Topics
Topics say what an entry is about, such as pricing, hiring or blog. An entry can have several topics, and a topic can be on as many entries as you like. Topics are flat: there are no parent topics or sub-topics.
Topics come from two places: the ones you add, and the ones the AI adds. This page covers both, the Topics page, and how to keep your topics tidy.
Your topics and the AI’s topics
When you save an entry, the AI reads it and adds topics. You can add your own at any time. The two are kept apart:
| Topics you add | Topics the AI adds | |
|---|---|---|
| How they look | A plain chip | A chip with a dashed outline and a small sparkle |
| Can the AI change them? | Never | Only when it first files the entry |
| How many | As many as you like | At most three per entry |
Point at a chip with a sparkle and it says “Added by AI”.
How the AI picks topics
The AI keeps its topics few and in your own words:
- It adds at most three topics to an entry.
- It reuses your existing topics wherever it can. A different spelling of one of your topics (“LinkedIn”, “linkedin”, “web server”, “web-server”) becomes your spelling, and so does a topic that means the same thing.
- Once you have 50 or more entries, it adds at most one brand new topic to each entry.
- It does not add general topics that only say what kind of entry something is, such as “documentation”, “notes”, “task management” or “productivity”.
- It does not add a topic you already set on the entry, or one you took off it.
To help the AI file entries as work or personal, use the work and personal hints in Settings > Entities. See How the AI files your entries.
A topic you remove stays removed
If you take a topic off an entry, Ultrathink remembers it. When the AI runs on that entry again, it will not put that topic back.
Adding and removing topics on an entry
- Open the entry in the detail panel
- Click the + at the end of the Topics row
- Pick one of your topics, or type a new name and press Enter
A new name joins your topic list straight away. A topic you add is always yours, even if the AI had suggested the same one.
To remove a topic, point at its chip and click the x.
Click a topic chip to see every entry with that topic. It opens All items filtered by the topic.
The Topics page
Open Topics from the sidebar. New accounts have it hidden: to show it, go to Settings > Navigation and click the eye icon next to Topics (Show in sidebar).
The page lists every topic on your entries, including ones the AI added, with:
- how many entries have it
- when it was last used
Use the display options button at the top to order the list by Name, Entries or Last used.
Click a topic’s name to open All items with that topic as a filter. You can also type # and a topic in the search bar at the top, then press Enter. See Search and filters.
Adding a topic
- Click Add topic
- Type the name
- Click Add, or press Enter
Renaming a topic
- Click the … button on the topic’s row
- Click Rename
- Type the new name and press Enter
Every entry with the old name gets the new one.
Merging topics
Merging joins two or more topics into one. Every entry that had any of them ends up with the one you keep.
- Click the … button on one of the topics, then Merge
- Tick the other topics to merge with it
- Click Merge at the foot of the list
- Pick the topic to keep, then click Merge
After a rename or a merge, the topic counts as yours on those entries, so the AI will not change it.
Deleting a topic
- Click the … button on the topic’s row
- Click Delete
- Confirm
Deleting a topic takes it off every entry that has it, and the AI will not add it back to those entries. The entries themselves stay. A topic on no entry just leaves the list.
The health panel
The top of the Topics page shows how tidy your topics are, with one-click fixes.
| Figure | What it means |
|---|---|
| Entries with a generic topic | The share of your entries with a general topic such as “documentation”. Aim for under 5% |
| Topics per entry | The average number of topics on an entry. About 2 is plenty |
| Used once | How many topics are on only one entry, out of all your topics |
| Added by AI | The share of the topics on your entries that the AI added |
Below the figures, two lists show up when there is something to fix.
Generic topics lists the general topics in use, with how many entries have each. Remove all takes them off every entry after you confirm. The entries stay, and the AI will not add these topics back.
Spelt more than one way lists topics that differ only in capitals, spaces or hyphens, such as “Web server” and “web-server”. Click Merge on a row to join them. Merging keeps the first spelling shown, which is the one used most. Five rows show at first; click Show all to see the rest.
The health panel only counts your own entries, not ones shared with you.
Topics and status workflows
A topic can give its entries their own status workflow. For example, give the topic blog the Content workflow and every entry with that topic moves through Planned, Drafting, To approve, Approved, Scheduled and Live. See Statuses and workflows.
Tips
- Add your main topics early. The AI reuses your topics, so a short list of the topics you care about steers it.
- Take off the ones you do not want. The AI will not put them back.
- Check the health panel now and then. Merging spelling variants and removing general topics keeps filters and search useful.
- Keep names short. One or two words are easier to scan and type after
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