email to list item, calendar, and tickler

T

tedpenner

0
I am looking to super geek my GTD.

I view my current roadblock with GTD 'gear' as the inability to auto-insert non-time-sensitive list items (projects, next actions), and time sensitive items (calendar or tickler file things) from a new or forwarded email message, and to something I can access both from any desktop, and from my iPhone. I am aware that people have done this but cannot figure out how.

The best way for me currently (and not a very good way) to remember 'anything' is use my email flags in Outlook 2007 at work, on that PC, and have only just begun making slightly better use of my calendar (poor at best) at work, and on that PC. On the upside, I now have a system that is rapidly improving for reference materials that are digital in Evernote, and file drawers and cabinets for paper base materials. That is to say that I have reference largely figure out. Much less evolved however, is tasking, project planning, calendaring and tickler.

I have the new iPhone (iPhone 'jailbreak' pending), but I will still have to configure it to work with GTD. It is my thinking that, until I can consistently rely on being reminded wherever I am, this is never going to work.

So the real question for me comes back to this. How can I easily send a single email to a list item, calendar, and tickler where I:
1) Don't have to go edit it later
2) Don't have to confirm it made it
3) Don't have to worry about whether I will be reminded when needed

If I had that figured out, I think I could truely implement GTD flawlessly in my life.
 
Nozbe (link in my signature) will get you really close.

You can access it from your PC or iPhone, and you can e-mail items directly do it. Send a specially formatted e-mail and you can have it automatically create a new action in a project.

However, I don't think there's any way to assign a due date using this method. Since you can access it from any internet-connected device you can easily tweak it, but that would add an extra step.

Personally, I rarely use this part of their service. Most e-mails need to be tweaked to become truly "actionable", so I just flip open Nozbe and create the task manually, then archive the e-mail.

Hope that helps.
 
I use Toodledo which sounds very similar to Nozbe. It also has a iPhone app which works very will with the site and is continually being developed. It also allows you to email tasks in. There is also a helpful forum to help you get started on www.toodledo.com

Toodledo also syncs with Outlook (I use 2003, but 2007 works as well) using a 3rd party tool which is detailed on the Toodledo site.

In addition, I created a Custom Form in Outlook so that I can easily convert emails into tasks with all the options set (Next Action, subject, tag, context, status, due date, etc). It also allow me to put the task on my calendar if it time specific as well by clicking a check box -- if you like I can share these custom forms (they would need adapting for your folders/contexts/etc)

I have been really pleased with my setup.

Regards
Steve
 
sventhebrit;64029 said:
I use Toodledo which sounds very similar to Nozbe.
Click to expand...

Yep, it's very similar. In fact, I almost switched from Nozbe to Toodledo, but ended up staying put. I wrote a full comparison of the two here.

It sounds like you've got a nice system in place. Well done!
 
mickmel;64030 said:
YI wrote a full comparison of the two here
Click to expand...

Nice comparison. I haven't tried Nozbe, so can't comment.
The iPhone app is now available for Toodledo -- in fact there are 3 - Toodledo Native, Appigo Todo and Ultimate Todos. All 3 sync with the Toodledo Website, I have all 3 but have only really used the first 2 - my preference at the moment is the Toodledo one and this is the one that has seen the most active development over the last few months.

Also Toodledo has Firefox Gadgets and a Sidebar, so if you are a Firefox user these are two more reasons.

It is a personal preference -- Toodledo have this feature comparison on their site
https://www.toodledo.com/info/compare.php

Regards
Steve
 
email to calendar reminder

Great,
I think I'll give Nozbe a try. The main thing that I want to be able to do, it looks like, just simply isn't available. I want regular reminders on my iphone via tickler and calendar. I don't want to have to "go to" anything to be reminded and I want to be able to add and move up reminders easily based on 'tickler' or 'calendar'. I am surprised that there are just no tools out there to take full advantage of David's methods. It looks like nozbe will work though for non time sensitive stuff. I guess it's still a new game in town for the rest of it.
 
mickmel;64030 said:
Yep, it's very similar. In fact, I almost switched from Nozbe to Toodledo, but ended up staying put. I wrote a full comparison of the two here.

It sounds like you've got a nice system in place. Well done!
Click to expand...
mickmel,

that's really slick! so next actions is resolved!

it is the calendaring/tickler/reminder thing that still isn't but maybe I can morph something together. I can't 'sync' with Outlook at work but if google calendaring will allow input via email, then it looks like that would work perfectly because Nozbe will sync of with my home google calendar.

Anyone have this calendaring/tickler thing via email message resolved?
 
tedpenner;64044 said:
Anyone have this calendaring/tickler thing via email message resolved?
Click to expand...

Not exactly. Mail.app lets me add calendar items with one click on anything that looks like a date or time in a message. The email goes to trash, but can easily be found with a search in mail.app

Emails that are tasks get forwarded to myself, with a tag that lets omnifocus know it's a task. It goes to my OF inbox for assignment to a project, context and due date. It's not automatic but only takes about 5-10 seconds.

- Don
 
GTD using iNote on iphone and outlook 2007

So the real question for me comes back to this. How can I easily send a single email to a list item, calendar, and tickler where I:
1) Don't have to go edit it later
2) Don't have to confirm it made it
3) Don't have to worry about whether I will be reminded when needed

I capture items with inote on my iphone. It is simple to use and effective. It allows you to create files and folders- one of the key fundamentals of GTD. I have a folder called capture and put all my ideas and actions in there.

I also have folders labelled project list, project plan and project material and context reminders e.g. @desk, @call

iNote gives you the ability to move items. As i go through my items (processing) I move them to the appropriately labelled folders (organising). Folders holding my context reminders makes getting things done easy.

To process my project list, project plan and project material I use outlook 2007 to work on them. I email the contents of my project list, project plan and project material to my inbox. yes inote allows you the ability to email.

I have project list, project plan and project material created in tasks on outlook 2007 and categorised accordingly. I use project plan to create a sequence of 'next actions' that unlock the project. In project list i have the list of all my ongoing projects on one page. That gives me perspective. To transfer my finished project list to the iphone, i copy it to googledocs then download it to inote. Inote allows you to do that. So now i have a complete list of all my projects on my iphone. As for the project plan, I pick out the very next action and transfer to the relevant context reminder. I either type them out into the appropriate folder or use googledocs to transfer.

Any appointments or work that has to be done by a certain date are scheduled on my calendar, and because it's synched wirelessly to my iphone i get reminded 15mins before.

My list and reference system are on a server that is backed up. That's where i keep all my material that goes to reference. I email myself my list and transfer them by dragging to the file server. I back them up to a usb hdd...they are so small and have a large disk space that i can have my reference system with me while mobile.
 
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