Notes within Tasks

[Andy Eastham 9]

Hi - great to see the new Tasks feature in Evernote however we please have a 'notes' field so that you can add notes, websites, research info within individual tasks. This would be so useful. 

Thanks 

Andy 

[PinkElephant 8,103]

Personally I would add a field to hold a link. By this the task would not need to hold the content. But it would be one click only to jump to the note.

One advantage would be that the note persists  even when the task is closed and maybe deleted.

[DTLow 5,736]

28 minutes ago, buckethead said:

add almost anything we want to the note. 

The point is to "add almost anything we want" to the task   
This is needed for the task to exist as a separate entity

[SomewhatPresent 17]

On 6/21/2021 at 11:40 AM, DTLow said:

The point is to "add almost anything we want" to the task   
This is needed for the task to exist as a separate entity

I agree.  The fact that you can click on a task and pull up a menu, is just begging for the ability to add some quick and relevant notes.  This could also be a place to put a hyperlink.  As each task note currently creates a header, tasks that aren't actually projects could still hold some info without creating a bunch of headers.

 

 

[buckethead 218]

Wouldn’t adding a task to a note accomplish this same thing?  The note is what EN is built around and you can add tasks to any note. Gives you a full blank note to add anything you want to the note and then have a task in the note which you can add a due date to.

[SomewhatPresent 17]

On 6/19/2021 at 4:08 AM, PinkElephant said:

Personally I would add a field to hold a link. By this the task would not need to hold the content. But it would be one click only to jump to the note.

One advantage would be that the note persists  even when the task is closed and maybe deleted.

I was just running into this with trying to develop a workflow.  A task that can have a link to the related note would help you to keep your tasks in a master note while allowing you to link back to a note related to the task.

I'm finding that as I create project notes (to hold emails or other related info), I put the task at the top of that note.  As Task Notes in the Task List visually become dividers this can create a cluttered view..  Some tasks may not be part of a larger project but could still make use of a link to a related note.  Those tasks could be gathered in a master note and still be able to link to your information as a type of Table of Contents.

[Andy Eastham 9]

Hey guys, I was meaning that if you create a 'task' at the moment with the new system, there is no room to write any additional comments etc and so, just as you have a due date, reminder and flag, it would be great to have a 'notes' tab where you can add notes, websites etc etc. 

 

[buckethead 218]

38 minutes ago, Andy Eastham said:

create a 'task' at the moment with the new system

It sounds like you’re trying to fit Evernote tasks into what other task managers do with different fields. With Evernote you have all of that within a note. 
 

You can add a task to any note, not just the default task note though. If you create a note with all of the info you want. Note info, websites, etc etc…. The task in the note still shows up in the task panel by note and by due date. 

I guess I just have a hard time picturing yet another note field when we can put tasks in any note and add almost anything we want to the note. 

[PinkElephant 8,103]

I am with @buckethead on this: Put a task into a note that contains it all, and you are done.

To have a lot of tasks together (like for a project) it would be sufficient to allow to link each task to one note containing the juicy part.

By this we could do it all, without changing tasks in a sort of supernote.

[buckethead 218]

10 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

To have a lot of tasks together (like for a project) it would be sufficient to allow to link each task to one note containing the juicy part.

Links in task names work on desktop (and maybe web?) apps now. you can see and click on the links in the task panel. EN has said coming soon to mobile apps. With this feature just using the internal link as the task in main task note would accomplish this I think. Just need to make task itself a link. 

[buckethead 218]

48 minutes ago, DTLow said:

The point is to "add almost anything we want" to the task   
This is needed for the task to exist as a separate entity

If the note is the task though isn’t it accomplishing the same thing? Just a different way of looking at it - the task does exist as a separate entity inside the note. Using the task panel I only see my tasks and not all the information included within the task note. But if I click on the note name in the task panel I’m brought to the note with all of the relevant information. 

