(Archived) Ticklers

[chuckbiddinger 2]

I am a new user to EN. For years I used Info Select and now switched to EV. I like EN a lot, but one thing I miss is ticklers. This lets you put a date in a note and when the day comes the note will pop up. Is there a way to do the in EN? If not, has it been discussed?

Thanks in advance.

Chuck

Birmingham, AL

[jbenson2 2,149]

So you are looking for an alarm clock to ring at a certain point for a specific note. There is nothing like that in Evernote at this time.

However, Dave Engberg Evernote CTO said on Jan 27, 2011:

• We're planning to replace the name of the "subject date" field (which was confusing for most new users) with "due date" instead. In all other ways, it would still be usable to store an arbitrary date of your choosing, so if you wanted to store a particular historic date in that (and not use "due dates"), then you could continue to do so.

And back in April of last year:

• Phil Libin, the Evernote CEO, said: All notes will get a “due date” field in the next couple of versions. You can then use all sorts of third-party reminder and calendar apps with it.
  

So Evernote is aware of your requirement.

[chuckbiddinger 2]

"So you are looking for an alarm clock to ring at a certain point for a specific note. "

Never thought of it has an alarm clock, but you are correct. It would be nice to have notes about birthdays, bill dues, etc. pop up. As I said above, I do like EN and have no plans to go back to IS.

Thanks for your quick reply.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

"So you are looking for an alarm clock to ring at a certain point for a specific note. "

Never thought of it has an alarm clock, but you are correct. It would be nice to have notes about birthdays, bill dues, etc. pop up. As I said above, I do like EN and have no plans to go back to IS.

Thanks for your quick reply.

Evernote has stated they will not be implementing alarms or reminders. That is not their focus. There are many other reminder programs already out there.

[jbenson2 2,149]

Glad to help, Chuck.

The Alarm Clock concept came after using FrontRange GoldMine for many years. They have an "Alarmed Activity" feature which can be set for a specific date and time with an adjustable buffer so it goes off 5 minutes before the meeting, but 7 days before the anniversary.

There are quite a few folks in the GTD crowd who are looking for a similar feature in Evernote

Evernote is a super program for finding stuff that has already happened ("memories"), but clunky when it comes to future activities. That is why the Evernote CEO mentioned 3rd parties stepping in to help with reminders and calendar applications. There are almost 30 apps for the Desktop & Web already.

I certainly don't want to rain on a new user. Other users might be more pessimistic. But considering how fast Evernote has developed in the past 2 years, plus the flexibility of the program, along with the Evernote Trunk of 3rd party developers, and the addition of the promised due date column; the future looks bright for reminders of all sorts.

[chuckbiddinger 2]

Thanks jbenson2. It would be nice not to have to open another program for reminders. I can live with it until something better come along.

[jbenson2 2,149]

Here is an example of how I handle future requests with Evernote.

Example: My wife got a postcard reminder for her dentist appointment in 2 weeks at 1:30pm

I scanned the postcard, (note the polar bear stamp and snowman cancellation as if we needed to be reminded)

Then edited the "Created" date column to 2/23/2011 for 1:30PM.

Her appointment always stays near the top and I am reminded of it each time I glance through Evernote.

[wordmuse 1]

That works as long as you don't have a large list of action items. If you do, then they will all rest above the fold and crowd from view other items.

My work-around is a bit different: First I create a tag called "- when" . The hyphen forces the tag near the top of the tags list. Then I create "actiondate" tags that are children of the "- when" tag. So if I have an appointment on Feb 23, 2011, I create a tag called action2011-02-23 and then dump any action item for that date into that tag. I only create a actiondate tag when I have an item for a given date. A calendar would be nicer and more elegant, but I get by with this. Once the date is passed, I rename the tag to make it a "pastdate" tag. Thus the above tag becomes past2011-02-23. Any actions that slide get moved from the pastdate tag to a new actiondate tag.

By having a parent "- when" tag, I keep the actiondates and pastdates tags from cluttering the main view.

Again - not all that elegant, but serviceable.

[jbenson2 2,149]

That is a neat way to avoid the long list of future activities.

Thanks for sharing it. I'm going to give it a try.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Here is my approach. First, I saved a search for yesterday (this moves the cursor as close to "now" as possible)

• -created:day created:day-1

To get past all the future events, requires two keystrokes

• 1.) click on the "Yesterday" saved search,
  2.) hit my "Find in Evernote" hotkey (to bring in all my notes)

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

And to quickly see out where today ends and tomorrow starts, I use a line of asterisks in the title of an empty note.

I change the date of the note when I log onto Evernote in the morning, and I'm good to go for the day.

[cpchang 12]

And back in April of last year:

• Phil Libin, the Evernote CEO, said: All notes will get a “due date” field in the next couple of versions. You can then use all sorts of third-party reminder and calendar apps with it.
  

So Evernote is aware of your requirement.

