Topics and pages
How each place’s pages are arranged into topics, who arranges them, and what “New pages” means.
Every place is arranged the same way: Place › Topic › Page.
- A page is one thing Cranes has understood, titled so anyone can tell at a glance what it’s about.
- A topic is a set of related pages, with a title and a short summary of what it covers. Every page sits in one topic.
Where you find them
Pages, in the sidebar, lists the topics from every place you read: Everyone, your groups, and Just me. A topic that several places have is listed once, with each place’s pages beneath it, marked with their place. Choose a topic’s name to open or fold it; Cranes remembers which you left open on this device. When there are many topics, only the one you’re reading starts open.
To see one place’s pages on their own, open that place under Places.
Cranes arranges, you adjust
You never file anything. Cranes puts each new page in the topic it fits best and, from time to time, reorganizes the topics. You can then:
- rename a topic or a page,
- move a page to another topic,
- pin a topic or page to put it first,
- archive what you don’t want in your thinking.
Your choices win: later reorganizing keeps a topic you named and leaves a page where you put it. See Pin, rename, and move.
You can’t create, split, merge, or delete topics yourself. Topics come from the pages in them.
New pages
A page that doesn’t fit any topic yet waits under New pages until Cranes next reorganizes. Once a place has topics, that happens at most once a week, and only when three or more pages are waiting or a topic has grown past twelve pages.
You can move a page out of New pages at any time, but not into it.
Reorganizing
Cranes keeps what already works. It makes only small changes on its own:
- placing pages from New pages in a topic,
- starting a new topic for them,
- updating what a topic says it covers,
- moving a few pages, never one you placed yourself.
Bigger changes wait for a yes: renaming a topic, merging, splitting, or retiring one, or moving more pages than that. Either way, Home tells you under Needs a look, where you can undo a change or apply a suggestion. See What “Needs a look” means.
If you open a topic that was merged away, Cranes says where it went (“Pricing is now part of Deals”).