document modes

three ways into the page.

When you log in, Free Association asks what kind of document you want to begin. Each mode creates a new document with a different starting shape. Only Outline includes AI assistance.

01 / free

Freely Associate

A quiet blank document for the moment before a thought has a category. Use it for fragments, scenes, essays, poems, letters, or anything that needs to begin without a form telling it what to become.

  • Opens a fresh untitled writing document.
  • Keeps the full editor toolset available.
  • Works with focus and typewriter modes when you want less interface.
Free Association - today

The first sentence does not need to know where it is going.

It only needs enough nerve to arrive before the second one.

The outline can wait. The title can wait. The page is listening.

02 / journal

Journal

Journal mode gives the day a container. It starts with the date and a set of prompts that make reflection easy without making it rigid.

  • Creates a dated journal document automatically.
  • Includes mood, place, events, observations, gratitude, and tomorrow's question.
  • Uses a warmer document surface that feels closer to paper.
Monday, May 18, 2026
Mood: steady Weather: marine layer Place: kitchen table

Morning entry

I woke up with the same sentence in my head and finally wrote it down.

What I noticed

The good ideas returned when I stopped trying to make them useful immediately.

Tomorrow's question

03 / outline + AI

Outline

Outline mode is for projects that need a spine. Start with a structured planning document, then ask AI to generate a draft outline or point out missing pieces.

  • Creates project, audience, outcome, constraints, open questions, and next actions sections.
  • Shows an AI assistant panel only inside Outline mode.
  • Keeps suggestions separate until you choose to insert them.
Outline - today

Project: oral history archive

One sentence version:Turn scattered interviews into a public listening guide.

Outline

1. Purpose- preserve voices before context disappears

2. Audience- students, families, local historians

3. Next actions- tag interviews, choose excerpts, draft intro

choose a mode when the next document starts.

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