Tickler file

Each day, the folder having the current date is retrieved from the tickler file so that any documents within it may be acted on.

Essentially, a tickler file provides a way to send a reminder to oneself in the future—"tickling" one's memory.

One common implementation was in law offices in the early twentieth century, if not before, where small task cards or "tickler cards" would be filed by date and then distributed to lawyers as legal tasks such as renewal of trademarks, updating of wills, and filing of motions for a particular case would be approaching.

Modern tickler files are often electronic and now fulfilled via software programmed for automatic reminders and tracking.

In larger institutional uses, a tickler file would be chronological, with one section for each year or day, sometimes encompassing more than a century in as much detail as appropriate (especially for dates far in the future).