Asking ChatGPT for help with Tinderbox

Today while I was messing around with some ideas in Tinderbox, I asked ChatGPT how to do a few things with it. Each question and answer will be posted as a separate reply in this thread.

Often it did pretty well. Some thing it says don’t seem to be the way things work. It also tries helpfully to give keyboard shortcuts for Tinderbox on Windows.

It seemed a bit Off the Wall, so that’s where I’m starting this thread.

what are the best ways for a beginner to start using Tinderbox?

From ChatGPT (may or may not be correct!):

  1. Start by creating a new document and experimenting with the different tools and features available in Tinderbox.
  2. Learn the basics of the interface, including how to create and edit notes, organize them using attributes and agents, and create links between notes.
  3. Take advantage of the built-in tutorials and help resources to learn more about advanced features such as templates, maps, and rules.
  4. Look for online tutorials and examples from other users to get inspiration and ideas for how to use Tinderbox in your own projects.
  5. Join the Tinderbox community to ask questions, share tips and tricks, and connect with other users.

Can you give me some more specific details about how to use tinderbox as a thinking tool?

From ChatGPT (may or may not be correct!):

Sure, here are a few ways you can use Tinderbox as a thinking tool:

  1. Mind Mapping: You can use the map view in Tinderbox to create visual diagrams of your thoughts and ideas. This can help you see connections and relationships between different ideas, and make it easier to organize and structure your thoughts.
  2. Note-taking: Tinderbox’s notes allow you to capture and organize information in a flexible way. You can create notes for different topics, add tags or labels to them, and link them together to create a web of interconnected ideas.
  3. Outlining: You can use Tinderbox’s outlining feature to create a hierarchical structure for your thoughts and ideas. This can be helpful for organizing complex ideas and breaking them down into smaller, more manageable pieces.
  4. Journaling: Tinderbox allows you to keep a chronological journal of your thoughts and ideas. You can create a note for each day, tag them with keywords, and use links to connect related notes.
  5. Research: You can use Tinderbox to organize and manage research by creating notes for different sources, linking them to relevant notes and creating agents to filter and sort them according to your needs.
  6. Planning: You can use Tinderbox’s attributes and agents to plan and track your goals, tasks and projects. You can create a template for tasks, set reminders and deadlines, and use agents to track progress and prioritize tasks.

In general, the key to using Tinderbox as a thinking tool is to experiment with different features and find the ones that work best for you and your thinking style.

what is a tinderbox agent?

From ChatGPT (may or may not be correct!):

In Tinderbox, an agent is a powerful feature that allows you to filter and organize your notes based on specific criteria. An agent can search through all of the notes in your document and find the notes that match the criteria you set. Once those notes are found, you can perform a variety of actions on them, such as changing their attributes, linking them to other notes, or displaying them in a specific way.

Agents can be used to find notes with specific attributes, like notes that have a particular tag or are assigned a specific label. You can also use agents to find notes that are related to a specific topic or theme, or to find notes that have a certain relationship to other notes.

For example, you could create an agent that finds all notes that have a certain tag and displays them in a list view, or create an agent that finds all notes that are linked to a specific note and displays them in a map view.

Agents can be very powerful tools for organizing and managing large amounts of information, and they can be used in many different ways depending on your needs.

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How do links work in tinderbox?

From ChatGPT (may or may not be correct!):

In Tinderbox, links are used to connect notes together. You can create links between notes by selecting a note and then clicking and dragging from the note to the note you want to link it to. Once a link is created, you can navigate between the linked notes by clicking on the link.

Links can be used to show relationships between notes, such as parent-child relationships, or to connect notes that are related to a specific topic or theme. Links can also be used to create a web of interconnected ideas, allowing you to easily navigate between related notes.

In addition to creating links between notes, you can also create links to external documents or web pages, by right-clicking on a note and selecting “Add Link” and then provide the url or file path.

You can also use links in combination with agents to filter and organize your notes. For example, you could create an agent that finds all notes that are linked to a specific note and displays them in a map view.

In addition, you can customize the appearance of links by changing their color and style, and you can also use links to create visual diagrams of your thoughts and ideas in map view.

Can i make different kinds of links that are visually distinct?

From ChatGPT (may or may not be correct!):

Yes, in Tinderbox you can create different types of links that have distinct visual characteristics.

