Fans and followers of the Getting Things Done personal productivity system have hacked all sorts of ways to GTD in different applications, from Microsoft Outlook to plain text to Gmail.But one of Google Labs' less-hyped applications, Notebook, is verywell-suited to instant capture and easy processing of your GTD lists.

Today I've got the scoop on how to manage your inbox, projects, next actions and someday/maybe lists with Google Notebook.

First things first: if you haven't read Getting Things Done,you're missing out. The fast read is well worth the 9 bucks, and evenif it doesn't turn you into a full-on disciple of The David, it will atleast install the seeds of some new good habits into your cluttered,distracted mind. For the reader's digest version, check out the Getting Things Done Wikipedia page.

Second: why Google Notebook? While there are dozens of online listmakers, Google Notebook is flexible enough (ie, not just a list) foryou to work and tweak your GTD system to your liking. It can captureinformation anywhere on the web with a mature browser extension and itcomes with Google's signature killer search capabilities. Plus, usingNotebook's collaboration features, you could allow your spouse orco-worker to drop things into your Inbox for you to process later.Sure, desktop apps like Thinking Rock and iGTDare cool, but for people who live in a web browser, Notebookautomatically includes links in notes (including individual Gmailmessages) and its contents are available from any computer where you'relogged into your Google Account.

Set up your GTD Notebooks

Ready to give this a try? Log into your Google Account and head over to Notebook.To get started you want to create 5 new notebooks, representing theclassic GTD silos: Inbox, Next Actions, Projects, Someday/Maybe andReference. I like to prepend "GTD" to the beginning of each notebooktitle so that I can sort them alphabetically and separate them fromother notebooks I might have set up.

A quick refresher of the purpose of these buckets for those who've fallen off the GTD wagon:

• Inbox. Here's where unprocessed thoughts - "open loops" as David Allen calls them - get dropped off for dealing with later. Pop-up thoughts, half-baked notions and "Oh! I should..." go here.
• Next Actions. This is your immediate, actionable to-do list, a few specific items you've decided to carry out in the next few days.
• Someday/Maybe. Here's where the things you might like to do someday - but you're not committed to right now - get shuttled.
• Projects. Big jobs that are made up of a collection of subtasks are not next actions, they're projects. For example, the "Clean out the office" job is made up of several next actions (ie, "Take out the garbage," "Rearrange the book shelves," "Purge filing cabinet.")
• Reference. Research into a topic that you'll need to carry out a next action or refer back to for a particular project goes here. For example, this is where you'd store links to the hotel, flight information and maps of a travel destination.

Once you've got the 5 GTD areas set up, it's time to move your infoin. To add to a notebook (say, "Next Actions"), click on it and hit the"New Note" button. From there you can type your item (like "Depositchecks") or add a section header. Headers are useful for separatinginformation into different categories in a notebook. For example, in myNext Actions notebook, I separate items under Context headers (like@Phone, @Desk, @Shopping Center.)

In my Projects notebook, each header represents a single project, and so on.

Quick Capture with the GNotebook Firefox extension

Now that you've got a simple GTD framework set up with Notebook, youwant to quickly capture items you come across on the web, or thatarrive in your email inbox for processing later. Here's where theamazing Google Notebook browser extension (available for both Firefox and IE6) comes in extremely handy. Download and install it in your browser to give it a try.

With the extension installed, if you come across something on a webpage you want to add to your system, you can highlight text on thepage, and click the Notebook icon in your browser chrome. Using the"Clip" button, the extension will instantaneously enter the selectedtext with a link back to the source.

Gmail users will love this for incoming requests via email; Notebookwill add a link back to the individual message you've quoted andclipped.

Inbox processing and Weekly Review

Once you're in the habit of capturing your information in your GTDnotebooks, it's a matter of processing your stuff. Each day, reviewunprocessed items in your inbox and like a good GTD'er, decide whetherto Do, Delegate or Defer it.

To move an item from your Inbox notebook into its right place in thesystem, from the drop down menu on the far right side of it, choose"Move." From there you'll be able to choose another notebook andsection, as pictured.

Let others drop things into your inbox

In a physical office space, anyone can come by and drop a piece ofpaper into your inbox. Using Google Notebook to GTD, you can share yourInbox notebook with your spouse, boss, partner or co-worker virtually.To do so, click the "Sharing Options" link on the far right top side ofthe notebook.

Word of advice: just share your Inbox, not your Projects or NextActions list. In theory the Inbox is the single entry point into yourGTD system, so it's the only one others should access.

Finally, to automate GNotebook backup to your local machine for peace of mind and offline access, see how to schedule local backups of your notebook with wget.

While Google Notebook is great at simply being a web clipping andannotation tool, it's flexible enough to help you organize your tasksand projects, too. Got any questions or thoughts about GTD'ing withNotebook? Give us a holler in the comments. —Gina Trapani

Gina Trapani, the editor of Lifehacker, digs Google Notebook. Her weekly feature, Geek to Live, appears every Wednesday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Geek to Live feed to get new installments in your newsreader.