Microsoft To-Do App: Next Iteration of Wunderlist

TesTeq

Registered
Nothing. Nozbe came out the gate GTD specific. The only issue I have with Nozbe is price.

I should clarify that it's not every todo app. Apps like Remember the Milk do a good job with tags. What Remember the Milk does not do a good job with is price. $40 a year is too much for me.
Do you really think that the price equal to one Starbucks coffee per month for such outstanding products like RTM or Nozbe is wrong?
 

apastuszak

Registered
I played around with the To-Do preview for a bit today and while it looks Wunderlist-like in some respects. For example, you can create multiple lists which can serve as context lists, project lists, etc.

On the other hand, the app seems to be more geared for those who want to create daily to-do lists. There's a default list labeled "To-Do" which seems to imply that that's where MS thinks you should put your action items. There's also a "My Day" list where you're supposed to put anything you should do today. Clicking an icon will generate automatic suggestions to add to the "My Day" list. So the thrust of the application seems to be somewhat antithetical to GTD.

Personally I steer away from solutions that try to guide you toward a particular workflow, especially if it contradicts the way I've come to understand GTD. But someone else may try out To-Do and think it's great for GTD and that I'm full of crap.

The other thing to consider is that for the longest time I've heard complaints about how there's no reliable, easy way to sync Outlook tasks to a smartphone. It sounds like To-Do will offer that functionality. That may be a boon for a lot of people.

FWIW, @Louis, that's my take. But I'd urge you to try it for yourself. You're the only one who can determine if it will work for you.

Well, Outlook is going to need an update, because the tags don't sync over between the todo website and Outlook.
 

apastuszak

Registered
Do you really think that the price equal to one Starbucks coffee per month for such outstanding products like RTM or Nozbe is wrong?
For me, yes. I don't go to Starbucks. Others may not think so, and that's fine. Everyone gets to speak with their wallet.
 

bcmyers2112

Registered
@Louis, I found an article you may find useful. It discusses the substantial difference between Wunderlist and the To-Do preview: http://www.theledger.com/news/20170...n-wunderlist-if-it-aint-broke--well-just-wait

The To-Do preview is lacking many of the features that made Wunderlist popular. Because To-Do is only a preview, it's possible Microsoft will be adding those features at a later date. If the past is any guide, however, there's no guarantee that they'll do so, at least not in a way that resembles how those features work in Wunderlist. Microsoft promised to integrate the key features of the late, lamented Sunrise Calendar, which it also acquired, into the Outlook iOS app, before it sunset Sunrise (pun intended). A lot of Sunrise users, myself included, feel Microsoft failed in that regard.

Whether the To-Do app may be right for you might depend on which Wunderlist features are important to you, and how much faith you have in Microsoft to implement them in To-Do. I think it also depends on how important the Office 365 integration is to you, and how much you trust Microsoft to get that right.
 

bcmyers2112

Registered
All valid points. Evernote has a decent feature set. It's just not for me. They were once the shining star of the Internet, but my understanding it that they have been losing a lot of customers lately. With OneNote and Google Keep being free, they're in a tough spot.

Evernote is a privately held company that doesn't divulge how many paying customers it has. Anything you've read in that regard is merely speculation, most likely of the uninformed variety. Evernote may be losing customers, or it may not be. I'm not going to waste energy worrying about it. If Evernote were to go belly up (which I hope it does not), I have an exit strategy.

Any time I look at a cloud based app, the first thing I check for is an export feature. If it doesn't have one, I am not interested. That's why I haven't found the perfect recipe manager yet.

I think that's wise to do with any cloud-based app.

It was my understanding that offline access was a paid feature of Evernote, but I could be wrong.

I believe you're correct.
 

apastuszak

Registered
@Louis, I found an article you may find useful. It discusses the substantial difference between Wunderlist and the To-Do preview: http://www.theledger.com/news/20170...n-wunderlist-if-it-aint-broke--well-just-wait

The To-Do preview is lacking many of the features that made Wunderlist popular. Because To-Do is only a preview, it's possible Microsoft will be adding those features at a later date. If the past is any guide, however, there's no guarantee that they'll do so, at least not in a way that resembles how those features work in Wunderlist. Microsoft promised to integrate the key features of the late, lamented Sunrise Calendar, which it also acquired, into the Outlook iOS app, before it sunset Sunrise (pun intended). A lot of Sunrise users, myself included, feel Microsoft failed in that regard.

