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(Archived) Can Evernote be used as a checklist?


stanwelks

Idea

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The Evangelists stock answer is that Evernote isn't a task manager. 

 

 

Hi ext1jdh,

 

All we can give you is the facts as we see them. I gave you my method of operating that works very well for me in controlling all the tasks I need with my 16,000 customers. Particularly when coupled with the excellent answer you received from GrumpyMonkey.

 

Hopefully you will find a way of operating that will help you and your 'users'.

 

Best regards

 

Chris

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Hey ext1jdh:

Okay, I think I get what you're saying.  I didn't realize Evernote had bought Egretlist.  I never got a chance to use it since I'm not iOS, but it sounds like what you're wanting is a task/resource management solution that integrates with Evernote.  I agree that there's definitely a market here for such a thing, and there are some players in the space.  I'm not sure any one company has cracked it yet.  Not even Evernote.  I think Reminders is definitely a step in the right direction, and if you haven't had a chance to play with it yet, keep in mind that it's early days for that feature.  I'm still trying to figure out how I'll use it myself.  If anything, it at least adds the concept of time to notes.

 

It may be that what you need is best served by another solution that calls back to Evernote.  I haven't used these personally, but check out:

Nozbe

Any To Do

zendone

 

I don't want to just give the default answer that Evernote isn't a task manager, but there is truth to that.  I see Evernote as a platform for memory, much like FourSquare is a location platform or Facebook is a social platform.  For a lot of us, I think what Evernote provides is sufficient.  All we really need is a SUV.  It sounds to me like you need a truck.

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Just because customers request something does not mean it will be implemented. As you know, EN typically does not state whether they will implement something or not. It's really very simple...if a particular feature is missing & is a deal breaker, find an app that suits your needs.

Regarding Evernote responding to their customers, they've been doing this since the product's inception. Just because they haven't implemented a feature *you* want does not change that fact.

 

 

There are many people looking for this. Just because you're happy with mediocrity doesn't mean everyone else is. 

 

 

Hi ext1jdh,

 

All we can give you is the facts as we see them. I gave you my method of operating that works very well for me in controlling all the tasks I need with my 16,000 customers. Particularly when coupled with the excellent answer you received from GrumpyMonkey.

 

Hopefully you will find a way of operating that will help you and your 'users'.

 

Best regards

 

Chris

 

 

I'm happy that it works for your customers. It does not work for mine. Maybe because they're lawyers...who knows. Furthermore, I find GrumpyMonkey's answer to be adequate only for the technically savvy user. Non-technical end users are unlikely to use nonintuitive search functions, especially when they're looking for a quick answer such as what can be provided by a glance at a tasklist. Strikethroughs, graytext, move-to-bottom, or otherwise visually distinguishing a completed task from an incomplete task is a far more graceful solution for the average user. 

 

Hey ext1jdh:

It may be that what you need is best served by another solution that calls back to Evernote.  I haven't used these personally, but check out:

Nozbe

Any To Do

zendone

 

I don't want to just give the default answer that Evernote isn't a task manager, but there is truth to that.  I see Evernote as a platform for memory, much like FourSquare is a location platform or Facebook is a social platform.  For a lot of us, I think what Evernote provides is sufficient.  All we really need is a SUV.  It sounds to me like you need a truck.

 

AnyToDo doesn't appear to be multi-platform, but Nozbe and Zendone seem to fit the bill nicely. Thank you for seeing beyond only what evernote can do natively and providing solutions. 

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Perhaps Evernote seems "mediocre" as a things do to program because, really, it isn't one. People manage to make it work that way for them in a variety of different ways, many of which are explained in this thread and others. What Evernote does, store information and make it easy to find across platforms, I think it does very well.

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I'm happy that it works for your customers. It does not work for mine. 

It sounds like you are simply selling them the wrong service. You've clearly identified their needs, but you have not matched it to a product that meets those needs. Evernote is not the only thing that exists. 

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I'm happy that it works for your customers. It does not work for mine. 

Evernote is not the only thing that exists. 

 

 

I did say that the customers were looking for a product that integrated with Evernote. 

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There are many people looking for this. Just because you're happy with mediocrity doesn't mean everyone else is.

Just because something doesn't function the way *you* want it to doesn't mean it's mediocre or broken. All it means is that it doesn't work the way *you* want it to.

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Checklists are not to-do lists or task lists. They perform a similar function but not the same function. A to-do/task list can trigger alerts or have date dependencies, or repeatable items.

It's the exact difference between a shopping list and a project management task list. The project list may look similar, but it functions differently. Tasks may have nested dependencies, or time restraints. A task list is sortable by one or more requirements. A checklist would not have these requirements. Look at Wanderling's post. When a checklist item is changed there is nothing searchable about it. How can I search for my unfinished tasks as currently implemented? How can I quickly tell what is remaining to do? It's not intuitive or solution-oriented.

