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Task management in Evernote


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Hi everyone, I've got some questions about the "Task management system" in Evernote.

I use Evernote as my main and only system to take note, but also as my task list.

  • Non actionnable notes are tagged with the ".cabinet" tag and placed into the proper folders
  • Actionnable notes have 4 types of tag!
    • What project: guitar, word, professional...
    • What: what action is needed (call, email, errand...)
    • Where: where can the action be taken (anywhere, work, home, on any computer...)
    • When (cf. below)

The When part is the part I'm questioning myself is the time management. For now I use a tag system as below (0 is for all the items I need to proceed today, 1 for tomorrow, and 2 for the day after. 3 lists all the items I need to proceed during this week with no particular order)

2134355777_Evernotetimetagging.png.71691ec4ef7abab0f73956f533564a73.png

 

The downside of this system is that I need to update it every evening:

  • Put the "1" into "0" and "2" into "1"
  • See if all the actions I couldn't proceed in "0" should remain in "0" or be placed into another tag

 

It takes almost 10-15 minutes everyday. I'm wondering if another system could be better? Do you have any idea? What do you personally use? 

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On 9/30/2018 at 10:22 AM, SvenSND said:

The downside of this system is that I need to update it every evening:

Yes, this is necessary when you specify tags 0-Now, 1-Next, 2-Following, ...

I specify an actual date; tomorrow is 2018/10/01  next month is 2018/10/30
This is fixed; I never have to update it,
I store this date as the reminder date of the note.  It's searchable.

For "all the items I need to proceed today",
Instead of a filter for tag:"0-Now", I filter on reminder date 
My actual search is
     reminderOrder:* -reminderTime:day+1 -reminderDoneTime:*
     (Reminders, Exclude Future Dated, Exclude Completed)

>>Non actionnable notes are tagged with the ".cabinet" tag and placed into the proper folders

Thats very task centric
All my notes reside in my "Filing?" Notebook; If a note is actionable, I apply tag !Actionable

Tomorrow Never Comes
 

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1 hour ago, SvenSND said:

The downside of this system is that I need to update it every evening:

  • Put the "1" into "0" and "2" into "1"
  • See if all the actions I couldn't proceed in "0" should remain in "0" or be placed into another tag

Some folks, not me, use notebooks for the action level.  Then it is a matter of dragging the notes between the notebooks.  Might or might not be better for you.  Personally, I don't have issue with the daily/weekly reviews.  It is a good way to keep on top of things. 

If what you are doing today is more work than it is worth to you, one thing would be to take a look at your tasks to see if they are more granular than need be.  If the administrative overhead of a system doesn't justify it's use it may not be the best system.

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Hi DTLow, and thank you for your answer.

What I don't understand is how you specify "the actual date". If I set a reminder, I have to set a fixed date (for example I set today a reminder on 2018/10/01 that will be tomorrow). How do you proceed for notes you want to proceed lately (next week or later) but still don't know precisely when ?

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24 minutes ago, SvenSND said:

How do you proceed for notes you want to proceed lately (next week or later) but still don't know precisely when ?

Next week is 2018/10/06
It doesn't have to be precise; I can change it when it gets closer.

Even today's tasks.  If I look at the list and decide to put off some tasks to later, I'll change the date.
They drop from the list and reappear when specified

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22 minutes ago, CalS said:

Some folks, not me, use notebooks for the action level.  Then it is a matter of dragging the notes between the notebooks.  Might or might not be better for you.  Personally, I don't have issue with the daily/weekly reviews.  It is a good way to keep on top of things. 

If what you are doing today is more work than it is worth to you, one thing would be to take a look at your tasks to see if they are more granular than need be.  If the administrative overhead of a system doesn't justify it's use it may not be the best system.

 

Hi Cals, thank you for your answer. I tried the notebook system, but it didn't work for me. I found the tag system to be complete, it just took a little time everynight, not too much after all. The system seemed to fit pretty well, but it needs more efforts along the week. By reading you, I'm thinking that my system wasn't that bad. I just needed to be more rigorous about it.

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9 minutes ago, DTLow said:

Next week is 2018/10/06

It doesn't have to be precise: I can change it when it gets closer.

Even today's tasks.  If I look at the list band decide to put off some tasks to later, I'll change the date.

Hi DTLow. How frequently do you have to update your system, for setting precise dates?

If I understand it all, it seems we have pretty similar way of proceeding, just that you're using reminder where I use tags?

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2 hours ago, SvenSND said:

How frequently do you have to update your system, for setting precise dates?

Some tasks have defined dates.  That's easy; no decision required.

Project tasks
- on project setup identify the first task(s) and set the date.
- Every time a task is completed, identify the Next Action(s) and set the date
- In periodic project reviews (weekly?), check the task list and adjust dates as required.

