GTD on Windows - setting up a capture inbox that actually works

David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) has five steps: capture, clarify, organise, reflect, engage. Most people who try GTD put their energy into steps three and four: contexts, projects, next actions, weekly reviews. Then the system decays, and the reason is usually step one.

If capture is slow or scattered, the inbox is never complete. If the inbox is not complete, you cannot trust it. If you cannot trust it, you go back to remembering things in your head, which is exactly what GTD exists to stop. The official GTD site calls this getting things out of your head and into a trusted system.

Here is how to set up capture properly on a Windows PC.

The requirements

Allen’s rules for capture tools, paraphrased:

• Everything goes in. Tasks, ideas, worries, “someday” thoughts.
• As few inboxes as possible.
• Always within reach.
• Emptied regularly.

On a PC, “always within reach” means a shortcut that works in any app. “As few inboxes as possible” means not having four different apps that might each hold something.

Choose your inboxes

A typical minimal set:

1. Email inbox - unavoidable.
2. A PC capture inbox - for thoughts at the computer.
3. A phone capture - for thoughts away from it.
4. A paper notebook - for meetings and the bedside.

That is already four. Do not add more.

Make PC capture instant

The PC is where most knowledge workers have the most thoughts, and where capture is usually slowest. Fix it with a global shortcut:

• A capture app with a hotkey (Jot uses Ctrl + Shift + J).
• An AutoHotkey script appending to a text file.
• Your task app’s quick-add shortcut, if it is global.

Test that it works from every app you use daily.

Do not clarify while capturing

GTD separates capture from clarify for a reason. Capturing “Acme contract” takes two seconds. Deciding whether it is a project, what the next action is and which context it belongs to takes thought. Do that later.

One exception: if a date comes naturally (“call Sam thursday”), include it. A tool that reads dates from text, as Jot does, turns that into a reminder without extra effort. See natural-language dates in task apps.

Process daily, review weekly

• Daily: empty each inbox. For each item, ask Allen’s question: is it actionable? If yes, what is the next action? Do it (if under two minutes), delegate it, or put it on a list or calendar. If not, trash, file or “someday”.
• Weekly: the GTD weekly review. If the full version never sticks, try a ten-minute weekly review.

Where Jot fits in GTD

Jot is a capture inbox for the PC, with a few clarify-step shortcuts built into the line: #tags for contexts, >list for a project or list, a date for anything time-specific, and a standalone ! for importance. Notes and todos are different kinds in the same box, which maps to “reference” and “actionable”. The Today screen covers the daily processing view.

It is not a full GTD system - there are no project hierarchies or someday/maybe views - and it is not trying to be. Many people pair a fast capture inbox with a separate tool for organising.

Jot is on the Microsoft Store.

Jot is a quick-capture app for Windows: one hotkey, one line, back to what you were doing. What it is, or what is still unproven.