The Evangelists stock answer is that Evernote isn't a task manager. That has been said in this thread several times already. Thats not the issue. The issue is that customers are reaching out to Evernote to perform this function, and they're refusing to even though they have the resources available.

They don't want to? Fine. Say so. We will stop asking for it from Evernote and find another vendor to give our money to. Evernote has a lot of convenience, sharing, cross platform availability, etc...but if Evernote doesn't want to respond to the desires of their customers, so be it.

 

If I am understanding you correctly, then Evernote has at least one of the features you are asking to see. The todo feature is not a glorified bullet, as Wanderling said, but a feature that is searchable and quite robust. There are some searches you can do to find unfinished tasks and so forth. 

 

todo:true  

todo:false    

todo:*

 

In combination with search features involving tags (maybe a todo tag), created (look for all todos this month, for example), and reminders I think you can get a lot done. I am not saying it is Egretlist, but it is something more than most people might think. By the way, I don't think it is documented yet in the API, but reminders appear to be searchable as well (http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/38298-reminders/?p=209472):

 

  • Reminders due today:  reminderTime:day -reminderTime:day+1
  • Reminders due tomorrow:  reminderTime:day+1 -reminderTime:day+2
  • Reminders overdue:  reminderTime:day-60 -reminderTime:day
  • Reminders due today or overdue:  reminderTime:day-60 -reminderTime:day+1
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If it *can* do more, but doesn't because the developers think it's fine just the way it is, then it's mediocre.

I don't have the desire to continue to argue with you on this. You've been given good & reasonable advice in this thread, even if you choose to ignore it.

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If it *can* do more, but doesn't because the developers think it's fine just the way it is, then it's mediocre.

I don't have the desire to continue to argue with you on this. You've been given good & reasonable advice in this thread, even if you choose to ignore it.

 

 

You dont have the desire, yet you continue to...

 

Except for one response, much of the advice in this thread boils down to "you dont know what you want" and "get another app"

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If it *can* do more, but doesn't because the developers think it's fine just the way it is, then it's mediocre.

PowerPoint can be used to do page layout. It could be made to do it better but, apparently, Microsoft doesn't see that as something they want to spend resources on. Does that that fact make PowerPoint a mediocre presentation program?

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If it *can* do more, but doesn't because the developers think it's fine just the way it is, then it's mediocre.

PowerPoint can be used to do page layout. It could be made to do it better but, apparently, Microsoft doesn't see that as something they want to spend resources on. Does that that fact make PowerPoint a mediocre presentation program?

 

 

Yes. 

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So PowerPoint should be a page layout program? So, why don't we have just one software program that does everything: word processing, spreadsheet, email, calendar/TTD, drawing and painting? Oh, wait, we used to have those (e.g Microsoft Works). They were mediocre precisely because they tried to do too many things and so did none of them well.

Or was that answer just a joke?

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There is a difference between feature creep and making an application that outperforms a customers expectations. What you're talking about is feature creep.

 

Customers look at the "checklist" in Evernote and expect to be able to use it as a tasklist. Now, if Evernote (the business) had not purchased a product that would do exactly this over a year ago, I would say this isn't an issue. That's not the case. Evernote bought Egretlist and never integrated it's functionality into Evernote (the appliation). That is just plain lazy. It underserves customers. 

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Wow, are you checking how many hours they are working? Do you have an insight into how many development targets they are meeting or missing? I'm guessing not, I'm also guessing you don't have any insight into their development priorities. Seems like your use case isn't a high priority for them, and it's up to them to decide that priority list.

 

So, I guess you should stop being plain lazy and find yourself an app that does exactly what you want it to. 

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Pretty much the EverNote evangelists like and defend the checkboxes while the rest of us, every day users, point out the obvious drawbacks and deficiencies and get met with the stock answer Evernote is not a To-Do well then don't have checklists. Pretty useless. I've been hoping for more for about two years.

 

 

Wow...where did you pull that from?  One evangelist simply answered a user's question.  Another agreed that EN is not a true checklist app.  Another likes them.  Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar & yeah, the evangelists are also every day users of Evernote.  And no, EN is not a to do list/task manager but yeah, they have checkboxes.  (shrug)

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Evernote checklists are PITA. The checklists aren't easy to work with on the phone screen. Besides, checking off an item does absolutely nothing - it doesn't get grayed out, stricken through, or moved to the bottom. So their checklists are just glorified bullets.

Springpad is better in this respect.

However, neither really is a true checklist app.