New one-of tasks, perhaps an email
- decide if it's actionable 
- assign it to a project, my default is "Project - None"
- set a date if appropriate, it could be today's date (do it now)
  Reminders don't require an actual date, also equivalent to do it now

The "someday" list also needs periodic reviews

>>If I understand it all, it seems we have pretty similar way of proceeding, just that you're using reminder where I use tags?

I'm more concerned about your 0-Now, 1-Next, 2-Following, ... attributes
As you pointed out, this requires adjusting each night.

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2 hours ago, SvenSND said:

 

Hi Cals, thank you for your answer. I tried the notebook system, but it didn't work for me. I found the tag system to be complete, it just took a little time everynight, not too much after all. The system seemed to fit pretty well, but it needs more efforts along the week. By reading you, I'm thinking that my system wasn't that bad. I just needed to be more rigorous about it.

Could very well be.  I just mentioned the notebook method since others have referenced it.  I prefer tags over notebooks in any case.

Relative to task management, I started using a hybrid system of tags and reminders with dates.  For anything that has a specific date requirement or I want to get done on a specific date I apply a reminder with a date.  Any other tasks get a tag.  Dated tasks trump tagged tasks.  So I have two stacks to manage, dated (gotta get done) and the rest.  Neither list is overly long on any given day.  This system has morphed to where most now items are dated and the less urgent tasks are tagged.  Sometimes a tagged task gets a date to force priority when the need arises.  I have saved searches for dated tasks of Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday, Late, Next 7 and the like.  When dated stuff is complete for a day I will pull from the tagged backlog.  Sounds a bit more complicated than it is, but it helps me stay focused.

Whatever the case, one does have to invest the time in working the task backlog, be it dated or tagged.  And whatever method, it has to suit your eye.  FWIW.

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2 hours ago, DTLow said:

Some tasks have defined dates.  That's easy; no decision required.

Project tasks
- on project setup identify the first task(s) and set the date.
- Every time a task is completed, identify the Next Action(s) and set the date
- In periodic project reviews (weekly?), check the task list and adjust dates as required.

New one-of tasks, perhaps an email
- decide if it's actionable 
- assign it to a project, my default is "Project - None"
- set a date if appropriate, it could be today's date (do it now)
  Reminders don't require an actual date, also equivalent to do it now

The "someday" list also needs periodic reviews

>>If I understand it all, it seems we have pretty similar way of proceeding, just that you're using reminder where I use tags?

I'm more concerned about your 0-Now, 1-Next, 2-Following, ... attributes
This requires adjusting each night.

I have many tasks to do at the same time: write something for my patients, give some calls, do some little actions. For all of my projects almost all of the actions are independent from each other.

I begin to understand how your system works, I need to think about it a little more to make it perfectly clear.

How do you proceed with items you couldn't proceed for today? For example today is 2018/09/30 and I cannot do 3 items. On the 2018/10/01 do I need to modify all the reminders to 10/01 or would they still appear on 10/01 with the search even if the reminder is still 09/30?

Also is there an easy way to set reminders with shortcuts? I can't find any shortcut, but I may be wrong?

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4 hours ago, SvenSND said:

How do you proceed with items you couldn't proceed for today? 

I structured the search so uncompleted tasks just carry over.

>>Also is there an easy way to set reminders with shortcuts?

I'm mostly working on a Mac.  No built-in shortcuts but I use a script.

 

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54 minutes ago, CalS said:

Could very well be.  I just mentioned the notebook method since others have referenced it.  I prefer tags over notebooks in any case.

Relative to task management, I started using a hybrid system of tags and reminders with dates.  For anything that has a specific date requirement or I want to get done on a specific date I apply a reminder with a date.  Any other tasks get a tag.  Dated tasks trump tagged tasks.  So I have two stacks to manage, dated (gotta get done) and the rest.  Neither list is overly long on any given day.  This system has morphed to where most now items are dated and the less urgent tasks are tagged.  Sometimes a tagged task gets a date to force priority when the need arises.  I have saved searches for dated tasks of Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday, Late, Next 7 and the like.  When dated stuff is complete for a day I will pull from the tagged backlog.  Sounds a bit more complicated than it is, but it helps me stay focused.

Whatever the case, one does have to invest the time in working the task backlog, be it dated or tagged.  And whatever method, it has to suit your eye.  FWIW.

Thank you very much CalS. I used a similar hybrid system some months ago, but I couldn't manage to get efficient :( 

I'll try the reminder system on the next week after thinking about it ? 

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6 minutes ago, DTLow said:

I've structured the search so uncompleted tasks just carry forward unti flagged as completed.

 

I just tried your search quote after posting, it's pretty nice. I'll try it the next week after maturing it.

