Automation, AI, Remind Me, and Markdown
2023.04.30.v4 Edition
Thank you for your continued support. I'm on a mission to help the less tech-savvy community enjoy Tana's power. So please know your questions are always welcome. Whether you're a free subscriber or paid (thank you very much for your support!), don't hesitate to post your questions in SLACK, in our exclusive Substack subscribers-only Chat (including free subscribers), or DM me in SLACK or Twitter.
Twitter, Slack, Reddit, and YouTube have been on fire 🔥 with Tana's release of AI integration. But don't worry; this issue has way more than just AI.
The Tana Team called it "Tana AI for Builders" and said they would release "Tana AI for Everyone" later this year.
In another announcement this week, Tana said it was opening up invites. Sign up for Early Access on the Tana.inc site, then pop over to Slack and introduce yourself. The Tana Team will DM you an invite.
That announcement resulted in a TON of folks joining us on Slack.
We’ve surpassed 10,000 Tana users on SLACK!!
The newest of the newcomers joined Slack after the MASSIVE artificial intelligence announcement. Thus, builders (generally considered super-smart techies) have inundated Slack with posts about complex AI questions.
As a Tana newcomer, you might think,
"Man-oh-man, this AI stuff is complicated. I'll have to wait for the "everyone" version later this year."
I also fear many newcomers are not asking beginner questions because the technical brainiacs are geeking out about AI, and maybe some of you find that intimidating! (I know I did!)
Let me say this - I have your back 🤝.
First, know that the AI release is about more than AI. And some features in this release are beginner friendly. It's not ALL complicated.
Sure, if you're technical, you can get Tana to stand on its head and pat its stomach while singing the "Blue Suede Shoes," 😉 but most newcomers don't need all that.
Edition Table of Contents:
Getting Prepared for AI - what you might consider
COMMAND nodes Deconstructed
- step-by-step building your own automation
How to create a command node
How to run a command node
Remind me
Copy to Markdown
SUPER DUPER Comprehensive list of NEW TANA AI resources
Getting Prepared for AI - what you might consider
We'll be deconstructing Tana AI for beginners in a future article, but if you are interested in AI, there are a couple of things you need to do to get prepared:
Open an account and get an API.
Don't know what an API is and why you'd want one?
Think of it this way; you can't use the new Tana API features without one. That was good enough for me.
It's important to note that using the API isn't free. You'll have to have a credit card on file. That said. I've been using it A LOT since the Tana features came out, and I've spent less than three dollars. You can also add a monthly spending limit so there are no surprises. Set it as low as you want; you can always change it later. Some of the resources, from trusted creators, are at the end of the article to walk you through this process.
Start to familiarize yourself with AI.
Review the resource list at the bottom for some quick videos about AI. Don’t worry about understanding everything; just start to get acquainted with the terminology and screen view.
COMMAND Nodes Deconstructed
- step-by-step building your own automation
If you've used Tana for more than two minutes, you know about the Command line (invoked with CMD/CTRL k), which is a series of commands built by Tana to perform specific functions to one or more nodes like insert a date, set a field value, add a tag, open view options and much more.
But with this latest release, Tana introduced Command Nodes. A command node is where you can define a personal command that will pop up just for you when invoking the CMD/CTRL K Command line. The command you define can be one step or many steps. It can include AI activities (but we won't be covering those today), but it doesn't have to. If you come from an Excel background, you might think of this as running a "macro."
You might ask,
And why would I want to define my own command line commands?
I hear ya! That said, hang in there with me, and the value will shine bright.
Command Node Use cases
Consider these possible use cases:
You want to set a plain text field to one or more nodes to a specific value.
You can't currently do this using the existing CMD/CTRL K functions. But you can set up a Command node to perform this activity.
You want to "move" a node, say a field value, to your library so you don't accidentally delete it (causing a lot of trash cans to show up everywhere, yuk!), AND then you want to tag that node after you've moved it (Tana Template SMaCK users might recognize this activity).