  1. By default links are represented by arrows that connect two notes, but you can change the appearance of links by going to the “Link” menu and selecting “Link Style”. You can change the color, style, and thickness of links to make them more distinct.
  2. You can also create different types of links, such as parent-child links and bidirectional links, by using different link actions. For example, you can use the “Add Child” link action to create a parent-child link, and the “Add Bidirectional Link” action to create a bidirectional link.
  3. Additionally, you can create your own custom link types by creating new link actions and assigning them specific styles and colors.
  4. Another way of creating different types of links is by using different link attributes. For example, you could create an attribute called “link type” and assign different values to it, such as “supporting” or “contradicting” and use different link styles for each type.
  5. You can also use different shapes to represent different types of links. Tinderbox allows you to choose from a variety of shapes and sizes, and you can also create your own custom shapes.
  6. By using different link styles, custom link actions, attributes and shapes you can create different types of links that are visually distinct and easy to distinguish, which makes it easy to understand the relationships between your notes.

what is an adornment?

From ChatGPT (may or may not be correct!):

In Tinderbox, an adornment is a visual element that can be added to a note to provide additional information or context. Adornments can be used to highlight important information, indicate relationships between notes, or add annotations to a note.

There are several types of adornments that can be added to a note, including:

  1. Icon: An icon is a small image that can be added to a note to represent its type or purpose. For example, you could use an icon to indicate that a note is a task or a reminder.
  2. Label: A label is a text label that can be added to a note to provide additional information about its contents. For example, you could use a label to indicate the status of a task or the priority of a note.
  3. Flag: A flag is a small colored marker that can be added to a note to indicate its importance or urgency.
  4. Progress Bar: A progress bar is a visual element that can be added to a note to indicate the progress of a task or project.
  5. Emoji: An Emoji is a small graphical symbol that can be added to a note to provide additional context or emotion.
  6. Custom Adornments: You can also create your own custom adornments by creating new adornment styles and applying them to specific notes.

Adornments can be used in combination with other features, such as agents and links, to help you organize and manage your notes effectively. By using adornments, you can quickly identify notes that are important, urgent, or related to a specific topic or theme.

what is a stamp

From ChatGPT (may or may not be correct!):

In Tinderbox, a stamp is a reusable visual element that can be added to multiple notes to indicate a specific status or attribute. Stamps can be used to indicate the status of a task, the priority of a note, or to group notes that are related to a specific topic or theme.

When you create a stamp, you can assign it to one or more notes, and then you can use it to quickly filter and organize your notes. For example, you could create a stamp called “High Priority” and then assign it to all of the notes that are important or urgent. Then you could create an agent that finds all notes with the “High Priority” stamp and displays them in a map view.

You can create different types of stamps and customize their appearance by changing their color, shape, and size. For example, you could create a stamp that is a red circle to indicate high priority and another stamp that is a green square to indicate completed tasks.

Stamps can also be used in combination with other features such as adornments, links and agents to help you effectively organize and manage your notes.

In summary, stamps are a useful way to quickly categorize, filter and organize your notes in Tinderbox. They allow you to identify and group notes that are related to a specific topic or theme, and to filter them by status or priority.

how can i import outline text into tinderbox?

From ChatGPT (may or may not be correct!):

There are several ways to import outline text into Tinderbox:

  1. Drag and Drop: You can drag and drop a text file containing an outline onto the Tinderbox application icon. This will create a new document with the outline text imported as notes.
  2. File > Import: You can go to the File menu and select Import. Then select the text file containing the outline and choose the appropriate import settings.
  3. Text Import: You can also copy and paste the text of an outline into the Text Import window (File > Import > Text Import). Tinderbox will automatically create a new document with the outline text imported as notes.
  4. Importing from other software: If you have an outline in another software such as OneNote, Evernote, or MindNode, you can export it to a plain text file and import it into Tinderbox using one of the methods mentioned above.

It’s important to keep in mind that the formatting of the imported outline text will affect how it is imported into Tinderbox. If the text uses a specific syntax, such as bullet points, indents or numbers, to indicate the hierarchy of the outline, Tinderbox will use that to create the notes and links in the map view.

Otherwise, you can use the Text import method, where you can select how to import the text using the import settings.

Once the outline text is imported into Tinderbox, you can use the various features such as links, agents, and adornments to organize and manage your notes effectively.

I didn’t know ChatGPT knew so much about Tinderbox!

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what is a tinderbox container?