I've just found this topic about AutoHotKey for setting keyboard shortcuts for reminders: 

 

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1 hour ago, CalS said:

Dated tasks trump tagged tasks.

Task priority is something I haven't addressed.

I have successfully pared the list to just my current tasks, but it's still a list.  Some tasks have priority over others.
GTD preaches not pre-prioritizing tasks but I'm considering the Eisenhower matrix of Important and Urgent.

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49 minutes ago, DTLow said:

Task priority is something I haven't addressed.

I have successfully pared the list to just my current tasks, but it's still a list.  Some tasks have priority over others.
GTD preaches not pre-prioritizing tasks but I'm considering the Eisenhower matrix of Important and Urgent.

Date is the priority for me, and the layers of tags. 

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1 hour ago, SvenSND said:

Also is there an easy way to set reminders with shortcuts? I can't find any shortcut, but I may be wrong?

I used PhraseExpress to create shortcuts for add, change, complete and clear reminders.  Makes it a lot easier.  

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17 hours ago, DTLow said:

Task priority is something I haven't addressed.

I have successfully pared the list to just my current tasks, but it's still a list.  Some tasks have priority over others.
GTD preaches not pre-prioritizing tasks but I'm considering the Eisenhower matrix of Important and Urgent.

@DTLow, your system sounds interesting.  Have you published your entire system/process anywhere?

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3 hours ago, JMichaelTX said:

your system sounds interesting.  Have you published your entire system/process anywhere?

Just bits and pieces
This discussion focused on the date assignment for tasks (tag vs date); I use date
                                                         and the filter for Current Tasks

As I said, I think priority needs to be addressed
There's also the GTD context, like Personal and Work

Project Review Process would be another discussion

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21 hours ago, CalS said:

Relative to task management, I started using a hybrid system of tags and reminders with dates.

I'm thinking this complicates identifying "all the items I need to proceed today",

Ideally, I would want a shortcut item to produce this list.

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20 hours ago, CalS said:

I used PhraseExpress to create shortcuts for add, change, complete and clear reminders.  Makes it a lot easier.  

Hi CalS. Thank you very very much, I'll give a look at it

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21 minutes ago, DTLow said:

I'm thinking this complicates identifying "all the items I need to proceed today",

Ideally, I would want a shortcut item to produce this list.

Whatever, works fine for me.  Horses for courses.

I use saved searches for dated reminders (some triggered by hot keys) and the tag drop for GTD/TSW.  This works well with the left panel closed, which I hardly have open anyway.  All the saved searches have a saved view, sorted by reminder time.  So click-click or hotkey for reminders list of tasks and click-click for tags list of tasks  Not so many items on either list I can't manage the process.   Searches and tags all start with exclamation point so they float to the top of the lists.

ScreenClip.png.4506f61973b526cfc47e3a23f540bcef.png        ScreenClip.png.6b19ca2cc56cb0610cf4758e7fbf611f.png

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4 hours ago, DTLow said:

Just bits and pieces
This discussion focused on the date assignment for tasks (tag vs date); I use date
                                                         and the filter for Current Tasks

As I said, I think priority needs to be addressed
There's also the GTD context, like Personal and Work

Project Review Process would be another discussion

Hi DTLow, thanks for the explanations. Your system management seems pretty nice. Where did you get the idea of the reminder use? Is there any source or book? 

I'd like to have an overview of your system too, if you were willing to share with us!! 

Big thanks again, I think reminders may change my life!!!

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On 10/1/2018 at 1:50 PM, SvenSND said:

Where did you get the idea of the reminder use?

I wish I could find the post to give proper credit.  A user in these forums kept at it until I finally understood the concept.

edit: Also my calendar app is date based.  It works very well.

>>I'd like to have an overview of your system too, if you were willing to share with us!! 

In this discussion you have the overview of the date assignment (tag vs date)

Other topics would be

  • Task Priority
  • Context
  • Project Review
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Thanks all for the great discussion.   I am currently most like @CalS for those topic.    I might use reminders more extensively if there was a bulk update for reminders (as there is for tags).   If it exists, I have not seen it (I used both Windows and Mac Clients).

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1 minute ago, Mike McGowan said:

I might use reminders more extensively if there was a bulk update for reminders (as there is for tags).   If it exists, I have not seen it (I used both Windows and Mac Clients).

Does not exist.  :(

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8 hours ago, Mike McGowan said:

I might use reminders more extensively if there was a bulk update for reminders (as there is for tags). 

I'm a Mac; I use scripting (Applescript) to set reminders and tags; this could be single note or bulk.
                 tell application "Evernote"  to 
set reminder time of theNote to date theReminderDate

Can you give a use case for bulk update in task management?
Generally, I update tasks individually.