I have also been using date fields or note titles or key word searching dates for now, but I think the due date with a third party reminder apps is the only way that can emulate the InfoSelect tickler function. The beauty of this function in InfoSelect is its sheer simplicity. The date could be next week, or ten years from now, such as when a new passport expires. You just type the date and forget it for the next 3600 days. When additional keystrokes are needed to attend it, or when one has to look up a calendar, it becomes much less convenient as any InfoSelect users would know. A due date field is therefore very needed and I am glad to hear the commitment EN made to implement this feature. I hope there will be tightly integrated third party apps when it becomes available.

CP

[jbenson2 2,149]

The Due Date is supposed to replace the Subject Date (which is viewable in Evernote Windows, just not accessible to the user)

I'd like to hear additional comments from the Evernote CEO on what is holding up the column name-change. We certainly have seen more than a couple releases since his comments were made last April. (just a couple weeks ago, Dave Engberg reconfirmed that Evernote is still working on the column name-change)

• 1.) Unforeseen Implementation problems?
  2.) Other problems taking a higher priority?

This is a good example of why Evernote does not release launch information dates in this forum.

[Metrodon 2,188]

I very much doubt whether the CEO is scheduling a meeting with you to explain the delay...

[Viv Ilo Veith 30]

Jbenson & Bal - thanks for sharing both of those ideas. Good ones. I am going to give them a try.

I dearly wish that Evernote would take on a cross-platform calendar because to me - if I am using it to "Remember Everything" I need it to have a calendar that remembers all of my appointments - past and future. BUT, until I saw this thread, I had not thought about the large can of worms that a calendar addition would open - like requests for alarms, ticklers, todo lists, etc. - all the things that a robust calendar program can do. I can see why the Evernote crew is staying clear of it.

[jbenson2 2,149]

I very much doubt whether the CEO is scheduling a meeting with you to explain the delay...

Really? I'm shocked, shocked!

So much for the 1-on-1 meeting. I guess I will have to cancel my reservation for the suite at the Fairmont Hotel and continue to wonder about the status of the Due Date column. http://goo.gl/2KvEN

But Phil Libin does not suffer from any signs of being a wallflower. He freely expresses his viewpoints in many different areas.

Podcast: http://goo.gl/o0Ex4

Twitter: http://goo.gl/5TmSa

LinkedIn: http://goo.gl/ZIBNl

Facebook: http://goo.gl/meEf8

Tradeshow: http://goo.gl/vNkkS

Video presentation: http://goo.gl/QLZHy

Interview: http://goo.gl/EpF2S

Interview: http://goo.gl/4nkap

Question and Answer forum: http://goo.gl/20SSg

International Interview: http://goo.gl/LEd8B

Translation: http://goo.gl/DAPPP

So, what's up with the Due Date?

[cpchang 12]

Jbenson & Bal - thanks for sharing both of those ideas. Good ones. I am going to give them a try.

I dearly wish that Evernote would take on a cross-platform calendar because to me - if I am using it to "Remember Everything" I need it to have a calendar that remembers all of my appointments - past and future. BUT, until I saw this thread, I had not thought about the large can of worms that a calendar addition would open - like requests for alarms, ticklers, todo lists, etc. - all the things that a robust calendar program can do. I can see why the Evernote crew is staying clear of it.

The concept of ticklers is not in a calendar. It is simply an alarm clock set to the date. When the computer clock hits the date the note pops up. There is no need to have a calendar so absolutely no need to get involved with any of the calendar functions at all.

I am day dreaming that the delay is because EN wants to emulate the extremely powerful yet most friendly and fast way of a tickler in InfoSelect. In InfoSelect a tickler is entered anywhere into the note in the form as **m/d/y (or whatever the key characters and the date format one sets in the option menu). For example I have a list of expiring/renewal dates of passports, licenses, ids etc. Or this could include my wife and my childrens. I can have one note for each, or one note for all. In the latter case, my note would show

CP passport expires **10/1/14, apply for renewal **6/1/14

Wife passport expires ** 7/31/18, apply for renewal 3/31/18

CP drivers license expires ** 1/1/15

Toyota insurance expires **5/31/11, renew 3/31/11

etc. If they are all in one note, the note will pop up at each of the dates with a highlight on the pertinent **. An implementation in EN would be to make the due dates as hidden fields and specify a searchable character string, such as _3t. Then one just have to enter _3t10/1/14. Even if only one due date is allowed in each note, it would be a very powerful way to set reminders.

CP

[jefito 5,598]

So, what's up with the Due Date?

They'll release it when it's ready to be released, as is Evernote's practice, which you are well aware of. Does it really matter in any material way to you what the reasons are? Sure, sometimes it's interesting to the developer in me to hear those reasons, but I don't really need to hear them.

~Jeff

[jbenson2 2,149]

I would not have posted this if it did not interest me.

[jefito 5,598]

Well sure,and I have lots of things I am interested in, and questions I'd like answered -- like Who Wrote the Book of Love? I really want to know that -- but I try not to ask them in places where I have a pretty reasonable notion that they won't be answered. Ah well, good luck...

~Jeff

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

it doesn't matter if you're talking about ticklers or alarms. EN has stated that due dates are as far into those types of apps as they will be going.

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=16130

[jbenson2 2,149]

Well sure,and I have lots of things I am interested in, and questions I'd like answered -- like Who Wrote the Book of Love? I really want to know that -- but I try not to ask them in places where I have a pretty reasonable notion that they won't be answered. Ah well, good luck...

