Summaries and Project View

Summaries give you another way to read connected material. Summarize works through notes around a chosen node and writes summaries back to the notes. Project View offers a broader synthesis and controls for the clusters shown on the canvas.

Generating a summary requires a signed-in account with hosted AI access enabled. The account's available allowance and service availability also affect whether a request can run. See your Colli account if signing in succeeds but generation is refused.

Generated note summaries appear separately from the note body. You can return to the original writing, edit a summary, or remove it without replacing that writing.

Start from a node#

Choose Summarize in the node's right-click menu or editor toolbar. Summary options opens before a request begins.

Choose the output shape:

Then choose Detail:

• Brief asks for at most three sentences.
• Standard asks for a short paragraph or two.
• Deep asks for a more thorough response.

These are instructions about the response, rather than guaranteed lengths. The form you choose also affects how useful a particular detail level is: a list and a prose overview need not look alike.

Under Include, Lookups adds saved lookup material from source notes. Earlier summaries allows the run to use earlier summary text. These choices are remembered in this browser. Their initial values follow the AI setting described under contextual tools.

The panel names the prompt for the selected summary shape. Edit prompts opens Prompts above these options. Closing Prompts returns you to the options.

Read the estimate, then run#

Estimated shows an approximate cost. Where an account has a usable credit rate, it shows credits and may show the remaining balance. Otherwise it shows tokens and explains “No credit rate yet — it is worked out from what this account has actually been charged.”

The estimate changes with the selected detail and included material. It is a guide rather than a fixed charge. It also should not be used as a list of exactly which notes a large connected run will visit.

Choose Summarize to begin. Opening the options alone does not begin generation. If the selected note has no eligible connected material, the button reads Nothing under this note to summarize and is disabled.

How a connected run works#

The run starts at your chosen node and follows connected notes outward while excluding the path back through its parent. Cross-links can bring material from another branch into the run; it is not limited to a strict parent-and-child subtree.

It works from the outer material back towards the selected node. A parent receives its connected children's text or available summaries. Nodes with no children provide source material without receiving a generated block of their own in that run. At the next level, a generated child summary can stand in for that child's source text.

This is called a summary cascade: successive summaries combine material into a smaller view. Choose a root whose outward connections match what you intend to summarise. To discuss a node's own text directly, use Look up or Ask Glob.

Unchanged results can be reused on a later run. Changing the source material or summary instruction can require new work. Editing a note does not automatically start a new summary.

Progress and cancellation#

A progress row appears at the top left of the canvas. A connected run shows how much work has completed and has a Cancel button. You can close the options or Project View while work continues.

Cancel stops further work and stops accepting the current request's result. In a cascade, summaries already written remain on their notes. Cancellation does not undo those completed steps.

If a run fails partway through, its error is shown on the canvas. Completed summaries can still be present. Reopen a source note and inspect its summary before repeating a large run.

Read, edit, or remove a saved summary#

When a connected run completes, the selected note opens and its summarised branches fold on the canvas. Open SUMMARY beneath the body to read the saved text. The section is expanded initially and can be collapsed.

Where the summary is editable, change Edit summary and move focus out of the field to save. An empty edit does not erase it. A later summary run or a saved Ask Glob answer can replace the current summary, so keep any wording you need independently before replacing it.

Right-click a node with a summary and choose Reset to Original to remove that node's summary. Its original body remains. This does not remove summaries from the other nodes in the run.

Saved note summaries are written with their notes. Project View's generated text, cluster guidance, and quick-summary text have a different lifetime, described below.

Open Project View#

Choose Project View, the eye control on the canvas. It opens over the canvas. Close Project View, Escape, or a click outside returns to the canvas.

Generate requests a synthesis from the active project's available notes, or from the active shared canvas. A result can use these sections:

• Core Thesis
• Insights
• Open Questions
• Decisions
• Next Steps
• Full Synthesis
• Root Clusters

Only returned sections are shown. A response that cannot be divided into sections can appear as Full Synthesis. With no material, the panel says There is nothing on the canvas to summarise yet.

Project material is shortened before the request. Long notes may be shortened, and an oversized project can omit notes. When a generated result is displayed, its footer can show how many notes were omitted for length. Do not treat it as a full reading of a long source document.

Project View's generated synthesis is temporary panel content. It is not saved as a project note. Closing the panel loses it, and starting or finishing other summary work can clear it. Keep text you need before leaving the panel.

Work with clusters#

Clusters lists the canvas's groups even when they have no summary yet. A row shows the root title, note count, and the number of notes already summarised when there are any.

Expand a row to find:

• GUIDANCE, where you can describe what to concentrate on.
• QUICK SUMMARY, an editable field for a one-paragraph result.
• Existing note summary blocks, each under its note title.

The lightning control is Quick summary — one paragraph. It asks for a description of that cluster. The branching control is Deep summary — a block per note. It closes Project View and opens Summary options on the cluster's root, carrying your guidance into the connected run.

Guidance and quick-summary edits take effect when you leave their fields. They stay in the open Project View only and can clear when summary work changes. Use saved note summaries when you need a durable result.

On a shared canvas, changing saved note summaries requires editing access. For account access, credits, or unavailable hosted requests, see your Colli account. Data handling is covered by the Privacy Policy.