(iOS) EN & To-Do/Planning App? (Like Things 3)

[Raeve 9]

Hello,

I’m really making the effort to go all in with EN as my digital vault. I’m trying to rethink my workflow to make this happen most effectively. One of the things that EN just doesn’t work well for me is the simple task list. Not being able to check off something as finished and have it move to the bottom of the list is really challenging. And it takes way too long to manually move them. I’ve tried.

So I’m looking for perhaps an app that will integrate well with EN. While I might not use that data day to day within EN it would all be searched/indexed for me so that I could find it in EN later on (similar to the Noteshelf integration).

Does anyone know of an app on iOS that might work for this? I’ve tried Todoist and it works OK for me but I’m not in love with it. I would only have 3rd party EN integration through something like IFTTT or possibly Pleexy. But I’d love to be able to use something like Things 3 for this and still have the data somehow over in EN. Is that possible? If not for Things, perhaps another app? I’d really appreciate any info and thought. Thanks so much!!

[DTLow 5,736]

46 minutes ago, Raeve said:

So I’m looking for perhaps an app that will integrate well with EN.

What To-Do/Planning features are you looking for; in addition to  the checklist?

I use Evernote for simple task management.
Key points are

• A separate note for each task
• Task lists are a list of notes.  
  My current task list is generated by search reminderOrder:* -reminderTime:day+1 -reminderDoneTime:*
• The list is date driven, with the due date stored as reminder date
• Completed tasks are flagged using the reminder-done feature

[PinkElephant 8,104]

@RaeveMy combination is Evernote for the filing, and Things 3 for the follow up / task planning (Mac and iOS only).

When you create an external link from an EN note, you can share this directly into a Things note, where it will added to the „notes“-area of the task. The task can be handled completely normal, including repetitive reminders, start dates, deadlines, assignment to a project etc.

The original note is always just one click on the embedded link away. This is what it looks like after a link was shared into the Things INBOX (mmmh, planning to bake a cake  😇 )  

 

[Gear64 43]

I think the nozbe integration to evernote is awesome. LINUX (yeah 5 stars just for that!), iOS, windows, web.  I believe android, but not kindle store, web version works well on kindle.  Really no discernible difference between apps and web, apps just feel more convenient.

[Raeve 9]

2 hours ago, Gear64 said:

I think the nozbe integration to evernote is awesome. LINUX (yeah 5 stars just for that!), iOS, windows, web.  I believe android, but not kindle store, web version works well on kindle.  Really no discernible difference between apps and web, apps just feel more convenient.

Nozbe looks interesting. Can I ask, are you using the limited free version or are you going with a paid acct? I’m not really wanting a subscription app for this, though I certainly don’t mind paying for an app (one time). 

[PinkElephant 8,104]

Things is One-time, though it costs more than the usual app-store-stuff.

[stephen_bradley 58]

On 6/14/2019 at 3:20 AM, PinkElephant said:

@RaeveMy combination is Evernote for the filing, and Things 3 for the follow up / task planning (Mac and iOS only).

When you create an external link from an EN note, you can share this directly into a Things note, where it will added to the „notes“-area of the task. The task can be handled completely normal, including repetitive reminders, start dates, deadlines, assignment to a project etc.

The original note is always just one click on the embedded link away. This is what it looks like after a link was shared into the Things INBOX (mmmh, planning to bake a cake  😇 )  

 

 

That's what I do too. Most of my tasks do not need complex notes or attachments, but when they do this is best way that I've found to do handle them. 

Best part is that this method is transferable to the task management app of your choice, which is important for me because I'm fickle and change apps a lot.

[PinkElephant 8,104]

I do a lot of experiments before I decide, read comments etc. But when I have decided, I tend to stick with an app. I found it very time consuming to switch apps over time, and you drive yourself crazy if you try to handle one single / simple task by several apps at once.

[DTLow 5,736]

2 hours ago, stephen_bradley said:

Most of my tasks do not need complex notes or attachments

Same for me, and most of my taks only require a due date and completion status/date
This is handled by the Evernote product

There have been a few projects/tasks that required heavy duty project management tools

>>I'm fickle and change apps a lot

I keep an eye on the alternates, but am not willing to spend the time or resources to "change apps a lot"

[s2sailor 2,193]

For me, anything that is time dependent goes on the calendar.  If it is just date dependent that it goes in the todo app.  I have bounced around a few as well.  Currently back using Todoist.  As long as the todo app can accept an EN link, then it meets my criteria.  I don't require any more integration than that.