From ChatGPT (may or may not be correct!):

In Tinderbox, a container is a type of note that can hold other notes within it. Containers are used to group and organize related notes, and to represent hierarchical relationships between notes.

There are several types of containers that can be used in Tinderbox:

  1. Outline Container: An outline container is a container that is used to represent the hierarchical structure of an outline. Notes within an outline container are arranged in a tree structure, with parent notes and child notes.
  2. Group Container: A group container is a container that is used to group related notes together. Notes within a group container are not arranged in a hierarchical structure, but can be sorted and filtered according to different criteria.
  3. Map Container: A map container is a container that is used to represent the geographical location of notes. Notes within a map container can be represented as markers on a map, and can be organized and filtered according to their location.
  4. List Container: A List container is a container that is used to create a list of notes. Notes within a list container are arranged in a linear sequence, and can be sorted and filtered according to different criteria.

You can create a container by selecting a note and choosing “Make container” from the note’s action menu or by using the keyboard shortcut Shift+Cmd+C.
You can also create a container by dragging multiple notes to an empty area of the map view and then choosing “Make container” from the context menu.

Containers can be used in combination with other features such as links, agents, and adornments to help you organize and manage your notes effectively. By using containers, you can group related notes together, represent hierarchical relationships between notes, and filter and sort your notes according to different criteria.

Where is the note’s action menu?

From ChatGPT (may or may not be correct!):

In Tinderbox, the note’s action menu is a menu that contains a list of actions that can be performed on a selected note.

To access the note’s action menu, you need to first select a note in the map view. Once a note is selected, you can access the note’s action menu in one of the following ways:

  1. Right-Click: You can right-click on the selected note to open the note’s action menu.
  2. Note menu: You can go to the Note menu in the top menu bar and select the selected note.
  3. Keyboard Shortcut: You can press the key Cmd+Shift+A (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+A (Windows) to open the note’s action menu.

The note’s action menu contains a list of actions that can be performed on the selected note, such as making a container, linking to other notes, editing the note’s properties, and more.
You can also access the note’s action menu by clicking on the note’s icon in the map view, which is located on the left side of the note.

It’s important to keep in mind that some of the options in the note’s action menu might be grayed out or not available depending on the note’s state, the selected note’s container or the context.

How can I enlarge the display of a note within a container

From ChatGPT (may or may not be correct!):

In Tinderbox, you can enlarge the display of a note within a container by using the Expand/Collapse feature. This feature allows you to expand or collapse a container to show or hide the notes within it.

To expand or collapse a container, you can use one of the following methods:

  1. Right-Click: You can right-click on the container’s icon in the map view and select “Expand” or “Collapse” from the context menu.
  2. Keyboard Shortcut: You can press the key Cmd+Shift+Right Arrow (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+Right Arrow (Windows) to expand the container and Cmd+Shift+Left Arrow (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+Left Arrow (Windows) to collapse the container

How do i make the text of notes within a container larger in map view

From ChatGPT (may or may not be correct!):

In Tinderbox, you can make the text of notes within a container larger in the map view by adjusting the font size of the notes. You can adjust the font size for all notes within a container or for individual notes.

Here are a few ways to change the font size of notes within a container:

  1. Container-wide: To change the font size of all notes within a container, select the container in the map view, go to the “Inspector” (Cmd+1) and under the “Text” tab, you will find a “Text Size” option where you can adjust the font size of the notes within the container.
  2. Individual Note: To change the font size of an individual note, select the note in the map view and go to the “Inspector” (Cmd+1) and under the “Text” tab, you will find a “Text Size” option where you can adjust the font size of the selected note.
  3. Using a Prototype: You can also use a prototype to change the font size of notes within a container. Prototypes allow you to apply a set of attributes to multiple notes. To do this, create a prototype and set the font size in the prototype’s attributes. Then you can apply the prototype to all notes in the container.
  4. Using a Container’s Adornment: You can also use a container’s adornment to change the font size of the notes within the container. Adornments are visual cues that can be added to notes to indicate their status, or to provide additional information. To do this, create an adornment and set the font size in the adornment’s attributes. Then you can apply the adornment to the container.

It’s important to keep in mind that depending on the layout you choose, the settings from the prototype or adornment may or may not be applied to the notes within the container, so it’s important to check the settings of the container and the notes.

how to make map display show full titles of notes in tinderbox

From ChatGPT (may or may not be correct!):

To display full titles of notes in Tinderbox, you can use the “Long Form” option in the Map view’s display settings. This will change the display of the notes on the map to show their full titles, rather than truncated versions. You can access the display settings by clicking on the gear icon in the top right corner of the Map view, and selecting “Display Settings.”

