After several years of watching Pagico, unsure at first whether it would survive (given its then complexity), I have finally been impressed enough to move our entire team over to it.

Why do I mention it in an outliner forum? Well, Pagico is a very powerful information management app with many of the features that make our finest outliners sing!

There are multiple views on your information (including timeline and calendar views).

There is folding galore (you can fold tasks, notes, events/appointments and other stuff. The timeline view does folding beautifully (so you can unfold projects to see their subtasks etc.) It also allows you to instantly reschedule tasks by dragging and dropping them along the timeline - and does this better than many timeline-focused apps.

There is nested tagging, plus smart collections (which can be put together from tags or anything else you fancy).

There are projects with subtasks, as well as an inbox. You can link pretty much anything to pretty much anything else.

Finally, for those who miss these things, it allows you to add as many files to notes/tasks etc. as you could possibly want.

The user interface has been hugely streamlined since the early days of Pagico (I notice we first mentioned it in the forum back in around 2014); it's much less "busy", much more user-friendly.

The price for a team workspace (including the software) is really very modest, considering what you get.

And they've just updated their rather cumbersome iOS app, which has turned from ugly duckling into swan.

Cool, eh?

Cheers,
Bill

Thanks bIll,

I used pagico back around v5 - saw the breadth of potential, but gosh it was cumbersome to get work done. On your recommendation, I may well jump back in!
wade

even the alfred workflow as an extra is appreciated!

The timeline cannot be modified---either 6 weeks, Quarterly or yearly. I was trying to plan on weekly basis. Last time I tried, Pagico was too rigid for planing on the weekly basis.

About the timeline: Well, that's true, and at first I too was a bit irritable about it, because as an inveterate CRIMPer, my first impulse was to customise it to my own preferred timeframes.

But actually, the 6-week thing is, as far as I can tell, completely arbitrary. In practice, it actually shows you 3 weeks at a time, so you get a perfectly clear view of the next few days regardless of the "6 week" scrolling window. If you want to drill down into a single day, you simply use the "Calendar" view. If you don't like either of them, there's also a simple and very clear "List" view.

I long ago dismissed that as a weakness, and actually find the simple layout of the timeline view a major strength. In fact, I use the timeline overview by default, along with the nice "smart collections" views (each tailored view has its own timeline, incidentally, so you can focus on specific timelines by putting multiple projects together in a collection - this is an extraordinarily useful feature).

Pagico is unusual in that it's available for both Mac and Windows. The new iOS Pagico Mobile client is a vast improvement on the former Pagico Plus. I don't think there's an Android version, however.

Syncing has also improved since the last time I used it - it had to!

Thanks for this news, Bill.

Since almost the day Pagico launched, I've liked its "philosophy" - that is, its combination of textual task manager and Gantt-like time-charting (something those of us who'd like a more symbiotic relationship between OmniGroup's Omniplan and Omnifocus would also wish to see). Hitherto, however, Pagico's UI has been too busy for me. In its previous versions, its particular use of upper and lower-case characters and text boxes, and its refusal to allow a different or smaller typeface have left its design a bit of a mess (I think). I've been concerned that I'd lose a task or a project in the confusion. And from memory, I don't think that I'm the only user who has felt that way.

But your short appraisal above gives me encouragement that perhaps those weaknesses have been ameliorated, and I'll give Version 8 a try.

Ditto, Hugh. I hadn't touched Pagico for about two years, until I was reminded of it the other day by something completely unrelated.

I've been gratified to find that the whole thing makes much more sense than it used to (although "Contacts" could still do with a bit of work!), and that it's genuinely become one of the most flexible task managers out there. I think most people would find an approach that would please them (not unlike 2Do in this respect). For the first time, I don't find myself looking anxiously about for something that will make it "even easier" to manage my (very full) timetable.

At least, not until some other team-oriented wonder comes along (I agree with you that a fusion of OmniFocus and OmniPlan would be enticing, but to be perfectly honest, find OmniFocus's interface remarkably fussy - much more so than Pagico's. The iOS app in particular is a disaster!)