[Gear64 43]

18 hours ago, Raeve said:

Nozbe looks interesting. Can I ask, are you using the limited free version or are you going with a paid acct? I’m not really wanting a subscription app for this, though I certainly don’t mind paying for an app (one time). 

I'm using the limited free version.  The primary limitation is you can only manage 5 projects, but I have a pretty good system for managing projects within Evernote.  I have two projects in Nozbe.  "Processed" where I move my inbox stuff once I've assigned a category to it.  These are reminders that auto update from Evernote. The status of those reminders sync both ways. It would be nice if there was tag/category synching, but I only keep about 5 or so categories in Nozbe as context for todos.  The other project is repeating reminders.  I create those directly in Nozbe, mostly mundane stuff like the trash needs to be set out Wed. evening. I really like the calendar view as well.  I'm so happy with Nozbe I sometimes feel guilty about not paying, but the lowest paid tier is more than Evernote Premium.  I would strongly consider paying for an in between level if one ever became available.

[TroyC 24]

On 6/13/2019 at 9:53 PM, Raeve said:

Hello,

I’m really making the effort to go all in with EN as my digital vault. I’m trying to rethink my workflow to make this happen most effectively. One of the things that EN just doesn’t work well for me is the simple task list. Not being able to check off something as finished and have it move to the bottom of the list is really challenging. And it takes way too long to manually move them. I’ve tried.

So I’m looking for perhaps an app that will integrate well with EN. While I might not use that data day to day within EN it would all be searched/indexed for me so that I could find it in EN later on (similar to the Noteshelf integration).

Does anyone know of an app on iOS that might work for this? I’ve tried Todoist and it works OK for me but I’m not in love with it. I would only have 3rd party EN integration through something like IFTTT or possibly Pleexy. But I’d love to be able to use something like Things 3 for this and still have the data somehow over in EN. Is that possible? If not for Things, perhaps another app? I’d really appreciate any info and thought. Thanks so much!!

As you can see from the responses, there are as many preferred workflows as there are people.  If you want to use Things with Evernote, TaskClone can help - https://www.taskclone.com/evernote-to-things-integration.  I'm the developer behind TaskClone and after 7 years, I can assure you, almost nothing is perfect.  There are many solutions to similar problems and you just pick one and iterate.  Best of luck.

[PinkElephant 8,104]

@TroyC Thanks for posting. I checked your link, sounds interesting.

The only question is if I really need some intermediary. If I create an external link and share it into Things, it will open a new task with the note title as task title, with the initial note content as task text and with a link that allows to jump always back to the original note.

All of the task handling is then done on the Things task. Evernote will be the content platform, and Things the engine that drives progress. Following up on tasks in more than one task manager is always frustrating, so I prefer to have the task management just in one setup. By sharing between Evernote and Things, all tasks are in one place only.

From your point of view, where is the value added by putting some management system in between ?

[TroyC 24]

I'm certainly not suggesting having more than one location for tasks.  In fact, the opposite. 

Let's take your example.  You share a link from Evernote to Things with the note title as a task. First, how are you "Sharing"?  Is that copy & paste or are you using an intermediary?  Second, does the note title describe all the things you want to track progress of (e.g. One item), because you would have only one Things task.  If so, the solution you indicated would work fine. 

What is more typical is the note is at the level of a project with many tasks and context within the project.  You either write those individual tasks within Evernote and have them sent over to Things as individual tasks, or you go through the process of typing those individual tasks into things so you can manage them as discrete tasks instead of an entire project.  What TaskClone does is save you from writing the individual tasks twice.  It copies them from Evernote to Things.  It is not a place to manage tasks, just a conduit between two services.

It can serve as that conduit at the note level, so you can get the note title into Things as a task or as a conduit to get individual tasks into Things.  Either way, it's saving retyping or copy/pasting.

Only you can decide if that helps your productivity.

[DTLow 5,736]

5 hours ago, TroyC said:

What TaskClone does is save you from writing the individual tasks twice.  It copies them from Evernote to Things.  

I'm still promoting handling task management within Evernote using individual task notes.

I found it interesting TaskClone can facilitate this.  After the tasks are identified as checklist items, TaskClone can generate email to create the task notes.

[PinkElephant 8,104]

@TroyC About your questions:

I create an external link when I have the note open. On iOS: Share, more options, external link, pick Things from the share menu. No „copy & paste“.

It copies the title plus some of the notes text content into the things task, plus the link to the note. The title contains sufficient information to get what the note (and task) is about, because it is what I see in the preview of EN as well. The initial text helps as well. If needed, I can alter both in Things, which will not reflect back to EN.

Yes, it is one task at a time. Following GTD, this is enough for most tasks, because you define your „next action“ and file the task accordingly.