~Jeff

Well, to each his own.

I would say this Evernote forum is more suited to discuss new Evernote features mentioned by the CEO, than, in the Book of Love - that is just a crazy comparison. Almost as crazy as posting a forum message about men wearing bikinis.

http://forum.evernote.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=20708&p=87470&hilit=bikini#p87470

[Metrodon 2,188]

I look forward to my meeting with Phil to discuss mankinis...

[jbenson2 2,149]

I look forward to my meeting with Phil to discuss mankinis...

Nice compromise, Metrodon.

[wordmuse 1]

The concept of ticklers is not in a calendar. It is simply an alarm clock set to the date. When the computer clock hits the date the note pops up. There is no need to have a calendar so absolutely no need to get involved with any of the calendar functions at all.

Agreed - like I said - a make-do for a problem. My suggestions are not meant to be a substitute for the real deal.

I use Ultra Recall Professional which has a very good tickler (reminder) system - complete with user-definable snoozes on alarms. But URP is not a cloud-able app, and there are things that EV does nicely that are burdensome for something like URP (and probably Info Select, which I used to use).

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I look forward to my meeting with Phil to discuss mankinis...

I'm at a loss for words. (Alert the media.)

[jefito 5,598]

I would say this Evernote forum is more suited to discuss new Evernote features mentioned by the CEO, than, in the Book of Love - that is just a crazy comparison.

Uh, I was just trying to keep it light -- I didn't actually expect anyone to take the bit about The Book of Love seriously. Try reading the sentence without it.

Me, I'm happy to discuss features, new, proposed features, forthcoming or whatever, here in the user forum. I just think it's a little presumptuous to expect that the CEO is going to come on here and explain why feature 'x' is delayed beyond your expectations. I mean, I'd welcome it and all -- more feedback from actual Evernote staff is always great (we get a lot as it is) and I'd probably find it interesting and all -- but it wouldn't alter how I use Evernote or advise others, since it's not in any version available for me to install. Until it ships, it doesn't exist for me, and I don't need to know why Evernote schedules things as they do, and prefer not to spend time second-guessing them.

But as I say, again, I wish you good luck.

~Jeff

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I just think it's a little presumptuous to expect that the CEO is going to come on here and explain why feature 'x' is delayed beyond your expectations.

Indeed. One can stamp their feet & hold their breath until they turn blue in their face all they want. But developers do not owe a detailed explanation to users. If users don't agree with that or dislike it, they are free to go elsewhere.

I mean, I'd welcome it and all -- more feedback from actual Evernote staff is always great (we get a lot as it is)

Yup.

and prefer not to spend time second-guessing them.

Indeed. Doesn't serve a purpose & simply wastes time.

[jbenson2 2,149]

Well, time will tell. Phil has commented before on this subject.

My money is on "Due Dates" showing up sometime in 2011.

[jbenson2 2,149]

I'm doubling my bet.

Got a twitter reply this afternoon on the "Due Date" discussion from the Evernote CEO to yours truly (without stamping my feet or turning blue):

[Metrodon 2,188]

I'm doubling my bet.

Got a twitter reply this afternoon on the "Due Date" discussion from the Evernote CEO to yours truly (without stamping my feet or turning blue):

Very polite of him - can you define "soon"? I'm guessing not, so it don't mean much. Did you ask him about the mankini issue?

[jbenson2 2,149]

I'm doubling my bet.

Got a twitter reply this afternoon on the "Due Date" discussion from the Evernote CEO to yours truly (without stamping my feet or turning blue):

Very polite of him - can you define "soon"? I'm guessing not, so it don't mean much. Did you ask him about the mankini issue?

Twitter only allows 140 characters - so I had to stay on the main subject. I believe that soon means sometime in 2011.

[CalS 5,309]

Anyone for an over/under pool? Then there could be some profit from this thread.

[sssteve72 0]

After being rather excited last night trying out evernote, I was very disappointed that there is not a reminder feature. I can create checklists in a note but I have no way to use that list to remind me of each item.

This software is the closet I have found to being very user friendly and able to capture all types of info but at the same time useful as a reminder on my notes I am making. Maybe in the future, but at this point I think Evernotes is just another close attempt at great software. As like everything else it seems to always lack one or two features. I guess I am being a little rough, I'll keep checking back and we will see. They use the phrase "remember everything" and the truth is no one remembers everything that is why we need the software in the first place to "remind" us.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

AMaybe in the future,

it doesn't matter if you're talking about ticklers or alarms. EN has stated that due dates are as far into those types of apps as they will be going.

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=16130

[jbenson2 2,149]

it doesn't matter if you're talking about ticklers or alarms. EN has stated that due dates are as far into those types of apps as they will be going.

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=16130

Of course, as Phil Libin, Evernote CEO pointed out during a question and answer session, the addition of Due Dates will open all sorts of possibilities to 3rd party developers to create reminder and calendar apps. The current version of Evernote has trouble dealing with stuff in the future. The outside developers pretty much have their hands tied until the Due Date is available to users.