Managing your memories
Open Mind to see your memories together. The journal feed and calendar help you browse by date, revisit a moment, or return to today.
Understand what is in your Mind
Memories can take two forms:
- Journal entries: Dated Markdown files in your Home or Mind folder, including their subfolders. These hold notes, thoughts, and ideas you can write and edit.
- File annotations: Notes attached to existing files that capture useful details or add context. The file remains where it belongs in your file system.
Poly adds helpful context automatically, and you can contribute your own. Both appear in the Mind page. New memory annotations default to today when no date is supplied. This can record when you learned something; you can provide a different date when you know when it happened. Editing an existing dated annotation preserves its date.
Write a journal entry
Choose Journal in Mind and start typing. Give your entry a title and choose a date, or keep today's date. Use a past date for an earlier event you want to remember.
An entry can be as simple as a few lines about your day, an idea you want to revisit, or a detail you know you will otherwise forget. Your journal entries are saved as Markdown files in your Mind folder and synced with your files.
You can bring your own notes into any folder under Home. Poly reads the files and derives memories automatically; Markdown files with a memory start or end date appear as journal entries in Mind. See Importing your notes for export guides and Journaling for more ideas.
Review and edit
Browse the feed or choose a date to find a memory. Use Today to return to the present.
Edit a journal entry directly in the feed. For a memory attached to a file, edit the note beside that file. Memory cards also show a snippet of the note to help you recognize it at a glance.
Keep notes specific: include names, dates, or why a file matters to you. Correct details that are wrong, and update context when your circumstances change. Open the original file whenever you need to check what a memory refers to.
Remove what you no longer need
You can delete journal entries or remove memory annotations from files. Removing an annotation leaves the original file in place; deleting a journal entry removes the note file itself.
Clearing out duplicates or details you no longer want to keep can make your Mind easier to browse. For information about recovering files, see Recovering Files.
Build a useful habit
- Write down small details after a trip, meeting, or important conversation.
- Add a sentence explaining why you saved a document or photo.
- Keep ideas for an ongoing project together in your Mind folder.
- Revisit older entries to reconnect with a topic or pick up where you left off.
Your memories can also help your agent answer questions. See Privacy & Security for how your data is handled.