Best To-Do List Software?

JojoLinkyBob writes "Greetings, Council of Slashdot. I am curious what everyone here recommends as their favorite organizational software. Specifically, I am trying to find a simple freeware/open-source todo list manager. In the past, I've dabbled with TreePad, Shadow Plan, Mantis, and various virtual sticky- note apps ..all with mixed success. Currently, I'm back to my old-school ways of scribbling my todo's on the back of each Daily Dilbert Calendar page, which sadly means today is June 23 :)"

Comments

data managers

[Anonymous Coward]

there really is only one contender for me, and that's Richard Curnow's tdl, awesome for programmers and just day to day todo lists.

If you're looking for a structured way to store your random bits of data, there'
s treeline, a really simple but rea
lly effective little app.

I'm not really a bells & whistles type of guy, i like my apps streamlined and effective :)

Re:data managers

[abhisarda]

3-4 years back I downloaded a post it like program called freenote(90KB). I tried the official post-it software program from 3M but it was like 3MB and too bloated.
Freenote works fine but some notes might get misplaced(especially if you place too many on the desktop) after 10-15 days.
For a bigger list of similar programs, just go to download.com and enter post it or freenote in the search box.

Re:data managers

[xp]

I'm not really a bells & whistles type of guy, i like my apps streamlined and effective :)

If you are open to wetware apps then I would strongly recommend the techniques described in "Getting Things Done" by David Allen.

To find computer implementations of these ideas search Google for "GTD".

----
Is Your Boss A Muppet?

Re:data managers

[thetoastman]

At the risk of starting yet another editor war:

emacs plus:

• calendar mode for diary info (optionally encrypted)
• todo-mode.el for emacs (should come with emacs)

If not, you can get todo-mode.el from any emacs source location.

A proposal has been made to add some simple fontification to the todo-mode.el. You can find the mail message here among other places.

I use it because it works with the calendar-mode, diary mode, and since it's emacs it runs everywhere emacs does.

I know, boring, boring, boring. However, when you have the kitchen sink of editors, you might as well turn on the water.

Re:data managers

[Boronx]

I use tdl. I've got it rigged so that my most urgent tasks appear in bright colors the moment I login. My eyes have trained themselves to completely bypass this list. I see it every morning, but I haven't read it in months.

A todo list is only as good as the one who uses it.

Re:data managers

[Anonymous Coward]

At the risk of starting yet another editor war

The emacs VS vi was is over, they both lost.

Re:data managers

[bfg9000]

there really is only one contender for me, and that's Richard Curnow's tdl, awesome for programmers and just day to day todo lists.

Looking at his webpage, I can suggest adding "Make GUI for Webpage" to his things-to-do list....

Palm Desktop worth a look

[KoriaDesevis]

I am trying to find a simple freeware/open-source todo list manager.

Even if you don't have a Palm Pilot, Palm Desktop under Windows isn't too bad. The price - FREE - is certainly right, too. It may not be the best out there, but it meets the basic requirements for a to-do list manager.

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[Anonymous Coward]

will somebody please tell me what the fuck is wrong with notepad?

free, creates cross-platform, bloat-free files, no bloat in the program itself.. why bother splashing out on some fancy-pants crap that youll find yourself not using within a week.

win+r, "notepad".. wow, that will take all of, what? 3 seconds, ctrl+s, plonk it on your desktop and your done.

and come to think of it, whats wrong with paper and pen too? dont worry about data-corruption, your comp crashing out on you or anything.. jesus.

yunno, sometimes things ARE faster and more efficient when you DONT use a computer.

"Come on, we need to go shopping before the shop closes!" - "Hold on, i need to boot up my computer, open my fancy $50 program and read my shopping list first"...

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[Anonymous Coward]

Many of us do not use Windows. Besides, Notepad does nothing to help in reminding you of what tasks to complete.

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[wirehead78]

Palm Desktop or iCal. Woo hoo!

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[Trillan]

Both lack enforced organization. What's the difference between a to do, a phone message, and a phone number you might need later?

I'm bad at organizing things. I find it much easier to work with a system that at least requires me to annotate what TYPE of thing I'm writing down.

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[name773]

ah, that's right, there are no text editors whatsoever for any open source operating systems.
that's so bloody easy to forget, you'll have to forgive the ac above you

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[CJSpil]

Palm Desktop isn't too bad, my preferred choice for lists is a PalmOS application called Projects

If you don't have a Palm then you could always run it under the Simulator

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[Anonymous Coward]

The palm desktop lacks organization?

To-do items go in the To-Do list. They can be given categorized in user-assigned categories, prioritized (1-5), and assigned due dates.

Phone numbers and addresses can go in the address book.

Phone messages can go in the Memo or Note Pad sections.

I'm not sure you're talking about the Palm Desktop.

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[Anonymous Coward]

PalmDesktop isnt free. It must have a Palm Pilot to use it. Read the license.

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[sirsampson]

But, how about the situation where I jot a note down, it later becomes a todo, and has contact info attached. Now I realize that copy/paste works, but it would be nice for the software to handle that transition.

