Okay, so in my wild attempts to find the "perfect" task/notes manager, I have (as you all know) veered madly about experimenting with all kinds of solutions.

Only to find myself returning to TickTick, which slowly but steadily improves.

Why TickTick? Well, because it believes in leaving most of a task's space available for notes (or subtasks, or both). No, it still doesn't have start dates, but it's so easy to adjust the date of a specific task or project that I don't really mind.

It's got a complete calendar, and also integrates seamlessly with Apple's Calendar.

It's got tags and tag management that are simple and actually work.

Today, they introduced "smart" lists, too, meaning you can auto-generate lists by setting specific criteria. This already works very well.

You can create folders for different task lists. It's got sensible default options for Today, Tomorrow, Next 7 Days etc.

What it still doesn't have, unfortunately, is a rich-text or even Markdown editor - all task notes are in plain text. But hey, that's okay.

Subtasks within a task automatically get shunted to the bottom of the list when they're complete (many task managers still don't do that).

Finally, a Pro subscription is very cheap, making it a very easy way to share stuff (the Pro version enables sharing). And there are versions of TickTick for almost all platforms; I use the web, macOS desktop and iOS versions.

My colleagues and I even use it for quick-sharing notes, web addresses and so on through a shared "General Notes" list - it's more convenient than many dedicated solutions, and the syncing is smooth and fast.

Still, I'm sure I'll be wittering on about something else in the near future. But TickTick will remain the backbone... for now!

I was impressed with it when I was checking out apps before settling on 2Do. I see that the latest version adds "duration" with start and end dates, but this feature is only for premium users. Also, it seems designed primarily for group scheduling. Still, it could be improved upon in future versions. It makes it one of the only collaborative task managers with this feature.

Am I right that only one of the people on a shared list needs to have a premium subscription?

Oh, that's interesting - I hadn't realised it did duration; I've been looking for the feature, but it's not immediately obvious. Have to check the website. That could be very useful!

As for subscriptions - well, we all have a Pro subscription (very cheap), but I do seem to remember that when one of us failed to update in good time, she was still able to see folders shared with other members of the team. I think she could even post to those folders! I can't remember what she couldn't do, but I do remember it took a while before we realised her subscription hadn't been auto-renewed!

Cheers,
Bill

Ah, okay, just discovered the duration thing, tucked away in the web version (not immediately obvious by any means!). It hasn't made its way to the desktop version yet, and I haven't had time to check the iOS version.

Interesting! But for me, not critical.

I first tried TickTick after reading this post and was quite impressed. Within a couple of weeks it has replaced several other apps for most of my day-to-day reminders and lists. The software may make use of artificial intelligence, but some real intelligence went into its design and programming. It’s flexible enough to let me organize my information the way I want it, yet simple enough to let me enter items and reorganize lists without having to think about what I need to do.

And of course, it makes everything available from all my devices. I don’t use iOS, but the Android app is excellent, with among other things, a tool for entering items while working in another app without switching away from it. Very cool!

TickTick also integrates with Google Calendar, for those of you not wedded to Apple. It could use better documentation, but that’s true of the vast majority of apps today.

I've toyed with TickTick in the past, but didn't quite catch on with it. But this time around, I am clicking with it. The feature that pushed me into using TickTick is the ability to forward an email that then becomes a task. I know other apps do this (ToDoIst for example), but they have a lot more bells and whistles that just feel like they get in my way. TickTick feels cleaner and more straight forward to me. Also, the subscription is reasonable... under $30 in the U.S. At it is as ubiquitous as Evernote.

Steve Z.

I looked at this briefly back in late August, and thought it might have some promise at work and/or home. What I am curious about is the calendar integration. Can tasks be undated and roll over so that they are available on the "Today" date? This was a behavior that was available in both Ecco and Pimlico that I used to appreciate, but then again my work style has also changed (both at work and home). Any thoughts or words of wisdom? And it the program reasonably stable?

--Ken

Gaaa! It's a necropost. I saw the OP and thought "Geat! A new improved TickTick!". DOH!

Jeffery Smith wrote:

Gaaa! It's a necropost. I saw the OP and thought "Geat! A new improved
TickTick!". DOH!

Sorry. It came back to life a little over a month ago, so I thought I would continue the thread.

--Ken

Not an issue. In fact, if something comes up, it makes sense to do a search on the site for a keyword so the thread stays together. At any one time, I have 5 different task managers in rotation, with one being swapped out for another because of a minor annoyance or interface component that doesn't quite agree with me. I went back to Pagico yesterday based on the new update, but stopped using it this morning. I'm surprised that I haven't been married six times.

I was really disappointed with TicTic. It has potential, but I eventually went back to Todoist. I actually had discontinued my subscription the day this appeared in my newsfeed....

Ah, those marriages of convenience... I blush to admit I've now abandoned Pagico, mainly because of its infuriating habit of insisting on contacting the Mothership before it'll let you use it. I had a similar (unexpected) moment like this with Ulysses this morning. It wouldn't connect to the "Store" (presumably Apple Store), even though everything else was connecting without problems, so couldn't confirm my subscription, so launched in read-only mode. If that's what subscriptions do, I'm not impressed! What if you're working way off-line, with no access to WiFi, smartphone or anything else? What happens then, eh???

I've started using NotePlan in anger for the first time. It's pretty good! But needs more features/refinements. I realise I totally underestimated/misunderstood what it did the first time I tried it out. Now that I've realised the notes for Calendar days are different from the collection of notes under Notes, but that you can link them together if you want to, I'm making much better progress (duh!). However, my main to-do list is back in Outlinely... fickle CRIMPer that I am...

I am very surprised to find that TickTick has the feature to plan the day: that, I have been crying about for long time.

https://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/8243



It has broken the dogma: the distinction between events and tasks.

