Your outliner and Flow Mode tasks panel now let you zoom into a task's subtree — seeing only what's relevant to the work in front of you. **Released:** March 2, 2026 ### The Problem Focus In Solves You're 25 minutes into a flow session, working on a specific project. You open the Tasks panel to check your subtasks — and you see everything. Every project, every area, every loose end. Your brain can't help it: it scans the list, notices that overdue email, wonders about that unrelated task. Attention research calls this "attentional capture" — irrelevant items in your visual field pull cognitive resources away from your current goal, even when you try to ignore them. The fix isn't discipline. It's reducing what you see. ### Focus In: Subtree Scoping Focus In narrows the outliner to show only the descendants of a single task. When you're working on "Launch Marketing Campaign," you see its subtasks — not your groceries, not your quarterly review, not that thing from last Tuesday. **In Flow Mode**, this happens automatically. The Tasks panel (<kbd>t</kbd>) is already scoped to your active task's subtree. You see only what's relevant to the work you're doing right now. **In the Outliner** (<kbd>⌘</kbd><kbd>2</kbd>), you can focus in on any task with a keyboard shortcut or by clicking the task's focus action. **Navigating the hierarchy:** A breadcrumb trail appears above the outliner showing your position in the tree (e.g., "All Tasks › Project X › Current Task"). Click any breadcrumb to zoom out to that level. | Shortcut | Action | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | | <kbd>⌘</kbd><kbd>⌥</kbd><kbd>→</kbd> / <kbd>Ctrl</kbd><kbd>Alt</kbd><kbd>→</kbd> | Focus into the current task's subtree | | <kbd>⌘</kbd><kbd>⌥</kbd><kbd>←</kbd> / <kbd>Ctrl</kbd><kbd>Alt</kbd><kbd>←</kbd> | Focus out to parent level | New tasks you create while focused in are automatically added as children of the focused task. Everything syncs back to your full task tree — Focus In is a view, not a separate workspace. ### Why This Matters More Than It Seems Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's research on flow states identifies a clear attentional signature: people in flow report a narrowed field of awareness where irrelevant stimuli fade away. The work fills their attention completely. Task management tools that show you everything work against this — they're optimized for planning mode, not execution mode. Focus In aligns your tool with how your mind works during deep work. When you can see only the three subtasks that matter right now, you stop managing your list and start doing the work. The cognitive savings are real: less visual scanning, fewer "oh I should also..." interruptions, and a clearer sense of progress because you can see the whole scope of what you're working on. This is the same principle behind why writers close their email, why programmers use distraction-free editors, and why surgeons don't decorate their operating rooms. When the environment matches the task, performance follows. ## How This Helps You Level Up If you break your work into subtasks (and you should — it's one of the most reliable ways to build momentum), Focus In makes those subtasks the only thing you see while you're executing. Planning happens with the full tree visible. Execution happens with just the relevant slice. Try it during your next flow session: open the Tasks panel and notice how much calmer it feels to see only what's relevant. Then try it in the Outliner — focus into a project, work through its subtasks, and zoom back out when you're done. The keyboard shortcut (<kbd>⌘</kbd><kbd>⌥</kbd><kbd>→</kbd>) becomes second nature quickly. [[Task Outliner Shortcuts|Outliner shortcuts →]] [[Focus Mode|Flow Mode guide →]] [[Flowing with Your Keyboard|Keyboard flow guide →]]