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52 minutes ago, DTLow said:

I'm a Mac user and I use scripting (Applescript) to set reminders and tags; this could be single note or bulk.

Can you give a use case for bulk update in task management?
Generally, I update tasks individually.

You have 8 tasks due today, you get sick or something else borks your day.  You want the tasks to appear in Today tomorrow, if you catch my drift.  You have 8 updates to do, whereas a bulk capability would mean 1 update.  Not that critical for me, but would be handy from time to time.

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7 hours ago, CalS said:

You want the tasks to appear in Today tomorrow, if you catch my drift.   You have 8 updates to do, whereas a bulk capability would mean 1 update.  Not that critical for me, but would be handy from time to time.

I can see I might want to move the 8 tasks to a future date.

I've structured my filters so uncompleted tasks carry forward.  I don't usually update the date unless I want to move the task to the future.

Does "Today tomorrow" seem awkward wording to anyone else?  
My shortcuts are named "Current Task List" and "Tomorrow Task List"

 

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1 hour ago, DTLow said:

I wish I could find the post to give proper credit.  A user in these forums kept at it until I finally understood the concept.

>>I'd like to have an overview of your system too, if you were willing to share with us!! 

In this discussion you have the overview of the date assignment (tag vs date)

Other topics would be

  • Task Priority
  • Context
  • Project Review

Thank you very much, I'll first get a grip on the reminder system, then see what I can add to or modify in my system. You were a great help!!!

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6 minutes ago, DTLow said:

I've structured my "Today" search so that uncompleted tasks carry forward.  I don't usually update the task date unless I want to move it to the future.

I can see I might want to move the 8 tasks to a future date.

 

10 minutes ago, CalS said:

You want the tasks to appear in Today tomorrow

Others may do things a different way, go figure.  ;)

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3 hours ago, Mike McGowan said:

Thanks all for the great discussion.   I am currently most like @CalS for those topic.    I might use reminders more extensively if there was a bulk update for reminders (as there is for tags).   If it exists, I have not seen it (I used both Windows and Mac Clients).

For Windows, the only option is an external scripting tool such as AHK or PhraseExpress, and even then, you're not bulk updating reminders, just individually updating them faster because you can use the keyboard and avoid the mouse.

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@DTLow Thanks for sharing your setup. I too would be interested in a post in which you would describe everything in more detail. One question : do you haye a 'waiting for' tag/mechanism? I.e. something marking a task that can only be done after some one else did something (e.g. one is waiting for an email of someone).

 

@Mike McGowan You might want to check out filterize.net, a service which let's you automate some things including reminders - maybe you could use it for bulk updating.

 

Cheers 

Alex 

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3 hours ago, Lexbrkly said:

do you haye a 'waiting for' tag/mechanism? I.e. something marking a task that can only be done after some one else did something (e.g. one is waiting for an email of someone)

I have nothing specific for "waiting for".  

My thinking is the task should go dormant for a period; 1 day, 2 days, a week ...
I set the due date and the note appears on the task list on that date

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On 9/30/2018 at 12:05 PM, CalS said:

If what you are doing today is more work than it is worth to you

It's like with tasks due on New Years Day; year end cleanup stuff
2019/01/01   or      +90 days
Whatever system works best for you and is not more work than it's worth

For task management, I set the reminder date to 2019/01/01; the note will pop up on my task list when due.

edit: This is an older message that somehow popped up today.

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Hi everyone, thanks to CalS I managed to successfully set keyboard shortcuts for setting/modifying/clearing reminders.

I've got some more questions. For setting reminders, I can't see farther than a week, so it would end with only setting reminders for the incoming week. If I understand, DTLow, you use the date beginning of the week after to sort these items? And then you sort them on the beginning of the next week? 

I was wondering about what you think about the following system:

  • Have a tagging system like this: 0-This week, 1-Next week, 2-Week after, 3-This month...
  • All items in 0-This week would have a reminder without exception
  • Notes without exception would have a context: What project, what action, where to do 

 

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14 hours ago, SvenSND said:

For setting reminders, I can't see farther than a week, so it would end with only setting reminders for the incoming week.

What if you're working on a note that has a specific due date in the future.

>>If I understand, DTLow, you use the date beginning of the week after to sort these items? And then you sort them on the beginning of the next week? 

Right, I don't have "week" tags so I just assign an approximate day.
The first day of the week is good to allow for week planning

>>All items in 0-This week would have a reminder without exception

In my use, the reminder identifies this week, the "0-This Week" tag does not add anything to my workflow

>>Notes without exception would have a context: What project, ....

We may have different interpretations of "project"
When I identify a note as actionable, I always identify a project (tag)
- One-of tasks are assigned "Project - None
-  Other examples: Paint the Living Room, Develop Process-Inbox Workflow, Develop Data Backup Workflow, ...