[DTLow 5,736]

33 minutes ago, buckethead said:

If the note is the task though

That works for notes containing a single task

[Jeremy England 141]

I think some of the confusion is that Evernote jumped the gun in being able to create tasks as separate entities. If they had said tasks exists in notes only, there wouldn't be this confusion. As it stands now, you can create a task, but then you have to go in and backfill the information right away, or hope you remember when you see the task later.

I currently am in the camp that tasks exists in notes, and not notes in tasks, unless the task becomes a completely new note at time of creation. 

 

[PinkElephant 8,103]

I agree, with the exception that an embedded link to open a note from the task would be ok.

This is the method I use to link my Things 3 tasks to EN. Would reduce my app count by 1 if this could be done in EN.

[buckethead 218]

4 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

an embedded link to open a note from the task would be ok.

Yes - this solves most of the problem of not having a “note field” in task. You can already make a task name a link in the desktop apps. It sounds like we should see links in task names in mobile apps in the near future it sounds like.

[Ian Small 215]

On 6/23/2021 at 8:53 AM, Jeremye said:

I think some of the confusion is that Evernote jumped the gun in being able to create tasks as separate entities. If they had said tasks exists in notes only, there wouldn't be this confusion. As it stands now, you can create a task, but then you have to go in and backfill the information right away, or hope you remember when you see the task later.

There is no such thing as a task as a "separate entity".  All tasks exist in notes.  You can create tasks direct from + icon at the top right of the Tasks drawer, but these aren't standalone tasks.  They end up in a full-fledged note as well (including a "default task note" we'll create called (in English) "Things to do" for all your tasks that don't have anywhere else to live).  But your default task note is a full-fledged note like any other - you can go edit it to your heart's content in the editor.

Back to lurking
ian

[DTLow 5,736]

1 hour ago, Ian Small said:

There is no such thing as a task as a "separate entity".  All tasks exist in notes.

I appreciate the task view by due date   
Tasks are listed in due date sequence with no indication of the notes   
I'm hoping to be able to interact more with the task items

[Ian Small 215]

4 hours ago, DTLow said:

I appreciate the task view by due date   
Tasks are listed in due date sequence with no indication of the notes   
I'm hoping to be able to interact more with the task items

Yes, because of the cloud services and client re-architecture work completed over the last two years, we are able to render and manage the tasks independent of the notes that they live in - so we can deliver experiences like the Due Date view, and so we can manipulate tasks without having to be in the editor for the note that those tasks live in.  That's the magic of the design:  you can get a pure task-centric view in the Tasks drawer AND you can look at your tasks in the context of any surrounding content in the note editor.

If all you are working on is a to do list, then the Tasks drawer might be sufficient for you.  If all you are working on are project- or meeting-centric action items, the notes editor view might be sufficient for you.  But, after a boatload of testing, the ability to go back and forth between the Tasks drawer and the note editor and between their very different interaction models, and the ability to leverage the full power of formatted notes to create context for tasks is what we have designed for.

We are just at the beginning.  Feedback during our private beta confirmed many things we already had on our roadmap, helping us prioritize at least a year's worth of work; the feedback we're seeing in this early access forum is continuing to both reinforce and add to that list, even as we start to knock out some of the highest priority items.  We will continue to invest in making both views/interaction models more powerful over time.  All the things and all the views you might want to manage/control/manipulate in the task-centric drawer.  All the ways you might want to improve in how tasks are laid out, manipulated, formatted and managed in the note editor.  In addition, we'll be working on other creation and access paths for tasks.  And we'll be making the idea of what a task is yet more powerful.

But the basic choice we've made that all tasks live in notes *somewhere* (whether you choose to work with them through the note editor or not) is pretty fundamental at this point.  We think it still has a huge amount of unexplored running room.