Tasks can be planned on the calendar, and, they can be checked off.

I love planning my day. I break down it into hours of intervals to excuse my tasks. The promodoro feature makes it even more practical.

I just quit Pagico because Safari no longer works with it (I get a message that it is insecure or something like that).

MadaboutDana wrote:

I blush to admit I've now
abandoned Pagico,

Wow. I remember you talking about using it for years, I think. Does Noteplan completely replace Pagico's functionality?

mainly because of its infuriating habit of insisting
on contacting the Mothership before it'll let you use it. I had a
similar (unexpected) moment like this with Ulysses this morning. It
wouldn't connect to the "Store" (presumably Apple Store), even though
everything else was connecting without problems, so couldn't confirm my
subscription, so launched in read-only mode.

I've never experienced being locked out (or put into a read-only mode) in Ulysses, and I'll often turn off WiFi on my Mac when working to better focus myself. Not sure how the app is coded wrt the Mac App Store, but for Setapp users you need to open Ulysses on the Mac at least once a month to sync the subscription information and then use the app. I know that this is the same requirement allowing offline use with Adobe apps as well. Had you not launched the app in a month?

my main to-do list is back in Outlinely...

I'm attracted to that app's use of iCloud, as opposed to trusting someone else's server as a sync service and repository. I just wished I was more comfortable with the app's continued development....

One more thing regarding Pagico - if anyone's still interested in that app I noticed StackSocial still has it on sale for $20:

https://stacksocial.com/sales/pagico-8

(At the beginning of 2018 it was half that under a [now-expired] BundleHunt deal.)

Back to TickTick, I think it's colorful and attractive and pleasant to use (athough I ultimately didn't settle down with it). I think that I prefer the pro version to the pro version of Todoist, and I like how they implemented multiple reminders for individual events (eg day before, hour before, 10 minutes before, etc) as well as reminders for subtasks and adding tasks via Siri.

Jeffery Smith wrote:
I have 5 different task managers in rotation, with one being
swapped out for another because of a minor annoyance or interface
component that doesn't quite agree with me. I went back to Pagico
yesterday based on the new update, but stopped using it this morning.
I'm surprised that I haven't been married six times.

It would be funny to start a whole topic on what little annoyances have kept us from certain apps. Maybe that would be good for developers who might never consider them issues at all.

Tick-Tick is by far my most prominent example of a small thinking pushing me away. At the time I was using Wunderlist and looking for the most similar thing after Microsoft bought it to rot it and was pushing their new inferior 'todo' app. TT WAS the answer, just as simple and fluid as WL but with some awesome added features. Love the fusion of day planning tasks with your calendar. But the annoyance was the notifications, they were a nightmare and it seemed like no matter what I did they'd just keep coming. Usually that's a simple settings tweak. It's been like 1.5 years and I still think of TT as that app that wouldn't stop bothering me until I uninstalled it. Maybe it's better now.

My current task mgr is Todoist which is so frictionless in almost every way except one. Setting and changing reminders. If you use their 'AI' that interprets plain language then it works great and expected like 80% of the time. But simply trying to explicitly set a reminder or change it.... It's not intuitive at all and it still annoys me after it being my main task manager for many months now. That one thing is honestly making me go back to MLO where I have to rely on an installed app and deal with managing syncing again. If 2005 me were seeing this he'd be shaking his head at what I consider deal-breaking software issues these days!

nathanb wrote:

Jeffery Smith wrote:
>
>I'm surprised that I haven't been married six times.

Well, if your wife is like mine, then she's REALLY patient and accepts CRIMPing as just something she'll need to live with. Several times a year she'll see random charges for software licenses and subscriptions pop up on our accounts and NEVER complain about them. She's actually really good at using tech but rarely seeks to optimize it. I'm still in awe of her ability to put up with a huge amount of tech friction day after day, year after year, and not consider it a problem! She knows that the benefits of her having an in-house IT person outweighs the annoyances. She even let me get an NAS and calmly accepted us dumping all pics and files there. The only thing she asks of me is that she doesn't want to change OUR shared working lists very often. Which means we've been sharing the same exact group of OneNote pages for about....8 years...now. Because every time I suggest a 'better' way she gives me a serious look and says "I'm willing to change it, but if we do, then we STICK to the new one for a long time!".... which causes me to just keep CRIMPing on my end because choosing one amazing woman is so much easier than sticking with one app!

Well, TickTick have finally incorporated something I’ve been whingeing at them to do for years: Markdown and formatted text.

And they’ve done it very nicely, too. It includes checklists, for example.

It instantly transforms TickTick into a much more powerful task manager.

Totally worth a CRIMP...

Just got an update to my Android app and it appears that TickTick now has actual subtasks. The checklist feature that was previously considered a sub task feature remains and is now called "Check Item". The subtask feature will be called "Task Nesting". A nice, helpful addition, but I wish that developers would just call a subtask a subtask. Microsoft's Planner is the worst with their naming, but several others are not too far behind. Nonetheless, this should improve TickTick's usability, and I applaud them for keeping both lists and subtasks. More about it here: https://blog.ticktick.com/post/626042157344718848/the-4ds-framework-how-task-nesting-helps-you-with .

--Ken

The inexorable enhancement of TickTick continues, as it gains GANTT charts.

The app has become probably the most complete task management app of any in existence. You can now view lists of tasks as simple lists, or as Kanban boards, or as GANTT charts. You can convert tasks into notes and vice versa. You can format text in tasks and notes (using markdown). You can create subtasks, drag and drop tasks and subtasks, attach files, and link tasks/notes to other tasks/notes.

You can open tasks or notes as sticky notes, or simply open them in separate windows. With the new GANTT view, you can add now start dates as well as due dates.

It's tremendously impressive, in a quiet sort of way.