Part 5 · Links and Finding Things

Link groups

A habit with a web address shows up in the sidebar under Link Groups, grouped by the site it points at. Habits on the same site sit together, which is useful when a site is where the work happens — a course, a tracker, a client’s dashboard. Habits with no link at all are gathered under No Link.

Groups nest by the address’s path: habits on example.com/course/one and example.com/course/two share an example.com/course group with a row for each. A level with only one branch folds into its parent, so you don’t click through empty steps.

Each group carries a badge like “3/4”: how many of its active habits you’ve logged effort on today, out of how many there are. Active Groups adds them up.

Try it

Log effort on the habit: click the circle next to Learn Excellence, or right-click it and choose Log Effort. On iPhone, swipe the row all the way to the right.

Its link group moves into the Effort for Today fold. A group lands there once every active habit in it is done for the day. Groups whose habits are all paused are kept under Paused Groups.

Adding many links at once

Try it

Open File › Bulk Add Links… (⌘⇧N) and paste a few addresses, one per line.

Each line that reads as a web address becomes a habit, named after the page. Anything that isn’t a web address is skipped, and a link you already have updates that habit instead of making a second one.

You can set contexts, a status and a description for the whole batch as you add it, and put words before or after every name — “Read: ” in front turns each into “Read: ”.

On iPhone, press and hold the + button to get Bulk Add Links….

Search

The Search Habits field above the list searches what you’re looking at, by name, description or link, so it narrows within whichever scope and filter you have on. Reminders in the list (Part 8) are searched by title, notes and list.

Spotlight

Try it

Press ⌘Space and type part of a habit’s name.

Your habits are in Spotlight too. A habit appears with its status underneath, and can also be found by one of its contexts. Choosing it opens Excellence with that habit’s editor. On iPhone, swipe down on the Home Screen to get the same search.

Spotlight’s index stays on your device. Notes and reminders are not part of it.