It is possible as well to create several tasks from the same note, if there is content that leads to several strings of follow-up-action. But in real life, this is rarely needed, because most will be done sequentially, one step after the other.

Things can be used to organize projects as well - but this is another story. Can be done as well, but I would prefer another system for projects because Things is a completely personal task manager, that does not allow to manage a workgroup. So at the moment you want to invite somebody to the show, you are better off with other tools, like Trello, Meistertask etc. In this context I see EN more as a information carrying Tool, not to manage. The external links will work there as well, if the tool allows for it (many do).

I see your point if you want to generate more from within EN. Then a tool like TaskClone will for sure be helpful.

[stephen_bradley 58]

On 6/21/2019 at 9:17 AM, PinkElephant said:

I do a lot of experiments before I decide, read comments etc. But when I have decided, I tend to stick with an app. I found it very time consuming to switch apps over time, and you drive yourself crazy if you try to handle one single / simple task by several apps at once.

I'm one of those geeks that really enjoys trying out new systems, methods, and software. Sometimes I have 3 different systems in play at one time. Right now I'm managing projects/notes/files using Evernote, Notion, and a simple directory structure with markdown files on OneNote. When I'm done with Notion, I'm going to move on to Devonthink since version 3 is available in beta. For to-dos, I'm using Microsoft To-Do, Things 3, and the new Apple Reminders (beta).

I just really like tinkering, and luckily the nature of my job allows for it. But I'm also genuinely worried about the future of Evernote; for me its gotten less stable + more buggy in the last year. Problems that started with the last release of macOS & iOS are still not fixed, as we rapidly approach the next release.

By trying out lots of different methodologies, I'm hoping to be prepared for a smooth transition if things are as bad as I currently expect them to be this fall.

[stephen_bradley 58]

On 6/21/2019 at 9:30 AM, DTLow said:

Same for me, and most of my taks only require a due date and completion status/date
This is handled by the Evernote product

There have been a few projects/tasks that required heavy duty project management tools

>>I'm fickle and change apps a lot

I keep an eye on the alternates, but am not willing to spend the time or resources to "change apps a lot"

The only reason I stopped using Evernote for task management was that I got hooked on Things 3. Its (for me) much faster to enter and organize my tasks, and more importantly re-organize them (dragging them into new orders as things change) which happens quite a bit because I'm handling multiple very different roles at once. 

I'm still looking for my next evolution beyond Things though, because it has some limitations that annoy me.

[PinkElephant 8,104]

Viewed from my usecase, EN runs stable on iOS since 8.21 (or 8.20), resolving the freezing, and on Mac since 7.11, resolving the keychain popup. My feeling is that SW quality has improved, the new releases are running good.

Sure, the GUI is aged compared to others, but the core function is solid, and sync is near to perfect. I can live with a step-to-step improvement, if this avoids stepbacks of the core function. 

[DTLow 5,736]

2 hours ago, stephen_bradley said:

...But I'm also genuinely worried about the future of Evernote; ... if things are as bad as I currently expect them to be this fall.

I have no such "genuine" worries but as general backup, I'm prepared for whatever happens.  

Export of my data is a 30 minute process; I run this weekly as part of my data backups. 

I'm using Evernote on a Mac and iPad with no serious concerns

[PinkElephant 8,104]

There are „concerns“ everywhere, if you search for them. There is no problem to live the one life you have, being concerned from day one til the end. Living it happily works in another way, but it is possible.

Why is little need for being concerned about EN ?

• First, the company has a solid number of users way above of what the typical startup will have. So even if the current management would not make it, there would be a „next“ one. And if they would just capitalize the user base, it would keep my stuff save and dry until I can move out.
• Secondly, there are a number of other companies offering tools to extract the data from an EN database, and transfer it into their structure. If I can do it then, there is no need to do it now.
• Third, as long as one is running at least one session of EN on a desktop (Win or Mac), there is a completely local copy of the database on my personal disk, running under a client that will not vanish just because the syncing stops. I can extract this data for example to ENEX or HTML Even if the compete cloud servers have gone bust, and there is nothing left of all this, the data is still there, waiting to be exported and reused.

So crying to leave EN NOW because they could go belly up one day is like committing suicide because of being afraid to be dead one day.

If one is not happy with what he gets, he should leave NOW for a better solution - it does not matter if EN is still around in a hundred of years, if it does not match my needs.

If one is happy about what he gets, he can stay with EN and must not fear to loose anything, whatever will happen.

