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Is there a difference between a "To-Do" and a "Checkbox" object?


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I believe what the normal person (outside the Evernote ecosystem and parlance) would call a "checkbox" is simply called a "to-do" in Evernote, correct? Just making sure I'm not missing anything obvious.

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A checkbox in Evernote is called... a checkbox. Whether in Evernote or any other app or system, a checkbox is simply that. If you want to go ahead and call it a to-do item, that's quite correct too. In Evernote, the terminology is the same as other apps. Checkboxes. To-do's. Your call.

 

Now if we're searching for notes with checkboxes in Evernote, we'll have to use the search syntax they decided upon many moons ago:

 

  • Todo:false
  • Todo:true

Not only are there checkbox items in Evernote (within a note)... but one can also set reminders, which will show up in the Reminders List and show the Note Titles of the notes we set a reminder for. In the Reminders List one can check off reminders. They have checkboxes, which when checked will strike through the task/ to do/ reminder. But to avoid confusion when on the forums, it's best to call reminders reminders and checkboxes within your note bodies checkboxes. To-do's are used when talking about the search syntax for searching checkboxes...

 

... and then if you're not referring to any specific feature within Evernote - and you're talking about a workflow or task-management system in general, you'd probably use to-do's or tasks. Either way, forum members will figure it out and give you their take on whatever workflow or system you're trying to set up.

 

In that sense, a to-do can take the form of a reminder, a checkbox... or a note title without a reminder which has a certain tag. You can create tags for certain tasks/ to-do items. 

 

If you're using a 3rd-party task-management app that syncs certain elements from Evernote... reminders, notes, tags and checkboxes can all be extracted and synced to a 3rd-party interface:

 

Gneo - syncs all notes in your Gneo stack in Evernote

Sunrise Calendar - syncs your reminders

Kanbanote - syncs tags/ notebooks

Swipes - syncs notes with checkboxes tagged with "Swipes"

 

All of the above can be called to-do's or tasks. 

 

"Checkbox" is used to identify the feature of the same name used in Evernote. 

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I believe what the normal person (outside the Evernote ecosystem and parlance) would call a "checkbox" is simply called a "to-do" in Evernote, correct? Just making sure I'm not missing anything obvious.

Yes.

Link to comment

A checkbox in Evernote is called... a checkbox. Whether in Evernote or any other app or system, a checkbox is simply that. If you want to go ahead and call it a to-do item, that's quite correct too. In Evernote, the terminology is the same as other apps. Checkboxes. To-do's. Your call.

 

Now if we're searching for notes with checkboxes in Evernote, we'll have to use the search syntax they decided upon many moons ago:

 

  • Todo:false
  • Todo:true

Not only are there checkbox items in Evernote (within a note)... but one can also set reminders, which will show up in the Reminders List and show the Note Titles of the notes we set a reminder for. In the Reminders List one can check off reminders. They have checkboxes, which when checked will strike through the task/ to do/ reminder. But to avoid confusion when on the forums, it's best to call reminders reminders and checkboxes within your note bodies checkboxes. To-do's are used when talking about the search syntax for searching checkboxes...

 

... and then if you're not referring to any specific feature within Evernote - and you're talking about a workflow or task-management system in general, you'd probably use to-do's or tasks. Either way, forum members will figure it out and give you their take on whatever workflow or system you're trying to set up.

 

In that sense, a to-do can take the form of a reminder, a checkbox... or a note title without a reminder which has a certain tag. You can create tags for certain tasks/ to-do items. 

 

If you're using a 3rd-party task-management app that syncs certain elements from Evernote... reminders, notes, tags and checkboxes can all be extracted and synced to a 3rd-party interface:

 

Gneo - syncs all notes in your Gneo stack in Evernote

Sunrise Calendar - syncs your reminders

Kanbanote - syncs tags/ notebooks

Swipes - syncs notes with checkboxes tagged with "Swipes"

 

All of the above can be called to-do's or tasks. 

 

"Checkbox" is used to identify the feature of the same name used in Evernote. 

This is the kind of info I was looking for (but didn't even know it). Super helpful. Thanks!

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Essentially synonymous.Just to reinforce what's been said above:

 

Basically, in Evernote there are checkboxes that you can place in your text. Anywhere in your text. Two in a row, without intervening text, even. Checkboxes are completely independent objects, with no Evernote-supported relationship with any nearby text.

 

Evernote has confused things a bit by also using the term "To-do", and that's reinforced by the search language's "todo:" term, but they only reflect the state of any checkboxes in a note. And you can check or uncheck all checkboxes in a note.

 

On the other hand, users of To-do list software often use "To-do" to refer to a piece of text or other content along with some sort of marker indicating completion (usually a checkbox icon), and possibly a strikeout visualization, etc. This sort of UI is not supported directly by Evernote.

 

In Evernote, you operate on checkboxes, aka To-dos.

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In Evernote, you operate on checkboxes, aka To-dos.

 

Reminders are also to-do's... or if you use something similar to the GTD-esque "The Secret Weapon", simple note titles with relevant tags can also be to-do's. If you use any of a number of 3rd-party Evernote task-management apps, one such example being iOS's "Gneo", the mere fact that a note is in the Gneo stack makes it a to-do item since it is mirrored on any number of Eisenhower Matrices you set up by way of notebooks in Gneo/ Evernote, which automatically generates an Important/ Urgent tag according to which quadrant you drop your task into. 

 

So to-do's in Evernote (broadly speaking) include checkboxes, but are far from limited to such.

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  • Level 5*

"Broadly speaking", sure. However...

 

Reminders are not Evernote "To-dos"; to-dos and checkboxes are conflated in the Evernote UI; Evernote reminders are not. A "todo:*" search will find notes with checkboxes; it will not find reminders unless they contain checkboxes. Reminder searches will not find notes with checkboxes unless those notes also contain reminder information. Evernote reminders are notes; Evernote todos/checkboxes are contained in an Evernote note (is-a vs. has-a relationship).

 

What people choose to call these things or how they use them in the privacy of their own homes is one thing, but conflating different features under a common term leads to confusion.

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