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[IanBevan]

Here's a better link that goes straight to the download page: Here

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[RancidBeef]

I need something that (for any given TODO item) lets you designate sub-items, and also set dependencies. Then I can just have it report to me what's eligible to be done next. For example, before I can put in new carpet, I need to paint and rip out the old carpet. "Painting" is made up of "gather painting supplies", "mask off window trim", etc. I've never found anything like this. I was going to write my own, but it's too far down on the TODO list :-)

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[imAck]

I would agree, and add that the Palm Pilot itself has proven a wonderfully valuable tool for me. As a full-time software engineer, part-time youth pastor, father of two, member of several committees, I would lose my mind without the ability to track my various to do items (which are usually well over 50).

I use Palm Desktop in w1ndows, and JPilot in Linux. I have found JPilot the most useful analog to Palm Desktop in Linux, as it is the only one I have found to preserve my to-do list categories and priorities (c.f. Evolution). I have a very low-end palm m100, but having uplink cables at home and with my laptop at work, and the optional keyboard has greatly increased my ability to juggle. I regularly take meeting notes with the keyboard, and can shove them right into any application via cut-and-paste. Very handy, and worth the low entry-level cost, especially if you aren't interested in bells, whistles, and convergence

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been meaning to check out Palm Desktop, but keep forgetting to do it.

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[LocoSpitz]

"Painting" is made up of "gather painting supplies", "mask off window trim", etc.

If you need a computer program to remind you how to paint... ;)

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[Moofie]

Well, you might write the telephone number down as a contact. And you can make different categories for phone messages and to-dos.

But hey, maybe I'm talking crazy talk.

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[joemc91]

I hate to say it, especially since Slashdot will rip me a new one, but I really like Exchange / Outlook for this. Covers everything I want, and syncs with my Palm. Granted it's expensive if you buy it outright, but I recieved it in small business server 2003 as a consultant thingie at work and use it for my own information. I have been looking for something with this functionality on Linux but haven't found it yet. And don't say "it's too slow for large servers", I know it is, but there's only one user on it. And when you block EVERY port except 80, 443, and 25, it's secure enough (port 80/443 for webmail and RPC and duh on the 25). Haven't had one problem with it. I look forward to the flames, it just isn't quite hot enough in here.

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[darrylo]

Also check out progect (no that's not misspelled). Progect is a simple, GPL'd project-manager-like application (you can think of it as a super-TODO list), with prorities, subtasks, % completion, etc.. Also, this is the old link, but it gives a good idea of what it's like.

It's very nice.

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[Trillan]

You're right, I'm not. Look at the post I'm replying to, not its parent. :)

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[RancidBeef]

Well, obviously that's just an example. But then again, this is /. so maybe it's not so obvious :-)

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[sharkdba]

Even if you don't have a Palm Pilot, Palm Desktop under Windows isn't too bad.

Agreed. I was actually thinking of mentioning it, when I saw your post. The GUI is simple, ToDo list can be assigned priorities, due dates, alerts, put in appropriate categories, etc, and sorted according to the need.

And if you have an actual palm, you have the added benefit of being able to carry the ToDo list when not in front of a computer. And backup of course: should your palm crash, you have everything backed up on your computer, and vice versa.

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[CJSpil]

Thanks for that, you're right... It's very nice

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[Trillan]

If you want that kind of integration, the best product I've seen in Entourage (Microsoft's answer to Outlook on the Macintosh, but it's better tasting and less filling). I don't like the way it handles its address book, though.

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[jackbird]

Here's how I make a text editor word as a to do manager. I use textpad on windows, but notepad or any text editor will do:

I have a file on my desktop called todo.txt

that file has a thing to do on each line.

each line begins with a character denoting the status of the item:

- thing to do
+ thing already done
~ thing in progress
X thing I decided/was told not to do
? thing I need more information to do

Priority goes to the first item with a -in front of it. Hard deadlines are annotated within items themselves.

When a task needs subitems, use tabs to indent.

I also have a clock on top of my monitor, a calendar on my wall, and a paper address book.

When one task gets so complicated it starts cluttering up the list, I start another text file. Since my text editor has a tabbed interface, it's pretty easy to keep a master list and several project-specific lists open at once.

It seems to work pretty well.

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[baudbarf]

I agree entirely - that's precisely what I need. And I'm afraid that's all I have to say.

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[Anonymous Coward]

1. will somebody please tell me what the fuck is wrong with notepad?

Line endings.

It uses both a carriage return and a line feed to mark the end of a line. The only OS that does that is DOS. Everything else (including Wordpad) does not have a problem reading only the line feed character and treating it properly.

The reason that Notepad adds in the extra carriage return is so that broken DOS programs do not die when the extra carriage return is not there. This causes odd problems with just about everything else, though, forcing other non-DOS editors to deal with this ancient quirk of DOS.

Other people have mentioned other problems, though this one is specific to Notepad.

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[mallardtheduck]

Secure? With the RPC port open? Right...

