Doc widget.

Option 2: Make a Page living

1. Add a Page: click Add widget in the header and choose Page, or press P on an open desk with no widget selected. See Page widget.
2. In the bar across the top of the page, click Make living (beside AI draft).
3. The page becomes a living page. Its brief starts as A running summary of everything on this task. and it writes the first summary straight away.
4. To change what it summarises, click the brief in the bar, type a new one and press Enter. The page writes a new summary straight away. Press Esc to cancel.

The living page bar

• Living page and when the summary was last written, such as updated 2 min ago. Rest the pointer on the time to see the exact date and time. While it is writing, this reads regenerating…, and while it is paused, paused.
• The brief underneath. Click it to edit it. Its tooltip reads Click to edit the query.
• Regenerate now (the circular arrow) writes a fresh summary straight away.
• Pause auto-updates (the pause button) stops automatic updates. It becomes Resume auto-updates while paused.
• Convert to manual page (the last button) stops the updates for good. See below.

While a page is living, AI draft, the / block menu and typing on the page are switched off, because the AI owns the text.

How living summaries refresh

These rules apply to both a Living Doc and a living Page:

• Changes on the desk start a refresh. When something on the desk changes, the summary waits until the desk has been quiet for about 45 seconds, then rewrites itself.
• At most once every 90 seconds. However much is changing, a summary rewrites itself no more often than that.
• While the desk is open. Automatic refreshes follow changes made while the desk is open in PlexiDesk.
• Paused summaries wait. A paused summary changes only when you click Regenerate now or resume it.
• Regenerate now works at any time, paused or not. On a Living Doc you can also right-click it and choose Regenerate now.
• Changing the brief writes a new summary straight away.

What a living summary reads

Each time it writes, a living summary reads the desk's name and notes, and the text of every other widget on the desk, such as stickies, notes, pages, cards, table rows, documents and voice-note transcripts. It does not read other Living Docs or living pages, so summaries on the same desk never summarise each other.

It writes only from what is on the desk. If there is not enough there to answer the brief, it is asked to say so rather than guess.

Pause, resume or stop

• Pause for a while. Click Pause auto-updates. The summary stays as it is until you click Resume auto-updates or Regenerate now.
• Stop a living Page for good.
  1. Click Convert to manual page in the living page bar.
  2. PlexiDesk asks Stop auto-updating this page? Its current content will become editable. Click OK.
  3. The page goes back to being an ordinary Page. The last summary stays on it, and you can edit it, use AI draft or make it living again.
• Stop a Living Doc for good. Pause it, or remove it from the desk. To keep an editable copy of its text, select the text, copy it and paste it into a Page or Note first.

Tips

• Be specific in the brief. "Open questions, grouped by topic" gives a more useful summary than "summarise everything".
• One summary per question. You can have several living summaries on a desk, each with its own brief, for example one for decisions and one for risks.
• Keep the material together. A summary reads only its own desk. If notes for the work are spread over several desks, bring them onto one.
• Talk instead of typing. Voice notes on the desk count too: the summary reads the text the voice note is showing. See Voice note widget.
• Pause before a big tidy-up. Each refresh is a new AI request. Pause the summary while you reorganise, then click Regenerate now.
• Want an agent to write the summary into a page? A Desk agent can do that on every change or at a set interval. See Keep a running summary with a desk agent Coming soon.

If something goes wrong

• It says there is no source material on the canvas yet. The desk has nothing else to summarise. Add notes, files or pages, then click Regenerate now.
• It says no AI key is set. Sign in to use your PlexiDesk AI credits, or add your own Anthropic key in Settings > AI. Then click Regenerate now.
• It has not updated. Check that it does not say paused, and that you are on the desk. Changes are picked up about 45 seconds after the desk goes quiet. Click Regenerate now to update straight away.

Related tasks

• Living Doc widget
• Page widget
• Write and capture widgets
• Voice note widget
• Keep a running summary with a desk agent Coming soon
• Add a widget to a desk