Introduction to Microsoft To-Do

Since we're talking about todos, I built a screensaver todo list the other day, and it has helped me a lot.

my main issue with todo lists was that I forget to look at them. Once I'm at my desk I get my head stuck in work and forget to call dave or email chris or whatever. So I built a screensaver, set to 1 minute delay, which displays my todo list. It simply reads a text file from dropbox with some UTf8 icons at the start of each line.

Every time I go for tea or take a toilet break its the first thing I see when I get back. I wish I'd done it years ago

Don't Microsoft own Wunderlist? My theory is that if you observe a large cluster of developers for long enough, todo apps simply manifest into being.

None as good as Lanes though, https://lanes.io. Obviously ;)

I've never quite found a TODO-app I like. They are all too constrained. Kinda like using jira/trello instead of a physical board with post its. It limits the creativity.

I use OneNote and just add things everywhere I feel like it. Different folders, pages and scattered across a single page. Full freedom, instead of a simple list.

RIP Wunderlist, a shame they've decided to sacrifice a product with a good loyal following and brand for their own branded one, but alas. :(

I used to love to-do apps and use them often, but after becoming a Google Inbox user I'll have a hard time switching. Having all action items in one place that are snoozeable to a specific time is huge for me.

One of my biggest asks from todo apps like this is that my todos be kept private. I need encrypted sync so that the authors can't just go and read them... so I'm basically left with todotxt and emacs org-mode as options and then using SyncThing to get todos to my server.

Not that those are poor or anything, org-mode is probably the richest tool around, just that I lose out on a lot of nice UI to get it.

To do lists need less "simplicity" and more artifical intelligence. Imagine that you were jotting down things to do for a personal assistant to organize and clarify for you.

* Text entry should be free form. I want to scribble a note to myself, or mumble something into my phone as it crosses my mind - I'm ADD, any step, however minute, between the thought crossing my mind and being recorded risks it being lost forever.

* Repeated tasks should be noticed and auto entered (always go food shopping, and do laundry on Sunday?)

* Tasks should be grouped automatically. Lots of "buy this" or "pick up that" and "meet there" can be organized pretty easily.

* Things to remember are different from tasks. I have to go food shopping - that's a task. Each item in that shopping list isn't a separate task.

* Tasks don't live by themselves. Phone numbers, email addresses, directions, instructions all need to be recorded, used and not lost because that tasks was marked as complete.

* Some to do items are never complete: Exercise, regular checkups, eating right, going to sleep on time. Your personal assistant would remind you about these things.

* Automatically breakdown to-dos into steps. You write down, "get coffee filters", your task assistant adds in "open Amazon.com, log in, search for coffee filters, hit buy now."

* Reminders and alerts and other ways of getting in your face is the principal 80% of tasks. Writing it down is simple and easy. Actually remembering, then doing the tasks suck.

* Done lists are great as well - don't just hide tasks once they're done, show a daily list of things accomplished. Get a seinfeldesque checkbox for completing all your tasks.

I must be dense or something but never in my life have I ever found todo apps useful. Note taking apps, yes. The odd shopping list on the back of an envelope, sure. The odd text document now and then while I work, sometimes. But taking time out to make a list of things to check off and then going back and checking them off. Sorry I have better things to do, and no I have not made a list.

A simple text file has always been far faster and more useful to me than any of these to-do apps. Lately it's migrated to a text file on dropbox, or using google docs or box notes for cloud sync.

There's also TaskPaper which is nice but only on Mac https://www.taskpaper.com/

Looks nice, and reassures me that if MS is spending money building a to-do app I wasn't so crazy after all for building my own :-) https://five.today/

My Documents, My Downloads, My Computer... and now My Day.

I've found that nothing works for me like a written list -- it's the act of writing out the to-do that helps me remember it for some reason (I usually don't have to look at it again if I've written it, but I won't remember if I've typed it -- I've tried a bunch of different formats). Plus I take a weird pleasure in manually crossing items off.

The requirement that Wunderlist never met is the ability to VERY QUICKLY from ANY screen add a to-do without CONTEXT SWITCHING. Todoist was the only one that provided this 3 years ago with a sticky notification in Android. I was a paid user for 1 out of 3 years (not currently paying). I would pay if the price was closer to the LastPass pro price, $1 per month, $12 per year

My todo app of choice is asana (http://asana.com).

You can start from a simple todo list... but each task can have sub-tasks, dates, attachments, etc. Meaning that you can add hierarchy and additional information if you need it.

It also has mobile apps, at least for iOS and Android.

I switched to Trello from Wunderlist a long time ago - The syncing was much faster, and the usability is brilliant. Creating new lists to work use a new system (currently 4 quadrant matrix) makes it very flexible.

Excellent! But being a Microsoft Launch, I would expect a Windows Phone version!

Does it have a public API?

Howdy, Is the source available somewhere we can inspect it?