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[Anonymous Coward]

How do "Exchange / Outlook" qualify as "freeware/open-source", Mr. Troll?

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[uniface]

It's a beautiful idea. Not only it's free and easy as you said, it's work much 'lighter' as compared to MS Outlook, for an old computer like mine.

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look

[jridley]

I do something similar. The difference is that when I complete something, I move it to the top under "completed tasks" - then once a week (or whenever) I can email a copy to my boss, showing what I finished, what I'm working on, and what I'm thinking about. I save a copy off under a filename with the date in it, and erase the "done" stuff from the top of the todo.txt

I wish I could help you...

[Wig]

My TODO list consists of 3x5 cards on my desk that I usually lose, forcing me to memorize anything I ever want to do :-P

Re:I wish I could help you...

[name773]

that's precisely it, use your mind. it's much more convenient than a piece of paper

and if you're bad at memorizing now, you won't be in a week :)

Re:I wish I could help you...

[Wig]

'Cause it goes everywhere, right? What if you lose your mind? :-P

Re:I wish I could help you...

[name773]

then hope your shrink has a piece of paper and a pencil :)

OpenOffice spreadsheet

[Muda69]

I use the OpenOffice spreadsheet. Cheap and easy to use....

Re:OpenOffice spreadsheet

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep, but I have to admit, I use Excel. It really should be a database, but spreadsheets are really easy.
TaskID, Priority, Project, DateEntered, DateUpdated, Title, Description, and Notes ar my headings.
I sort by priority mostly, but by project fairly often. Whenever I've cleared much of the list, I stop using it until I get bogged down again and need to track everything again.

I've tried using Palm, RIM Pager, notepad, and Outlook Task solutions, but keep returning to this for the ability to adapt to answer my current question, "what is most important to be worked now."

What's wrong with Old School?

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps we could be of more help to you if you would explain why the 'Old School' approach of using scratch paper is unacceptable to you. What features do you require in a to-do list that pencil and paper cannot provide?

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[RockClimbingFool]

the pencil and paper will not remind you when its time to be somewhere or do something. or tell you your busy when you try to set up another meeting.

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[carlos_benj]

Those are aspects of calendaring, not necessarily todo lists.

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[Anonymous Coward]

the pencil and paper will not remind you when its time to be somewhere or do something. or tell you your busy when you try to set up another meeting.

What you are describing is a Planner or Calendar, not a to-do list. IMHO, a to-do list is simply a list of stuff that needs to get done without precise temporal constraints. If this guy really wants the features you list, then he didn't ask a very clear Ask Slashdot question. In any event, I think you'll have to agree with me that his question is pretty piss-poor because he gives NO explanation what features he needs. Maybe he doesn't need any of the features you just listed. We'll never know because he didn't bother to list his requirements.

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[tekunokurato]

the pen and paper does not archive itself and is not back searchable.

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[Anonymous Coward]

I am suprised to see that I am not the only one using the backs of my Dilbert calendar pages to write on :p

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[RockClimbingFool]

I think you'll have to agree with me that his question is pretty piss-poor because he gives NO explanation what features he needs.

absolutely

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[gl4ss]

for one, you can't read that paper list remotely.

unless you got some slav.. coworkers, fiancee or somebody to call and tell to RTFTDL.

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[Anonymous Coward]

Really? I just opened up my drawer (that's an old school archival system), pulled out a pad of paper, and, oh, look... there's a note from Jan. 2nd, 2002, reminding me to get the targa images off CD, and the animatic from tape. (I was working on a commercial at the time.) Let's see... oh, here's my design sketch for a CVS log web-app that I wrote.

Pen and paper has been archivable, and back-searchable since pen and papyrus. Who modded *this* insightful?

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm guessing that JojoLinkyBob is a PHB. Who else would ask a bunch of tech guys to solve his problems for him without pay and without a concrete set of requirements to work from?

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[jafomatic]

There's no 'egrep' in my drawerful of notes and receipts. That's what's wrong with pen & paper.

With even a simple textfile solution, I can generate changelogs and (primitive) reports with a a single command.

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[richardbowers]

For short-term lists I tend to agree - I keep the day's to-do list on a daytimer.

For lists over the course of a few days, I personally prefer a much more high-tech approach. I keep tasks in a comma-separated text file, which I can import into any app I need to, report off of with perl, and generally depend on.

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[Khan Fused]

Why do I want my notes and reminders in digital format instead of post-its stuck everywhere? Simple.

My. Handwriting. Sucks. Dead. Babies. Through. A. Straw.
_______________

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[Anonymous Coward]

True enough, but lack of egrep does not make your draw of notes unsearchable, as the original poster postulated.

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[whereiswaldo]

Also, if you're using sticky notes, they tend to pile up and clutter your desk or whatever you stick them on.
Plus, if you keep your todo list electronic, it's easy to cut and paste into a status report.

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[well_known_drunk]

has you thought about a mother?

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[bmalia]

For another, I can't read my own hand writing!

