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Todo List / Check List Sorting


johnkea

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  • Level 5*

Hi and welcome to the forums. Suggestions noted, but Evernote has indicated it has no interest in becoming just another to-do system; you may be better off using separate software for the reminders and Evernote for the actual project work and/ or storage.

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  • Level 5

Missing a feature which allows me to sort a list of checkboxes in alphabetical order.

Also nice to have automatic prioritization for more frequently used checkboxes such that it is put on the top of the list.

I'll agree with gazumped that Evernote has indicated it has no interest in becoming just another to-do system. But don't take that to mean they have no interest in To-do's. More on that in a sec. But first I'll also echo that for now you likely want to look to third party tools that sync with Evernote to do things with your checkbox items.

Now there are plenty that sync with Evernote. I'm not sure there are plenty of good ones. But these are very personal preference oriented. I have a set that works for me while I await on the promises of better future solutions. You'll want to do your own survey.

I can't make too many suggestions as I tried many and haven't kept most.

Ironically Evernote bought one of them, Egretlist, when they acquired Minds Momentum, and I did quite like that on my mobile devices. But at least for now, they've killed it, and you won't find it in the app store now.

But you can see there, they have some interest in something.

Now you'll need to decide what speaks louder, their words or their actions.

But their words say (about the time of the Egretlist acquisition), when asked by Business Insider if Todo lists were coming, the CEO paused and said "To-do lists are coming", but it wouldn't look and feel like traditional to-do list apps. "I don't want a to-do app, I want a DO app. I don't want a list"

And that was a about a year ago, and the last we've heard about it.

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  • 6 months later...

Missing a feature which allows me to sort a list of checkboxes in alphabetical order.

Also nice to have automatic prioritization for more frequently used checkboxes such that it is put on the top of the list.

Sorting items in a list would be very helpful. I use Evernote in meetings all the time and topics come up during the meeting "out of order" but I tag them in a way that makes them easy to sort later if I use an alpha sort.

Hoping to see this at some point because many text editors support this and I am constantly copying and pasting out of and back into EN to accomplish this task.

I would be a happier user.

That being said, Evernote is a GREAT product, so keep up the good work!

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...
  • 2 months later...

In looking for a solution to the ongoing "list sort" problem I've found several threads on this topic/issue here. Some of the threads get quite wound up. I'm not really interested in debating teh issue, just want to clearly state that there is a clear desire for this functionality among users, is implied in the presence of the checkbox functionality, and that it could be fairly simply accomplished.

 

An alphabetical and/or numerical sort option within the "checkbox" style list option would make lists considerably more useful for me (and i suspect for many others).

I've seen the question "how would an alphabetical sort help with organizing a grocery list?"... easily... by the user prefacing the item listed with a letter or number that allows organization into a group (e.g. user could preface the item on the list with a "1" or "F" to designate items that would be found in the freezer section, a "2" or "D" for dairy items, etc.).

 

...and to follow up, I'm not really looking for a response or rebuttal to this, I'm hoping that Evernotes designers are reading here and just want my "request" counted as another user interested in thsi functionality. Thanks!

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...and to follow up, I'm not really looking for a response or rebuttal to this, I'm hoping that Evernotes designers are reading here and just want my "request" counted as another user interested in thsi functionality. Thanks!

Evernote staff do read every post...
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  • 1 month later...

Hey, Evernote, you've been asked politely several times now since 2011 or so. It's already clear that you're not "just another checklist" application, so you really don't need to fear that misconception any more. This is a trivial feature to implement and one that would make the check list functionality a lot more useful. Your customers are asking for it. I can imagine that you have higher priority items, but honestly, this would take a decent software engineer three days tops to code and test.

 

I would like to see it too. The current system is less convenient than it ought to be.

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+1.

 

In the meantime, on Evernote.mac, I use DevonThink's free WordService, which includes:

- Sort Lines Ascending
- Sort Lines Descending
among many useful small text editing utilities.
 
These small programs will strip links and checkboxes, however.  The checkboxes are easily replaced, but their status is lost.
 
