Ideas Management

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Overview

Ideas are Cleve’s lightweight capture system for thoughts that aren’t yet ready to become full writings. Think of Ideas as your scratch pad—a frictionless way to jot down quotes, snippets, fleeting thoughts, or concepts that need more time to develop.

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What Are Ideas For?

Ideas bridge the gap between random thoughts and structured content:

• Quick captures when inspiration strikes
• Quotes from articles, books, or conversations
• Unformed concepts that need more thinking
• Voice notes transcribed to text
• Research snippets you want to remember
• Todo items and reminders

Unlike Writings (which have rich formatting and structure), Ideas are intentionally simple—just text and a category.

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Creating Ideas

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Quick Create

1. Open the Ideas panel from the sidebar
2. Click “New Idea” or press Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + I
3. Type your thought
4. Press Enter to save

That’s it. No formatting, no titles, no friction.

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Voice Capture

1. Click the microphone icon in the Ideas input
2. Speak your thought
3. Cleve transcribes it automatically
4. Review and save

Voice capture is perfect for:

• Capturing thoughts while walking or commuting
• Hands-free idea logging
• Faster input than typing

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Organizing Ideas

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Assigning Categories

Group ideas by project or theme:

1. Create or select an idea
2. Click the Category dropdown
3. Assign to a category (e.g., “Blog Ideas”, “Research Notes”)

Ideas inherit category permissions—if you share a category, collaborators see ideas within it.

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Filtering by Category

• Click a category in the sidebar to show only ideas in that category
• Use “All Ideas” to view everything
• Search to filter by keywords

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Bulk Operations

Select multiple ideas to:

• Move to a different category
• Delete in bulk
• Export as plain text or CSV

Hold Shift to select a range, or Cmd/Ctrl to select individual ideas.

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Idea Lifecycle

Ideas are meant to be temporary—a stepping stone to something more.

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Promote to Writing

When an idea is ready to expand:

1. Right-click the idea
2. Select “Convert to Writing”
3. The idea becomes a new writing with the idea text as content
4. Continue developing it in the full editor

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Archive Old Ideas

Keep your workspace clean:

1. Select ideas you no longer need
2. Click Archive (or delete permanently)
3. Archived ideas are hidden but recoverable

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Real-Time Sync

Ideas sync instantly across all your devices using Supabase real-time subscriptions.

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What This Means

• Capture an idea on your phone → see it instantly on desktop
• Collaborators see new ideas in shared categories immediately
• Offline changes sync when connection returns

No refresh needed—changes appear live.

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Search Integration

Ideas are searchable just like writings.

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Finding Ideas

Press Cmd/Ctrl + / to open global search:

• Full-text search: Match keywords in idea content
• Semantic search: Find conceptually related ideas using AI embeddings
• Filter by type: Show only ideas (not writings)

Ideas appear in search results with a 💡 icon to distinguish them from writings.

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Using Ideas in AI Chat

Ideas can be used as context in AI conversations.

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Referencing Ideas

Enable Ideas context in the AI chat:

1. Toggle “Include Ideas” in chat settings
2. The AI can now reference your ideas when responding
3. Ask questions like:
   • “Summarize my ideas tagged ‘marketing’”
   • “Combine my ideas about AI into a blog outline”
   • “What are common themes in my recent ideas?”

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Drag-and-Drop to Chat

Drag an idea from the panel directly into the chat input to add it as context for a specific prompt.

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Ideas Panel Layout

The Ideas panel is dockable and resizable within the workspace.

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Panel Controls

• New Idea: Quick-create button
• Search: Filter ideas by keywords
• Category Filter: Show ideas from specific categories
• Sort Options: By date, alphabetical, or manual ordering
• View Modes: List or grid view

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Keyboard Navigation

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Collaboration

Ideas in shared categories are visible to collaborators.

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Permissions

• Read access: View ideas, cannot create or edit
• Write access: Full create, edit, delete permissions

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Activity Feed

See who added or modified ideas:

• User avatars show who created each idea
• Timestamps indicate when ideas were captured
• Activity log (Pro/Max plans) tracks all changes

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Export & Backup

Export ideas for external use or backup.

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Export Formats

• Plain text (.txt): One idea per line
• CSV: Structured data with metadata (date, category, etc.)
• Markdown (.md): Formatted with headings per category
• JSON: Developer-friendly structured export

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Auto-Backup

Ideas are automatically backed up:

• Real-time to the cloud database
• Locally to IndexedDB for offline access
• Version snapshots (Pro/Max plans)

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Use Cases

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Content Creator Workflow

1. Capture ideas throughout the day (voice or text)
2. Review ideas weekly
3. Promote promising ideas to writings
4. Use AI to expand on ideas
5. Publish polished writings

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Research & Note-Taking

1. Clip quotes from articles using browser extension
2. Add to “Research” category
3. Tag with keywords
4. Search semantically to find related notes
5. Reference in academic writings

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Brainstorming Sessions

1. Rapid-fire idea capture during brainstorming
2. No judgment—get everything down
3. Sort and filter later
4. Combine related ideas
5. Develop strongest concepts into full writings

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Best Practices

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Keep Ideas Atomic

• One thought per idea: Don’t combine multiple concepts
• Short and concise: Ideas should be scannable at a glance
• Add context if needed: Brief note about why you captured it

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Regular Review

• Weekly idea review: Promote, archive, or refine
• Monthly cleanup: Delete or archive outdated ideas
• Quarterly themes: Look for patterns across ideas

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Use Categories Wisely

• Broad categories: “Work”, “Personal”, “Research”
• Project-based: “Product Launch”, “Q1 Goals”
• Topic-based: “Marketing”, “AI”, “Writing”

Avoid over-categorization—the point is to be fast, not perfect.

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Voice Capture Tips

• Speak clearly and at a moderate pace
• Review transcriptions before saving (AI isn’t perfect)
• Use voice for longer thoughts, typing for quick snippets

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Troubleshooting

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Ideas Not Syncing

Solution:

• Check internet connection
• Reload the page to trigger sync
• Check browser console for errors
• Verify Supabase connection status

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Can’t Create New Ideas

Solution:

• Ensure you have write permissions in the category
• Check if you’ve hit plan limits (Free plan: 100 ideas)
• Try creating in a different category

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Voice Transcription Errors

Solution:

• Grant microphone permissions in browser
• Use Chrome or Edge (best compatibility)
• Speak slowly and clearly
• Check microphone settings in OS

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Related Documentation