Inbox zero in Aftertone is earned, not pretended. Your inbox can only be cleared when every task in it is either scheduled on your calendar, planned for a future date or deleted. Tasks left floating keep the inbox open. When you genuinely clear it, the wallpaper unblurs.
What counts as clearing the inbox
A task leaves your inbox when you do one of three things with it: give it a time block on your calendar, move it to a specific future date so it returns when it is relevant, or delete it because it is no longer worth doing. Leaving it in the inbox with no action taken does not count.
💡 Tip — If a task does not have a clear date or project, that is usually a signal it should be deleted or moved to a someday list outside Aftertone.
Why inbox zero exists
An inbox full of unscheduled tasks is a list of intentions. Until a task has a slot, it is not real work. The inbox zero mechanic forces that conversion: every task either gets a time, a future date, or a deletion. Nothing is left floating.
How to clear your inbox
Open the Calendar view. Work through your inbox from the side panel. For each task, make a decision: press S to schedule it as a time block immediately, drag it into a time slot on the calendar, press P to open the planning menu and assign it to a day, use Cmd+D to set a date for a future day, or delete it. For bulk organisation across days and projects, open the Planning view with 5.
Prioritising tasks in your inbox
Before you start scheduling, it is worth ordering your inbox by priority. Press Cmd+Up to move a task higher in the list or Cmd+Down to move it lower. The order you set here carries through to Focus Mode — Aftertone works through tasks in the sequence you have arranged them.
You can also right-click any task in the inbox to open the contextual menu, which gives you quick access to planning, scheduling, tagging, and deletion options without using keyboard shortcuts.
Most people find a full inbox clear takes 10 to 15 minutes the first time. After that, maintaining inbox zero as a daily habit at the end of your morning planning session takes 2 to 3 minutes.
Using inbox zero as a daily anchor
Use inbox zero as the final step of your morning planning session. Plan your day, block your priorities, then clear the remaining inbox. When the wallpaper unblurs, the planning is done and you can move straight into Focus Mode.
What inbox zero does not mean
⚠️ Note — Inbox zero does not mean you have scheduled every task for today. It means every task has a plan. Most of your inbox should be scheduled for future days, not piled into today.
When the inbox fills back up
Quick Capture, Smart Capture, and carried-over tasks will refill your inbox during the day. That is expected. Clear it once at the start — everything that arrives after gets dealt with the next morning.
👉 Try it now — Open the Calendar view and clear your inbox completely before you enter Focus Mode today. Drag what deserves a time block onto the calendar, set dates for everything else, and delete what is no longer relevant. When the wallpaper unblurs, press Tab and start.