I don't use Evernote for task management.  I do need to sort lines, however.  WordService makes an excellent addition to my basic text tools.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Evernote has already included checklists, so why not implement the most rudimentary features? If it doesn't want to become "just another checklist program" then why did it include checklist at all?

 

Need to have a way to sort a checklist by checked/unchecked as well as alphabetically!

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  • 1 month later...

Evernote has already included checklists, so why not implement the most rudimentary features? If it doesn't want to become "just another checklist program" then why did it include checklist at all?

 

Need to have a way to sort a checklist by checked/unchecked as well as alphabetically!

You hit the nail on the head. There was a use case for ToDo items that EN developers thought was important enough that it was worth adding to the program. When you add a feature to an program, it would be well thought out and explained so that it's both usable and it's purpose  is understood.  

 

Otherwise users will look at it ,play with it, and ask themselves "what is this there for?" before shrugging their shoulders and ignoring it.

 

It would be great to know why ToDo items were added , how to use them for that purpose, and what their limitations are. 

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  • Level 5*

Evernote does not have checklists as such.

 

Individual Todo checkboxes are obviously useful. Do we need a rationale for them? Basically, they're just little checkbox controls, largely independent of the text in a note that precedes or follows them. You can click on one and toggle it. In the Windows client, you can do some global operations (Check All, Uncheck All). You can search for notes that contain checkboxes that have various states (checked or unchecked) They're just handy little to-do list tools, hardly sophisticated at all. Really, really simple.

 

Also, there are reminders. You can have one reminder per note, which can be dated or not. These are more sophisticated than to-do checkboxes, and notes with reminders also appear in their own lists, which are separately sortable. You can also search for notes with reminders in them, in several states. Even so, these are also fairly simple, but handy.

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Reminders have also had some broken search functionality, limited some of their power use functionality compared to todos.

Though I have up re-testing after many versions. Maybe that's fixed now...

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Reminders have also had some broken search functionality, limited some of their power use functionality compared to todos.

Though I have up re-testing after many versions. Maybe that's fixed now...

I seem to recall that too. May depend on client. I don't use reminder search myself, so I never really investigated that too closely.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

Oh please dear god! Do this feature already.

I'm using Evernote for tons of things and i want it to be a swiss knife. I have more than 20 apps opened and i dont' want another one for to do.

And guess what, i'm a free user for now always checking for a reason to go premium but the value added to the premium account isn't enough for me to step in.

If you made a greater To Do list management, i would jump without second thoughts on the premium.

 

You don't want to be another to do app, but you aren't otherwise no one would use you in the first place you are a note taking app okay, done deal. What's the next step?

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The old "fix this and I'll go premium" line doesn't really cut it with Evernote.  I think the other 99,999,999+ users out there are converting at a fast enough rate to keep them reasonably happy - although of course if more people actually paid,  they could afford to spend more time developing new features...

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 year later...

I have been recently debating between OneNote & Evernote premium. 

I rely on my weekly tasks list along with note taking and project management. This is not an issue of just another to-do list.  I am wanting to streamline. If rudimentary features are too much to ask from this app, Evernote may have made my decision to go to OneNote. I don't have to time or energy to toggle thru a number of apps for something this simple as the ability to sort a list. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

PLEASE! Let us sort by checkboxes!

This has nothing to do with becoming "just another to-do program." In fact, it's precisely because Evernote does so much that I want to keep lists there! I've tried lots of to-do list apps and I get all excited and use them diligently for a few weeks and then I have a lull and it drops by the wayside. They all do *too much.* They are fussy and they make me relearn them with every release. 

But EN I use every day. So for my workflow, it makes sense to just keep a simple list of things I want to be sure not to forget in Evernote, where I can check it every day and make sure nothing drops through the cracks. Apparently I'm far from the only one.

The user who said "Why have checkboxes at all if you're not going to give them basic functionality?" nailed it. 

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  • 1 year later...

Really want checkbox sorting and better features for using Evernote as a Todo list!

