Set up a Getting Things Done workflow

Get every open loop out of your head and into one trusted place: capture first, decide later, and keep each next action linked to the Project or Area it serves. This guide follows the familiar capture, clarify, organize, reflect, and engage loop; adapt the vocabulary to your own practice.

In short

Send everything to Captures first, then clarify each item into a Task, a Project, or reference. Tasks holds your next actions, Projects and Areas hold context, and a regular review keeps the system trustworthy.

What you will build

By the end you will have:

• Project and Area Object Types from the shipped presets;
• a capture habit that feeds one queue;
• next-action Tasks linked to their Project or Area through Context;
• a Task dashboard arranged as GTD lists;
• daily and weekly review checklists, plus queries that check the system for you.

1. Create the supporting Object Types

Tasks is built in and turned on by default. If you do not see it in the sidebar, open Settings → Task management and turn on Enable Task management.

Then add the presets you need. In the sidebar, choose + next to Object types, pick the preset under Templates, and choose Create object type →:

• Project for an outcome that takes more than one action. It has status (Planned, In Progress, Completed, On Hold, Cancelled), timeFrame, collaborators, description, tags, and a Notes body.
• Area for an ongoing responsibility, such as Health, Finance, or Team leadership. It is deliberately light: title, tags, and a Content body.

A single action is a Task, not a Project. An Area is never “completed”; it describes something you keep maintaining.

See Tasks and Create and edit an Object Type.

2. Capture without organizing

Whenever something has your attention, capture it:

• type a thought or paste a URL into Quick capture;
• attach files, or record a voice memo where supported;
• send it from the browser extension, the share sheet, Telegram, email, WhatsApp, or another capture channel.

Everything lands in Captures, on the New tab. Record first and classify later; that is what the queue is for. See Quick Capture.

3. Clarify each Capture

Open Captures and decide what each item means:

• One concrete action? Convert it to a Task.
• A multi-step outcome? Convert it to a Project, then add its first next-action Task.
• Useful reference? Convert it to the right Object Type, such as a Weblink or Book.
• Belongs in today’s record? Choose Send to Daily Note.
• No value? Dismiss it. It moves to Trash, where you can still restore it.

Convert keeps the Capture’s identity, body, backlinks, attachments, and history. It is the same Object with a new Type, not a disconnected copy. See Process your Captures.

4. Write clear next actions

Give each Task a title that names visible work: “Email Sam the Atlas draft” beats “Atlas”. Then set only what helps you choose or trust the action:

• Date for when it should appear in Today or Scheduled;
• Set deadline for a real cutoff;
• Set priority (Low, Medium, High, Urgent) when relative importance helps;
• Set status (Not Started, Next Up, In Progress, Done) for its workflow state;
• Set context for the Project, Area, Person, or Meeting that explains the work;
• Repeat for genuinely recurring actions.

Context is a relation to another Object. The Context tab groups open Tasks by it, so a Project or Area organizes its actions without copying them into its body.

Don’t date everything just to make it visible. A Task with no date and no deadline stays in the Inbox tab until you clarify or schedule it.

5. Arrange the Task dashboard as GTD lists

The Task dashboard’s tabs map onto GTD lists:

Tab	Shows
Inbox	Open Tasks with no date and no deadline
Today	Open Tasks dated today
Scheduled	Open Tasks dated tomorrow or later
Context	Open Tasks grouped by their Project, Area, or other context
Status, Tags	Open Tasks grouped by status or by tag
Open	Every open Task
Deadline	Open Tasks with a deadline, soonest first
Recurring	Repeating Tasks
Completed	Your completion log, newest first
All	Every Task

Choose ＋ after the tabs to add a Kanban tab by Status or Priority, or a tab filtered to one option, such as “Next Up”. Drag tabs to put the ones you use most first. See the full Tasks guide.

6. Keep Projects actionable

For each active Project:

1. State the desired outcome in its description or body.
2. Set its status and timeFrame.
3. Create at least one open Task with the Project as its context.
4. Link related Meetings, People, files, and reference from the body.

Lar does not turn every bullet in a Project into a Task. Create a Task when an action needs a date, status, or reminder; keep supporting notes as body blocks. Use backlinks or Graph on a Project to see everything around it.

7. Use reminders selectively

A reminder is a timed prompt attached to any Object, such as “Review this proposal after the client call”. Open the Object’s ⋯ menu and choose Set reminder…. Reminders appear in Upcoming and fire as notifications.

Choose the right tool:

• a Task Date for work you want in Tasks and Calendar;
• a deadline for a real cutoff;
• a reminder for a timed nudge on any Object.

See Reminders and notifications.

8. Run a daily review

At the start or end of the day:

1. Process Captures.
2. Empty or clarify the Tasks Inbox.
3. Review Today, Deadline, and Upcoming reminders.
4. Check today’s Meetings and dated Objects in Calendar.
5. Record the plan or outcome in today’s Daily Note.

For a full walkthrough, see Build a daily review.

9. Run a weekly review

Once a week:

1. Process every remaining Capture.
2. Review open Tasks on the Context tab.
3. Open each active Project and confirm it has a next action.
4. Review Scheduled, Deadline, and Recurring Tasks.
5. Scan Areas for responsibilities getting too little attention.
6. Review Upcoming reminders and next week in Calendar.
7. Update Project statuses and archive finished reference material.

Pin the Projects and Areas you are actively reviewing. Use a Collection for a hand-picked group and a saved query when membership should follow from status or other properties.

Try it: let queries check the system

Type these TQL queries into the search field in the app header, then choose ★ save to keep the ones you use in every weekly review:

Query	Finds
type:Project prop.status:in-progress order:title	Active Projects, A to Z
type:Project prop.status:on-hold	Projects on hold that may need a decision
type:Task prop.priority:high,urgent !prop.status:done	High and Urgent Tasks not marked Done
type:Task prop.status:next-up	Your Next Up actions

Select options match on their stored value: lowercase with hyphens, such as in-progress or on-hold. See Query language and Layouts and Saved Views.

Optional automation

Once the manual system feels solid, Workflows can take over repetitive steps. The Give new tasks a status and priority template gives every new Task a starting status, and the Collect finished tasks every week Module adds done Tasks to a Collection you choose every Monday. A Workflow can also add tags, add an Object to a Collection, create Objects, or send a notification.

Preview a workflow’s steps and run a test before you let it make changes automatically. See Workflows and Triggers, actions, and runs.

Next: Build a connected reading workflow.