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[marekbrz]

for one, you can't read that paper list remotely.

You can't fold it up and carry it with you?

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[12357bd]

Good! Let's exchange biologic memory for a new electronic one, that way if you unplu

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[Anonymous Coward]

paper allows non-sequential organization
its portable
doesn't require batteries
you can fold it.
you can leave it a 102 F car and it wont break.

oh yea
there arent software bugs to worry about
the OS wont crash on you.
you dont have to update the paper because there is exploit.
remote sharing is difficult (a definite +)

Don't name names!

[Marc Desrochers]

Now that MS has a To-Do list patent, shouldn't we keep quiet about this and not give them people to sue?

Low-tech

[Joe the Lesser]

And by low tech I mean Notepad.exe.

=)

Re:Low-tech

[Skater]

Edlin!

Notepad...sheesh! You people have it easy!

--RJ

Re:Low-tech

[ixos]

I'll go one tech lower.. pen and 99 cent notebook! it's portable, never crashes, and data corruption only happens when I'm careless with where I place my drink!

Re:Low-tech

[Anonymous Coward]

you insensitive clod, I can't find any notepad.exe on my 'nux box!

Re:Low-tech

[nucal]

Using text files is actually not all that bad of an option. A nice alternative to the truly awful Notepad is Metapad which is free and can seemlessly replace Notepad. Among other things it has active hyperlinks, auto indenting and can do a lot of simple reformatting (like caps to lowercase, etc.).

Re:Low-tech

[BW_Nuprin]

I scribble my todo lists in Paint. That way I can draw cartoon characters with it. Its more, I dunno, cheery :)

Todo:
Program vertex shader
Fix bug in network code
Fix 8 bugs reported by bug testers, 2 of which affect game
*picture of smiling bunny*
Put bullet in head

Re:Low-tech

[Anonymous Coward]

I store everything in something really simple - my mind. Wait, that didn't sound quite right.

Re:Low-tech

[Seumas]

In fact, this is true. The best way to keep notes and lists is with a giant document with a plain old no-frills text editor. No worries about compatibility or flexibility, easy to search and many people agree that it's faster and less trouble than going with a complex application.

I eventually wanted something that I could add files to, set up categories with and be very dynamic and upgradable and modifiable. So I installed a wiki. Personally, I chose TWiki (twiki.org) because it's done with perl and has a lot of pre-written plugins. I love it.

Re:Low-tech

[kfg]

And by low tech I mean Notepad.exe.

Whatever happened to 3x5 cards and a Bic?

KFG

Re:Low-tech

[AsbestosRush]

to quote Bucky of Get Fuzzy fame:

"Don't play dumb with me!! I'm the King of Du--- wait, that's not going to come out right."

Re:Low-tech

[Suppafly]

Among other things it has active hyperlinks, auto indenting and can do a lot of simple reformatting (like caps to lowercase, etc.).

If's that's the case, then it can't seamlessly replace notepad, notepad doesn't include those features for a reason.

Re:Low-tech

[name773]

then feel free to choose one of the hundreds of text editors available

Re:Low-tech

[Joe the Lesser]

Video cards you mean? What is this Bic software?

Re:Low-tech

[iMaple]

Wow !! Thats neat

I mean its cool that you can actually draw a smiling bunny. Anything cheerful I try to sketch looks like a mix of an armadillo and a Vogon.

Re:Low-tech

[Wog]

I second that. I replaced notepad completely with Metapad. It's small, it's fast, and it has loads of features which you can choose to ignore - One need only scratch just under the surface to find a lot of handy things, like formatting and line number display.

What was handy for me was switching from the horrible black-on-white to a nice green-on-black which is much easier on the eyes.

Re:Low-tech

[headisdead]

Definitely worth checking out Danny O'Brien's (NTK) "Life Hacks: Tech Secrets of Overprolific Alpha Geeks" speech (given for O'Reilly and at NOTCON '04), in which he argues on the basis of research that the most prolific programmers/hackers/geeks organise themselves via... text-based todo lists!

Check out
A summary or shorter summary

Re:Low-tech

[Over_and_Done]

I guess I am being a nit pick, but FWIW tikiwiki is php/mysql, not perl.

Re:Low-tech

[FictionPimp]

I use context or editplus myself. Some of my friends use ultraedit.

I only really use notepad to edit source files, so syntax highlighting and regular expressions are a must.

Re:Low-tech

[bconway]

I prefer 'vi TODO'.

Re:Low-tech

[Seumas]

TikiWiki and TWiki are not the same wiki engines.

Re:Low-tech

[Moofie]

I lost them. You insensitive clod.

Re:Low-tech

[mrjb]

o-oh, the vi vs. emacs cat is out of the bag again...

Re:Low-tech

[Anonymous Coward]

Whatever happened to 3x5 cards and a Bic?

I used to use those.

I got fired for complaints about all the 3x5 cards I set on fire with my Bic.

Re:Low-tech

[cerberusss]

Todo:
[...]
Put bullet in head

In the neighbourhood where I lived as a student, others would kindly remind you of this todo...

