When Scout closes an item for you
Most items in your Inbox settle themselves. The reply lands, the invoice clears, the supplier acknowledges the purchase order — and the thing Scout was watching for happens. When that happens, Scout closes the item, writes down exactly what resolved it, and tells the people who were waiting, so the work is not done twice.
What an evidence settlement is
Every point Scout raises is waiting for something specific. An evidence settlement is Scout observing that exact thing in a connected source and closing the item on the strength of it. The item leaves your Inbox and appears in Settled marked Cleared by evidence.
Typical examples in a promo shop:
- "Nudge Maya on the bandana proof" closes because Maya replied.
- "INV-1029 drifting past due" closes because the payment posted in QuickBooks Online.
- "Alpha Apparel never acknowledged the tee purchase order" closes because the acknowledgement arrived.
The receipt Scout writes
Open an evidence-settled item in Settled and the receipt says what happened in one sentence, naming the proof, the moment and the source — for example: "Scout closed this itself: Alpha Apparel acknowledged the purchase order on July 29 at 2:41 PM (GMAIL), which is exactly the evidence the signal was waiting for. No action was needed from you." If the outcome had a value — a rush fee avoided, money collected — the receipt carries that too, and it is what the Found ledger is built from.
The receipt is immutable. It is not edited later, and a newer action cannot rewrite it.
The notification, and why it exists
Closing is a meaningful change, so Scout notifies anyone who held the item and anyone following it, through whichever channels those people have turned on — email, Slack, or both. The point of the message is not the closure; it is to stop two people chasing the same reply. If the item was yours and you were mid-way through drafting a nudge, the notification is what tells you to stop.
Scout never notifies you about something you did yourself. In an evidence settlement Scout is the actor, so everyone eligible hears about it.
Why you cannot reopen an evidence settlement
Items that a person closed — Handled or Dismissed — can be reopened from Settled with Add back to the Inbox. Items that Scout closed on evidence cannot. Instead, the Settled detail says: "Scout will raise a new point if the source evidence changes and more work is needed."
That is deliberate. The old point recorded a fact — the reply arrived on this date, the invoice cleared at this amount. Reopening it would put a resolved fact back into your action item list as though it were unresolved. If the situation genuinely changes (the payment bounces, the acknowledgement turns out to cover the wrong quantity), the change is itself new evidence, and Scout raises a fresh point with the new proof attached. You get a clean item with an accurate history rather than a reused one with a confusing one.
The other ways an item can leave your Inbox
| How it closed | Shown in Settled as | Can it be reopened? |
|---|---|---|
| A person closed it | Handled | Yes, by an Owner, Admin, or a Member on their own or their team's work |
| A person dismissed it, with a required note | Dismissed | Yes, same rule |
| Scout closed it on evidence | Cleared by evidence | No — Scout raises a new point instead |
| An Owner or Admin muted it for everyone | Suppressed | Only by an Owner or Admin |
| Nobody claimed it and its date passed | It goes to the Lapsed shelf, not Settled | Claim it to revive it |
Good to know
- An evidence settlement is not Scout acting on your behalf. Scout read a source and recorded what it saw; it did not reply, pay, or change a record anywhere.
- Nothing is deleted. Settled is append-only, and it is the record the precision score and Found are built from.
- If an item vanished and you cannot find it in Settled, check the Lapsed shelf, check whether you hid it for yourself, and check whether its due date moved outside your window.
- Scout can only settle on evidence from a source it is actually connected to. Work that happens entirely on the phone is work Scout cannot see, and those items wait for a person.