Appearance
Home
Home is the first thing you see when you open Pencel. It gathers everything that needs you from every Program in one place, with the most important item first. If you only check one screen each morning, check this one.
What's on Home
From top to bottom:
- A greeting and a count, such as "3 decisions waiting".
- The message box, where you can ask Pencel for anything. See Ask Pencel for anything.
- Your cards, ranked with decisions first.
- Today's calendar and your To-dos, in the column on the right.
The first time you open Pencel, Home also shows setup cards that help you pick your first Program and tell Pencel about your business. See the Quickstart.
Cards
Each card is one thing a Program found, finished or needs from you. Click a card to open its details on the right.
Decisions come first. These are cards you can act on right from Home:
| Card | What you do |
|---|---|
| An approval, such as a reply ready to send | Approve or Reject |
| A bid Pencel thinks fits, "Pursue …?" | Pursue or Pass |
| A bid you submitted | Mark it Won or Lost |
| A to-do that's due | Mark done or Run with agent |
| Work that "couldn't finish" | See why, then fix or retry |
Updates come next. A briefing or result from one of your rooms. Open it to read the full result, or go to the room to follow up.
"Pencel needs" cards ask for a fact only you know, such as your payment terms or your service area. Type or pick an answer and click Save. Every room uses your answer from then on, and it's saved in Knowledge. If the question doesn't apply to you, click Not relevant and Pencel won't ask again.
Source cards tell you when Pencel couldn't reach something it needed, such as "HigherGov wasn't searched". Each one says why and offers a fix, like Add my own key or Sign in. The card disappears on its own once the next search works.
Home shows signal, not noise
A room that found nothing new doesn't post "nothing to report". Each subject gets one card, so a bid that needs a decision shows up once as a decision, not twice. Routine updates stay in their rooms.
Sort and filter
The row above your cards lets you narrow the list:
- Needs action shows only cards waiting on you. All shows everything.
- Topic chips such as Customers, Money and Operations, and record chips such as Opportunities, filter by subject.
- The search chip finds a card by its words.
- The order menu switches between Importance, Most recent and Oldest. With Importance, How Home prioritized this view explains the ranking.
To clear a card you don't need, click × (Dismiss from Home). The toast that appears has Undo if you change your mind.
Ask Pencel for anything
The message box at the top of Home works in two modes:
- Run ("Ask, do, or automate anything…"). Ask a question or give a one-off task: "Summarize my week", "What did the bid room find yesterday?", "Draft a thank-you note to the Acme team." Attach a file with the paperclip, or click the microphone to speak.
- Build ("Describe a process to build…"). Describe something you want done regularly and Pencel helps you turn it into a routine. See Turn a request into a routine.
Type /todo to add a to-do with a title, priority and due date without leaving Home.
Today's calendar and To-dos
The column on the right shows:
- Today's calendar (once you connect Google). Click Prep on a meeting and Pencel gets you ready for it, or add a To-do or Follow-up to-do for it.
- To-dos. Type in "Add a to-do and press Enter…", check items off, or click ▶ to have a teammate work on one. See all opens the full To-dos page. See To-dos.
Common questions
Home is empty. Is something wrong? No. Home fills as your Programs work. If you haven't set one up yet, click Add a program, or go back to the Quickstart. Rooms that found nothing new stay quiet on purpose.
Where did Pulse go? Pulse was Pencel's older results page. Everything it showed now lives on Home, your to-dos have their own page, and run history is in Studio ▸ Jobs.
Do I have to act on everything? No. Cards that need an approval wait until you decide, and nothing is sent or changed without you. Updates are for reading. Dismiss anything you don't need.