Again, command node to the rescue.
You quickly list todos related to a specific project, and you want all the todos assigned to a specific person and all with the same follow-up date.
Yep, you got it. A command node can update all of those fields, on all the nodes at once, or one at a time if you prefer.
You want to create a project, so you enter the project name - then invoke your customized command to tag the node `#project,` add your name as the owner, and add a follow-up date.
The use cases are limited only by your imagination!
In summary, you can tailor a command node to automate anything you do manually in Tana today.
How to create a Command Node
As an example, we will create a node to perform our project example above. The command node will:
Tag the node `project`
Complete the owner field
And set up a follow-up date of one week from the date of entry
Step 1: Create the node
Enter a name for your command on an empty node. This name will appear when you invoke CMD/CTRL K to run your customized command. Don't fret too much about it - you can change it anytime.
Perform a CMD + i (OR ALT + i on Windows) on the node you created above, and enter a description of what you want that node to do. This step is optional but helps down the line to remind you what this node does.
With your cursor in the node you just created, do CMD/CTRL K > Convert to Command Node
After which your node will look like this:
Image Legend:
Node name you typed in
Description of node you typed in
New node ICON that designates this as a Command Node
Set up to begin entering the command or parameters
Step 2: Enter a process step
The first thing we want our command node to perform is to tag the node "project."
Enter a "@" symbol for the command list pop-up
Select "Add Tag"
Step 3: Configuration
Select Configuration and enter the parameter's value needed to complete the command. Here, that's the tag name.
Click on "⚙️ Add Configuration"
Enter the tag as the value for "TAG" using the @ symbol
Your screen should look like this:
⚠️ Beginner warning - It's easy to enter an instance of the tag and not the tag itself. Be sure to:
use the @ symbol to reference the tag, and
select the tag in your schema; not an instance of the tag
If you did select the tag name incorrectly - here is what your node might look like—repeat— these are INCORRECT:
We repeat steps 1 - 3 for the subsequent commands.
To enter another command:
put your cursor in the node of your first command, "Add Tags"
Press Shift-Enter
A new node appears under your tag parameters:
The final two commands are the same but with different parameters: owner name and follow-up date:
In the new node created above, use the @ symbol to reference the command "Set field value"
Use the">" symbol to bring up the "Project Owner" field
Enter project owner's name using the @ to reference an existing person
Left arrow to the area below where you entered the "Project Owner" field
Enter the">" symbol to bring up the "Follow up" date field
Use @ to bring up the calendar - enter "next week" (or whatever date you want)
Here is your final command node image:
You've done it! Your customized command node is ready to use. Let's run it and see what happens!
How to Run a Command Node
To execute a command node:
Enter a name for a project
With your cursor in that node with the project name
Press CMD/CTRL K > Project Set up
And -- abracadabra -- your node is tagged project, owner, and follow-up dates are set!
Hopefully, now you can begin to see the power of the command node. The more you play with it, the more creative you’ll be in using it. Post your questions in our Substack subscribers-only Chat (including free subscribers), or DM me in SLACK or Twitter. I'd also love to hear your use cases for this feature!
Remind me
I recently did a "Did you Know" post on Slack about the "Remind Me" feature in Tana. I got some great tips back in the comments, so I'm summarizing them here for you:
Didn't get everything done today? You can punt a node to another day via the CMD/CTRL K > Remind me feature.
Remind-me creates a reference node on another date of your choosing, like tomorrow, next week, or a specific date. The image below shows some of your options.
USE CASE: This is a quick workaround until recurrent tasks are native in TANA.
Emmanuel Galanos reminded us that it adds a reference to the day you select. Tana does not move the original node.
If you don't want a reference - Nico Baier suggested you execute the "Remind me" and then go to the node on the new day, and execute a CMD/CTRL K > Clone node.
That way, you'll keep your original node AND have a brand new node on the future date you selected.