Re:Low-tech

[6800]

edlin? That's got ms, use ed. ed is on every unix in existance (they said a long time ago in school). Somebody mentioned the 'unix linefeeds' - why are you waisting your precious disk storage with un- needed CR's?

Re:Low-tech

[ScribeOfTheNile]

Spilling drink over my b0x3n doesn't corrupt my data. ;P

Re:Low-tech

[ScribeOfTheNile]

What about nano? Personally, I find it superior.

Apple's iCal software

[The I Shing]

I have experimented with free PHP to-do list software, but haven't found it easy enough to continue with.

What I use for my own to-do list is Apple's iCal, which has the ability, thanks to my $99-a-year Mac.com account, to put my list on the web and every Mac I use.

I must say, there is nothing quite so satisfying as checking the tiny "done" box next to an item on my to-do list. Sometimes I'm tempted to put trivial items on it like "take off shoes" or "read Slashdot" just so I'll have the opportunity to check off a done item.

Re:Apple's iCal software

[Anonymous Coward]

you can post your iCal calendar to the web with a free spymac account and avoid paying for a mac.com one. I don't use iCal, so I don't know how the two compare.

Re:Apple's iCal software

[zhiwenchong]

Spymac is slow, difficult to configure, unreliable and generally ugly. Sure, they give you a 1 GB spymac.com email account, WebDAV space, webspace, iCal hosting etc. but the whole setup lacks finesse and elegance. I wouldn't recommend Spymac anyone except the desperate.

Did I mention it was sloooww?

For free iCal hosting, try icalx.com instead. There exists another free iCal hosting service but I forget the name.

Re:Apple's iCal software

[TheRaven64]

I also use iCal, but put my public calendars on the 'net using OS X's WebDAV ability to connect to a WebDAV server on my FreeBSD box. I can the subscribe to them from iCal or Mozilla calendar.

Re:Apple's iCal software

[pjt33]

The first thing you should put on your lists is "Make list". That way you get something to check off as done almost immediately.

Re:Apple's iCal software

[scarletbiro]

I usually make the first thing on my list "Create to-do list" so I can cross something off right away.

Re:Apple's iCal software

[SlamMan]

Same here!

Re:Apple's iCal software

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks to my $25 a month broadband connection (that I would pay for anyway), I can scp my calandar to wherever I happen to be. scp not installed? That's a problem I won't deal with because all of my computers come with openssh preinstalled.

Macs own.

Re:Apple's iCal software

[tyagiUK]

I've also done this recently. I did consider paying for a .Mac account, but the only value I'd get out of it (being a technical person who runs his own SMTP/IMAP/HTTP etc. services elsewhere), would be the calendar publishing and backup services. I didn't think these were worth the money, especially given the space restrictions in iBackup on .Mac. Saying this, iBackup is a very nice tool and can do backups to local network shares, CD/DVD etc. so it's not just for use with .Mac.

So I looked at putting together my own alternatives for the .Mac services I thought I would use. First on the list was the calendar sharing. It was easier than I thought to set up mod_dav for Apache. iCal then just published seamlessly to my WebDav service. I also get the added benefit of being able to use the WebDav service to do online backups, which OSX uses without blinking.

I did try to use my WebDav service with Windows XP, but there is a known problem with XP regarding its use of "online folders", i.e. WebDav services. The problem seen with Apache is that XP sends Domain/Username & Password authentication, whereas Apache's mod_dav only wants Username & Password. There is a patch to "fix" this, but personally I drew the line at patching my service to make it work with a broken implementation.

In terms of an iBackup replacement, I've been looking at a few packages. RSyncX seems quite good and popular, as does Impression. However, seeing as though OSX is so nicely Unix-based, I may well use something like Flexbackup or my own scripts based on backup/restore (the BSD tools) or rsync.

Re:Apple's iCal software

[giveuptheghost]

The other is iCalShare, recommended by a free/open-source PIM app with a rather familiar name, Mozilla Calendar. I use Moz Cal and recommend it, except that to-do list item recurrences do not actually recur--hope they fix that one soon.

Re:Apple's iCal software

[TheRaven64]

Be careful using UNIX tools to back up HFS+ volumes. I did this recently and when I restored the creator and type metadata was gone. Final Cut Express (and probably dome other OS X apps) will not open files with this information missing and I had to manually repair it with the SetFile command line tool in /Developers/Tools.

Re:Apple's iCal software

[tyagiUK]

We're getting off-topic here, but does anyone have recommendations for backup tools in this case?

A good explanation related to the parent post can be found at: this URL.

Re:Apple's iCal software

[TheRaven64]

The best solution I've found is to create a HFS+ disk image, and backup into it. The disk image can then be compressed and stored somewhere safe. The command line tools work fine (preserving meta-data etc) when used to copy files between HFS+ volumes.

iCal!