Whether the To-Do app may be right for you might depend on which Wunderlist features are important to you, and how much faith you have in Microsoft to implement them in To-Do. I think it also depends on how important the Office 365 integration is to you, and how much you trust Microsoft to get that right.

Sadly, a lot of startups have, in their business plan, to be acquired by a larger company, usually Google or Apple. I don't know if it Wunderlist or Sunrise Calendar fit that bill, but it is quite possible. Microsoft is actively acquiring companies to fill gaps in it's cloud offerings. The only gripe I had with Wunderlist was the way it did tags. I didn't want a hash in front of all my tags, and I wanted my tags to display on the sidebar on the left.
 

TesTeq

Registered
Sadly, a lot of startups have, in their business plan, to be acquired by a larger company, usually Google or Apple. I don't know if it Wunderlist or Sunrise Calendar fit that bill, but it is quite possible.
Even if you initially have no such exit strategy, couple tens of millions of dollars will convince you to change your mind... ;-)
 

FrancescoPlli

Registered
I have to admit that I like the minimalist style of microsoft to-do app. It is only a start, but for now I only miss an inbox and sub-folders. Everything else could stay the way it already is. I tryied it and sync seems to be live. For now it works well. Let's hope Microsoft doesn't screw up this promising app.
 

Yodude120

Registered
I fail to understand how every todo list fails in one important area: tags.

I just tried Microsoft ToDo and once again it tries to sort my stuff by day and lets me make lists to put todos into.

Instead of doing that, just let me add multiple tags to a todo and show those tags in the sidebar. As an added bonus, let me group tags into folders, and you now have the most flexible todo app anyone can use.

I don't need my app to sort stuff by day for me, or to prioritize it for me. Let me be a big boy and do it myself.

I remember when Todoist first came out. I created an account and decided in about 5 min that it was completely unusable.

Both MS ToDO and Wunderlist support hashtags, but they don't show up in the sidebar. I need to find a todo that has the hashtag in it and click on the hashtag.

There's an app for that: 2do , i.e., Omnifocus 10.0. check it out at 2doapp.com

I moved to that form Wunderlist. In my opininon this decision of killing Wunderlist and proposing instead a half-assed barely capable version of it is completely stupid. Useless waste of time, they should have instead put the work on improving an already-great app.
 

mcogilvie

Registered
There's an app for that: 2do , i.e., Omnifocus 10.0. check it out at 2doapp.com

I moved to that form Wunderlist. In my opininon this decision of killing Wunderlist and proposing instead a half-assed barely capable version of it is completely stupid. Useless waste of time, they should have instead put the work on improving an already-great app.

While I agree that Microsoft's new app is disappointing compared to Wunderlist, I don't share your high opinion of 2do. In principle, it should work great for me, and it has a very good rating in the App Store. However, every time I have tried to use it, I never make it through an initial setup. Too many bells, whistles, levers and switches, I think. But YMMV, obviously does, and that's fine.
 

RS356

Registered
Accepting that Wunderlist will be sunset at a future date, and likely replaced with a less than adequate alternative, how is everyone handling the transition? Looking for replacement solutions now, or keeping with Wunderlist until forced to change?

I've tried Microsoft To Do and am unimpressed. I am hopeful that more features are on their way. Emailing tasks would be great, but I suspect Microsoft will instead force that feature through its Outlook.com and Office365 mail programs. Unfortunately, my corporate firewall blocks Evernote and other cloud-based services (Wunderlist escaped this). Maybe I'll go back to paper!
 

TesTeq

Registered
Looking for replacement solutions now, or keeping with Wunderlist until forced to change?
Try Nozbe. Started before Wunderlist, built huge customer base without any official GTD setup guide, devoted to satisfy users in the long term, not to make money selling users to Microsoft. ;-)
 

bcmyers2112

Registered
Accepting that Wunderlist will be sunset at a future date, and likely replaced with a less than adequate alternative, how is everyone handling the transition? Looking for replacement solutions now, or keeping with Wunderlist until forced to change?