This helps in the periodic project reviews

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Hi DTLow, thank you for your answer. For how much time do you have precise reminder for your notes?

Thanks for the confirmation, so I was wondering about an hybrid system with precise reminders for the week and the week tags, it could solve some of my problem. Does this seem totally nuts?

For me project refers to the domains the notes are about: work, personal life, guitar, personal development. It's not really a specific project. For example, if I need to read a guitar book, I would set 3 tags: !guitar, to read, @anywhere (if I can read it anywhere including during commuting) 

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4 hours ago, SvenSND said:

For how much time do you have precise reminder for your notes?

About 50%; I want to be prepared so I can flag the note and forget about it until due
All my event based notes have a precise date.

 

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On 9/30/2018 at 1:22 PM, SvenSND said:

Hi everyone, I've got some questions about the "Task management system" in Evernote.

I use Evernote as my main and only system to take note, but also as my task list.

  • Non actionnable notes are tagged with the ".cabinet" tag and placed into the proper folders
  • Actionnable notes have 4 types of tag!
    • What project: guitar, word, professional...
    • What: what action is needed (call, email, errand...)
    • Where: where can the action be taken (anywhere, work, home, on any computer...)
    • When (cf. below)

The When part is the part I'm questioning myself is the time management. For now I use a tag system as below (0 is for all the items I need to proceed today, 1 for tomorrow, and 2 for the day after. 3 lists all the items I need to proceed during this week with no particular order)

2134355777_Evernotetimetagging.png.71691ec4ef7abab0f73956f533564a73.png

 

The downside of this system is that I need to update it every evening:

  • Put the "1" into "0" and "2" into "1"
  • See if all the actions I couldn't proceed in "0" should remain in "0" or be placed into another tag

 

It takes almost 10-15 minutes everyday. I'm wondering if another system could be better? Do you have any idea? What do you personally use? 

I would consider a system like KanbanFlow or Remember the Milk. I once briefly tried to use Evernote for Getting Things Done, which is quite similar to what you described. It was unwieldy.

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40 minutes ago, Etonreve said:

I would consider a system like KanbanFlow or Remember the Milk.

The reason I want to stay in Evernote is it's the central place for all my data.

My Evernote workflow handles simple task mangement.  For complex projects, I use a heavy duty project management service, for example MS Project

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Thanks for taking this much time for answering my questions. I begin to understand what I want my system to look like.

  • For now I'll keep having the project as I do, I'll see if later improvements can be made
  • Every event will have a precise reminder
  • The actionnable items out of 0-This week won't have any reminder

I think it might solve some workflow problem.

Thanks to PhraseExpress, I've set keyboard shortcuts for reminder. I'll bind them to the programmable buttons of my mouse, so that with only one click I'll set the reminder

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In my workflow, I prefer to separate the requirement from the mechanism.
The requirement is satisfied using a shortcut.

I understand a requirement of "This Week".  I also need "This Day"
The mechanism is whatever works best for you; dates, tags, ... hybrid

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45 minutes ago, DTLow said:

The reason I want to stay in Evernote is it's the central place for all my data.

Evernote handles my simple task mangement.  For complex projects, I use a heavy duty project management service.

It's the same reason here. I used Evernote for data management but also task list management

What do you mean by separate requirement from the mechanism? (sorry english is not my native language)?

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12 hours ago, SvenSND said:

What do you mean by separate requirement from the mechanism?

I noticed in your post you said  "0-This Week"
I suspect this is referring to the mechanism (a tag?) instead of the requirement.

When I referred to requirements, I wrote "This Week" and "This Day"

To produce my task list I don't go to the tag list, notebook list, reminder list, ...
I go to the shortcut section and click on a shortcut.  This is a saved search to whatever mechanism is needed.

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>>How to identify Overdue Tasks?

I have no process to identify overdue tasks specifically.
I identify notes as Actionable, but with no indication of duration.  The task could take 3 minutes or 3 days.

By identifying and using the start date (Reminder date), overdue tasks should be eliminated.

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16 hours ago, DTLow said:

I noticed in your post you said  "0-This Week"
I suspect this is referring to the mechanism (a tag?) instead of the requirement.

When I referred to requirements, I wrote "This Week" and "This Day"

To produce my task list I don't go to the tag list, notebook list, reminder list, ...
I go to the shortcut section and click on a shortcut.  This is a saved search to whatever mechanism is needed.

You're right, it refers to a tag that means need to be addressed the current week. I wasn't aware if it was a requirement or a mechanism. The 0 in front of the expression is for having quick keyboard shortcut (as I hit 0 the tag is selected)

I remember about your search, I'll copy it into my system as it is very efficient!!!

