Project level:

• Notes field has been added;
• Due Date field can be used (setting under Preferences / Projects);
• Start Date field can be used (setting under Preferences / Projects);
• Priority field can be used (see Energy, Time and Priority section);

Action level:

• Energy, priority and time can be used with values defined by user (see Energy, Time and Priority section);
• Due Date field can be used (setting under Preferences / Actions);
• Start Date field can be used (setting under Preferences / Actions);
• Scheduled duration.

Information and Future Items: Notes field has been added.

Future Items: Tickle date field has been added.

All notes fields: references to url(s) or file(s) can be inserted.

Explanation of the frequency fields:

• base: done date or start date (set by default to the scheduled date of the action you are on);
• the frequency pattern: daily, weekdays, weekly, monthly or yearly and how often;
• if start date base: how many occurences in the future should be created (default per frequency (daily, weekdays, weekly, monthly or yearly) can be changed under Preferences/Miscellaneous/Recurrence);
• ending options: never, after X number of occurrences, end date.

If base is done date:

• the next action is only created when the action is set to done. The frequency pattern is used to calculate the new date from the done date.

Updates:

• if you update one of the action in the action panel, the other actions in the series will not be affected;
• if you update by modifying the recurrency details (press the Modify recurrency button), the actions in the series after the one you are updating will be modified or deleted/re-created if you change any of the fields affecting the frequency.

There are now two methods to do automatic scheduling:

• Exclude sub-projects: corresponds to sequencing as per v1.2.3;
• Include sub-projects (default one): the sequencing within the project will go into a sub-project if the task before is done. For example: user has a project with several steps that are sequenced and then a certain step needs to be broken down into sub-tasks so user makes it a sub-project. When the last task BEFORE the sub-project is done, it will sequence INTO the sub-project, and the last task of a sub-project would sequence onto the next higher level task or even into a next sub-project if it sits in sequence.
• When creating a sub-project, the sequencing method of the project is used by default.

This function is called from the File Menu.

This is how Archiving is done:

1. First a copy of the current data file is made, called originalname-currentdate-timestamp.backup.xml. This file can serve as permanent backup.
2. A second copy of current data file is made, called originalname-archiveddate-timestamp.archive.xml. From that copy, the application removes:
• all single actions with no Done date or Done Date > Archived Date;
• all unprocessed thoughts, future items and information items;
• all top Projects + associated sub-projects and actions where the Project’s DoneDate is null or Project.DoneDate > Archived Date.
3. On current data file, the application removes:
• single actions with Done Date <= Archived Date;
• all top Projects + associated sub-projects and actions where the Project.DoneDate <= Archived Date.

Please note that projects and actions under the Future Projects and Template Projects Tab are never archived.

Our electronic interpretation of the Tickle functionality has been added. A process runs after startup, or when data file is open or every 24 hours to perform the following:

• inactive actions become Do ASAP actions when their Start date is reached or passed;
• Future projects are moved to the Projects Tab when their Start date is reached or passed;
• Future Items are sent back to the unprocessed thoughts box when their Tickle date is reached or passed.

New screen to allow better entry of the thoughts, including notes.

New window Add Thought which can be called anywhere within the ThinkingRock application to enter a new Thought.

New design to accommodate for the new fields.

By default, the thought is actionable, allowing the user to process immediately if it is a single action.

Validation done and appropriate error messages given on the Process button.

Known issue: allow the recurrency information to be entered in this screen.

Instead of 5 review actions screens, there is now only one screen with 5 tabs: Actions, Done, Do ASAP, Scheduled and Delegated.

You can maintain these tabs under Preferences/Action Screens:

• new Tabs can be created with user defined name, i.e. you can create a Today Tab (only actions with action date today), Calls (all actions to be done using a phone Context), Personal (all actions to be done belonging to personal topics);
• existing tabs can be removed;
• tabs order can be modified.

User can change the following using the 2 buttons on the left corner (list and funnel icons):

• filter used or not;
• filter displayed or not;
• which fields are listed as columns.

By changing the layout on the screen, the user can change:

• the column order;
• the column width.

Creation date can be updated or not according to user preferences.

As in v1.2.3 you can order the records by clicking on the column header.

All these settings are saved between starts of the application.

Other changes:

• search filter: search is done on the action description, notes and delegated to fields;
• filtering is now possible on multiple values.

Known issues:

• cannot sort by multiple columns anymore;
• buttons to be re-instated (with option to hide them or not);
• Print screen functionality to be re-instated.

As the tree was getting too long, we have split it into 4 parts (Tabs): current projects, single actions, Future and Template. You can copy, cut and paste actions and projects between the 4 tabs. Actions/Projects under Future and Template Tabs will not appear in the Review Actions screen or in any reports.

Instead of buttons, all operations are done using shortcut keys or the right-click menu on the node. New operations are Change Context and Change Topic. A list of the shortcut keys is provided in the screen help. Please note that these operations can be made on multiple items in one go.

The operation Show Done is now based on the node, allowing you to only see the done actions and sub-projects for the project you are reviewing. If you want all done projects and actions to be shown, just use the function on the top ‘Projects’ node.

Other changes:

• tree state is kept between screens calls;
• for new action and new project, the description is automatically selected so that you can directly type the new description;
• thought: if you add a new action from the Review project screen, the action’s thought is set to blank;
• if you copy an action, its thought is not copied;
• if you move an action, the thought is not modified.

Screen layout has changed as a notes field was added. A topic tree is now shown, from which the items are listed. Please note that only the topics for which items exist are listed. When selecting a topic node, the associated items are listed on the right panel. When you select an item, its details are displayed in the bottom panel.

There is a new screen called Criteria to set-up the user defined values for these 3 fields and their order in the combo list. There are existing values but you can overwrite them or delete them. Using the same screen, user needs to indicate if he/she wants to use any of these fields. They appear at the action level.

Allow deletion of them and user can select a replacement one.

Cannot create anymore a blank one (was creating problem in the Review Actions selection).

• the preference for using Successful Outcome or not on the Process Thoughts screen is now under the Actions preferences.
• the preference for including Notes or not on the Process Thoughts screen has been removed as the field is now always included.

• user can specify the directory where the recovery file is saved;
• the file format has changed: now filename.bak.xml.

We have added a report parameter to allow user to disable strikeout text in a report.

Known issues:

• the reports seem to run about slower at the moment, problem we will look at after the beta release.
• all reports need to be re-designed to take into account the new fields: Due Date, Priority, Energy and Time.