Build a Quick-Capture Inbox in the Tab You Already Open

The most reliable productivity habit is also the simplest: whenever something lands in your head — a task, a promise, a half-formed idea — write it down immediately, somewhere you trust, and get back to what you were doing. That single move is what David Allen called capture, and it is the foundation of Getting Things Done. The problem is never the idea itself; it is the two-second gap between having the thought and recording it. Miss that gap and the thought either evaporates or, worse, keeps circling in your head while you try to concentrate on something else.

This guide explains why a frictionless capture inbox matters, and how to run one inside the tab you already open dozens of times a day — no new app to remember, no login screen standing between you and the note.

What “capture” actually means

Capture is the discipline of getting every open loop out of your head and into an external place as fast as possible. The point is not to organise, prioritise, or decide anything in the moment — it is simply to stop trusting your memory to hold things it was never good at holding. Your mind is for having ideas, not storing them. When you know that everything is safely written down, the background hum of “don't forget to…” quietens, and you can actually focus.

The catch is that capture only works if it is effortless. The moment your inbox demands a category, a due date, or a project before it will accept a note, you have added friction — and friction is where habits go to die. If you have ever watched a shiny system fall apart after a week, this is usually why. We wrote more about that pattern in why productivity apps kill your habits before they start. A good inbox asks nothing of you except the thought itself.

Why the new tab is the perfect inbox

A capture inbox needs to be somewhere you are already looking. That is the whole game. An app you have to hunt for is an app you will bypass “just this once” until once becomes never. The new tab, by contrast, is the most-visited page in your browser — you open it before searching, before opening a doc, between tasks all day long. Putting your inbox there means the distance between having a thought and capturing it drops to almost zero. You do not decide to capture; the box is just there.

This is exactly what Slaet does. It is a free Chrome extension and web app that turns the new tab into a lightweight workspace. The second something occurs to you, you type it and press enter. It is saved. You carry on. There is no account to create, no paid tier, and nothing to configure before your first capture lands.

How to run a quick-capture inbox in Slaet

1. Install Slaet from the Chrome Web Store — one click, free, no sign-up.
2. Open a new tab. When a thought arrives, type it and press enter. That is a capture — do not stop to sort it.
3. If there is context worth keeping — a name, a link, the reason behind the task — add it in the space underneath the item. Optional, never required.
4. Once a day, skim the list. Delete what is done, flag what matters, and set a reminder on anything that needs to come back later.

That fourth step is the quiet half of GTD: a capture inbox is only trustworthy if you empty it regularly. Slaet keeps the loop small on purpose — capture, glance, act — rather than burying you in structure.

Context under the task, without the overhead

Most captures are one line, but some deserve a sentence or two of thinking. In Slaet, every task has room for context underneath it, and looser thoughts can live as rich-text notes alongside your list. So “email Priya” can quietly carry the three points you actually need to make, without cluttering the list itself. You get the speed of a one-line inbox and the depth of a notebook in the same place.

Reminders so nothing sinks to the bottom

The failure mode of any inbox is that captured items pile up and get buried. Slaet handles this with reminders written in plain language — type something like “follow up on the invoice next Tuesday” and it resurfaces as a notification at the right time. Priority flags let you mark the few things that genuinely can't wait, so a quick scan tells you where to start. Captured thoughts come back to you instead of rotting quietly at the bottom of a list.

It works even when you are offline

A capture habit has to work everywhere, including on a train with no signal. Slaet is local-first: your tasks and notes live in your browser and work fully offline, with no connection and no account needed. If you later want them on more than one machine, an optional sign-in syncs across Chrome, Brave, and Edge — but capture never waits on the network. See why an offline, no-account list is often the more dependable choice, or read how to add a to-do list to your Chrome new tab in under a minute.

Frequently asked questions

What is quick capture in GTD?

Quick capture is the habit of writing down any task or idea the instant it occurs to you, into a trusted inbox, without stopping to organise it. It clears your mind so you can focus, and you sort the inbox later.

Is Slaet a full GTD system?

No — and it does not pretend to be. Slaet is a lightweight tasks-and-notes tool built around fast capture, context, and reminders. It borrows the capture idea from GTD, but it is not a full system with formal projects and contexts.

Is the quick-capture inbox free?

Yes. Slaet is completely free — unlimited captures, notes, and reminders, with no paid tier, no credit card, and no account required to start.

Can I capture without an account?

Yes. You can capture entirely offline in a local mode. Signing in is only needed if you want your inbox to sync across devices.