 

4 hours ago, DTLow said:

>>How to identify Overdue Tasks?

I have no process to identify overdue tasks.
I identify notes as Actionable, but with no indication of duration.  The task could take 3 minutes or 3 days.

No overdue task for me too. They're still in the daily task, undone and eventually are addressed for later or due to the next day

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On 9/30/2018 at 2:58 PM, CalS said:

Dated tasks trump tagged tasks.

Calendar rules them all
- I use a calendar app for reoccurring tasks and event based tasks. Also a reminders app

My daily process is

  1. View Calendar (app)
  2. View Dated Active Tasks (Evernote Reminders Search)
  3. View NonDated Active Tasks (Evernote Reminders Search)

I copy the entries into my daily journal note.
I'm still working on priority within the Evernote searches

 

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Hi DTLow, sorry for the comprehension problem. Yes my "today" tasks are prompted with reminder and the saved search

Quote

   reminderOrder:* -reminderTime:day+1 -reminderDoneTime:*

The 0-This week, is only a tag that is used to browse its notes and check if all have a defined reminder. Only the notes inside this "0-This week" tag will have reminder, exception of meetings or events which dates are already known.

The down-side of the system I'm trying to set is its visibility. If I want to see all the reminder on a specific day, I have to go to all note. I tried to make a search for

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reminderOrder:* -reminderTime:day+2 -reminderTime:day-1 -reminderDoneTime:*

But it didn't work :( 

 

What solution do you recommend for syncing your calendar (google calendar) with Evernote?  

 

Edit : found some solution to show the reminders on the next day

Quote

reminderOrder:* reminderTime:day+2 -reminderTime:day+3 -reminderDoneTime:*

 

Edited by SvenSND
Found some solution
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1 hour ago, SvenSND said:

Yes my "today" tasks are prompted with reminder and the saved search

If I want to see all the reminder on a specific day, I have to go to all note.   

For day +2, I would use    reminderOrder:* -reminderTime:day+3  -reminderDoneTime:*
                                            (all reminders        exclude future dated    exclude completed)

For specifically dated   reminderTime:day+2  -reminderTime:day+3   -reminderDoneTime:*

>>What solution do you recommend for syncing your calendar (google calendar) with Evernote?

Sorry, I'm an Apple Calendar use.  I use scripting on my Mac or drag-and-drop
You could look at Cronofy Calendar Connector

>>Edit : found some solution to show the reminders on the next day
             reminderOrder:* reminderTime:day+2 -reminderTime:day+3 -reminderDoneTime:*

It helps if you give the description of the parameters,
for example the first parameter is          (all reminders)
                       
the second parameter is   (all reminders dated day+2 or greater)

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1 hour ago, DTLow said:

For day +2, I would use    reminderOrder:* -reminderTime:day+3  -reminderDoneTime:*
                                            (all reminders        exclude future dated    exclude completed)

For specifically dated   reminderTime:day+2  -reminderTime:day+3   -reminderDoneTime:*

>>What solution do you recommend for syncing your calendar (google calendar) with Evernote?

Sorry, I'm an Apple Calendar use.  I use scripting on my Mac or drag-and-drop
You could look at Cronofy Calendar Connector

>>Edit : found some solution to show the reminders on the next day
             reminderOrder:* reminderTime:day+2 -reminderTime:day+3 -reminderDoneTime:*

It helps if you give the description of the parameters,
for example the first parameter is          (all reminders)
                       
the second parameter is   (all reminders dated day+2 or greater)

Thank you very much, the calendar is not so much important now that I managed to have special reminders for J+1, J+2, J+3... I'll give it a look

I just finished to setup the system, all is prepared for the week, only minor updates will be needed (if all goes well).

 

The search for J+1 reminder is: 

Quote
reminderOrder:* reminderTime:day+1 -reminderTime:day+2 -reminderDoneTime:*

reminderOrder:* : the note has a reminder

reminderTime:day+1 : seek for all reminders dated greater than J+1

-reminderTime:day+2 : seek for all reminders dated prior to J+2

-reminderDoneTime:* : the note has no "done reminder"

 

I've created a last search for every note that has a reminder but is not in "0-Now (this week)" (so I can quickly search for my mistakes)

Quote

reminderOrder:* -reminderDoneTime:* -tag:"0-Now (this week)"

 reminderOrder:* : with a reminder set

-reminderDoneTime:* : with no "done reminder"

-tag:"0-Now (this week)" : that has not the "0-Now (this week)" tag

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On 10/7/2018 at 2:55 AM, SvenSND said:

The 0 in front of the expression is for having quick keyboard shortcut (as I hit 0 the tag is selected)

A good shortcut, but a one-trick-pony; you can only use it for one set of tags.