[sockonafish]

iCal is the best scheduling/to-do software I've ever used. Its not some grand application like Outlook, and thats good, cause iCal's only focus is scheduling and appointments. It's also beautiful, friendly, and easily syncs with any phone that is supported by iSync.

Hardware based approach

[jrrl]

If I don't do something I am supposed to, my wife whacks me on the back of the head. Works great!

-John.

Post-it papers on my monitor!

[SpaceTux]

Perfect for passwords too!

Re:Post-it papers on my monitor!

[Bobzibub]

Put them under your keyboard you crazy fool!

Re:Post-it papers on my monitor!

[SpaceTux]

That's where I hide my credit card!

Re:Post-it papers on my monitor!

[Anonymous Coward]

*sigh*
I set up my dad's office today with a wifi network, and he wrote down the WEP key on a stickey note on his monitor. I stared and said "wow.. I've read about you in a lot of security books"

Re:Post-it papers on my monitor!

[xgamer04]

Nah, just write 'em backwards.

Re:Post-it papers on my monitor!

[foidulus]

Even better than post it notes, get a CRT monitor and burn your to-do list on it, may not be the most efficient way, but everytime you look at your computer, your todo list is stqaring you down.

Re:Post-it papers on my monitor!

[MoronGames]

Great alternative to saving files as well! Just let them burn into your monitor!

Re:Post-it papers on my monitor!

[prockcore]

Even better than post it notes, get a CRT monitor and burn your to-do list on it

That's how we marked our TVs as belonging to our dept. We had them display our dept name and logo in the upper corner for a month.

Now it's permamently burned into our TVs, and no one can steal them.

Re:Post-it papers on my monitor!

[calica]

*sigh*

All that means is your dad cares more about the security of his house than his wifi network. I mean, if they can see the sticky they're either: A-a friend or family. or B-a burglar. If the former, he probably doesn't mind them using his cable modem. If the later, he won't have a computer soon.

Some people really need to put "computer security" into perspective.

Re:Post-it papers on my monitor!

[mat.h]

As long as the occasional war driver can't see your WEP key through the window, I can't see what's wrong with saving it at an easily remembered, not net-accessible location, ie. on a post-it note.

To me, having a key that can be guessed by a dictionary attack while stopping at a traffic light seems worse.

Re:Post-it papers on my monitor!

[Anonymous Coward]

I know all my Mum's passwords -my name or my Sisters.

Re:Post-it papers on my monitor!

[Anonymous Coward]

But I have a laptop!

Found your problem

[ALecs]

Currently, I'm back to my old-school ways of scribbling my todo's on the back of each Daily Dilbert Calendar page, which sadly means today is June 23

Switch to The Far Side - their desk calendars are much bigger and can accommodate many more notes. *grin*

stickies

[chachob]

stickies --freeware, small, many features.

When your to good for Google

[thebra]

then slashdotgle it! /down I go.... Seriously, just use google, download.com has some free todo software (Windows primarily I'm sure). Outlook calendar?

Re:When your to good for Google

[Anonymous Coward]

When your to good for Google
grr...

Re:When your to good for Google

[Anonymous Coward]

you're oops!

Re:When your to good for Google

[carlos_benj]

How 'bout "too" while you're at it....

Bugzilla

[Aliencow]

Might be a bit overkill but I love it.

Re:Bugzilla

[YetAnotherName]

Modded as funny, but not a bad idea. You get categorization, prioritization, attachments, notes tracking, email reminders, reports, and it's even web accessible so you can access it anywhere you've got a browser.

Heck, depending on how you set it up, you could even allow public commentary on your to-do list items, which may (or mayn't) give you incentive to get them done.

Omni Outliner!

[viper21]

I really dig Omni Outliner from The Omni Group. It is, of course, for OS X--My platform of choice.

They also have some teriffic charting software, OmniGraffle, that I use to do flowcharts for all of my coding. You guys all do flowcharts, right? :)

-S

Re:Omni Outliner!

[hubertus]

Omni Outliner also has the ability to indent tasks to create subtasks. iCal is missing this essential feature.

Re:Omni Outliner!

[TheRaven64]

OmniOutliner is a superb piece of software. A program for making and manipulating lists. A copy came with my PowerBook, and it seemed like a very strange thing for someone to have bothered making an app for. Now, I can't think how I lived without it. I use it whenever I need to manipulate structured data. While I don't use it for to-do lists, I often use it to create document structures, which can then be exported, run through a simple sed script and used as LaTeX documents. Possibly one of the most underrated pieces of software I've ever used.

Re:Omni Outliner!

[ordinarius]

Didn't do it for me. I'm partial to Hog Bay Notebook

Its got a nice mix of Outliner and Notebook features, which is what I think most people are looking for. Works for me.

Re:Omni Outliner!

[Fahrenheit 450]

I use NovaMind for the same type of work. Create a mind map or outline of a document, attach the LaTeX text to each of the branches, rearrange as I see fit, add or delete sections, whatever. And when I'm ready to go, export and compile. Good stuff that NovaMind

I got one...

[h4rdc0d3]

Notepad

MS Project

[Anonymous Coward]

We use MS Project to manage our to do lists.