Odin pointed out you can write anything when you select the date (not just the options shown in the image), like "two weeks from now," "next Friday," or "in 4 months." 🙌 Now THAT’s pretty cool.
And finally, Craig Haynes suggested creating custom keyboard shortcuts for Remind Me Today (Cmd+0) and Remind Me Tomorrow (Cmd+1), which makes it quick and easy to add tasks anywhere in your graph and have them where you want to see them (and shunt them along when you've scheduled too much in a day!)
You gotta love this community! 🙏🙏 Many minds build better solutions!
Copy to Markdown
Another feature released recently that went under the radar was the "Copy to Plain Markdown" command. Since export capabilities are currently limited, this is a welcome addition to the commands.
You invoke the "Copy as Plain Markdown" command:
CMD/CTRL K > Copy as Plain Markdown
A notice will flash that the markdown copy is in your clipboard
PASTE the copy in any markdown program, such as iAWriter or Obsidian.
A couple of things to note:
you can copy an entire node by just putting your cursor in the node and executing the command
OR you can highlight a section of a node for copy
when you copy a node -
it copies the entire node, including
fields
field values
all children nodes
If you zoom in to a node and you put your cursor in the very top node- it will copy that node and all its child nodes
This brings us to the end of this issue. Additional resources related to topics in this issue are listed below. It was an exciting week in Tana land. And this coming week will also be thrilling. As the Tana Team says, more redacted stuff is still to come. So stay tuned! 😉
Super duper comprehensive NEW TANA AI Resources:
How to get your Open.ai API:
TfTHacker's article on opening an Open.ai account and getting your API is an excellent step-by-step guide.
Santi Younger's YouTube Video also provides instructions on opening your account and getting and API:
Other great, albeit more advanced, AI videos, great slack threads, and articles recently released:
If you need a SLACK invite click here to get into some of the Slack threads mentioned. Good for only 30 days
🎉 NEW Tana AI ✨: The Simple Way EVERYONE Can Get Started by Ev Chapman
Andre Forken release a group of very help AI Videos:
Great Slack Thread from Carl Casca about having a ChapGPT-like conversation using Tana AI
A medium post from Sharon Dale about starting with Tana AI
A tweet from Ev Chapman discussing a process to extract key takeaways, actions & step by step instructions from YouTube Videos
New Tana Weekly from Ed Nico on Medium talks about Tana AI
Tweet from TANA Nodes: From Topic to Idea in under 3 min [using Tana AI]
Awesome Tweet from CortexFutura outlining Tana AI features with screen shots
Tweet from Fis Fraga on the power of TANA AI
Another Tweet from Tana Nodes turning your morning brain dump into actionable items
And from the TANA TEAM:
Tana Help Center Documentation about AI for Builders with videos
Tweet from Stian Haklev (Tana Team) demonstrating a super cool idea from @Sarah_A_Bentley about using Tana AI to CALCULATE and show PROGRESS displays
A Slack thread from Stian Haklev about processing long texts with Tana AI
Tweet from Tana TEAM about AI release with video
Tweet from Stian Haklev discussing Tana AI value in iteration, prompt engineering, and creativity.
More Video’s from Stian Haklev (does Stian EVER sleep?)
I'm not an expert at Tana, nor do I work for them.
As a passionate volunteer and avid user,
I research these deconstructions to help me learn,
but I write them to help you learn from my mistakes.
I've done my utmost to ensure the accuracy of this information,
including extensive testing and review
by other Tana users more experienced than I am.
That said, I'm human.
I sometimes get it wrong(please don't tell my husband I admitted that ☺️).
If you find an error or have questions- please comment below,
use my exclusive Substack subscribers-only Chat (including free subscribers),
or DM me in SLACK or Twitter
Dee this is INSANE the amount of value you've provided here!
Looking forward to your thoughts and questions! Let's learn and grown in Tana knowledge together.