For the amount I am paying in my subscription the lack of odd features ect are driving me mad! If I have to use an other 3rd party for ToDo lists maybe I could use an other for notes & calendars aswell! The advantage to Evernote is having everything in the 1 app even though its lacking in every other area. Very expensive note syncing  :'-(

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  • Level 5*
On 2017-11-18 at 6:44 PM, Michael-Holmes-Photography said:

If I have to use an other 3rd party for ToDo lists maybe I could use an other for notes & calendars aswell

I use the note editor for basic notes but have no problem with using 3rd party apps for project management, calendars, and serious writing

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  • Level 5*

I have dozens of apps on three platforms dealing with a wide range of different specialist processes.  The output files - pictures / documents / maps - are stored in various local and cloud locations,  and all this is tied together with Evernote which helps me remember what I did and where I put it.  I'd rather have the best app purpose-designed for each task than a general purpose compromise that's got more menus than usable features...

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Ha ha, a simple to no longer simple functional requirements discussed for a few years ~ unimaginable!
We should think about why we want to throw everything into Evernote
Is Evernote the trash or the second brain?
I am a Evernote user for many years,
The recent introspection made me understand:
There's no second brain at all!
In addition, DTLow and gazumped, your habits do not represent the needs of most of the Evernote users ~ this sentence I want to say for a long time!

 

哈哈,一个简单到不能再简单的功能需求讨论了几年~难以想象!

我们应该思考为什么要什么都丢进evernote?
evernote到底是垃圾桶还是第二大脑?
我是evernote多年用户,
最近的反省让我明白:
根本不存在什么第二大脑!

另外:DTLow 和 gazumped 你们的使用习惯并不能代表大部分的evernote用户的需求~这句话我想说很久了!

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  • Level 5*
4 minutes ago, Ricky Wu said:

Is Evernote the trash or the second brain?

I use Evernote as a digital filing cabinet; it stores my data
Never got into that "second brain" hype

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On 3/16/2014 at 6:21 PM, XiDW said:

In looking for a solution to the ongoing "list sort" problem I've found several threads on this topic/issue here. Some of the threads get quite wound up. I'm not really interested in debating teh issue, just want to clearly state that there is a clear desire for this functionality among users, is implied in the presence of the checkbox functionality, and that it could be fairly simply accomplished.

 

An alphabetical and/or numerical sort option within the "checkbox" style list option would make lists considerably more useful for me (and i suspect for many others).

I've seen the question "how would an alphabetical sort help with organizing a grocery list?"... easily... by the user prefacing the item listed with a letter or number that allows organization into a group (e.g. user could preface the item on the list with a "1" or "F" to designate items that would be found in the freezer section, a "2" or "D" for dairy items, etc.).

 

...and to follow up, I'm not really looking for a response or rebuttal to this, I'm hoping that Evernotes designers are reading here and just want my "request" counted as another user interested in thsi functionality. Thanks!

Whether Evernote wants to get into the "to do" app or not, they offer the checklist options and in marketing materials they do show how you make a project plan and add you action items with checkboxes etc. So it is part of it in a sense. 

I agree with many others that Evernote is your main note taking, project planning, tracking and reference storage but I think we all use it (or try to use it) as an action reminder to a certain extent. I did switch to Todoist eventually after trying Evernote as my task manager for a while but the functionality is not there yet.

I do hope that Evernote incorporates some of the requests and give us more flexibility with the check-boxes. Even taking all checklist lines and putting them in a note is a good function which TaskClone offers as a 3rd party solution. So there are solutions out there that must have been started out of demand or interest and I think Evernote can improve on it for sure. I may stick to Todoist for a while until then.

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  • Level 5*
24 minutes ago, TK0047 said:

I think we all use it (or try to use it) as an action reminder to a certain extent. I did switch to Todoist eventually after trying Evernote as my task manager for a while but the functionality is not there yet.

I actually use Evernote for task management / action management

I use a dedicated project management app for complicated projects, but Evernote does the job for day-to-day tasks,

I use a separate note for each task.
This allows me to produce different task views; current tasks, project tasks, open/completed ...

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15 hours ago, DTLow said:

I actually use Evernote for task management / action management

I use a dedicated project management app for complicated projects, but Evernote does the job for day-to-day tasks,

I use a separate note for each task.
This allows me to produce different task views; current tasks, project tasks, open/completed ...

What project management app do you use for the complicated projects? I am always curious about project management apps.

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