Projects: organize recordings by folder

How do projects work in InstantOwl?

A project is a folder for related recordings. You control every assignment yourself. InstantOwl never guesses which project a recording belongs to, so nothing gets filed somewhere you didn't put it.

There are two moments where you can attach a recording to a project.

1. Choose a project before you record

On the dashboard, the Project picker sits above the record button as a row of chips: None, each existing project (shown with its color dot), and + New to create one on the spot. Creating a new project inline asks for a name and a color from a 6-swatch palette. Below the project row is a Folder sub-row, so you can go one level deeper: All, any existing folders, or + Folder.

Whatever you pick here is passed along when you start recording and confirmed again when you tap Submit, so you always know where the recording is headed before it's even transcribed.

2. Assign or reassign after you've recorded

Changed your mind, or recorded without picking a project first? On the recording detail page, a + Project pill opens a dropdown where you can assign the recording to a project (creating a new one if needed, with a folder too) or choose Remove from project to unassign it. This works on any recording at any time, so nothing is locked in.

Both paths lead to the same place: a manual choice, made by you. There's no hidden classifier deciding this for you, and that's deliberate. If a recording lands somewhere, you put it there.

Managing projects on the Projects page

The Projects page lists every project with a color dot, its name, how many folders it has, and how many recordings are in it. From there you can:

1. Tap + New Project to create one, name it, and pick from the same 6-color palette.
2. Tap the edit action on any project to rename it or change its color.
3. Tap delete to remove the project entirely.

There's no separate "archive" state for projects, only rename, recolor, and delete. If you want a project out of the way without touching its recordings, delete it.

What deleting a project actually does

This is the part worth being precise about: deleting a project does not delete anything inside it. The confirm dialog spells it out before you commit: Delete "<name>"? Recordings in this project will be kept but unassigned. Your recordings, their transcripts, and every generated output stay exactly as they are. They just lose their project tag and fall back to unassigned, where you can find them again through the Recordings library filters or reassign them to a new home.

Tapping into a project (/projects/[id]) shows its folders and recordings together, so you can browse everything filed under it without leaving the project view.

Where projects show up elsewhere

Projects aren't just a filing cabinet. They carry into other parts of InstantOwl:

• On the Tasks page, each project appears as a filter pill with a color dot and count, and you can assign a task's project independently of its parent recording.
• The quick-add bar on Tasks includes an inline + New project… option, so you don't have to leave what you're doing to create one.
• On the Recordings library, a project filter narrows the list to just that project (or Unassigned).

If you're not sure whether to project a recording now or later, don't overthink it. Just talk first, and sort it out with + Project afterward. Filing it later costs nothing.