# Tags and things

Tag a line with `#`, and the tag gets a colour, an icon, fields and a page of its own.

Every line is a real thing underneath. A tagged thing is not stuck on one page. It can show on many.

![Three tagged lines: a person with a company field and a #person tag, a project with a Planning choice, an end date and a #project tag, and a ticked task with Done, a day and a #task tag](img/tagged.webp)
*Tagged lines show the type’s icon, some fields, then the tag.*

## Tag a line

1. Type some words, then `#` and a name: `Order the cabinet handles #task`.
2. A menu shows the types you have. Pick one, or keep typing and choose *Create #name*.
3. Press `Space` or `Enter`, or just leave the line. The tag moves to the end of the line as a coloured chip.

![A line reading “Order the grout #ta” with the Tag this line menu under it: #task, and Create #ta](img/tagmenu.webp)
*Typing # opens the tag menu.*

- Leaving a line tags it only if you typed in that line. Clicking into a line that ends in `#name` and away again changes nothing.
- `#` works straight after a word too: `handles#task`.
- `#` at the very start of a line is markdown: `# ` makes a heading. It never tags.
- `##`, and a `#` inside a web address, never tag.
- Tag names are lower case. A line can have more than one tag.
- The first time you use `#task`, it comes with two fields: **Status** (To do, Doing, Done) and **Due**.
- Click a tag chip to go to its tag's page.
- To take a tag off, open the line's menu (right-click the bullet) and pick *Remove #name*.

## Things live on their own

A tagged line is a thing. No page owns it. It is *shown* on the page where you wrote it, and it can be shown on other pages too. Every place it shows is the same thing: change it in one place and it changes everywhere.

- **Show it on another page**: select the line (`Esc`), copy it, and paste it on the other page. It comes back as itself, not a copy. In a line, `⌘D` shows it once more, right after itself.
- **Move it**: drag its bullet, press `⌘⇧↑` / `⌘⇧↓`, or use [Move to](outlining.md#move-to). Only that showing moves.
- **Write after it**: `Enter` at a thing starts a new line of the page after it.
- **Open it**: click its icon or bullet.
- Tab does nothing on a thing shown on a page. You can indent lines *into* it.

Plain lines (with no tag) belong to the page they are on.

### A thing's own page

Click a thing's icon to open it. Its page shows:

- its icon above the title;
- its tags, and **every** field;
- its lines;
- in the right panel, [Backlinks](links.md#linked-here): the pages it is shown on, the lines that mention it, and the fields that point at it.

![The page of the person Priya Shah: the #person tag and a box with Company, Phone and Email; the right panel shows Backlinks with Shown on, Mentioned in and Pointed at by a field, then About this page](img/thing.webp)
*A thing’s own page.*

### Deleting a tagged thing

- If it is used only here, *Delete* moves it to the Trash.
- If it is used anywhere else (shown on another page, mentioned, or pointed at by a field), *Delete* only takes it off this page.
- *Delete everywhere* in the line's menu always moves it to the Trash.
- `Backspace` on an empty thing does the same as Delete.

The Trash can put anything back. See [Trash](op-log.md#trash).

## Tag pages

The first time you use a tag, Fennick makes it. Every tag is listed in **Tags**, in the sidebar, with how many lines are tagged with it. Click one to open its page.

On a tag's page you set:

- **Colour**: a row of swatches. A new tag takes the colour used least so far, so neighbours differ.
- **Icon**: a dot in its colour, or one of these: task, project, person, idea, book, place, heart, star, note, event. The icon takes the place of the bullet on its lines.
- **Checkbox on its lines**: a switch; when on, its lines get a round checkbox beside the icon.
- **Fields**: see below.