For tasks, etc. I use Google calendar / tasks. It also gets synced to the phone. It is an actual checklist that has sorting, filtering etc. Even though it's still far from perfect.

For a quick and dirty one-time use checklist, I use a simple text file. # in front of the line means "todo". ## means "done". This way I spend less time entering tasks and more time actually doing something.

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Evernote checklists are PITA. The checklists aren't easy to work with on the phone screen. Besides, checking off an item does absolutely nothing - it doesn't get grayed out, stricken through, or moved to the bottom. So their checklists are just glorified bullets.

Checklist items potentially change the state of the note, exposed via the todo: search item. So while checkboxes are simple, they're a bit more than bullets.

However, neither really is a true checklist app.

That's the truth of it, right there. Full stop.

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I use check boxes extensively for my daily diary notes. As I deal with inquiries a 'tick box' is created. As the task is completed the box gets ticked. When the day has all boxes ticked it goes to diary completed notebook!

I find them to be very useful.

Regards

Chris

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Pretty much the EverNote evangelists like and defend the checkboxes while the rest of us, every day users, point out the obvious drawbacks and deficiencies and get met with the stock answer Evernote is not a To-Do well then don't have checklists. Pretty useless. I've been hoping for more for about two years.

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The issue is that customers are reaching out to Evernote to perform this function, and they're refusing to even though they have the resources available.

They don't want to? Fine. Say so. We will stop asking for it from Evernote and find another vendor to give our money to. Evernote has a lot of convenience, sharing, cross platform availability, etc...but if Evernote doesn't want to respond to the desires of their customers, so be it.

Just because customers request something does not mean it will be implemented. As you know, EN typically does not state whether they will implement something or not. It's really very simple...if a particular feature is missing & is a deal breaker, find an app that suits your needs.

Regarding Evernote responding to their customers, they've been doing this since the product's inception. Just because they haven't implemented a feature *you* want does not change that fact.

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What is a checklist?  A list with boxes that you can either check off or not.

 

Am I missing something, because Evernote does that.  I'm not sure if it's supported in every single client, but I know we got it on Windows Phone.  When I'm out shopping, I use it to check items off the shopping list.  Seems to work as intended.

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Checklists are poorly implemented in Evernote. Yes, if you're putting together a shopping list it works. Anything more advanced, though, cannot be done. It's not capable of handling tasks which is what most people are looking for when they talk about a checklist.

It's similar to how tables are implemented. It's done in a manner that works for the developer, but not the customer.

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Why would they (who) do what?

Why would customers want a to do list that syncs across devices and is shareable? I can think of several reasons.

Evernote has too few Devs to implement this well? I think not. This has been an issue for a long time with no response from Evernote. They bought a company that did exactly this over a year ago and have yet to implement the already existing technology. It's laziness and ignorant of customer needs.

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Hi ext1jdh,

 

I am at a loss as to what it is you need that cannot be achieved in Evernote now. I understand that you require additional features, but you don't seem to be explaining exactly what it is you need. Be great to see that if you have the time.

 

I use the check boxes in Evernote every day and would be lost without them. On average I probably create and complete 20 to 30 a day. I have about 200+ on the go all of the time.

 

Best regards

 

Chris

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Checklists are not to-do lists or task lists. They perform a similar function but not the same function. A to-do/task list can trigger alerts or have date dependencies, or repeatable items.

It's the exact difference between a shopping list and a project management task list. The project list may look similar, but it functions differently. Tasks may have nested dependencies, or time restraints. A task list is sortable by one or more requirements. A checklist would not have these requirements. Look at Wanderling's post. When a checklist item is changed there is nothing searchable about it. How can I search for my unfinished tasks as currently implemented? How can I quickly tell what is remaining to do? It's not intuitive or solution-oriented.

The Evangelists stock answer is that Evernote isn't a task manager. That has been said in this thread several times already. Thats not the issue. The issue is that customers are reaching out to Evernote to perform this function, and they're refusing to even though they have the resources available.

They don't want to? Fine. Say so. We will stop asking for it from Evernote and find another vendor to give our money to. Evernote has a lot of convenience, sharing, cross platform availability, etc...but if Evernote doesn't want to respond to the desires of their customers, so be it.

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This is a user forum that Evernote staff occasionally post on - if you want an official response then I suggest you open a support ticket. I'm guessing you will get a generic response because Evernote rarely discuss their roadmap in public.

 

If it doesn't do what you want, I'm not to sure why you don't just go and find an app that does.

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Because I'm not serving myself. I have customers of my own who want to do this with Evernote.

Other options do not provide the cross platform availability, sync structure, or sharing capability that is needed by my customers. Evernote already has the infrastructure and the code (Egretlist) but they choose to not release it.

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