Agree about Omnifocus for iOS; neither elegant nor easy-to-use. I'd hoped that the clever people at Omnigroup would have improved its UI by now. Possibly the release of the new "darling" of the task manager market, Things 3, will provide the required push.

I have had pretty much the same experience with Pagico as the others of you. I tried adopting it about five years ago because I liked the set of features, but it was too cumbersome to use daily. Also, I really didn't understand its pay structure. So I abandoned it.

Perhaps I'll take another look.

Thanks.

Steve Z.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

Also, I really didn't
understand its pay structure. So I abandoned it.

Oh good. I thought it was just me. Their website mentions USD 50 for a "personal workspace" for six months. After that ... well, who knows? Does it repeat? I.e. USD 100 per annum? And if we stop paying, does it stop working? Does anybody know? Can anybody clarify?

Hey Graham,

Not quite right: the software costs $50 for a personal licence, plus $5 per extra computer (but not mobile: the mobile app is free).

For a single personal workspace, enabling you to sync between multiple machines, you pay just $10 - and that's it. Nothing more to pay, ever. The max. number of devices (mobile and/or desktop/laptop) is 4.

You can move up to a family workspace (one GB of space) with a maximum limit of 8 devices for just $1 a month, that's $12 p.a., which seems pretty good to me.

A team workspace (2GB) for max. 16 devices will cost you $5 per month, so $60 p.a. (just under, in fact, but I'm not interested in $0.99, and I don't suppose you are either).

So once you've paid for the software, you just have to pay for the workspace - a personal workspace is a one-off payment, i.e. no subscription.

BUT if you opt for a team solution, you can also get the software at a significant discount. So for example, a 3-member team solution will cost you $150 (including three Pagico desktop licences plus a team workspace) for the first year, and subsequently just $60 p.a. Note that this price also covers future software upgrades (for which a team workspace licence is required). So that's an up-front payment of $35 each for the 3 software licences (mobile licences free), plus an ongoing workspace subscription that also covers future software upgrades.

If you've got a personal solution, you'll have to pay $25 when Pagico moves up to version 9.0 - but you won't pay for your personal workspace. I've had my personal workspace for about 3 years (from when I first experimented with the iOS app), and I'm using it now without having made any further payment (you can use multiple workspaces simultaneously, if you want to). Note you can also give other people access to your personal workspace.

There are full details on the "Store" page on the Pagico website, but you do have to read quite carefully. I would also point out that the developer is very, very responsive, however - I had a couple of price-related queries earlier, and received an answer immediately.

All the best,
Bill

Thanks Bill. I had winkled out some of what you explained from their store page, but it helps to have it explained in clear English!

Looking back through my password manager, I see that I tried Pagico versions 5, 6, and 7. Inasmuch as I have never used it after a week or so in each version, I doubt that I will warm up to version 8, but I'll give it a try. Beginning with PackRat and Instant Recall in the mid-90s, I must have tried nearly 100 different PIM programs on MS DOS, Windows, Mac. and iOS.

Jeffery,

By Instant Recall, are you referring to that great DOS program that allowed you to create one of four different types of records: note, contact, task or event? I loved that program. It was simple to use, but effective. Another great DOS app (like GrandView) for which I've never found a good Windows (or Mac) replacement.

Steve Z.

Jeffery Smith wrote:

Looking back through my password manager, I see that I tried Pagico
versions 5, 6, and 7. Inasmuch as I have never used it after a week or
so in each version, I doubt that I will warm up to version 8, but I'll
give it a try. Beginning with PackRat and Instant Recall in the mid-90s,
I must have tried nearly 100 different PIM programs on MS DOS, Windows,
Mac. and iOS.

I think it changed its name at one point after it had changed hands. I liked all PIMs better in the MS DOS world, including the first version of InfoSelect. There was another (perhaps Windows) that was acquired by the DayTimer company, tweaked, and then discarded. I also liked Ascend, which was eventually killed off by Franklin Covey, and then Ecco, which was killed off when MS decided to make Outlook free until all of the competition died.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

Jeffery,

By Instant Recall, are you referring to that great DOS program that
allowed you to create one of four different types of records: note,
contact, task or event? I loved that program. It was simple to use, but
effective. Another great DOS app (like GrandView) for which I've never
found a good Windows (or Mac) replacement.

