Guides / Inbox and phone
The one list
Everything waiting on you, from every job, in one place. Rows appear because a fact is true and leave when it stops being true, so there is nothing to tidy.
What you need first
- Nothing. The list builds itself out of the jobs you already have
Most shops keep four counters that disagree with each other. Casework keeps one list. By the end of this page you will know every kind of row on it, why each one appeared, and what makes it go.
Read the Needs you card on the dashboard
It is the top of the list, with a count beside it and See all to the right. Rows read like work rather than like records: quote this job, review the estimate, send the six-month follow-up.
- 1The count, which is everything waiting on you
- 2Rows with a client at the other end are marked out
- 3Some rows carry their action on the row
Click Inbox in the sidebar for the whole thing
The same list, longer, grouped, with the number of waiting rows beside the sidebar item. There is nothing on the Inbox that is not on the dashboard and nothing on the dashboard that is not on the Inbox.
- 1How many are waiting, in total
- 2Groups, in the order their most urgent row falls
- 3The edge that marks a client waiting on you
Know the seven kinds and what each one means
Ready to quote is an intake that came back. Documents is a draft waiting to be read. Follow-ups is a note that came due. Design fees is money you asked for and have not been given. Photo captions and Video summaries are words waiting for approval. Links closing is a client link about to expire on a job still waiting for an answer.
Understand why a row leaves
A row is derived, not stored. "Quote this job" is on the list because an intake came back and no estimate exists yet, so drafting the estimate removes it. Mark a fee paid and the fee row goes. There is nothing to mark as read and nothing to keep tidy.
Trust the empty state
When the list is empty it says "Nothing needs you" and explains itself: drafts land here for review, and follow-ups draft themselves when they are due. An empty list is the real answer rather than a filter that is hiding something.
Use the ranking rather than reading the whole thing
Groups come in the order their most urgent row falls, and the rows with a client at the other end are marked out from the rest. The top of the list is where to start, every time.
What happens next
Some of these rows finish where they stand. The next guide is the two that do, and the one press each of them takes.