Sincerely,
Duke Nukem Forever - Dev Team

Re:MS Project

[Anonymous Coward]

You are doomed!!

DOOOMED I say!!

Re:MS Project

[hsoft]

There is seriously a problem with the /. moderating system. *everytime* I would reallt want to mod a post, I have no mod point, and *everytime* I get mod points, I frenetically search for comment to mod, but have troubles to find any.

Re:MS Project

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe this is why I've been waiting for most of my adult life for this sequel to materialize!

Re:MS Project

[Anonymous Coward]

What case is this ?

Re:MS Project

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like someone that has never used Microsoft Project before. Though it has some issues, it's a fantastic product, particularly when you run Project Server.

Re:MS Project

[chocolatetrumpet]

I thought the entire post was a joke but as it turns out, MS Project is a real product!

As it happens - I've been using MS Project to prepare for my masters degree.

what's wrong with

[Savatte]

an appropriately named text file on the desktop?

It's simple and it gets the job done. no need for some fancy software.

Palm Pilot.

[Eric_Cartman_South_P]

Just get a cheap palm ($149 USD gets you a color screen now-a-days!) and use the todo list in it. Hotsync to backup or use the Palm Desktop also, with a UI somewhat similar to the palm. Super simple and super powerfull at the same time.

Re:Palm Pilot.

[Ensign Regis]

The palm pilot is absolute gold when it comes to time management. I'd especially recommend buying Datebk5, as it lets you choose different colors/icons for different categories of todo's. It also lets you put the todo's in the date book, showing up on the day they're supposed to be done, or a few days earlier if you prefer. The best choice for the power user, IMHO.

KISS

[GypC]

vi todo

Re:KISS

[Anonymous Coward]

I prefer emacs todo

Much more powerfull and I can play tetris when I run out of others things to do.

Re:KISS

[cos(0)]

vi todo
The system cannot find the file specified.

What an appropriate sig!

Re:KISS

[GypC]

Hey, give me a break. I'm leaving on vacation tonight. My TODO list is TODONE.

Re:KISS

[carlos_benj]

What an appropriate sig!

What's appropriate about it. If there is no "todo" file when you type "vi todo" it'll create one rather than complain that it can't find it.

Re:KISS

[cos(0)]

Blah, ruin the fun with your technicalities.

You gotta admit that the combination is more appropriate than usual.

Re:KISS

[carlos_benj]

Well, I don't "gotta" but if it makes you happy...
Sure, why not?

Simple:

[deadlinegrunt]

in plain text ASCII format.

Easy to grep, modifiy, archive, and transport.
And best of all no matter how long my TODO list is overdue I still have a multitude of tools I can use to process it no matter what computer device I use.

It's called a "wife"

[Anonymous Coward]

It remembers birthdays, anniversaries, mother's day, plus when you should do all the chores around the home, and it's instantly updatable without effort on your part.

Re:It's called a "wife"

[winkydink]

Almost all versions are closed source and very expensive.

Re:It's called a "wife"

[Anonymous Coward]

Um, this is slashdot. Post something that he at least has access too.

Re:It's called a "wife"

[deadlinegrunt]

And not to mention the vendor lock-in.

Some of the EULA's you have conform to as well, I mean sheesh...

Re:It's called a "wife"

[Nahor]

And it's also very complicated to use. I still don't understand how this thing works. More often than not, when I want it to do something, I end up doing it. Worse, sometimes I don't ask for anything and I end up doing something still :(

Re:It's called a "wife"

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd start sampling some new 'Beta software' if you know what I mean...

Re:It's called a "wife"

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you ever tried updating? It's worse than the microsoft tax. You have to hire a lawyer and even then it gets half of everything you own.

Re:It's called a "wife"

[1shooter]

That's not a todo list, it's a honeydo list.

Text editor

[bludstone]

I just use a .txt file and delete finished parts. Failing that, I jot it down on a bit of paper.

Sometimes Occam's Razor is a good guide. Simplicity works wonders.

Re:Text editor

[TimTr]

Actually I have been doing something similar to this. I use TextPad, but have used jEdit and other free editors that support configurable syntax coloring. I put triggers such as "TODO" and "URGENT" and such in the keywords listings so they show up bright red. I have a simple macro that creates (wrapped in comments so they stand out) a time and date stamp. I fill in the subject of the entry then.

It just called "logfile.txt" and I have a shortcut to it on my bar so I can run it quickly. The text edit launches and searches incredibly fast. My file is in the hundreds of kilobyte and it still screems (that is a lot of raw text.) Any time I think "when did I have that conversation about that" I click search and find it in 2 seconds.

It has drawbacks - I haven't found a good way to sync it with my palm pilot ;) But when I get back to the office it is darn easy to copy and paste those notes back into the logfile.

Just a suggestion~

Simple solution

[raider_red]

I just type mine up in Vim. I'll usually keep three files for high, normal, and low priority. When a task is complete, I move it to done section of the file using "dd;G;p"

Re:Simple solution

[Anonymous Coward]

I used to use vi for my to-do lists, but quickly outgrew it, as my lists were becoming too cumbersome.

