My Current Setup and its Limitations

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Posted by Luhmann
Nov 9, 2015 at 07:36 AM

For task management I currently use Todoist.

I chose it because:

1. it works well across the platforms I use: browser, OS X, and iOS, and is tightly integrated into those platforms. I especially like the way it is integrated into Gmail. On iOS I use CloudMagic for email which also integrates with Todoist. The Todoist share sheets on iOS and the Gmail and browser plugins on Chrome on the desktop, mean I can easily add almost anything I see directly to my Inbox or an existing project.

2. Although I pay for the premium version to get filters, tagging, and attachments, I can collaborate with other people without them having to pay a dime. The fact that it works on Windows and Android also means that I can collaborate across platforms. The comments system works well and keeps conversation centered around individual tasks, which is very useful.

3. Support for repeating tasks is excellent and very important to me.

Todoist’s limitations:

A. My biggest frustration is the lack of proper “start dates” as required for a good GTD system. I cheat by adding due dates in the description and making the Todoist “due date” be my actual start date. Then I see it in my Today box when I should start the task. But this is less than ideal.

B. I also find some of the limitations of the iOS version frustrating. For instance, there is no “move to history” command on iOS like on the desktop. And on the desktop you can see sub-projects when clicking on a project but not on iOS, which only shows one level at a time.

For note taking I use Letterspace

I chose it because:

1. I love being able to add both # and @ tags by entering them directly in my text rather than having to add them in a special field that other software might not read

2. It is minimalistic without lacking features that I need. I especially need to be able to search quickly through all the notes in my notebook, something with many Markdown editors can’t do.

Letterspace’s limitations:

A. You are confined to iCloud sync. I didn’t use this before for that reason, but lately iCloud sync is better, and Letterspace also added some tricks to force sync more regularly. This isn’t a problem for me anymore, but I believe Letterspace 2.0 will add this when it comes out.

B. The desktop version doesn’t have the same sharing and preview options that one finds on iOS. I often have to switch to the iCloud folder and open the file in Marked to preview or export the note the way I want.

C. Unlike Evernote or the built-in Notes app, there is no support for images or attachments, but I think this is also coming in version 2.0

For outlining I use Workflowy:

I chose it because:

1. It is very fast to use on the desktop. Being able to paste items into the outline, break up items by hitting return, join items by hitting delete, etc. makes it super efficient to use.

2. Zoom and tagging make it easy to quickly focus on key information. For instance, I often copy notes exported from a PDF and then go through and add the “#highlight” tag next to all the notes that are most important. By zooming to just that PDF and clicking that tag I can quickly filter down to just the important notes for that PDF, and then I can export these back to a Markdown file for further processing.

Workflowy’s limitations:

A. I absolutely hate the iOS app, which is just a mobile web view, not a true native app (although it does have offline capability). It lacks many of the features I depend on in the desktop app, and lacks the elegance and grace of the desktop app. It is useful for viewing information added on the desktop, but little more. I can’t actually use it to work on the iPad or iPhone.

B. I don’t use it as a task management app because it doesn’t have native support for due dates or repeating tasks. I know that there are hacks people use to get around this limitation, but since I have Todoist for this I don’t really care that much. Still, I might consider using it more if these limitations were fixed.

For storing info I use Evernote

I chose it because:

1. The web clipper is great. Unlike Pinboard (which I also use) I have a lot of control over how I clip content from different pages (screenshots, plain text, a selection, or the whole page).

2. It handles PDFs well, whether added from my ScanSnap or using Scanbot on my phone. Search and previews are great.

Evernote’s limitations:

A. I don’t like using it for taking notes. It is just too clunky and doesn’t support plain text. I do archive my plain text notes to Evernote though for long term storage when I don’t need them any more.

B. I wish it handled .DOC and .DOCX files as well as it handles PDFs. You can add these, but in practice I find it better to turn them into PDFs first.

C. It is cumbersome to file items on the iOS app.

For organizing my academic PDFs I use Paperpile.com

I chose it because:

1. It has one of the best interfaces I’ve seen for organizing PDFs. Lots of little details that I won’t go into here, but (for instance) I love how it can re-attempt to pull PDFs that you don’t have when you are connected to a school network which might have access to those databases. Tagging and folders work well for prioritizing my work. The sharing features are excellent as well.

2. It works very well with Google Docs to format bibliographies.

Paperpile’s limitations:

A. It only works with Google Docs, you cant use it with other word processors. This is a big one for some people, but I’ve been OK using Google Docs - although often I have to switch to something else at the very last stage of manuscript preparation.

B. There is no mobile app. This is a big one for me. I would have stopped using it for this reason alone if Sente worked better or if I didn’t like Paperpile so much. They are working on this, but till then what I do is add citations to todoist when I’m on the go and then add them to Paperpile when I’m back at my computer.

Posted by Hugh
Nov 9, 2015 at 11:48 AM

Thank you very much for this very helpful series of reviews.

The two applications whose use I share with you are Todoist and Evernote. For both, I pretty much agree with your summaries; the “no-start-date” criticism of Todoist (the chief reason that I eventually abandoned it) is so long-standing that I find it remarkable that the developers, who seem otherwise very capable, have so far done little or nothing about it, but I suppose that it would complicate an application that’s otherwise appealingly simple. (My way of adding start dates was to create two entries for every task - but it was tedious.)

Posted by Hugh
Nov 9, 2015 at 11:52 AM

It would have been clearer if I’d written “... whose use I have shared with you…” - in the case of Todoist, self-evidently.

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