The answers are going to vary based on the individual. If I were still using Wunderlist, I'd likely be replacing it now because I wouldn't trust Microsoft to come up with a good replacement. And if I'm going to have to do something unpleasant like spend time switching list managers I'd prefer to get it over with.

Unfortunately, my corporate firewall blocks Evernote and other cloud-based services (Wunderlist escaped this). Maybe I'll go back to paper!

Does your employer block the access to the web sites as well as the clients? If not, a lot of these services have web interfaces that are just as functional as the downloadable clients. That would give you some more options.
 

OF user

Registered
Kelly,

I used Todoist before and I think it is too date centric a program. It seems most useful for systems that schedule tasks like the old Franklin planner. Also, if you want to plan a project in advance, you can't make a list of tasks. You have to use the comments section to plan it or your project will appear in the next action list. I haven't discovered a good workaround to avoid that.

On the other hand, Karma is fun.
 

RS356

Registered
Does your employer block the access to the web sites as well as the clients? If not, a lot of these services have web interfaces that are just as functional as the downloadable clients. That would give you some more options.

Unfortunately, yes. We are unable to access the web sites as well (in fact, this is the primary deterrent, as we cannot install software). Wunderlist and Todoist are the rare exceptions.
 

bcmyers2112

Registered
Unfortunately, yes. We are unable to access the web sites as well (in fact, this is the primary deterrent, as we cannot install software). Wunderlist and Todoist are the rare exceptions.

That's a bummer. FWIW I've played with Todoist and if I ever leave Evernote, that's probably where I'm heading.

Also, if you have a tablet and you're allowed to use it at work that could also be a solution. It's not quite as convenient as being able to access your lists on your workstation but you'd still get some of the benefits of a digital solution.
 

kelstarrising

Kelly | GTD expert
Kelly,

I used Todoist before and I think it is too date centric a program. It seems most useful for systems that schedule tasks like the old Franklin planner. Also, if you want to plan a project in advance, you can't make a list of tasks. You have to use the comments section to plan it or your project will appear in the next action list. I haven't discovered a good workaround to avoid that.

On the other hand, Karma is fun.

Todoist has grown on me since writing the GTD & Todoist Guide (it's with beta testers now). One workaround I include in the guide is if you are using Projects view just for projects and labels for contexts, you can capture future actions as items under your projects list, but just don't assign a context label yet. That actually matches how we suggest people do it in OmniFocus.

That said, we lead in the guide with the approach of using the Projects view for ALL lists and not just projects. And Labels of course require Premium account.

Anyway, just wanted to toss that out there as an option. The guide will go into it all in much more detail obviously.

Kellytodoistexample.jpg
 

RS356

Registered
That's a bummer. FWIW I've played with Todoist and if I ever leave Evernote, that's probably where I'm heading.

Also, if you have a tablet and you're allowed to use it at work that could also be a solution. It's not quite as convenient as being able to access your lists on your workstation but you'd still get some of the benefits of a digital solution.

Thanks, @bcmyers2112, I may end up going the tablet route. Our wifi network seems somewhat less restrictive than our wired ethernet. I much prefer Todoist's web interface over the mobile app. Time will tell!
 

Tom.9

Registered
Microsoft / OneNote

On my desktop I still use Outlook 365 - and OneNote 365.
On my Android Mobile I have
  • Outlook App for "calender", "contact" and "mail" - sync works
  • Microsoft To-Do for "projects" and "someday/maybe" - sync works with Outlook, because I have set up corresponding folders in Outlook tasks
  • OneNote for "Reference Material" and "Next Actions" - syncs with OneNote 365 on the desktop, but is working fine even without WiFi
For now seems that everything is up and running.
[Backlog: I still have to migrate all Outlook "Notes" from my desktop (harddrive); destination would be OneNote ]

I didn´t try all the apps mentioned before. Frankly, neither time no energy to do so.

Plan B: If my actual setup reveals as unsatisfactory, I probably go to simple WORD-Lists.
 
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