Here's my trick.

I prefix the tags with the subject; for example "Sched" for scheduling.
So my tags would be    Sched-Today, Sched-Tomorrow, Sched-NextWeek, ...

To enter the scheduling tag, I start typing Sched
Instead of a list of 300+ random tags, I'm presented with a list of 4 scheduling tags

I can use the same trick for different sets of tags; Project, Vendor, Budget, ...

 

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Another prefix option is to use a single character.  For example, I use ! for action tags.  This makes it easy to access them and also sorts them to the front of the tag list.  I use four such special character prefixes so easy enough to remember.  ! . _ =

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4 hours ago, CalS said:

Another prefix option is to use a single character. 

I also use the single character prefix; my top level tags are  ?Who !What @Where .Period
This is a naming standard, and also a hierarchy (Mac)

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7 hours ago, DTLow said:

A good shortcut, but a one-trick-pony; you can only use it for one set of tags.

Here's my trick.

I prefix the tags with the subject; for example "Sched" for scheduling.
So my tags would be    Sched-Today, Sched-Tomorrow, Sched-NextWeek, ...

To enter the scheduling tag, I start typing Sched
Instead of a list of 300+ random tags, I'm presented with a list of 4 scheduling tags

I can use the same trick for different sets of tags; Project, Vendor, Budget, ...

 

Hello DTLow! I want the desired field to appear when typing a single character. For example, every "context" is preceded by the !character, where by a @ ... By doing this, they are quickly accessible with minimum action. The when is the exception with 0 1 2 3. These character are only used in timing tags so by pressing 0 I'm sure to get the right tag

 

4 hours ago, CalS said:

Another prefix option is to use a single character.  For example, I use ! for action tags.  This makes it easy to access them and also sorts them to the front of the tag list.  I use four such special character prefixes so easy enough to remember.  ! . _ =

It's exactly what I have been doing; ! for context, @ for location, and 0 1 2 3 ... for timing

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14 minutes ago, SvenSND said:

 

Hello DTLow! I want the desired field to appear when typing a single character. For example, every "context" is preceded by the !character, where by a @ ... By doing this, they are quickly accessible with minimum action. The when is the exception with 0 1 2 3. These character are only used in timing tags so by pressing 0 I'm sure to get the right tag

 

It's exactly what I have been doing; ! for context, @ for location, and 0 1 2 3 ... for timing

I use ! for action tags (timing), the tag drop down looks like this -  ScreenClip.png.c685da1c78e880387dcc2b589fc43fc1.png

Nothing for context, . (period) for projects, = for people and _ for fiscal years.  So when searching for a tag, entering ! . = _ will display the abbreviated list for each of the four types. 

The one long prefix I use is 1040, being in the US, taxes and all.  :(

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9 hours ago, CalS said:

I use ! for action tags (timing)

 

9 hours ago, SvenSND said:

The when is the exception with 0 1 2 3. These character are only used in timing tags

I prefer getting the list displayed.  0,1,2 might be obvious but it gets obscure after that.

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1 hour ago, DTLow said:

 

I prefer getting the list displayed.  0,1,2 might be obvious but it gets complicated after that.

For now, 0 1 2 3 doesn't have any direct use. They are just containers. For example I quickly check in 0 if all notes have a reminder. If not I have to put one :)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hey Guys, I also find it messy when I create my daily to-do lists on Evernote. Currently, I am looking for new ways to fix my problem. 

Are you guys interested in something new?

I've created a landing page to illustrate the idea. You can visit it here: https://www.timelistapp.com/

Though the user interfaces may not be very attractive at this moment, I am looking for user interest in the concept. Let me know how you think about it.

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  • 1 year later...

Hi I have found a way to do reoccurring tasks. The issue initially for me is you cannot duplicate a notebook.

1. Create A note book with all your annual tasks, and date code the start ie 20XX-03-01, so they slot in order
2. If you want to refine the tasks create tabs to go with them 
3. Once you have created your lists of annual reoccurring tasks export as compressed file (ensure tick - keep tabs) - name it Annual Tasks Template
4. This will download more than likely to your download folder on your computer. Its an Evernote zip file
5.  Now either store on your computer or place back in a note title annual tasks templates.
6. Now hit the zip file and a note book will appear, with all your annual task reminder
7. Wiz through the dates you set, 20XX-03-01 etc, and set them up as reminders. I do not change 20xx but leave. 
8. In the reminder view - you now have a list of annual tasks with dates, and you can check them off within the reminder window

hey presto - hope that helps

Edited by WSr
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Or,

  1. Create a tag !Recur
  2. Add it to any recurring task notes with reminder dates
  3. When the task is complete change the reminder date to the next cycle.
  4. If you like put a table in the note to document when the task was completed each time.

