File Inbox Settings
Set up your File Inbox and choose its folder, what happens to the originals, which kinds of file may come in, where PrimeTask keeps the files and how it tells you, all under Settings → Data Management.
Your File Inbox takes in anything you save or drag into one folder on your computer, ready to file to a task, a project note or a client. This article covers its settings. For what the File Inbox does and how to file from it, see File Inbox.
What you can do
Set it up, or walk through setup again
from your current choices
Turn it on or off
your folder and choices are kept while it's off
Change the folder
it takes files from
Choose where PrimeTask keeps its files
and move them to another drive
See how much space
its files take
Choose what happens to the originals
to the Trash, left in the folder, or linked where they are
Take files from folders inside it
each folder's name becoming a label
Set the largest file
it takes in, from 100 MB to 2 GB
Choose which kinds of file may come in
Choose how it tells you
about new files and files that can't come in
Show or hide File Inbox in the header's ⋯ menu
so it can be opened from any page
Clear its filed history
How to open File Inbox settings
Open Settings → Data Management and expand File Inbox. Before you expand it, it already shows whether the File Inbox is on, paused or needs attention, how many files are waiting, and what it's doing, such as "Watching PrimeTask File Inbox" or "Paused while PrimeTask is locked". Click Open File Inbox to see what's waiting.
If you haven't set it up yet, click Set Up. The steps are in File Inbox.
Changes apply at once
Every change here applies straight away, except where PrimeTask keeps your File Inbox's files, which changes the next time PrimeTask opens.
Access
Show in header menu is on by default. While File Inbox is enabled, it adds File Inbox to the main header's ⋯ menu, with the waiting count. Turn this switch off to hide that shortcut; the File Inbox keeps working and can still be opened from Settings or a task. Turning File Inbox off also hides the shortcut.
Folders
- Watched folder - the folder your File Inbox takes files from. Show opens it in Finder or File Explorer. Change picks another folder: PrimeTask tells you how many files in it will come in, and asks first.
- Kept in PrimeTask - where PrimeTask keeps its copies of your files. Show opens that folder, and Change moves them (see below).
- Space used - how much room your File Inbox's files take, and on which drive. Linked files stay in your folder and use no space here.
Moving your File Inbox's files
Click Change for Kept in PrimeTask, choose PrimeTask's Own Folder or Choose a Folder, and confirm. Your files move the next time PrimeTask opens. Click Quit PrimeTask, then open PrimeTask again to move them now, or click Cancel to keep them where they are.
While the files move, PrimeTask shows how far it has got before it opens, and Stop leaves everything where it was. Afterwards, these settings say how the move went.
If the drive with your File Inbox's files isn't connected, your File Inbox waits and says so, and carries on when you connect the drive again.
A big File Inbox on another drive
If your File Inbox will hold many large files, keep them on a larger drive with Kept in PrimeTask. While that drive isn't connected, nothing new comes in until you connect it.
When a File Comes In
- The original - what happens to a file in your folder once it's safely in PrimeTask:
- Move it to the Trash - the folder empties itself. Switching to it asks first, because files already in your folder go to the Trash too, once each one is in PrimeTask - Leave it in the folder - PrimeTask remembers each file, so it never comes in twice - Keep it here and link to it - nothing is copied. If the folder already holds files, PrimeTask asks whether to link every one of them or only files that arrive from now on. See File Inbox
- Folders inside it - take files from the folders inside your File Inbox folder too, each folder's name becoming a label on its files
- Largest file - from 100 MB up to 2 GB. Bigger files take more disk space, make backups bigger and take longer to sync. When you raise it, files kept out for being too big come in straight away. Linking has no limit: with Keep it here and link to it, this is the largest file PrimeTask copies when you attach one to a task
Protection
- Only allowed types - on from the start. Only the kinds of file on your list come in, each checked to be what its name says. Turning it off asks you to confirm first.
- Allowed types - the list starts with documents, pictures, audio, video, email, contacts, calendars and ZIP files. Click Edit to change it: remove a type, type a new one (such as .json) and click Add, or click Reset to the default list, then Done. Each change applies at once: files kept out before are looked at again, and files already in your File Inbox stay.
- Adding a kind of file that can run programs asks you to confirm first. Files of that kind then come in, but PrimeTask never opens one.
Whatever you choose, PrimeTask never runs a program or unpacks an archive from your File Inbox.
Turning protection off
Every file dropped in your folder then comes in, whatever its type, and nothing checks that it is what its name says. Keep it on unless you have a reason not to.
Notifications
- When files arrive and When a file can't come in - turn either off. PrimeTask shows a message while it's in front, or a desktop notification when it isn't.
Filed history
PrimeTask remembers where you filed each file, so a file that comes in again shows where it went. The same history is your File Inbox's Recent list. Click Clear History to make it forget, and PrimeTask asks first. Your files stay where you filed them, but Recent is emptied, and a file that comes in again won't say where it went.
Run Setup
Click Run Setup to walk through setup again, starting from your current choices. Where PrimeTask keeps your files is chosen at the first setup only: to change it later, use Kept in PrimeTask.
Turn the File Inbox off
Turn File Inbox off in Data Management. PrimeTask asks first, then stops taking files in. Files in the folder stay where they are, files already in your File Inbox stay until you file or delete them, and your folder and choices are kept for when you turn it back on.
Common questions
"Why do my File Inbox's files move only when PrimeTask opens again?"
PrimeTask moves them before it opens, so nothing is coming in or being filed while they move. Click Quit PrimeTask, then open it again, to move them straight away.
"I removed a type from my allowed list. What happens to files already in my File Inbox?"
They stay. A change to the list only decides what comes in from then on.
"Does turning the File Inbox off delete anything?"
No. Your files, your folder and your choices all stay.
Where to go next
| If you want to… | Read this |
|---|---|
| Learn what the File Inbox does and how to file from it | File Inbox |
| Back up your data, File Inbox included | Data Management |
| Lock PrimeTask when you step away | Security |
| Sync a Space between computers | File Sync |
| Browse all settings cards | Settings Overview |