So I've been using MT for the past couple months as an attorney to track my billable (and non-billable) time. I loaded my client list as tags, and I use them almost exclusively in tag combinations running two tags long: tag1 (client), tag2 (matter). At the end of every day (or every week), I generate a timesheet with hours rounded to the 0.1, and it all looks tidy - except, I need to populate my Notes. I really dislike populating my Notes (what we call the narrative), and I wondering if MT could implement either or both of the following features:

1. Notes View.
In the Day view, it's difficult to see which of my tag combinations for any given day have a note/narrative filled in. While the tag combination can show up at multiple points in the day, I group all the time billed for a particular matter by the day, and simply need a single note to cover all the activities of that day. Right now, the only place I look to determine if my Notes are adequately populated for each particular tag combo requiring a narrative (non-billable matters don't, but no harm if they have Notes) is to run a timesheet that shows Notes. It would be much easier if the Notes could be listed alongside matter combos in the bottom right window of the Day tab, when you're clicking on the tag timeline. So when the bottom right window is showing the tag combos used that day - add another column of "Notes" that will clearly show which tag combos haven't yet been explained with at least one Note for that day. Bonus points if the Note can be filled in directly through that bottom right window.

2. Auto-Notes.
My Notes are very predictable. I've provided a couple examples below and thoughts on how they could be autogenerated. (I'm venturing far afield from what I know, so pardon the rambling.)

"Call with Bob regarding MT Series A."
This Note may be easy to autogenerate if I had an Outlook entry that said "Call with MT Adminstrator" and I already had an Autotag for "MT Series A" to get tagged with the MT/Series A tag combo. Otherwise, I know calls are tough to capture even in the Autotag timeline.

"Review and revise MT Employee Incentive Plan."
Any day in which Word (app) is used for over [10] minutes under a particular tag combo (either by reference to the Tag timeline, or the Autotag timeline), then that day's tag combo would receive a Note autogenerated for it that said "Review and revise [X]". [X] can be the document title for such Word usage (or the most used document title during such Word usage). Obviously, this applies to other applications (in particular email).

The Auto-Notes don't need to be even close to perfect - but just a starting point of Notes would go a long way.

Of course, if there are other ways to achieve similar results, please let me know. I love learning more about MT - keep up the great work!

(A few more things to add.)

Ideally, the solution would aggregate all the tag by combination (just like in the timesheet) and would show me in the bottom right window something like:
A. 1.9 hr Client 1, Matter 1 "Some note" ; “Some different note”
B. 1.5 hr Client 2, Matter 2 "Another note"
C. 0.8 hr Client 3, Matter 3 BLANK NOTE

Right now it only shows:
A. 1.9 hr Client 1, Matter 1
B. 1.5 hr Client 2, Matter 2
C. 0.8 hr Client 3, Matter 3

2. AutoNote
For the AutoNote, I’m actually not suggesting adding a new Autotag to tag each time that I use email, because that would layer in to my autotag and tag timelines and would create two tags for one time – that’s usually a red flag for me (can’t be double billing!) so it would get very confusing very quickly. Also, it wouldn't make sense to go through each Autotag rule that is specific to a client, and split each into two or three rules based on email / review documents / etc.

Perhaps what I’m describing would be easier to implement in the timesheet function? The timesheet already condenses down the same tag combo appearing in multiple tags in one day into a single tag for reporting purposes. Could it also, while running that report, autogenerate some notes based on a few global rules, like the ones I described in the prior post?

3*. (New One) I’m already above 50 Autotags, and the list will keep growing. If I continue using MT, I estimate my Autotag rules will exceed 150 after 12 months of use, and will likely level off somewhere between 200 and 300 (I have about 200 unique tag combos / i.e., client/matters – many of those are internal administrative trackers, and a number of them are deferred, but for the 20 or so active ones, I expect to have 2 to 10 rules for each, depending on the uniqueness of the project name). If MT starts slowing down on me, what can I do to keep it moving quickly – e.g., only keep the MT tracker running, and then open the UI a couple times a day?

Thanks!

1. Perfect.

2. Yes - exactly - the key is that the autotag rule *append* to any other autotag rule, so that the tag generated would be "client 1, matter 1, review and revise [X]". I leave the [X] in because it would be great if a single autotag rule could say "review and revise [docname]" - I understand that may create huge issues (autogenerating hundreds of new tags every week), but that's the real key - to pull the docname into a tag (or, as I was suggesting, into the Notes). Perhaps this will be more easily done once you add the capability to have autotags also populate the Notes field.

3. Yes, I've found that helps tremendously. I'll let you know when it gets slow.

Thanks!

In autotag editor, click on an autotag, then click Edit and uncheck Enabled.

You can't order by last applied. I'll see if we can add that.