Past Thoughts List
Overview
The past thoughts list is the row of thoughts along the bottom of the Plex. It holds the thoughts you activated most recently in this brain, along with thoughts you have just created, so it works as a visible history: instead of stepping back one thought at a time, you can see where you have been and click straight to the thought you want.
The newest thought is at the right-hand end, and the list runs back in time toward the left. The thought you are on now is the first entry. Each thought appears once: when you visit a thought again, it moves to the newest end instead of being listed twice. The list shows up to 100 thoughts, and it is saved, so it is still there the next time you open the brain.
How to Go Back to a Thought You Visited
- Look along the bottom of the Plex for the thought you want. The most recent thoughts are at the right.
- If it isn't in view, scroll the list: click one of the two small arrow buttons at the left end of the list (hold the button down to keep scrolling), or turn the mouse wheel while pointing at the list.
- Click the thought. It becomes the active thought.
How to Show, Hide, or Resize the List
The list is shown by default. Its settings are in Settings > Brain > Personal Settings, under Pinned/Past Thoughts Lists:
- Show past thoughts list — Turn the list on or off.
- Width (Past) — The widest a single entry can be, from 40 to 300 pixels (120 by default). Longer thought names are cut short to fit.
- Text scale — The size of the text in both the past thoughts list and the pins list.
In a shared brain these are your own choices and don't change what other people see. See Personal Settings.
- The list appears only in the Plex navigation mode, in any Plex layout. It isn't shown in Cards or Tree.
- The list is hidden when the window is too narrow for it, as on a phone held upright, and its settings aren't offered on phones.
- The list is separate from Back and Forward, which step through the thoughts you visited in the current tab one at a time — see Back and Forward Navigation.
- For thoughts you want to keep within reach no matter where you go, pin them instead — see Pins.