Recurring reminders will appear in whatever reminder searches you use.

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1 hour ago, CalS said:

When the task is complete change the reminder date to the next cycle.

I have the reminder date update automated with scripting on my Mac   
It's also a feature supported by third party Filterize

>>Create a tag !Recur1692701668_ScreenShot2020-06-24at4_47_07PM.png.6af9b3ffe3424c6324c2c888fa805dc4.png

I also have standard recurrence sub-tags; weekly, monthly etc 

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11 minutes ago, DTLow said:

I have the reminder date update automated with scripting on my Mac   
It's also a feature supported by third party Filterize

>>Create a tag !Recur

I also have standard recurrence sub-tags; weekly, monthly etc 

Sounds good.  In my use case I don't have so many recurring reminders that it is onerous to maintain the reminder dates.  Plus, sometimes the new reminder date may not be quite on the same cycle as the last.  Like typically weekly on a Monday but next week I want a Tuesday.  Nothing dramatic.

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Thanks, thats one way to use the tags.

But we use tags for identifying work business tasks, taking it to completion on the task and attaching important docs for reference. IN the repeat template notebook, which is each ANNUAL notebook, there can be over 150 tasks.  So this way we keep a template fresh, for the next year.  We also as a business limit tags, to a maximum of 4 per note, but we do have one extra, to identify if a new annual task, so it can be picked up at end of year. Otherwise our tags are structured in 4s for each note. 1. CAT (for category of business dealing with) with manager allocation 2. Product type talking about 3. P&L accounts reference - help where it sits in accounts (helps inform and aid managers in their decision making) 4. Task - type of task being done or delegated.  

The 4 category tagging therefore  helps, delegation (responsibility) and cross manager searching, since information may be required across the organisation by different managers. Also we have several annual notebooks - which are run by different managers. . It's about ensuring all legal / accounting tasks are completed each year without fail. And the systemisation of the system allows cross working and searching. So works well for us.  This is for Business Evernote.  Of course we have separate notebooks for non-reoccurring tasks, treated differently.  

Hope that helps

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1 hour ago, WSr said:

Thanks, thats one way to use the tags.

But we use tags for identifying work business tasks, taking it to completion on the task and attaching important docs for reference. IN the repeat template notebook, which is each ANNUAL notebook, there can be over 150 tasks.  So this way we keep a template fresh, for the next year.  We also as a business limit tags, to a maximum of 4 per note, but we do have one extra, to identify if a new annual task, so it can be picked up at end of year. Otherwise our tags are structured in 4s for each note. 1. CAT (for category of business dealing with) with manager allocation 2. Product type talking about 3. P&L accounts reference - help where it sits in accounts (helps inform and aid managers in their decision making) 4. Task - type of task being done or delegated.  

The 4 category tagging therefore  helps, delegation (responsibility) and cross manager searching, since information may be required across the organisation by different managers. Also we have several annual notebooks - which are run by different managers. . It's about ensuring all legal / accounting tasks are completed each year without fail. And the systemisation of the system allows cross working and searching. So works well for us.  This is for Business Evernote.  Of course we have separate notebooks for non-reoccurring tasks, treated differently.  

Hope that helps

Thanks for sharing.  As we always say around here, do what works best for you.

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I tried Filterize and didn't like it, so I wrote my own. This solution depends on Mac Automation. Mobile users with a Mac can benefit if you leave it running.

This script accepts natural language tags in a variety of formats that begin with "repeat". Yes, these are actual tag names.

  • "repeat every 3 days"
  • "repeat Tuesday"
  • "repeat monthly"
  • "repeat daily at 5pm"
  • "repeat 2 weeks"
  • "repeat every Wed"
  • "repeat yearly"
  • "repeat every 3 months 8AM"
  • "repeat July 4"
  • "repeat Feb 17th at 8:30pm"

When it detects a note with a repeat tag and a completed reminder, it automatically resets the reminder time to the date specified.

EDIT: I updated script to support multiple recurrences. It picks the earliest one found. You could use ["repeat Mon", "repeat Wed", "repeat Fri"] to make a M/W/F repeating schedule. Or you could use ["repeat 1st", "repeat 16th"] to setup a bi-monthly schedule.

I set mine up to run via cron every minute. It acts similar to Filterize, but this is FREE.

crontab -e

* * * * * osascript $HOME/Library/Scripts/Evernote-recurring.scpt

Feedback welcome.

 

Evernote-recurring.scpt

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11 hours ago, adkisson said:

This solution depends on Mac Automation. Mobile users with a Mac can benefit if you leave it running.

This script accepts natural language tags in a variety of formats that begin with "repeat".

Thanks for sharing.  I haven't test your script, but it looks like a very clever script.  👍

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