I’d need markdown otherwise I’ll just use a small notebook
I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
61–70 of 831 posts
Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
#62After using Evernote for 10 years and seeing what they did to it, I'm never switching from plain txt/md files for notes and todos. For simple and daily todos, I just use iPhone notes (They don't have anything long-term or important, and the sync is nice).
For the rest, I just use plain files that are encrypted locally and stored on GitHub and Google Drive.
Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
#63I use Todoist in a very light weight fashion. I add tasks and they sit on my screen until they're done, basically identical to a text file. I've never used the points, projects, labels, etc. It does one thing a text file struggles at: scheduling recurring tasks and adding notes to a recurring task. I have annual reminders for infrequent, but important stuff. For example, I have a recurring annual task to review my in…
Recurring tasks or tasks far into the future is what has me locked into Todoist. I love how comprehensive the plain-English scheduling is, such as "Do task every third Friday of the month". It's clearly got a lot more power than I use too.
Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
#64The pinnacle of notes and task lists was achieved in 1997 by the Palm Pilot. It’s been downhill ever since. I realize some people need or want something more integrated and elegant, but simple really does suffice for the vast majority of cases.
Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
#65My journey has been identical, and I have a suspicion that this inability to use an app with bells and whistles might have something to do with ADHD.
I actually ended up making an app as a side project which is just todo.txt with one extra feature: if you start a line with a "!", it turns that line to a push notification on your lock screen. just keeps the important things in your list just a bit closer to awareness without overwhelming
https://www.whatistoday.net/2024/06/scratch-paper-minimal-mo...
Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
#66I've had a plain TODO.txt file for over 20 years so I agree with all the benefits the author mentioned. However, I don't like it because without an app, there's no runtime loop to notify and alert me of what's coming up. This means I don't have "ambient awareness" of what's going on unless... I open the TODO.txt file ... manually scan it... then rescan it again and again multiple times per day. It's really tedious an…
Another way to solve this is to use Fossil. Fossil has a built-in wiki. You can launch Fossil UI and use the built-in wiki with Markdown. Have legacy txt files? Just open a new fossil project and add them to it. And if you set up the admin and user correctly, you can mirror your notes to GitHub. So, it's not that text files are not a good option. There are vastly superior options with almost no effort.
Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
#67I am not a fan of Emacs whatsoever (I find it a buggy mess where everything works only 80%), but org mode is absolutely fantastic for this.
>I find it a buggy mess where everything works only 80%
I don't want to be mean but calling Emacs a buggy mess sounds like a skill issue.
Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
#68I've had a plain TODO.txt file for over 20 years so I agree with all the benefits the author mentioned. However, I don't like it because without an app, there's no runtime loop to notify and alert me of what's coming up. This means I don't have "ambient awareness" of what's going on unless... I open the TODO.txt file ... manually scan it... then rescan it again and again multiple times per day. It's really tedious an…
I use a very basic system similar to this idea of running TODO.txt, but they are notecards i write every day. I sit them Infront of me and any timed tasks go onto the calendar. Outlook Calendar has notifications so those are my prompts for time based activities.
Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
#69After trying text files and other apps, I wrote my own about ten years ago and have been using it ever since. ( https://famplan.io - I'm starting to turn it into something other people might use.)
I tend to agree with the idea that simpler is better, but a single text file wasn't quite enough. I like being able to see my lists on multiple devices, I tend to like to have multiple lists for different purposes, and it's also very useful to have shared lists for coordinating with my family and others.
The experience of using this has taught me a few things about how to use these lists effectively:
1. Using a list is like writing a journal - you need to be intentional about explicitly working to make it part of your routine. (Part of this is committing to record tasks that need to be done and then committing in some explicit way to actually doing those things.)
2. It needs to be fast, it needs to be easy, and it needs to be present. Anything else gets in the way of point 1.
3. It's important to track when you need/want to do, but lists of things to do can be overwhelming. (It's useful to have at least a few ways to ignore items when you can't or don't want to deal with them. I handle this by having multiple lists, and also having a snooze feature to ignore items for a while.)
4. You need to have a way to handle items or tasks that go on for a while. (You need to make a call, but have to leave a message, and are waiting for a callback... etc. These are places where you need to take action to push something along, but the action doesn't result in a complete task, so you need to revisit it later.)
This is going to sound odd coming from someone who wrote a tool for the purpose, but the key here is really to pick a system (any system) and then actually use it. Spend too much time developing the system, then all you've done is give yourself something else to do.
Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
#70I use a self-hosting Baïkal CalDAV server with Tasks.org (https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.tasks/ ). The advantage of this is that it works with email clients.