I’m revisiting the the topic of my to-do list. Some things that are important to me for a task list:
- Rapid capture of new tasks
- Available online, offline, and mobile (e.g. carry-with in pocket or accessible via cell phone)
- Supports manual sequencing of tasks (e.g. This item goes here in the list.)
- Supports nesting of tasks
- Cross-platform
- TheGTD concept of 'contexts' would be nice. However, in my current situation I have many non-exclusive contexts. For example, when I'm at the office at my desk, I'm simultaneously in the Phone, Computer, and Office contexts; when I'm at home, I'm simultaneously in the Phone, Computer, and Home contexts.
- Ability to capture task notes along with the task title (typically an email body).
- Note: I can type much faster than I can write; much, much faster than I can write legibly.
The three I currently consider viable are index cards, todoist.com, and Evernote. Checkvist and tonido are worth watching, in the event they add missing functionality. I’d like online and offline, but if I can’t get both, online is more important because I can use it from all my computers.
- Index cards are simple, but I can type much faster than I write, and they get to be cumbersome when you've got 150 open tasks.
- Evernoteshould be a really good fit, but it isn't really an outliner or a to-do list, so it is adequate at all and great at none.
- Todoist isn't bad. Backups are via http://www.kinggary.com/tools/todoist-export.php, or you can write your own using the API.
In the table below, Y = Yes, N = No, P = Partially, or with some
issues/limits. On = Online, Off = Offline, Mob = Mobile, Nes = Nesting
tasks, Seq = Sequencing, Kbd = Good keyboard interface, CGrp = Context
Groups, Rap = Rapid entry, Bak = backups are feasible
| Tool | On | Off | Mob | Nes | Seq | Kbd | CGrp | Rap | Bak | Notes |
| Index Cards | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | P | N | Hard to see the complete list. Sorting and grouping can be slow when you have a lot.
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| Outlook | N | Y | P | N | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| rmilk.com | Y | Y | Y | N | N | N | Y | Y | Y |
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| Evernote | Y | Y | Y | P | Y | P | N | Y | Y |
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| Orchestrate | Y | N | N | N | ? | N | Y | N | ? | No recent dev |
| Todoist | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Use the Firefox sidebar. Write your own back-up using their API. It isn't hard.
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| MLO | N | Y | ? | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
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| Bonsai | N | Y | P | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
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| tadalists | Y | N | N | N | Y | N | N | N | Y | Can't edit a task! |
| OneNote | N | Y | ? | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
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| Todo.txt | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Adding task notes is not elegant.
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| ToDoList (abstractspoon) | N | Y | ? | Y | Y | Y | ? | Y | Y |
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| Toodledo | Y | N | N | N | N | ? | ? | N | ? |
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| Tudumo | N | Y | N | N | ? | Y | ? | ? | Y | Windows only |
| Tiddlywiki | ? | Y | N | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y |
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| Excel | N | Y | P | P | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
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| Backpack | Y | N | N | N | Y | N | N | Y | Y |
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| Checkvist | Y | N | N | Y | Y | Y! | N | N | Y | No filters. Tags are on their radar. Really nice, if they add tags and rapid entry.
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| Jello | N | Y | N | Y | N | N | Y | Y | Y |
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| Google Tasks | Y | N | N | Y | Y | Y | N | N | N | Attached to GMail; employers block web mail. |
| eyeos.org |
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Doesn't do tasks yet (April 2009). DIY Google apps plus file sharing. |
| groundos.org |
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Releases May 1, 2009. DIY Google apps plus file sharing. Don't see tasks mentioned. |
| tonido.com | Y | N | Y | N | N | N | N | N | Y | DIY Google apps plus file sharing. Does do tasks. |
| getontracks.org | P | P | Y | N | N | N
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Y | N | Y | Either web OR local |
| TaskToy | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |
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| Task Coach | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | ? | ? | Y | Windows, Mac, Linux - no synch |
| TaskToMe | N | Y | N |
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a basic, Windows-only task program |
| SwiftToDoList |
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way too expensive |
| Vitalist | Y | N | Y | Y | ? | ? | ? | Y | ? | $5 per month to get past free limits |
| Task2Gather | Y | N | Y | ? | ? | N | ? | N | Y | I was unable to figure out how to nest tasks. UI is hard to use. |
| Enleiten | Y | N | N | N | N | N | ? | N | ? |
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| HiTask | Y | N | N | N | ? | N | ? | N | ? |
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| Nozbe | Y | N | N | N | Y | N | ? | N | ? |
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Lazailess - way too under-powered and slow
GTDAgennda.com - similar to Tracks, but not free.
MojoNote - too underpowered
Pityfish.com - too underpowered
Awesome Note on the iPhone synched with Google Docs or Evernote - neither priority nor due date synch. I’m not going to use a to-do list where I can’t see these fields on my PC.