### Views

A view is a way to see anything; it does not belong to a tag. A tag's page lists every object with that tag, wherever it was written, and can switch between:

- **Table**: one row each, a column per field, then *Written on* and *Edited*. Type names and numbers in place; click a choice, date or other value to change it in the same small menu as the fields box. A wide table scrolls sideways in its own box.
- **Board**: cards in columns by a choice field, such as Status. Drag a card to another column to change it. With more than one choice field, pick one under *Group by*.
- **List**: each thing with the page it is on.
- **Calendar**: shows when there is a date field. Each sits on its date.
- **Gallery**: a card for each, with the fields you pick.
- **Chart**: a bar, line or pie chart that counts by a field, or sums or averages a number field.

A page's own blocks have views too: in the page's **⋯** menu, **View as** shows them as an outline, as prose, numbered or as a checklist.

*+ New #name* adds a new object on today's page.

![The #task tag page: colour swatches, icons, the Checkbox on its lines switch, the fields Status, Due and Room with where each shows, and a table of three tasks](img/type-table.webp)
*A type’s page, in Table view.*

## Fields

A field holds one value on a thing: a status, a due date, a phone number.

### Add fields to a tag

On the tag's page, open *Tag settings* and click *Add a field*. Give it a name and a kind. The kinds are the same, in the same order, wherever you add a field:

| Kind | Holds |
| --- | --- |
| Text | Any words |
| Number | A number |
| Date | A day, picked from a calendar. It shows as grey words with a small calendar. |
| Choice | One of a list of choices. Type the choices with commas between them. Each choice gets a colour; click its chip on the type's page to change it. |
| Checkbox | Ticked or not |
| Web link | A web address, opened with a click |
| Person or thing | A link to a person or to any other thing in your notebook |

Every line with that tag now has the field.

### Add a field to any line

Type a name and `::` on a line, as in `Status::`. The field goes to what the line sits in: the page, or the line it is indented under. Pick a field you already have, or *New field “Status”* (`Enter` picks it). The words before `::` leave the line, and the line goes if nothing else is on it. `::` alone opens the same menu with an empty name. *Add a field*, the last row of a fields box, adds one to that box's line or page.

- A new field asks what kind it is: Text, Number, Date, Choice, Checkbox, Web link, or Person or thing. Then its value opens straight away.
- Until a new field has a value, its value box also has **Kind**, to change what kind it is, and **Remove field**. A field with no value stays while you work, and is kept once it has one.
- A new Choice field starts with no options: type one and pick *New option “…”*.
- On a phone, the name, the kind and the value each open above the keyboard.

### Where a field shows

Each field on a tag has a setting for where it shows. Click it (it reads like “On the line: full ⌄”) to pick:

- On the line: just its icon
- On the line: short
- On the line: full
- On the line: name and value
- When unfolded
- Only on its page

Until you choose, a tag's first two fields that are not text show in full on the line. The rest show when the line is unfolded.

### Change a value

- Click a value on the line. A small box opens: choices as coloured chips, a date picker, or a text box. *Clear* empties it.
- Point at a line to see *Add due* (and so on) for its empty fields.
- Unfold a line to see its fields box: each field's name and value. Click a value to change it. Inline, the box shows six fields, then “N more fields”.
- On a thing's own page, every field shows. To fold the box away, point at it and click the **⌄** at its top right, or choose **Collapse fields** in the page's **⋯** menu. It folds to one row, “8 fields ›”; click that to open it again. Fennick remembers it for the page, and the right panel's Fields view still shows them all.
- A date in the past, on a line not yet ticked, shows as late.
- A choice that can hold several shows every value as a chip, wrapping onto more lines. Click them to open the list: picking a choice adds it, picking a ticked one takes it away, and the others stay.
- A link (a web address) opens in a new tab when you click it. To change it, click the pencil beside it, or anywhere else on its row.
- A person field shows the person icon; a link field shows the link icon.

### Fields that point at a thing

A field can point at another thing, such as a project's Owner. The value shows as a link with the thing's icon and colour, not as a chip. Click the name to go there. Click beside it to choose another thing, or *None*.

Making a new field of this kind on a tag's page is not built yet (coming).