Organise your Bots: sections, pins, names and colours

How this helps you

You find the right Bot in a second and can see what each one does just from its name and colour.

✦ Try it

Change the look of my Bots so I can tell them apart at a glance: make every Bot in my [Business] section [red] and every Bot in my [Personal] section [blue]. Keep their names. Then list any Bot whose name doesn't make its job obvious and suggest a short, clear new name for each. Don't rename anything until I approve.

Fill in: [Business] / [Personal]: your section names. [red] / [blue]: colours you want per section.

What they did

Once you have more than a few Bots, finding the right one gets slow. Jay of RoboNuggets shows the tidy-up he uses. Right-click a Bot in the sidebar to move it into a section (for example business and personal) and pin the Bots you use most to the top. Click a Bot's icon to change its shape and colour, generate a new picture or upload one, or just tell your main Bot something like 'make all my business Bots red and personal ones blue' and it does it for you. He also thinks names matter more than people expect: a generic name like Jason doesn't tell you the job, and a long one like 'scripting social media assistant' is a pain to type or say every time you mention it. He picks short, clear names (Groko for his main Bot, Seo for security, Travo for travel). The official how-to confirms the steps for sections: on desktop right-click a Bot, choose Move to new section (or Move to), and rename the section; on iOS touch and hold. Sections sync between phone and desktop, and deleting a section moves its Bots to Unassigned without deleting them.

Who it's for: Anyone with five or more Bots who spends time hunting for the right one.

Before you start

Two or more Bots in your sidebar.

How to try it

On desktop, right-click a Bot and choose Move to new section (or Move to, then a section). On iPhone, touch and hold the Bot.
Right-click the section name and choose Rename to name it after the project, client or area of life.
Pin the two or three Bots you open every day so they stay at the top.
Rename Bots with unclear names: right-click and choose Rename Bot, or double-click the name.
Ask your main Bot to recolour Bots by section with the prompt below.

What to expect

Your sidebar grouped into named sections with your daily Bots pinned, Bots coloured by area, and a short list of suggested renames for you to approve.

Common mistakes

Names you can't say quickly. You'll mention Bots in chat and voice; short and clear wins.
Worrying that deleting a section deletes Bots. Per the official how-to, they move to Unassigned.
Hiding a Bot you still need alerts from. A hidden Bot keeps working but doesn't send notifications.
Typing a long name to mention a Bot. A viewer points out you can type @ and pick it from the list.

Related tips

Pick a main Bot so it can see and delegate across your team: A main Bot gets wider visibility into your other Bots, messages you first, and hands work out.
One job per Bot: Give each Bot one job and a list of things it never does.
Build a three-Bot starter team: Scout, Shopper and Desk: One Bot researches and checks sources, one shops and stops before checkout, one learns a weekly task by watching you once.