How to use Pesterless
A complete, practical guide to effortless follow-ups.
Pesterless is a calm personal CRM designed to keep relationships warm without pipelines, dashboards, or busywork. This page shows you exactly how to use every feature — whether you’re already a user or just exploring.
Plan availability
Look for these labels throughout the guide to see what’s included in each plan.
Quick start
Your first useful follow-up in about 10 minutes.
Quick start
Your first useful follow-up in about 10 minutes.
This is the fastest path to “I know who I need to follow up with — and when”.
- Sign in using your email magic link at
/login. - Add your first contact (or import CSV) via
/contacts. - Log an interaction using the big + button (bottom-right) and write a one-line note.
- Set the follow-up date (e.g. 3 days, 1 week).
- Open Daily Focus to see what’s due.
- Configure reminder emails in
/settingsso the habit sticks.
What “good” looks like
If you only do one thing: after every meaningful interaction, log it and pick the next follow-up date. Daily Focus then becomes a calm, trustworthy to-do list.
The core loop: Who / What / When
The minimum data that keeps follow-ups effortless.
Who
The person (or team) you’re following up with.
What
The context you’ll want to remember later.
When
The next date you want this relationship to resurface.
Daily Focus
Your calm daily list: pinned, overdue, due today, and upcoming.
How the list is organised
Daily Focus is designed to answer: “Who should I follow up with next?”
You’ll see four sections: Pinned, Overdue, Due Today, and Upcoming.
- Pinned stays at the top, even if a contact has no next date.
- Upcoming is intentionally short: it shows follow-ups coming up in the next week. Long-range contacts still exist, but they won’t overwhelm today’s focus.
Upcoming shows the next 7 days only. If you’re thinking longer-term, pin key relationships to keep them in Active Focus.
Pro tip: snooze without guilt
If you can’t follow up today, use the 1w / 2w / 1m snooze chips right on the list. Your follow-up doesn’t disappear — it simply becomes realistic again.
Contacts
Create, search, archive, and keep lightweight context per person.
What you can do on the Contacts page
Contacts is your “address book + relationship intent”.
- Search by name, email, or company.
- Switch between Active and Archived.
- Add a contact (name required, purpose optional).
- Import/export CSV for peace of mind and portability.
CSV export includes
name, email, company, purpose, last_context, next_touch_at
Use YYYY-MM-DD for next_touch_at.
Import tip
If you’re migrating from a spreadsheet, import contacts with a meaningful last_context and a sensible next_touch_at. Then start logging real interactions going forward.
Logging interactions
Two places to log: Quick Capture (fast) and the contact page (deep).
Quick Capture (the big +)
Best for: logging in under 30 seconds.
Use it when you want speed: choose an existing contact or create a new one, write the context note, pick “follow up in…”, then save.
This creates an interaction and updates the contact’s recap automatically.
Contact page
Best for: pin/snooze/archive, richer context, and Pro features.
The contact page keeps “Recent” context handy (last recap + last 5 interactions), and lets you set the next touch date again when you log your next interaction.
If you’re a Pro user, this is also where activities can be recorded and filtered.
The one rule that makes Pesterless work
Every time you log an interaction, set the next follow-up date. That’s what keeps Daily Focus accurate, and that’s what prevents relationships from quietly going cold.
Reminder emails
Make the habit stick: configure when and how you want nudges.
Configure reminders in Settings
Settings lets you tune reminders so they’re helpful, not noisy.
- Choose your timezone so “today” matches your day.
- Pick a reminder time window (emails are sent within that hour).
- Optional quiet hours prevent reminders during off-hours.
- Free supports daily frequency; Solo+ adds weekday / twice-weekly options.
- Solo+ can enable an overdue digest to help clear backlog.
This is a Solo+ feature — upgrade to unlock it.
Quick Notes
Save typing with reusable templates (Solo+).
How Quick Notes work
Write once, reuse everywhere you log interactions.
Quick Notes are snippets you can insert while writing an interaction note. They can include variables like {{name}} and {{company}} so text auto-fills from the current contact.
Example Quick Note template
Hi {{name}} — quick one:
- Here’s the update:
- Next step:
- Timing:
(Thanks!)
This is a Solo+ feature — upgrade to unlock it.
Activities & History
Pro features for a richer relationship timeline and review.
Activities (Pro)
Record touchpoints like email, calls, meetings, LinkedIn, etc.
Activities live on each contact. You can add a kind, date, and an optional note, then filter by kind and date range.
This is a Pro feature — upgrade to unlock it.
History (Pro)
A full timeline across interactions, activities, and reminder sends.
Use History when you want to search across your entire timeline or review trend metrics. It also supports exporting a snapshot for your own records.
This is a Pro feature — upgrade to unlock it.
Keyboard shortcuts
Speed features (Solo+) plus Pro-only power shortcuts.
Most useful shortcuts
You can always open in-app help with ?.
Starter set
- ? — show shortcuts (all plans)
- g then c — new contact (Solo+)
- g then q — quick capture (Solo+)
- / — focus contacts search (Solo+)
- ⌘/Ctrl + K — command palette (Pro)
Tip: shortcuts are context-aware — some only work when a list is focused, or when you’re on a contact detail page.
Faster capture shortcuts are a Solo+ feature — upgrade to unlock them.
Export, privacy & deletion
You control your data: export contacts, and request deletion anytime.
Data safety basics
Practical information, not legalese.
- Export contacts as CSV from the Contacts page.
- Account deletion can be requested from Settings (access removed immediately).
- App data is purged after a retention period (see Data Retention policy).
Ready to make follow-ups effortless?
Start free, log one real interaction, and let Daily Focus keep your relationships warm.