It is a tool that allows you to incubate those things that you do not need to remember until a specific time in the future. When you put something in the Tickler File, it is like sending an email to yourself knowing that you will receive it at the right time in the future.

It serves the GTD premise of getting out of your head the inputs that you are not going to do anything about right now, keeping the confidence that they can be recovered at the moment when the need for some action arises.

There are two types of items that you can effectively manage with the help of the Tickler File:

1. Things that are not actionable right now, but may be in the future.
2. Future actions that you do not need or want to remember until it's time to take care of them.