Todoist or Evernote for GTD

Claudia Volkman

Registered
I'm a long-time GTD-er, and I have used just about every productivity app out there (and I love paper systems too). I have the David Allen implementation guides for both Evernote and Todoist, and I currently have everything in Evernote. My question today is which is the most ideal for GTD: Todoist or Evernote (I'm a premium user of both of these)? I think there are pros and cons for each one, but is the answer as simple as personal preference? Thanks in advance for suggestions and input!
 

Mark Jantzen

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You are your best coach on choosing a tool. Try them with real content - e.g. put a project, a next action and a someday maybe item in each tool and do a mini Weekly Review to gauge your attraction or aversion. Also ask how you use the tool. I do 60% of my GTD system on iOS and love to use Drafts for capture so how those tools integrate with my choice is a big deal. I landed with OmniFocus by seeing my content in action.
 

kelstarrising

Kelly | GTD expert
Both are solid options for managing data. Todoist is more linear and designed more like a true list manager. Todoist will also handle completed items nicely, whereas Evernote, because it's not a list manager, doesn't think about "done" items. Evernote is also more associative and takes more creativity to use as a list manager, but it is stellar for reference management.

I currently use Wunderlist for projects + next actions lists, but Evernote for reference. I used to use Evernote for everything, but found I wanted something that had a bit more structure like a traditional list manager.
 

Claudia Volkman

Registered
Both are solid options for managing data. Todoist is more linear and designed more like a true list manager. Todoist will also handle completed items nicely, whereas Evernote, because it's not a list manager, doesn't think about "done" items. Evernote is also more associative and takes more creativity to use as a list manager, but it is stellar for reference management.

I currently use Wunderlist for projects + next actions lists, but Evernote for reference. I used to use Evernote for everything, but found I wanted something that had a bit more structure like a traditional list manager.

Thank you -- this helps. I had been using Wunderlist, but I thought it was going away -- it made me lose trust. It really worked well -- no unnecessary bells and whistles.
 

Taeke Dijkstra

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Evening, I use ToDoist for 2years now for private Projects en Next Actions and is working good. Always synchronized, only improvement as GMail-user it would be nice that on Android it would be nice that mails transported to tasks are linked. I already contacted them and they are aware of this wished feature...; Referencing is for me also in Evernote. I do agree that you have to experiment which tool fits best. For Work I now have the combination of Onenote for Projects & Referencing and integrate my NA's to Outlook Task contexts.
 

Jodie E. Francis

GTD Novice
Definitely personal preference. I use Todoist (premium) for my GTD system with Evernote as reference. I love the full text search capability of Evernote but couldn't get it to do what I needed (in a fun, easy way) for GTD.
 

Sasha

Registered
Hi,

One trick to use Evernote as task manager is to add a checkbox in the body of the text (just like that - no text needed). Then the title would be let's say the Next Action and for tracking purposes all you need to do is filter those notes that have the checkbox unchecked (Not completed) when using the To-Do filter along with a context tag to list all pending Next Actions belonging to a certain context (i.e. @Home).

I know the Android implementation has that capability, not sure about the Apple one. You can of course filter for checked/completed To-Do notes and then file/archive them away.. Or check them with the All option to see all notes (Next Actions) (Completed AND Not completed) which is useful if you wish to create separate Next Actions as sub-tasks of a Project and track them in the corresponding context list while linking them to the Project they belong to via tags (P1, P2, etc).

Regards,

Sasha
 

RS356

Registered
I've had the best success with Todoist as my list manager and Evernote for my reference materials. Evernote is unfortunately blocked on my corporate network, so I email a good deal of notes into my reference system for organizing off site.

Given a choice between Todoist and Wunderlist, I actually prefer Wunderlist. In my experience, it has been a more reliable product.
 

Claudia Volkman

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I've had the best success with Todoist as my list manager and Evernote for my reference materials. Evernote is unfortunately blocked on my corporate network, so I email a good deal of notes into my reference system for organizing off site.

Given a choice between Todoist and Wunderlist, I actually prefer Wunderlist. In my experience, it has been a more reliable product.
I agree with you -- I've been experimenting now with Todoist. I did like Wunderlist better, but knowing it's not long-term makes me not want to use it.
 

dbvirago

Registered
I am also a user of both Todoist and Evernote. Been a premium Evernote user for years. At one point, I had EN set up for GTD (never fully embraced the full methodology but model my system(s) on it. To me, that was a bit clunky, so if I were going full GTD, I would use Todoist for that. However, EN is very strong for what it does, and will always have it or something similar. Somewhat concerned about their future support for individual users, so I'm hedging my bets with a product called Nimbus Notes.
 

VG123

Registered
Hi guys - I am looking to implement GTD. Have done in bits and pieces but not the full system. I am also a long time Evernote users, mostly for reference, rough work etc. In my organisation, we use Slack heavily.

Could you please suggest what do you use for your "IN" basket i.e. to collect stuff/continuous stream of thoughts that needs to be processed ?

I am consider a combination of Evernote, with another app (like above - seems Wunderlist will be good to try).

It will be much useful if you can speak about your full system with the relevant tools. Thanks
 

pjaugust

Registered
Hi all - I guess I'm a first time poster, long-time lurker.

@VG123 : I use 3x5 cards. During processing, these items go into my paper based list system (junior size ring notebook w/ dividers for contexts) my Outlook Calendar (work), Google Calendar (home), or reference files on my work PC or flash drive. Still recovering from a tech-addiction, so I try to keep my smart-phone time as minimal as possible.


Hi guys - I am looking to implement GTD. Have done in bits and pieces but not the full system. I am also a long time Evernote users, mostly for reference, rough work etc. In my organisation, we use Slack heavily.

Could you please suggest what do you use for your "IN" basket i.e. to collect stuff/continuous stream of thoughts that needs to be processed ?

I am consider a combination of Evernote, with another app (like above - seems Wunderlist will be good to try).

It will be much useful if you can speak about your full system with the relevant tools. Thanks
 

bcmyers2112

Registered
The choice of a GTD list manager ultimately comes down to individual needs and preferences. I can tell you Evernote can work as a GTD list manager; I've used it for several years and it serves my needs very well. Whether it will work for you or not again depends on your needs and preferences.

I would give one word of caution before trying Evernote as a GTD list manager though: they've had egregious quality issues on their Windows and iOS platforms (and maybe the Mac and Android versions too, but I don't use either so I haven't been following them) for at least the last year. I haven't left Evernote (although I've thought about it) because it would be a tremendous PITA at this point to migrate all of my lists; but I'd be hesitant to recommend it to anyone else until I was sure they managed to get their quality problems under control. There have been hopeful signs, but I'm not convinced yet. I'd advise anyone considering Evernote for GTD to take a look at the Evernote User Forum (https://discussion.evernote.com/) to see what I'm talking about.
 

Kmet

Registered
Evernote for everything. I have just set up different notebooks like projects, next actions, someday maybe etc. and it works pretty fine + I have all my reference material in one place :)
 
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