Jump to content

Evernote GTD and Tickler..?


Recommended Posts

I am using evernote as my GTD done and wanted to ask others that use it for GTD how do they use TAGS to create the tickler system?

At the moment all I have is 12 TAGs called the month of the year, but if I create another 31 to represent the days then how do I use them efficiently? For example, if I want to be reminded of something on the 1st Oct then I tag the item with Oct and 01. But then whenever I look at 01 on the 1st of Sept, I can see the item I wanted to see on the 1st Oct?

I cant see how to get around this without many many custom searches that would mean 1 for each day of every month. This would then make the interface very cluttered and unusable on portable devices like iphone..

Im interested in hearing how you have done/achieved this.

Thanks

Mark

Link to comment

I do use Evernote as my GDT but I have yet to create the tickler file system. The obvious thing would probably be creating one list of tags for the 12 months and another group of tags for the 31 days, and then you just select the month and the day (i.e. click 'October' and then ctrl click 'day 1').

This then creates 43 tags, which is quite a lot, and I'm not too sure how I would easily select two tags on the iPhone (I have a lot of tags).

Maybe it would be better to create a tickler notebook stack (with one notebook for each month) and then either put the date in the title or have the tag system for days. As I've said I have yet to try these systems out but there seems to be quite a few ways to go about it.

Link to comment
  • Level 5
I am using evernote as my GTD done and wanted to ask others that use it for GTD how do they use TAGS to create the tickler system?

Im interested in hearing how you have done/achieved this.

Here are some links that will help give you a lot of insight into using GTD with Evernote. Once Evernote releases its version with a Due Date field (to handle items in the future), Evernote GTD will become even more of a hot topic.

http://www.40tech.com/2009/08/25/getting-things-done-gtd-in-evernote-with-only-one-notebook/

http://examinehealth.com/personal-productivity/69-gtd-and-evernote.html

http://ruudhein.com/evernote-gtd

http://chanceandcary.blogspot.com/2008/11/evernote-and-gtd.html

http://mentalpolyphonics.com/posts/howto-get-things-done-with-evernote

.

Link to comment
  • Level 5

This then creates 43 tags, which is quite a lot, and I'm not too sure how I would easily select two tags on the iPhone (I have a lot of tags).

When I add a task with my iPhone, I just throw it into my default notebook with no tags.

In the evening, I use my PC to tag and move those notes to the appropriate notebooks.

It's easy to find the notes because they were 1.) added recently, 2.) in the default notebook and 3.) have no tags.

Link to comment

This then creates 43 tags, which is quite a lot, and I'm not too sure how I would easily select two tags on the iPhone (I have a lot of tags).

When I add a task with my iPhone, I just throw it into my default notebook with no tags.

In the evening, I use my PC to tag and move those notes to the appropriate notebooks.

It's easy to find the notes because they were 1.) added recently, 2.) in the default notebook and 3.) have no tags.

Yeah I agree that new/untagged notes are easy to find (my default notebook is called 'unsorted' and new notes stay there until I have tagged it properly). I just thought about what he said of the usability on the iPhone.

Lets say that he wakes up and grabs his phone to check the tickler file for today, if he goes to 'tags' he can't select both the month and the day, because as soon as you press a tag it automatically shows you all notes with that tag. Either he has to create 365 saved searches so that he can access everyday without too much bother, or he has to go to the search tab and search for the month and the day. On the desktop he can select first the 'month tag' then the 'day tag' - with just two clicks and he will see the notes for that day.

Link to comment
  • Level 5

Yeah I agree that new/untagged notes are easy to find (my default notebook is called 'unsorted' and new notes stay there until I have tagged it properly). I just thought about what he said of the usability on the iPhone.

Lets say that he wakes up and grabs his phone to check the tickler file for today, if he goes to 'tags' he can't select both the month and the day, because as soon as you press a tag it automatically shows you all notes with that tag. Either he has to create 365 saved searches so that he can access everyday without too much bother, or he has to go to the search tab and search for the month and the day. On the desktop he can select first the 'month tag' then the 'day tag' - with just two clicks and he will see the notes for that day.

A couple suggestions:

1.) Your questions would be better answered in the Evernote Mobile forum.

2.) Take a look at the links I posted. There are some good ideas there.

3.) Evernote is not designed to be a GTD system. Without a Due Date entry, any solution today is a work-around.

Link to comment

A couple suggestions:

1.) Your questions would be better answered in the Evernote Mobile forum.

2.) Take a look at the links I posted. There are some good ideas there.

3.) Evernote is not designed to be a GTD system. Without a Due Date entry, any solution today is a work-around.

Thanks, I will check out your links.

Though it is not me who are asking the questions, I was merely responding to the topic author and trying to clarify his questions. I think Evernote is just fine for a GTD system, it's just that the tickler system might be a little tricky to implement with the limitations of the iPhone client. My suggestion would be to have notebooks for months and just have the day in the note titles, that would work fine on the iphone.

Link to comment

You should also look at the new note link feature for this. That is you can make links to other notes ( and back again) inside a note. Tags are good but doing everything with tags is a bit much with GTD. The strength of evernote just got bigger with note links but most people don't use them effectively yet, among other things anything you can to in a gtd wiki you can now do in EN. See my recent post on their uses. viewtopic.php?f=30&t=28115&p=121479

Link to comment
  • 10 months later...

I am using evernote as my GTD done and wanted to ask others that use it for GTD how do they use TAGS to create the tickler system?

At the moment all I have is 12 TAGs called the month of the year, but if I create another 31 to represent the days then how do I use them efficiently? For example, if I want to be reminded of something on the 1st Oct then I tag the item with Oct and 01. But then whenever I look at 01 on the 1st of Sept, I can see the item I wanted to see on the 1st Oct?

I cant see how to get around this without many many custom searches that would mean 1 for each day of every month. This would then make the interface very cluttered and unusable on portable devices like iphone..

Im interested in hearing how you have done/achieved this.

Thanks

Mark

This is not how the tickler file works in GTD. If you want to be reminded of something at the 1st of October (and it's now August) you will only tag it with October. Once October comes around you will either act on it or put it on one of the 31/30/29 days. If you keep this workflow you will not have the problem you are describing. The only notes that have day tags are the ones of the current month.

Mark

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...