Folders on your Mac

Pick a folder on your Mac for Roma to watch, and every file you save or drop into it becomes a task, with the file attached and a title and body written from the file's own words. The files already in it when you add it become tasks too. Roma reads from a watched folder and never writes into it.

Adding a watched folder

In the Mac app, open Settings → Import. Under Ongoing, the Folders on this Mac section has Add folder in its head, which opens the Mac's picker. Each watched folder is a row with its name over its path, a switch, and a Remove mark at the far right. The first time Roma reads your Desktop, Documents or Downloads, macOS asks whether to allow it. If the ask was declined, the row says it needs access, with Open System Settings and Re-check beside it. On a brand-new account the Folders on this Mac row of the Create your first task list card on your Tasks list opens the same rows with Add folder. In the browser the section says it is set up in Roma on your Mac.

What becomes of a file

Save an invoice PDF into the watched folder and a few seconds after it stops being written a task appears, titled the way a person would write it, such as "Pay invoice INV-204 from Harbor Lane Studio", with the PDF attached and previewable in the task, a short body in the file's own words, the amount, who it is from, the reference, the date it names, and one line saying where it came from: "From the file Harbor Lane Studio-INV-204.pdf in Invoices on Mara's MacBook". A document of steps becomes one task with the steps in its body, never one per step. A picture lands in the body as a picture and is read for the words on it. A picture with no words, or a file Roma cannot read, becomes a task naming the file. A due date is set only when the file plainly states one. The body of a task or note explains how an attached file shows there.

Every file counts once, by its content. A renamed file is the same file, two copies under two names make one task, and a file saved again with different content is a new task. Deleting a file leaves its task alone, and deleting the task never touches the file. Files inside a subfolder are left alone, and so is a subfolder dropped in whole. A file over 20 MB, a video or an archive still becomes a task naming the file, with nothing attached and a line saying so, and the row in Settings says which file was left alone. A file dropped while Roma was closed is found the next time Roma opens. A one-line receipt says Task created when Roma is in front, and a macOS notification when it is not.

Where the tasks land

The tasks land on Tasks from Mac folder, a list Roma makes with the first folder you chose, and every watched folder files onto that one list. Each task wears the blue dot until you look, and nothing is said in your chat. The list is yours to rename, share or change the instructions of. Tasks from your apps describes the lists Roma keeps filled.

The automation behind it

On the Automations page, on every device, a row titled Folders on your Mac, with the Mac's own name in the title, appears with the first folder you chose and goes with the last. Its pill reads On your Mac instead of a schedule: it runs whenever a file lands, so there is no time to set and no Run now. Its page lists the watched folders, read-only, and Files onto is the one thing to change there, to any task list of yours. Its switch is the one control: off, the Mac stops filing and every row in Settings reads Paused in Automations, and on, it resumes. If you delete the list, the next file lands on your Tasks list and the page shows Tasks until you pick another.

Stopping

Switch a row off to pause one watched folder, or press its Remove mark to stop watching it. Removing deletes nothing: the files stay where they are and the tasks stay on the list. Removing the last one removes the automation row too. Signing out of the Mac app forgets the watched folders on that Mac.

Questions people ask

Does Roma move or delete my files?

No. It reads a file, uploads a copy and attaches it to the task. Nothing is written into the watched folder, and deleting a task never deletes the file.

Why did the files that were already there become tasks?

Because everything in a watched folder is a task, whether it was there before or arrived after.

Can I pick a different list?

Yes. Open the automation from the Automations page and change the list under Files onto. Every watched folder files onto the same list.

Does it work while Roma is closed?

Files are read while Roma is open on your Mac. A file dropped while it was closed is found when you open it again.