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Todoist 2018
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Posted by satis
Oct 21, 2018 at 04:09 PM
This forum hasn’t had much recent discussion about Todoist, and when I experimented with it (in 2016?) I was underwhelmed by the ability to create outline substasks, though I liked the fast Google Calendar 2-way sync that’s even available in the free version.
Anyway, I was looking at the Todoist website today and came across its Support pages on sections, sub-projects and subtasks:
“Creating sections inside projects”
https://get.todoist.help/hc/en-us/articles/115001709669
“Create a sub-project”
https://get.todoist.help/hc/en-us/articles/115001862065
“Sub-tasks”
https://get.todoist.help/hc/en-us/articles/206432369-Sub-tasks
Not sure if anything here is new or not, though I did find posts here from 2015 discussing substasks.
I also found old posts here expressing disappointment that many features aren’t available in iOS (MadAboutDana called it “irritatingly inconsistent across platforms”), and the above support pages describing subtasks specifically refer only to Mac/Windows/web….
Is anyone using Todoist today (or recently) who can speak to using it for outlining?
Posted by Ken
Oct 22, 2018 at 12:03 AM
I have been using Todoist for personal use for about two or so years now. This is a light duty use of the program, but it is better than Toodledo that I was using before it. While its UI is better than Toodledo, it is still not ideal for my use. The Android app is fine for quick use and updates, but the web version could really use a bit of an overhaul. I absolutely hate that notes are only visible in a pop-up window. And I have never taken to some of the keyboard shortcuts/commands (but have that same issue with My Life Organized that I use at work). Still, it is a bit less cluttered than Asana if you are using sub-tasks and tags. I wish that Todoist had a UI more like RTM, which reminds me of a cleaned up Asana as the note field is visible, but not cluttered with updates. I am not sure why I just do not find the UI’s on so many of these programs to be less than optimal. I used Eccos for years and truly enjoyed working in it. Still, having said all of that, I am not in a big hurry to replace Todoist for personal work, but nor am I considering it for possible use at work.
Good luck,
—Ken
Posted by MadaboutDana
Oct 22, 2018 at 10:06 AM
Just a suggestion for notes - while I was working with Todoist, which I did for a while because it’s effectively a powerful outliner (albeit with some really annoying features, which is why I ditched it in the end), I used to use subtasks for making notes. If you precede each note with a single asterisk and a space, the checkbox is removed and the subtask is treated as a simple text block. It’s a very outliner way of doing things! There are quite a few peculiar shortcuts in Todoist which it’s worth learning.
Cheers,
Bill
Ken wrote:
>overhaul. I absolutely hate that notes are only visible in a pop-up
>window. And I have never taken to some of the keyboard
Posted by Hugh
Oct 22, 2018 at 02:34 PM
I used Todoist for quite a long stretch several years ago. I liked quite a few things about it, including the UI on iOS at that time, but one significant hole in its features drove me away - the lack of start-dates (and the related refusal of its developers to include them, despite requests over the years.)
Well, fair enough. I suppose whether this matters to users depends on the types of task that their work and home lives customarily throw up. If users customarily have tasks that last under an hour, or at most a few hours, I’m sure that Todoist will fit the bill - at least as regards its features, although there may be aspects of its UI that people don’t like. But to work with Todoist without start-dates when you really need them (and then suddenly discover that you have a two-day task that must be done in one day to meet a deadline), or to use the workarounds that are often suggested when this issue is raised - well, I’m afraid life’s too short. I believe that even Things now has a form of start-dates.
Posted by Hugh
Oct 22, 2018 at 02:46 PM
Although if I didn’t have outliners that I already like, I’d buy into Bill’s asterisk-space tip.