I found Type yesterday in the Club MacStories newsletter.

It is a simple app which let’s me append any text (with a timestamp) to plain-text files.

Basically a quick capture tool for running lists.

Append to selected file (from list of running files – a la Merlin Mann’s “runx” file scheme) – Actions – Help & Questions – Drafts Community

Mac Power Users #23: Workflows with Merlin Mann – Relay FM

LaunchBar can be also used to append text to plain-text files.

I haven’t kept any running list before in plain text; I just captured these ideas into Things directly.

I created a couple of new files using Type in my ~/Documents/Running Lists folder. Here are some examples.

Brainstorm.txt

Following the Natural Planning Model in GTD, sometimes the best way to figure out something is to start writing about it.

Free-form thinking environment for writing – Decoding Zettelkasten

Journaling can help us to clarify next actions – Decoding Zettelkasten

Debug.txt

Stole this idea from the Type app website.

It should be a log of steps I used to figure something out while programming.

Since this is just a capture file, steps must be migrated into proper how-tos later.

Meeting.txt

A quick log of any meeting I’m attending to capture what we are talking about at the moment quickly.

Type is focused on just one task: append text to these files. It doesn’t disrupt my workflow.

But I still treat these files as an inbox in a sense, so after I capture anything here, it should be processed.

Instead of introducing yet another inbox, I integrated these files into an existing one.

I’m big on having multiple capture tools, but just a couple of inboxes.

I made a shortcut that is triggered via Keyboard Maestro when I’m reviewing my TaskPaper journal.

The shortcut grabs all running files and then lets me pick one.

It grabs the content from the picked one, then appends it to my TaskPaper journal as a new entry.

Finally, it cleans the picked running list file, so it’s ready for the next batch of ideas.

Here’s a demo video.