There is no gear icon displayed

If you are unable to find the gear icon in the top right corner of the Map view to access the display settings, you may need to check your Tinderbox application settings. Make sure that you have the latest version of Tinderbox installed, and that your settings are not configured to hide the gear icon.

Another way to access the display settings is by going to the Map menu and select “Map Layout” and then you can find the option of “Long Form” to display the full titles of notes.

If you continue to have trouble, you may want to consult the Tinderbox documentation or reach out to the Tinderbox support team for assistance.

how do i change the color of an adornment in tinderbox?

From ChatGPT (may or may not be correct!):

To change the color of an adornment in Tinderbox, you can use the “Inspector” window to access the adornment’s properties. In the “Inspector” window, you will find an option to change the color of the adornment. You can also change the color of adornment by selecting the adornment and then clicking on the color wheel icon in the toolbar.

Another way to change the color of an adornment is to right-click on the adornment and select “Properties” from the menu. This will open the “Properties” window where you can change the color of the adornment.

If you are having trouble finding the color options, you can also look for the option in the “Format” menu or in the “Inspector” menu.

Indeed! As you’ll see in some of the later ones, it also thinks it knows more than it does.

I too, as many others have, been exploring its uses with tinderbox.

Would there be a way to integrate GPT-3 or ChatGPT into the Command Bar within Tinderbox? My preference would be to use GPT-3 instead of ChatGPT as it is a larger, more powerful language model and is also newer. I think ChatGPT’s was trained on a model before 2021.

A thought would be to query aTBRef from the command bar.

Its not perfect but a start…that will improve over time.

Tom

Thanks @wtreese for sharing this, and the time spent on running all the scripts. It’s nice to see a new talked-about tool used on a subject I know well. The cute part is the language is readable. In terms of content is is clear that it struggles. GPT relies on a large source pool and there won’t be a vast amount of writing on Tinderbox.

The first 2 questions are so general as to be about PKM tools in general. The Agent question begins to go awry and by the one on links it’s just making stuff up and using Tinderbox terminology pretty randomly.

So for writing generic marketing info ChatGPT seems pretty good. For actual Help, not so much. Our weakness is we want it to be good so we forgive the flaws because “it’s close enough”. Easily enough said if not personally relying on actual helpful data. That’s not to be negative. For certain uses (mainly needing very generic text) it’s probably useable now. For an online consultation with my (artifical) ‘local doctor’? Perhaps not. :slight_smile:

I’m also preparing for a lot of documentation of products and services of all types to get distinctly worse as companies “just ChatGPT it”. What could possibly go wrong?

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I’m not that surprised that it knows so much. ChatGPT or better yet, the underlying model GPT3 has pulled billions of records for the Internet to train itself.

On one hand, I think using services like ChatCPT is a boon for knowledge exploration; apply them to Blooms Taxonomy they are wonderful for Kickstarter for one’s exploration into a topic. ChatGPT, as it is today, can be useful for helping people remember and understand concepts. Yes, it will have errors, but who/what doesn’t? It is the learner’s responsibility not to take every answer at face value but to test the knowledge provided and to see if it is accurate and works properly in their context.

Where I think AI falls down today is in the application, analysis, evaluation, and creation steps of learning. I don’t see ChatGPT helping just yet with guiding someone through the steps of abstraction thinking and helping the learner consider their input and envision the necessary output to achieve their goal. It is not clear to me, as I’ve not asked it the questions if ChatGPT can effectively write action code or export code. And here lies the rub. Even if ChatGPT could give the appropriate or near-appropriate action code and export code (which, at this stage, I would highly doubt), this would enable someone to perform a task but would not necessarily help them in thinking. It would enslave them to the tool. Yes, short-term that can get something done and done faster, but are they really learning and growing? They could get an output, but they’d still know why their getting that output or out the various values of complex attribute relationships are coming together to help produce meaningful knowledge that is relevant to their immediate context.

There is so much value to be had with these tools, but we also need to take care.

As an aside, @rtalexander and I (most Roger) have been working on an effort to connect GhatGPT with Tinderbox through the command line. Basically, you put a question in $Text and the answer comes back to another note in $Text. Roger tells me he is getting close, can’t wait to see the result.

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