Steve Z.

Jeffery Smith wrote:
Looking back through my password manager, I see that I tried Pagico
>versions 5, 6, and 7. Inasmuch as I have never used it after a week or
>so in each version, I doubt that I will warm up to version 8, but I'll
>give it a try. Beginning with PackRat and Instant Recall in the
mid-90s,
>I must have tried nearly 100 different PIM programs on MS DOS, Windows,
>Mac. and iOS.

Bill thanks for the info on Pagico 8

I downloaded it to trial. Since I had once trialed Pagico 3, long deleted from this machine, the new download sensed that and would only grant me a one-day "extension" to try Pagico 8. For an expensive investment that's pretty cheesy behavior.

I need a task manager to accept and recognize custom URL scheme from all the other apps that I use (curio://, x-devonthink://, etc.) Pagico doesn't recognize them as URLs. That's surprising, here in 2018, where apps are expected to do things like that. (Actually, the URL works the instant it is pasted into Pagico but upon returning to the item the link is dead. Maybe that's a bug. I don't know.)

For years I've been using BusyCal as my timeline -- combining calendars synced from multiple apps, including workflows that get stuff from Omnifocus, plus scheduling for all clients, plus my personal schedule, and plus reminders. I usually have a dozen or so calendars going in the same window, syncs via iCloud to all my iOS devices, and works great. Moving to Pagico would be like introducing a new calendar app that's a island from the rest of my infrastructure.

So, it's pretty but not worth all the process changes needed to move into Pagico.

Hi Jeffery; yes, I know what you mean, I tried Pagico 6, invested in Pagico 7 (but eventually discarded it) and have spent some considerable time working with Pagico 8 before finally recommending it to the team.

It is, in short, much better than it was - above all, much less complex, but with some very nice little details that you gradually come to appreciate.

Let me take one example.

In any project, you can create multiple lists of actions/tasks. At first, I wondered what that was about - why bother?

I discovered the reason more or less by accident, yesterday. In my "Home" project (where I tend to assemble stuff I've got to do at home), I now have three task lists. One is for URGENT tasks, and besides setting deadlines for tasks, I also colour the checkboxes in this list red, so they show up clearly in the Timeline view. You can easily drag tasks from one list to another. (I also have a "impending" list with checkboxes coloured yellow, but that's just me being obsessive).

The result: in the Timeline, under the Home project, there is a long list of tasks. Most of the checkboxes for these tasks are coloured white - but the urgent ones are red, giving me instant visual cues that are really useful. If you don't want a task to appear in the Timeline (sorry, it's actually called the "Dashboard"), simply don't give it a deadline.

You can also set an overall colour for each project, which is useful for distinguishing e.g. stuff for home from stuff for work; the checkbox colours are an addition.

It's little things like that which have convinced me that Pagico's developers really are committed to making it an outstanding product.

I'm actually not playing with any other PIMs alongside Pagico at the moment (well, not seriously!), because it really does have everything I could possibly want. Including start dates, for those who like such things. It makes OmniFocus look very cumbersome by comparison.

(Oh dear, I realise I've just uttered Famous Last Words! But we're committed now, so I'll have to be good...)

Cheers,
Bill

I hear you, Paul. And have to agree – I haven't discovered one single app that can act as the hub of everything you do. Although you can drag and drop a lot of stuff into Pagico; not just files, but e-mails as well. I suppose that could include shortcuts to specific apps. It does integrate with Zavier (or whatever that linking software is called – it's not something I use, and offhand I can't find the relevant reference on Pagico's website), so that might be of interest.

The team integration is a particularly attractive feature from our point of view, but probably not relevant to you. BusyCal sounds like a good solution for the time being. Another one you might want to revisit is RememberTheMilk, which is gradually evolving into a very powerful PIM.

