I've been intrigued by Moo.do for a while. It seems like a "light" version of Roam, with some additional features (i.e. calendar and Google Calendar integration). With the seismic news that Dynalist might be fading into the sunset, I thought I'd take a look again.

Moo.do has a lot to recommend it. It's outline based, provides easy bi-directional linking (though no embedded or reference links that I've seen so far). You can open multiple panels for simultaneously referencing different information areas.

I was easily able to copy information out of Dynalist (using the OPML export option) to paste into Moo.do and it brought that all over nicely.

Anyway, I am wondering if anyone here has experience with Moo.do and can offer some insights, good or bad.

Steve

I was very taken with moo.do when it came out. Spending a couple hours with it gave me a fresh perspective on a lot of projects--a reordering that I then carried with me into Dynalist. I also liked the ability to set up multiple views of data.

I admit I haven't kept up with all the changes. But like so many apps these days, it seems optimized for collaborative project management. For me, I seem mostly to want a writing and knowledge base tool. I thought that was your focus, too, Steve. Do you find it effective for those needs? I remember the outliner as being a little lightweight for writing.

It is remarkably powerful, although there’s a bit of a learning curve, and the limitation to Google is what (foolishly, in retrospect) put me off. But if you treat it as a pure outliner/info management app, it’s got pretty much all you could need. And the multidimensional framing is bloody clever.

Takes a little time to appreciate just what it can do, however.

Actually, as far as I can tell from the website, Moo.do is aimed at individuals. Collaboration isn't even mentioned. Also, if you use the computer apps instead of the browser app, you have the option to store your files locally... I haven't tried this... but that also speaks to individual use as opposed to teams.

I do want a knowledge and writing tool, but I also need project management and tasks. It seems to me that Moo.do might be a solution for both these, but I'm still feeling it out.

Steve

jaslar wrote:

I was very taken with moo.do when it came out. Spending a couple hours
with it gave me a fresh perspective on a lot of projects--a reordering
that I then carried with me into Dynalist. I also liked the ability to
set up multiple views of data.

I admit I haven't kept up with all the changes. But like so many apps
these days, it seems optimized for collaborative project management. For
me, I seem mostly to want a writing and knowledge base tool. I thought
that was your focus, too, Steve. Do you find it effective for those
needs? I remember the outliner as being a little lightweight for
writing.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

Actually, as far as I can tell from the website, Moo.do is aimed at
individuals. Collaboration isn't even mentioned. Also, if you use the
computer apps instead of the browser app, you have the option to store
your files locally... I haven't tried this... but that also speaks to
individual use as opposed to teams.

At the bottom of the main page they write about real-time collaboration:
"Moo.do synchronizes in realtime between all your devices and collaborators."

Which is supported even in the free plan.

I wish they'd support Outlook calendar.

I see. I missed that. But they don't mention a "per user" fee in their pricing policies, which is unusual for an app that is pushing collaboration. Also, I don't see anything in the app that appears to facilitate sharing and collaboration. I may just not have drilled into it far enough.

Franz Grieser wrote:

Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>Actually, as far as I can tell from the website, Moo.do is aimed at
>individuals. Collaboration isn't even mentioned. Also, if you use the
>computer apps instead of the browser app, you have the option to store
>your files locally... I haven't tried this... but that also speaks to
>individual use as opposed to teams.

At the bottom of the main page they write about real-time collaboration:
"Moo.do synchronizes in realtime between all your devices and
collaborators."

Which is supported even in the free plan.

I wish they'd support Outlook calendar.

3.5 years ago they briefly offered a premium lifetime subscription for $59 through StackSocial. In 2017 they were better known and regarded, but I remembered saying here that that deal sounded like they were in desperate need of cash flow. For whatever reason, soon after their profile dropped considerably and it is rarely discussed alongside other task managers these days.

As for not supporting Outlook etc, they threw in their lot as a Google- and Gmail-only product many years ago.

Looking at their blog, it seems that they their strategy of betting everything on Google/Gmail backfired when changes to Google broke the hooks they used to integrate with Gmail. They later came up with a new way of doing so, but how long till that breaks as well? I always worry about apps that are dependent on the goodwill of another company that doesn't really care about their existence.

I tried using it for writing after it was mentioned here, but I did not find it intuitive at all - especially not coming from Workflowy/Dynalist/Roam style outliners. Although I would like better integration with tasks than I have in Roam, neither this nor NotePlan seems right for me. Instead, I'm working with some Roam plugins (built on Roam42) to make the tasks functionality more robust.

I too am not excited by the Google integration, although I do use Gmail for personal correspondence. A look at the Moo.do change log indicates that they are making updates every few days. In December they added Outlook mail support (still doesn't help me, but is a promising new direction). I certainly don't see a moribund app. Whether their choices will help create more buzz about Moo.do remains to be seen.

Steve

One thing Moo.do is really lacking is decent documentation. I especially wish they would provide video tutorials with use cases. I suspect that would go a long way toward helping potential users see how many great features the app has.

Luhmann wrote:

Instead, I'm working with some Roam plugins (built
on Roam42) to make the tasks functionality more robust.

Interesting. Would you care to share more details about your setup with the community here? In particular, what plugins are you using, and what problem are they solving for you?

-Alex

If I can, I'll try to write up a separate post on it, so as not to hijack this thread, but the short answer is that I solve two problems: (1) integration with Todoist (that offers some features Roam doesn't), and (2) creating a kind of bullet journal system within Roam itself, in which unfinished tasks (with certain tags) re-appear in my Daily Notes each day. To do both of these I use a plugin called Roam42, which lets you write something like Word macros for Roam, called "SmartBlocks." You can find a repository of smartblocks (including all the ones I use), here:

https://github.com/roamhacker/SmartBlocks/issues/37

avernet wrote:

Luhmann wrote:
>Instead, I'm working with some Roam plugins (built
>on Roam42) to make the tasks functionality more robust.

Interesting. Would you care to share more details about your setup with
the community here? In particular, what plugins are you using, and what
problem are they solving for you?

-Alex

Luhmann wrote:

If I can, I'll try to write up a separate post on it, so as not to
hijack this thread, but the short answer is that I solve two problems:
(1) integration with Todoist (that offers some features Roam doesn't),
and (2) creating a kind of bullet journal system within Roam itself, in
which unfinished tasks (with certain tags) re-appear in my Daily Notes
each day. To do both of these I use a plugin called Roam42, which lets
you write something like Word macros for Roam, called "SmartBlocks." You
can find a repository of smartblocks (including all the ones I use),
here:

https://github.com/roamhacker/SmartBlocks/issues/37

This is most useful; thank you for sharing this.

-Alex