New items in a list: the blue dot

A blue dot on a list in Roma means something was added to it since you last looked, by something other than your own hand: an automation, an agent working for you, or a person you share the list with. The same dot sits on each new item inside the list until you view it. It is a quiet mark. Nothing buzzes, nothing lands in Updates, and the app icon shows nothing for it.

Where the dot shows

On the Mac and in the browser, the dot sits at the right end of the list's row in the sidebar. The Tasks row wears it when something new landed on your Tasks list, and a list you pinned beside Tasks wears it the same way. Open the list and the row's dot goes out at once.

Inside the list, each new item wears the dot after its title. In the list layout it stands where the operator's pulse stands. On the board it sits on the card, and in the table it sits in the title cell. The dot does not pulse. It stays still until you view the item or mark it read.

On your iPhone, the Lists page shows the dot on a list's row, beside the count of open items. The Tasks tab wears the dot when your Tasks list has something new, and the Lists row under More wears it when any list does. Open the list and its dot goes. Open an item and the item's dot goes.

What counts as new

An item counts as new to you when it reached a list you can see and you did not add it yourself:

• an automation filed it, on its schedule or when you asked it to run

• an agent you connected, such as Claude or ChatGPT, created it or moved it onto the list

• a person you share the list with added it, or moved it in

• the owner of an item you had handed over handed it back to you

An item you type yourself never wears the dot, on any of your devices. An item you import yourself does not either. An item the operator creates while you are chatting with it counts as your own: you asked for it and watched it land, so it gets no blue dot. On a list where the operator assists with new items, it gets the gray and amber pulse as usual.

The pulse and the dot

A row shows one mark at a time. The pulse comes first: gray while the operator works in the item's chat, amber when a reply waits there for you. A new item with a reply waiting shows the amber pulse, and the blue dot appears once you have read the reply, if you have not viewed the item itself by then. Mark as read on such an item clears both at once. Updates: what the bell shows covers the amber dot an unread update puts on a row, which is the same amber mark.

Taking the dot off

• Open the list. The dot on the list's row goes out immediately. The items inside keep theirs, so you can still see which ones are new.

• View an item. Its dot goes the moment it opens.

• Mark as read. On the Mac and in the browser, right-click an item or the list's row and choose Mark as read. On your iPhone, hold still on the row until its menu appears. Mark as read on an item takes its dot off, and the amber pulse with it. Mark as read on a list takes every dot off that list, the row's and every item's.

Reading is per account. Open the list on your phone and the dot on your Mac goes too. Mark an item read on your Mac and your phone shows it read.

The dot says nothing about the item's status or due date. A new task is still to do until you change it, and the ways to do that are in Task status and completing tasks.

Where new items come from

Most blue dots come from standing orders. An automation that runs every morning and files the day's three things onto a list leaves three dots behind, and the list's row carries one until you look. What an automation is explains how those run, and What an agent can do covers the items an agent adds through its connection to Roma. On a shared list, every member's adds are new to everyone else, and the dot is how a list tells you a teammate was there: Working together on a shared list. How lists sit in the sidebar, and how a pinned list reaches the top row, is in Sections, pins and favorites in the sidebar.

Questions people ask

Why does a list have a blue dot when I did not add anything?

Because something else did. An automation ran, an agent connected to Roma created or moved an item, or a person you share the list with added one. The dot is the list's way of saying that items landed on it since you last opened it. Open the list and the row's dot goes, and the new items inside wear their own dots until you view them.

I typed a task on my phone. Why is there no dot on my Mac?

Because you added it yourself. The dot marks what reached a list without your own hand, so your own typing never counts, whichever device you typed on. The same holds for an item you import and for an item the operator creates in a conversation you are having.

Does the blue dot send a notification?

No. The dot is only a mark on the list's row and on the item. Nothing is pushed to your phone, nothing lands in Updates and the app icon's badge does not change for it. Updates and the pushes keep their own rules, which Updates: what the bell shows describes.

What is the difference between the blue dot and the amber pulse?

The amber pulse means the operator left a reply in the item's chat that you have not read, or an update about the item waits in Updates. The blue dot means the item itself is new to you. A row shows one of them: the pulse first, and the blue dot once the pulse is cleared, if you have not viewed the item by then. Mark as read clears whichever stands, or both.