Quickly Order Tasks

[Matthew R 1]

It's insane that I can't fire up my computer each morning, look at my task list, and quickly adjust the order of what I'm going to work on (unless I'm completely missing something). 

I don't want to use a work around like adding dates and times to every single task, I just want to drag and drop on the list to create the order I want.

Add in tags so I can really sort fast.

This could also be done with a tag, but a duration would be handy too. So If I find myself with an extra 15 minutes, I can skip to the next task that will only take 15 min.

[Mike P 2,962]

11 hours ago, Matthew R said:

It's insane that I can't fire up my computer each morning, look at my task list, and quickly adjust the order of what I'm going to work on (unless I'm completely missing something). 

It's important to understand  how tasks work in EN. Tasks do not exist as separate entities, they only exist in notes. The task views simply extract all the tasks from the notes to give you an overview of all the different tasks in all the different notes. This makes it really easy to integrate notes with tasks associated with that note - say a note from a meeting with the actions that came out of the meeting. If you add a task from the task window it is added to the default task note.

You don't say how you are using tasks. If all you want is a simple task list then it can be in a single note (your default note for tasks). If you open that note directly you can drag and drop the tasks into whatever order you want. I doubt that manual sorting of the task list in tasks is going to be a priority or even practical - after all we can't even do that for notes.

[peterlemer 14]

On 3/1/2023 at 8:22 AM, Mike P said:

[...]  If all you want is a simple task list then it can be in a single note (your default note for tasks). If you open that note directly you can drag and drop the tasks into whatever order you want. I doubt that manual sorting of the task list in tasks is going to be a priority or even practical - after all we can't even do that for notes.

I've tried draggng and dropping tasks onto a default task note as described above, and am puzzled.

Where do I drag the tasks from, and how do I drag them?

pete

[Mike P 2,962]

43 minutes ago, peterlemer said:

I've tried draggng and dropping tasks onto a default task note as described above, and am puzzled.

Where do I drag the tasks from, and how do I drag them?

pete

You can only drag and drop tasks within a note. On the desktop and web versions, if you hover over a task 4 dots appear to the left of the task. This is the drag handle that allows you to click and drag the task. This behaviour is the same as for other lists in EN (check lists, bulleted lists and numbered lists)

[janndk 665]

You can actually drag a task from one note to another, if you have these two notes open same time (eg one opened in the app and othenone as a new window). However, the task is copied and not moved.

[peterlemer 14]

4 hours ago, Mike P said:

You can only drag and drop tasks within a note. On the desktop and web versions, if you hover over a task 4 dots appear to the left of the task. This is the drag handle that allows you to click and drag the task. This behaviour is the same as for other lists in EN (check lists, bulleted lists and numbered lists)

Thanks Mike 😉

Is there any way to have a collection of tasks linked to different notes, in a single re-orderable list?

Copies are no good, since edits won't update between original and copy.

How about aliases? Links?

[peterlemer 14]

4 hours ago, janndk said:

You can actually drag a task from one note to another, if you have these two notes open same time (eg one opened in the app and othenone as a new window). However, the task is copied and not moved.

Thanks Jann 😉

 

A I asked Mike (above):

Is there any way to have a collection of tasks linked to different notes, in a single re-orderable list?

Copies are no good, since edits won't update between original and copy.

How about aliases? Links?

[Mike P 2,962]

46 minutes ago, peterlemer said:

Is there any way to have a collection of tasks linked to different notes, in a single re-orderable list?

Short answer - no. Each task lives in a single note. I think you would need to think about how to link the notes together through note links or tags. 

[Mike P 2,962]

16 hours ago, peterlemer said:

Is there any way to have a collection of tasks linked to different notes, in a single re-orderable list?

I've benn mulling this over since my post yesterday. If I had a number of notes that all related to the same task I think I would create a table of contents note which contained links to the individual notes and then put the task in the ToC note. Because this is a new note you can name it so that when you look at the tasks view  - Notes tab, the tasks appear in the order you want. When in the Notes tab the sorting only effects the order of tasks within each note. The order of notes is always alphabetical.

[peterlemer 14]

19 hours ago, Mike P said:

Short answer - no. Each task lives in a single note. I think you would need to think about how to link the notes together through note links or tags. 

