Universe

Universe draws your lists as a graph you can move around in. You pick which kind of connection to draw, and each one is a genuinely different picture of the same account.

Universe is part of Twos Plus. Plusfree for accounts made before July 22, 2026

Why you'd care#

It is the only view that shows structure rather than contents. Clusters, orphans and the one list everything points at are all obvious in a graph and invisible in a list.

It is genuinely useful roughly twice a year, and worth the look each time.

Where to find it#

Universe is not in the nav bar or the side menu by default, which is the main reason people never find it. Add it in Settings → Appearance & Accessibility → Customize navigation, under Available views.

The five dimensions#

A dropdown above the graph picks what the lines mean. Only one is drawn at a time, because they are not comparable and overlaying them would be a hairball.

Each sits behind its own feature, so a dimension you have not unlocked shows a crown and opens the paywall rather than switching the map. One you own but have switched off in Your Features does not appear at all.

Sublists#

Edges come from sublist nesting: a parent list connects to each list inside it. This is the structural view, so what you are looking at is the shape of how your lists contain one another.

Collaborators#

Edges come from sharing. People become nodes alongside lists, and each shared list connects to the people it is shared with, so the clusters are the groups you work with rather than the way your lists nest.

This dimension has its own filters:

• Owned by me or Shared with me, so you can look at one side of your sharing at a time.
• Then an access filter, which changes meaning with the choice above it. On your own lists it filters by their access, meaning what you granted other people. On lists shared with you it filters by your access, meaning what you were granted. Either way the levels are Owner, Admin, Editor, Viewer and Saved.

See collaborating on a list.

Tags#

Each tag becomes a hub, and the lists it reaches orbit it. Tapping a hub shows each list, how many tagged things it holds, and one of them as an example, so you can see what is actually tagged rather than only how much.

A row of pills picks which half to draw:

• On things, meaning lists holding things that carry the tag.
• On lists, meaning lists that carry the tag themselves. These are two different relationships and a list can have both.

This is the one dimension that keeps day lists. Most tagging happens while writing the day, so dropping them the way every other dimension does would empty the map rather than tidy it.

Backlinks#

Edges come from mentions: a thing in one list that mentions another list draws a line from the first to the second. Tapping a list shows what it links to and what links back, with the text of the linking thing on each row, because that is the only place the graph can tell you what the connection actually was.

Clones#

A clone group becomes a hub labelled with the thing's own text, and the lists holding a copy orbit it. The hub is the point: a clone group is a thing, so drawing list to list would say two lists are connected without ever saying by what.

Every dimension#

A connection-count slider decides how many connections a node needs to stay on the map, which is what keeps a large account legible.

Going further#

Orphans are the useful finding. A list connected to nothing is either genuinely standalone or forgotten, and it is usually the second.

The first three are instant, the last three are not. Sublists and Collaborators build from lists your device already has, so they paint immediately and work offline. Tags, Backlinks and Clones read your things, which means one trip to the server the first time you open them in a session.

An empty graph usually means you do not use that connection. No sublists, no nesting to draw. No mentions, no backlinks. That is accurate rather than broken, and the other dimensions are right there.

Clones only counts your own things. Copy someone else's thing once and you own a single member of that group, so there is nothing to connect and it does not appear.

Turn the slider up first. Everything at once is a hairball. Raise the minimum connection count and the shape appears.

Tips#

• Use it after a big cleanup to see whether the structure matches your intent.
• The Collaborators dimension is the faster way to answer "who can see what". Filter to Shared with me and it is a picture of everything you have been given.
• Tags is the one to open if you journal. It shows which of your tags are reference and which are habit.
• If the graph is a hairball, that is a finding, not a rendering problem.

Related#

• Sublists, which the Sublists dimension draws
• Collaborating on a list, which the Collaborators dimension draws
• Tags, which the Tags dimension draws
• Mentions and backlinks, which the Backlinks dimension draws
• Clones, which the Clones dimension draws