What a list is

A list in Roma is a container that holds items and decides which properties those items carry. That is the whole model. Your tasks live on a list, your notes live on a list, and a reading list, a watchlist or a list of people is the same kind of thing with different properties. Every item is on exactly one list, and nothing is ever unfiled.

The two lists every account has

Every account starts with a Tasks list and a Notes list.

The Tasks list is where a capture lands when you name no other list. It is named Tasks, it cannot be deleted or shared, and its two properties, Status and Due date, stay. In everything else it is a list like any other, and you can add properties to it. Your Tasks list has its own article.

The Notes list is a plain list with no properties: a title and a body per item, for the prose you keep. You can rename it, archive it or delete it like any list, and Roma creates a fresh one the next time a note needs a place to land.

An item

An item is the one thing on a list: a title, a body written in Markdown, and a value for each of its list's properties. Every item also has its own conversation with the operator, a version history, attachments and a place in your favorites.

The word changes with the list. An item on the Tasks list, or on any list that keeps a Status and a Due date, is a task. An item on the Notes list is a note. An item on any other list is an item, and the list's page calls it that: New item, Untitled item, Sort items by.

Properties

A property is one typed slot a list gives its items. The kinds are Text, Number, Select, Multi-select, Status, Date, Due date, Person and URL, plus two stamps Roma fills itself, Date added and Last edited. You add, rename, retype, remove and reorder them on any list you own, from Edit list or from the table's header, and the item's detail shows one pill per property, in order, each opening its own editor.

Two of the kinds are special. Give a list a Status and a Due date and its items are tasks: they get the status control, the due pill, reminders and a place in the operator's view of what is due. Take them away and the items are items again. Properties goes through each kind.

Sam keeps a list called Apartments with a Rent (Number), a Neighborhood (Select), a Visited (Date) and a Listing (URL). Each apartment is one item. Its body holds his notes from the visit, its conversation holds the questions he asked the operator about the lease, and the table layout shows the rents side by side.

Creating a list

Type a name into the New list row in the sidebar's Lists section (on the iPhone, on the Lists page) and you have a list for tasks, with Status and Due date already on it. Or tell the operator what the list is for. "Start a movies list" creates it at once with two to five fitting properties, every one of them editable later. Create a list covers both doors.

The operator creates a list only when the thing repeats with the same properties and you name the shape. "A list of people to call" is an ordinary capture, one task with the names in a checklist, not a new list.

Instructions

A list carries instructions: standing words to the operator about this list, like "always add the director and the year" or "prices in euros". The operator reads them whenever it works on the list.

Moving an item

An item can move to any list. It keeps its id, its body, its conversation, its history, its attachments and its favorite. Its values follow their properties, and a value with no property on the destination is dropped only after Roma tells you how many and you agree. A task moved to the Notes list and back keeps its date. Move an item to another list shows the ways to do it.

Where your lists live

The sidebar on the Mac and in the browser has a Lists section with every list you own, Favorites for the items and lists you keep close, and Shared with me for what others have shared. You can group lists into sections and pin one beside Tasks. The Lists page lists them all. A deleted list stays recoverable for about 30 days, with its items.

Questions people ask

What is the difference between a task and an item?

Only the list. A task is an item on the Tasks list or on a list that keeps a Status and a Due date. Give any list those two properties and its items become tasks, with a status, a due date and reminders.

Can a note have a due date?

A note lives on the Notes list, which has no properties, so it has no due date there. Move it to your Tasks list and it is a task with a due date. Move it back and the date is kept, waiting, in case it returns.

Does the operator decide which list something goes to?

Only when you name the list or you are standing in one. Otherwise a capture goes to your Tasks list. A background pass may later suggest a move when a list clearly fits, and a suggestion waits for your accept or dismiss.