One of the big things I like about Pagico is the enthusiasm - it's constantly under development, which can only be a good thing. The developers clearly listen to what their customers tell them, and have steadily streamlined and optimised what has always been a very ambitious app. Good for them, I say!

I updated to Pagico 8 and am going to give it a try for several weeks. I keep defaulting back to ToDoist, but this time I'm going to go it alone with just Pagico.

Bill I think “Xavier” is Zapier.

Not sure why, but v8 seems more approachable than earlier versions. Sort of invites me to pour everything into it, and completed tasks can be archived and hidden from view. I disliked Kanbanflow because it wanted to keep a visible list of completed tasks.

MadaboutDana wrote:

After several years of watching Pagico, unsure at first whether it would
survive (given its then complexity), I have finally been impressed
enough to move our entire team over to it.

Why do I mention it in an outliner forum? Well, Pagico is a very
powerful information management app with many of the features that make
our finest outliners sing!

There are multiple views on your information (including timeline and
calendar views).

There is folding galore (you can fold tasks, notes, events/appointments
and other stuff. The timeline view does folding beautifully (so you can
unfold projects to see their subtasks etc.) It also allows you to
instantly reschedule tasks by dragging and dropping them along the
timeline - and does this better than many timeline-focused apps.

There is nested tagging, plus smart collections (which can be put
together from tags or anything else you fancy).

There are projects with subtasks, as well as an inbox. You can link
pretty much anything to pretty much anything else.

Finally, for those who miss these things, it allows you to add as many
files to notes/tasks etc. as you could possibly want.

The user interface has been hugely streamlined since the early days of
Pagico (I notice we first mentioned it in the forum back in around
2014); it's much less "busy", much more user-friendly.

The price for a team workspace (including the software) is really very
modest, considering what you get.

And they've just updated their rather cumbersome iOS app, which has
turned from ugly duckling into swan.

Cool, eh?

Cheers,
Bill

You're right!

Paul Korm wrote:

Bill I think Xavier is Zapier.

That's been my experience. What's more, you can get as simple (or as complex) as you like. You could keep everything in the Inbox, if you wanted, or create lots of individual projects, or just a few big projects (for multiple tasks). I also love the way you can choose to focus on just a few tasks or projects, with "zoomed-in" timeline views (for example). Do experiment with the various drop-down and context menus, too. Not to mention drag and drop.

It's really moved on.

Jeffery Smith wrote:

Not sure why, but v8 seems more approachable than earlier versions. Sort
of invites me to pour everything into it, and completed tasks can be
archived and hidden from view. I disliked Kanbanflow because it wanted
to keep a visible list of completed tasks.

I moved the tasks to project folders, and then moved most of them back. Just didn’t feel right to have them filed away.

MadaboutDana wrote:

That's been my experience. What's more, you can get as simple (or as
complex) as you like. You could keep everything in the Inbox, if you
wanted, or create lots of individual projects, or just a few big
projects (for multiple tasks). I also love the way you can choose to
focus on just a few tasks or projects, with "zoomed-in" timeline views
(for example). Do experiment with the various drop-down and context
menus, too. Not to mention drag and drop.

It's really moved on.

Jeffery Smith wrote:
Not sure why, but v8 seems more approachable than earlier versions. Sort
>of invites me to pour everything into it, and completed tasks can be
>archived and hidden from view. I disliked Kanbanflow because it wanted
>to keep a visible list of completed tasks.

MadaboutDana wrote:

After several years of watching Pagico, unsure at first whether it would
survive (given its then complexity), I have finally been impressed
enough to move our entire team over to it.

Bill, thanks for the heads up on the new Pagico, and all the details provided. I'm another one of this forum's users who invested on a previous incarnation, also upgrading for at least two versions before abandoning it. Aside its idiosyncrasies, a reason for my deserting it was my need for collaboration; at the time it was aimed at individuals only. Can you comment on this version's collaborative task management capabilities? (If you've already done so, just point me to the relevant post, I may have missed it.)