Describe the little checklist or tracker you wish existed
It is Sunday evening, and you are rebuilding the same weekly task tracker in a spreadsheet for the fifth time, because no app you have found fits the way you actually work. With Octuo you describe that tracker in a few plain sentences, and it lays it out for you as an interactive view on your Canvas, inside the assistant. The view stays there, so you use it again tomorrow and the day after, next to the rest of your work.
What Octuo does at that moment
- You describe the view the way you would to a colleague: what it should keep track of, what you want to see, what you tick off.
- Octuo lays it out as an interactive view on the Canvas, so you can tick things off and edit them, rather than getting just a block of text in a chat box.
- The view is private to your account and stays on your Canvas, ready to open the next time you need it.
- Octuo can see and operate the Canvas it lays views out on. The Canvas also holds built-in modules such as memory and notes, so your own views sit alongside them.
- If the first version is not quite right, you say what to change and Octuo adjusts it. If a job ever needs your own account sign-in, a payment or a sensitive approval, that stays with you; Octuo handles the work around it.
Three examples
These are illustrative situations, not customer stories.
A freelancer's Friday review
A freelancer keeps rebuilding the same Friday review in a spreadsheet: what went out, what is waiting on a client, what moves to next week. She asks Octuo for a small tracker with those three lists and one line for the first thing to do on Monday. A first version of the view appears on her Canvas, she reads it over and asks for the lists in a different order. The next Friday she opens the same view instead of starting a new sheet. If you want to plan one before you ask, we wrote about designing a small view before you ask for it.
A teacher's quiz tool
A teacher describes a quiz tool in two sentences: questions go in with their answers, and in class the teacher steps through them one at a time. Octuo lays it out, the teacher tries it with a few sample questions and then uses it with the class. The following week, new questions go into the same tool. The teacher decides what goes in, and keeps student names and marks out of it.
A shop's restock checklist
The owner of a small shop writes down what she wants: a list of items running low, a box to tick once a supplier has been contacted, and a note for when the delivery is due. Octuo lays out the checklist on her Canvas. On Monday morning she works through it, and when she places an order on a supplier's portal, signing in there is her own step. By the next Monday the checklist is still on the Canvas, ready for the new week. Our post on four sentences that turn an idea into an interactive view shows one way to word a request like hers.
What it does not do
These are small views for your own use on your own Canvas, not something you publish or sell, and they do not replace professional software when a job calls for it. Octuo may not get a view right on the first try, which is why asking for changes is part of the process. Keep student names, grades and other sensitive records out of a view like the quiz tool.
FAQ
Do I need to know how to code? No. You describe what you want in plain words and Octuo lays it out. You do not write anything yourself.
Where does the app live, and will it still be there next week? It lives on your Canvas, inside the assistant, and stays there for you to open again. Views are private to your account.
What if it lays out the wrong thing? Say what is off and ask for the change, the same way you asked for the view. The first version may not match what you pictured, so expect to ask for adjustments.
See what Octuo does. Octuo is in public beta on macOS and web. New accounts get 1,000 OC trial credits, once per person, no card.