To tell the truth, because of the described database being local AND on the cloud server, if one creates an additional local backup, the data is as save as it could ever be. It is on disk, on backup plus in a remote location. IT-nerds call this a 3-2-1-backup, and it is what you should do if you want to make sure your data is where it belongs, and stays that way whatever happens.

[Jeremy England 141]

On 7/2/2019 at 8:22 AM, stephen_bradley said:

I'm still looking for my next evolution beyond Things though, because it has some limitations that annoy me.

Have you look at Omnifocus? It's pretty much the Big Kahuna in terms of task managers, and it has relaxed some of its opinions of how things should work  in version 3. 

[stephen_bradley 58]

On 7/2/2019 at 5:52 PM, PinkElephant said:

 

So crying to leave EN NOW because they could go belly up one day is like committing suicide because of being afraid to be dead one day.

 

My concern about Evernote have nothing to do with it going "belly up". My concerns are that the software has, for me at least, become less stable over time. 

Issues that came up with the release of MacOS last year are *still not resolved* this year, as we approach *another* macOS release that will undoubtably bring more issues with Evernote. The iOS client lacks what I would consider to be some basic features (tried to add a column to a table, for example?) and the web client, which is actually pretty nice, is laggy and inconsistent on a latest model iPad Pro.

If one is not happy with what he gets, he should leave NOW for a better solution - it does not matter if EN is still around in a hundred of years, if it does not match my needs.

I keep using EN because it is STILL the most powerful overall application of its kind. DevonThink is terrible for the kind of notes I take, despite being pretty well rounded otherwise. OneNote has the worst sync client of any of them, Notion needs a lot of evolution (despite its design being undeniably powerful). That doesn't mean that I can't also be concerned/annoyed/whatever when the software does not seem to improve, despite continually costing money.

I'm not sure why there is so much defensiveness around the platform. It has problems, there isn't any treason in admitting that.

[stephen_bradley 58]

On 7/4/2019 at 10:56 AM, Jeremye said:

Have you look at Omnifocus? It's pretty much the Big Kahuna in terms of task managers, and it has relaxed some of its opinions of how things should work  in version 3. 

I did, and I liked it a lot. I did not stay with it because it is SO complex, and I have a tendency to get sucked into the small details of managing my tasks, rather than executing them.Things is much simpler, and it prevents me from being bogged down in all the possibilities. 

The next version of Apple Reminders might actually replace Things for me, if they make a couple of small tweaks. 

[Ant1 0]

Latecomer to this topic (and Evernote)...

My use cases are as follows:

• Tasks relating to HR, Operations, IT, app development (side project), tracking ongoing issues not directly in my remit, but in my interests to see to completion. This method includes the need to be able to link back to emails locally, and / or attach files and images. Ideally, to have geofencing with regards to my tasks, though not essential;
• Note-taking in relation to any of these issues above that can't really be summarised in a line or two in the task app. These can be meeting notes, thoughts about projects, etc.

I've struggled for absolutely ages to find something that actually works for me. I've used everything, and I think literally everything: Things3, Todoist,, TickTick, Sorted3 , Andy.do, Structured, OmniFocus, Todo Cloud, Calendars, 2Do, Due, GoodTask, BusyCal, Apple Reminders, and probably others. Not one app has everything: either the features aren't there, or the app look and feel - which are important if using regularly - aren't right, or doesn't fit most or all of the use cases I stated above. With regards to note-taking, I've gone from Apple Notes, to using GoodNotes with my Apple Pencil, Notability, but then switching back to Notes and then looking at Craft, Notion, Obsidian, NotePlan, Day One, Evernote, etc. Again, no one package has everything. Either they don't look good, or are too focussed on features I don't need, etc. 

I think I've settled on Things3 and Evernote. I love Things' layout and general feel, though I do wish it had proper geofencing. Todoist came very close, but the UI isn't as polished as Things. I like Evernote's overall feel, though I do like Craft's tile look (is there a way I can get EN's note tile view to have the same formatting as the note itself?). I sort of like the tasks feature of Evernote, but since I'm not going to use them, Craft's disregard for tasks is appealing. 

Why does one app not genuinely do everything, lol...?

[PinkElephant 8,104]

The main goal of Tasks in EN was to create a tool to make notes actionable.

As an example: Many use EN as a replacement for a CRM system: Create one note per customer / client / lead, and put all stuff related to that contact into that note. Before Tasks, the only way to activate it was by a reminder. With Tasks, you now can create several actions, at different points in time, and (with a Professional / Teams account) even delegate them to others, while staying in control.

That's an example - you will find others, where Tasks come very useful.

The main goal is NOT to replace a full ToDo-Manager like Things. Some will be able to do it, others will stick to their ToDo-Solution.