Thanks Mike. My problem is that I want to browse and order Tasks, not notes.
ATEOTD I use Evernote to tell me what to do next. Since Tasks have a date & Time feature, ISTM that's where I would find what I want.

[peterlemer 14]

11 hours ago, Mike P said:

I've benn mulling this over since my post yesterday. If I had a number of notes that all related to the same task I think I would create a table of contents note which contained links to the individual notes and then put the task in the ToC note. Because this is a new note you can name it so that when you look at the tasks view  - Notes tab, the tasks appear in the order you want. When in the Notes tab the sorting only effects the order of tasks within each note. The order of notes is always alphabetical.

Interesting, good mull! I can almost see it virtually. I'll have a go, thanks

What it won't do, I think, is allow me to chop and change tasks across a kaleidoscope of projects ( notes)

I'll also be experimenting with the in-house calendar to see whether I can create a re-orderable task list for the day.

pete

[Mike P 2,962]

11 hours ago, peterlemer said:

What it won't do, I think, is allow me to chop and change tasks across a kaleidoscope of projects ( notes)

I suppose you could just add notes to and remove notes from the  ToC note which contains the task.

19 hours ago, peterlemer said:

My problem is that I want to browse and order Tasks, not notes.

If the note only contains one task then it boils down to the same thing.

I think you are definitely stretching tasks beyond the design philosophy. That's not a bad thing and the history of EN is littered with people finding creative and interesting ways of making a feature do what they want. There will inevitably be compromises. The orginal philosophy of a task sitting in the note where all the information relating to that task resides is really powerful. It's been diluted a bit (by popular demand) with the description field but the philosophy is still sound. The designers didn't envisage a "one task to many notes" relationship so if you need that it comes down to finding the best compromise. Good luck.

[peterlemer 14]

7 hours ago, Mike P said:

I suppose you could just add notes to and remove notes from the  ToC note which contains the task.

If the note only contains one task then it boils down to the same thing.

I think you are definitely stretching tasks beyond the design philosophy. That's not a bad thing and the history of EN is littered with people finding creative and interesting ways of making a feature do what they want. There will inevitably be compromises. The orginal philosophy of a task sitting in the note where all the information relating to that task resides is really powerful. It's been diluted a bit (by popular demand) with the description field but the philosophy is still sound. The designers didn't envisage a "one task to many notes" relationship so if you need that it comes down to finding the best compromise. Good luck.

Thanks Mike. Want is to enter a job as a task, make a note, then carry on.

then browse through the tasks in a list ( as we have already) for the day.

Then shuffle the tasks around so I can plan my workflow fro the day.

And I don't appreciaste that it takes 5 clicks to move a task from today to tomorrow.

I love Evernote, BTW 🙂 adore it.

[Mike P 2,962]

23 minutes ago, peterlemer said:

And I don't appreciaste that it takes 5 clicks to move a task from today to tomorrow.

Agree. So many things take multiple clicks

23 minutes ago, peterlemer said:

Then shuffle the tasks around so I can plan my workflow fro the day.

I use emojis in the title of recurring tasks to mark tasks to be done first thing, sometime today and afternoon/evening. I can then filter on those emojis

I also sometimes use the flag to mark the next 3 tasks, especially if I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by all the things that need doing today. Flagging should be as easy as shift clicking the task - needless to say it isn't!

I know none of these give you exactly what you want but I'm mentioning them just in case they trigger some idea for you.

You can also sort or filter by priority but there are only 3 levels so not really  useful in you rcase

[peterlemer 14]

19 hours ago, Mike P said:

Agree. So many things take multiple clicks

I use emojis in the title of recurring tasks to mark tasks to be done first thing, sometime today and afternoon/evening. I can then filter on those emojis

I also sometimes use the flag to mark the next 3 tasks, especially if I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by all the things that need doing today. Flagging should be as easy as shift clicking the task - needless to say it isn't!

I know none of these give you exactly what you want but I'm mentioning them just in case they trigger some idea for you.

You can also sort or filter by priority but there are only 3 levels so not really  useful in you rcase

thanks again, Mike, I'll have a play with your ideas 🙂

pete