Still lurking
ian

[Jeremy England 141]

On 6/26/2021 at 9:24 PM, Ian Small said:

There is no such thing as a task as a "separate entity".  All tasks exist in notes.  You can create tasks direct from + icon at the top right of the Tasks drawer, but these aren't standalone tasks.  They end up in a full-fledged note as well (including a "default task note" we'll create called (in English) "Things to do" for all your tasks that don't have anywhere else to live).  But your default task note is a full-fledged note like any other - you can go edit it to your heart's content in the editor.

Back to lurking
ian

I totally get that, but I think it’s confusing for a lot of people. I think the rub is that there is a missing workflow. As it stands now, one has to either be in a note and add a task there to give it detail or context, or one has to add the task to their catch all note, then navigate to that note separately. Once that note is added to the catch all note, it is more difficult than it needs to be to interact with it again. 
 

I think that there needs to be a way to add context to a task at creation, the ability to create it as a new note and navigate to that note, or an option to add it to the catch all note.
 

p.s. Thanks for dropping in! I got to brag to my wife that the Evernote CEO commented on my post.  (She didn’t think it was near as cool as I did lol)

[Ian Small 215]

10 hours ago, Jeremye said:

I totally get that, but I think it’s confusing for a lot of people. I think the rub is that there is a missing workflow. As it stands now, one has to either be in a note and add a task there to give it detail or context, or one has to add the task to their catch all note, then navigate to that note separately. Once that note is added to the catch all note, it is more difficult than it needs to be to interact with it again. 
 

I think that there needs to be a way to add context to a task at creation, the ability to create it as a new note and navigate to that note, or an option to add it to the catch all note.
 

p.s. Thanks for dropping in! I got to brag to my wife that the Evernote CEO commented on my post.  (She didn’t think it was near as cool as I did lol)

Strictly speaking, one can add the task to any note you like through the Tasks drawer (not just to the catch all note).

Leaving that aside, I understand that if one is sitting in Evernote and wants to create a task with supporting context, the fact that you effectively accomplish that by creating or going to a note rather than by creating a task is not what naturally springs to mind first.  The way I look at it is that there are roughly three key flows:

1. I'm making a task with self-contained context (eg. a one-liner like "Follow up with Mary about release status").  With Tasks v1, we do this pretty well from multiple starting points within the app (although we have lots of ideas for making it even better)
2. I'm creating note content and want to create a related task (eg. I'm making meeting notes and am creating tasks as I go).  With Tasks v1, this is incredibly smooth and easy.
3. I'm making a task and it has related note content that I need to write down all at the same time.  This flow is a little awkward in Tasks v1 and gets to your point above.  

People coming from dedicated task managers tend quite naturally to think of flows 1 and 3, and discount the value of flow 2.  Our first goal, though, is making things better for people who already use Evernote for their to do's.  (Why?  Because they are our first users for tasks, and also because we know that with Tasks v1 we do not yet have the full suite of functionality that dedicated users of task management apps are likely to expect, like recurring tasks, sub-tasks, the list goes on.)  For our first audience, flows 1 and 2 hit closer to home.

I am not discounting the value of flow 3, just explaining how we've ended up where we have.  It's clear that we need to come up with a way to achieve this reverse flow (flow 3) with more finesse than we have.  I don't think the answer for Evernote is to put a small-scale note box in the task (thereby creating yet another place for note content to live, another mini note-editor, another search target, another ..)  Instead, it's to somehow simplify and streamline this particular flow.  I think it's going to take some thought and I suspect it involves revisiting the affordances through which you create tasks from the Tasks drawer along with the design and modality of the Tasks drawer itself.  We know we've not got that 100% right for a number of reasons even for flows 1 and 2, so that doesn't bother me.

Bottom line:  I hear you.  I don't think it's a massively low-hanging piece of fruit just waiting to be plucked, but I think puzzling it out is a worthwhile use of our time.  We will noodle on it as we keep learning about what's working and what's not, and as we think holistically about the evolution of the design.  For Tasks, we're just at v1, after all. 🙂

Back to lurking and noodling,
ian

PS. I'm not surprised your wife was unimpressed.  Honestly, she's in the right.