My experience switching to plain text

[pauljacobson]

I recently had to change my GTD system and have been exploring a plain text-based system. I am stuck with the notes setup and could use some advice.

I'm really enjoying this thread and your post, cfoley. I used OmniFocus for years. I had it on my iOS devices and my Mac and it works really well. I started thinking about what I would do if I ever found myself outside the Mac/iOS ecosystem and I realized that my whole GTD system would crumble if it wasn't ubiquitous.

A little background

I took a new job after we relocated and my work computer is a Lenovo which I have installed Ubuntu Linux on (it is a pretty low spec laptop and Windows crawls). I still have my iPhone and iPad but not being able to use OmniFocus on my laptop means that there is a lot more friction in my system during the day. Adding tasks to OmniFocus would have to happen on my iOS devices and I started introducing notebooks and other components into my once unified and ubiquitous system.

Bottom line, I started looking for an alternative to OmniFocus and any similar app ecosystem that could leave me in a similarly closed environment. I started reading about using plain text files, starting with Simplenote as the organizational app for the text notes (tricky on Ubuntu because the Web app is very slow and the Linux version of nvALT is buggy) and then shifting to text notes in Dropbox.

The basic text-notes-in-Dropbox system is very simple and works well but I am tying myself in knots when it comes to how to set up those notes. I have read GTD although it was a while ago and I just want to set up my system and get on with my work. I have read about two options for notes:

1. List notes for Waiting For; Someday/Maybe; Tickler and Projects along with a single list of all Next Actions; or
2. List notes for Waiting For; Someday/Maybe; Tickler and Projects but with a separate note for every next action, tagged with project tags for later search and referencing.

Option one is appealing because it means all my next actions are in one place.

Option two is appealing because it means that each next action as a note can include additional information required for each note but it also means that I need a pretty effective tagging system to be able to sort next actions and create virtual next action lists for reviews.

Can anyone give me some advice? I am spending way too much time hacking this and not actually cranking widgets.

 

[notmuch]

I think anyone contemplating a text file/Dropbox system for GTD, should give WorkFlowy a serious look. It's essentially one big outline, with as many nested levels as you want, available through any web browser... offline available too. Each "bullet" or node can be tagged, completed and have a note. The absolute killer feature for me is the ability to zoom and focus on any bullet, essentially transforming each bullet into a unique document, task, project, AOF, link.... whatever you decide.

My outline includes all my GTD lists and a ton of reference material; it consists of 9500+ bullets and it's still blazingly fast to open, search, filter, enter, zoom, backup etc. It runs and syncs seamlessly on my Windows desktop, iPhone, and under-powered netbook running Lubuntu.

It is an absolute joy to use; beautifully coded and distraction-free. Within 20 minutes you will have mastered 90% of the functionality. It may seem too simple to some, but I never cease to be impressed with the power, flexibility, and lack of friction achieved through that elegant simplicity.

They operate a freemium model; I've been gladly paying for the pro subscription for 2 ½ years. The free version is limited to 250 bullets/month, but you can double that by signing up through this link: https://workflowy.com/invite/1758d70b.lnx

You can play with a demo outline without signing up for anything here: https://workflowy.com/demo/embed/

 

[pauljacobson]

I think anyone contemplating a text file/Dropbox system for GTD, should give WorkFlowy a serious look. It's essentially one big outline, with as many nested levels as you want, available through any web browser... offline available too.

I have thought about using an outliner for my tasks and there is a lot to be said for outliners. I am concerned about a future proof system and ubiquity on all my devices so I haven't explored it much. I'll check out Workflowy though.

 

[Oogiem]

I am very tied to Omnifocus and know that for me until I absolutely cannot use it I'll stay in that universe but I did have a few thoughts on semi-future proofing text files.

What about looking at open source office suites like LibreOffice? You can get the benefits of an outline and it runs on Mac, Linux and Windows. The portable portion is a bit behind but saving a copy as text is possible.

 

[ArcCaster]

Look forward to perusing this topic -- so far just read the first entry -- just want to say that I used the GTD Outlook approach for years and liked it, tried Google tasks and email and didn't, tried Evernote and didn't, and in the last month have switched to plain text -- so far, one file for project level and above, and another for context-sensitive next actions. I like it. My goal -- intuitive, obvious, with minimal 'auto-magic' features with hidden dependencies waiting to bite me.

 

[Cpu_Modern]

I want to highlight one functional aspect of the mainly textfiles based system I use. As others have mentioned, there is something to be said about outliners and what they provide.

The links between the various levels of an outliner file are just that: links. My textfiles contain a lot of links to each other, they are essentially an outline. Or a web. of. links. If your package provides internal links, you a good to go, you will be able to implement any and all structures you might fancy! That's why the web is a web.

The simplest and ubiquitous outliner is a file folder structure. Those folders then can be filled with textfiles. On a *Nix system that would make tools such as 'ls' or 'grep' a nifty interface to your outline structure.

Almost as simple and maybe even more ubiquitous is a "Word Doc" and using the ourliner function of the various word processors you would edit that file with. This can work with all the major packs. You could have one Google Docs Doc and that way the thing is accessible even with your smartphone etc etc Googl Forms can provide a nice online input shell for that document.

 

[notmuch]

I have thought about using an outliner for my tasks and there is a lot to be said for outliners. I am concerned about a future proof system and ubiquity on all my devices so I haven't explored it much. I'll check out Workflowy though.

future proof: you can export any part of (or your entire) outline to plain text, formatted text or OPML (XML for outlines). One of the pro features is automatic daily backup (including a plain text file) to dropbox.

ubiquity: available on every device/OS you mentioned.

Play with the demo, and if there is any interest, sign up. I used a special email when I first signed up... that address was never spammed. It's very easy to delete your account or change your email address. You can copy items from your text files and paste right into WorkFlowy... each line break will create a new bullet. Highly recommend you watch the very short videos explaining features (available through the help menu). You should be able to figure out pretty quickly if you like it.

 

[cfoley]

Why is text so attractive to you if you want an application for its powerful slicing and dicing features?

My original reasoning for trying plain text was so I could write scripts to manipulate my system however I wanted. This reasoning sounds similar to your lust for this powerful app. However, the revelation to me was that manipulating my tasks in a text editor is more straightforward than using my custom scripts (to the extent that I deleted my scripts). If you always work in the app's environment then you won't get the opportunity to experience this for yourself.