I have since switched to emacs, which I find lets me keep focused on prioritizing my tasks much more efficiently.

It's really not a technical problem.

[winkydink]

I've been a student of time management practices for some time, always looking for that perfect app, that will make me super efficcient. I've read many books on the topic. There is no silver bullet. Becoming an effective time manager is more akin to making a lifestyle change.

It really boils down to self-discipline, much more than some specific methodology. I'm a fan of Covey's methodologies, but unless you really, really, really commit to it (or some other one more to your liking), you're no better off with a slick app than you are with to-do lists on the back of a Dilbert calendar page.

Re:It's really not a technical problem.

[Lodragandraoidh]

The key with any tool - take CRM tools for example - is to actually take the time to use them on a consistent basis. One of the biggest barriers to consistent use I have seen is the variation of standards and interfaces of the tools that I like.

I think the future will see more XML and RSS based tools that allow you to integrate all of your systems (calendars, todo lists, issue tracking lists, blogs, etc etc) into one interface without regard for proprietary formats. Those companies that do put their eggs on the proprietary format basket will either be run around by smart filters, or wither on the vine as people see the lack of interoperability and go elsewhere.

That is the space where information management will reach a new plateau, imho.

Re:It's really not a technical problem.

[kfg]

It's really not a technical problem.It really boils down to self-discipline. . .

Heresy! Burn 'er, she's a witch!

KFG

Re:It's really not a technical problem.

[NineNine]

Data format is not the issue. CSV has been around for at least 20 years, and that never got standardized. XML is like CSV, except with a shitload of overhead.

Re:It's really not a technical problem.

[lgbarker]

Dilbert calendar pages *are* the best answer. Slow but fun to search.

Re:It's really not a technical problem.

[beforewisdom]

I agree.

What you wrote matches my experience.

Its 15% method, 85% using the method consistently.

Steve

Re:It's really not a technical problem.

[Ben Hutchings]

CSV can't represent any structure beyond a table and has no means for providing metadata such as the types of values. XML can represent many different structures (this can be both a strength and a weakness) which can be constrained and described by a DTD or schema. This means there's much more potential for processing data with generic tools if it's in a (sensible) XML format.

Notepad

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously, why both with all these fancy programs when you can use notepad (it will open in the blink of an eye, no waiting around for loading), theres not much bloat, and it creates files which are compatible on all OS's.

Theres a good post-it-note program on planet source code, but you'll find yourself not using it.

Re:Notepad

[Quill_28]

Here's why:

I need to change my air filter in my furance/air conditioner once every three months.

I need to add septic junk to the john once a month.

I need to write in my daughter's journal one every six weeks.

I have remnder to flip the mattress once every six months.

Clean the grill once a year.

Take a bath once a week(ok I'm joking there).
etc, etc, etc

Currently, I use outlook task manager(no flames) to help me keep track.

But if there something else out there that's works just as well I am all ears.

I would lose any yellow legal pad, no doubt.

Re:Notepad

[Anonymous Coward]

So you want a calendar, not a to-do list.

Re:Notepad

[Anonymous Coward]

Why!? would you need to write in your daughter's journal!? I can kinda imagine skimming it once in a while, just to make sure she's not doing anything I really disapprove of, but writing in it??

Re:Notepad

[Quill_28]

Maybe, but I consider it a to-do list.

It tells me what to do at certain times.

That being say, know any good calendaring programs? :-)

Re:Notepad

[Quill_28]

I know you are joking(i hope), but I have 3 journals, one for each child. I plan on giving it to them when they turn 21(maybe 16).

That being said there is a good chance the youngest will never be able to read it.
I find that writing to him is different but good for the soul.

It's patented!

[Adhemar]

Specifically, I am trying to find a simple freeware/open-source todo list manager.

You do know that the TODO-list is patented, don't you?

All your base to do are belong to MS.

freemind

[freq]

i happen to be a big fan of freemind.

a little more complex than a traditional to-do list, but you can interconnect tasks and lay out projects in a freewheeling yet ridiculously detailed manner.

Re:freemind

[mirko]

I second you :)
One of its great interests is that it is truely multiplatform.
Once you begin using it for your shopping lists, you know you cannot live without :)

Re:Palm Pilot.- better yet

[adzoox]

better yet get a Palm Pilot emulator - there is one for Linux, mac, and PC - they are free too and you can load any ROM from just about any Palm out there + if you have a palm you can even sync between the two.

OR

You could just download the Palm Desktop software - it works too.

Omni

[aarku]

OmniOutliner and OmniGraffle work pretty sweetly for me.

Talk about overkill

[kentrel]

What's next? People looking for doodling software?

Re:Talk about overkill

[Anonymous Coward]

I think I've heard of this. I beleive it is called MS Paint.

Mozilla Sunbird

[Aliencow]

Still a bit buggy, but with calendar, shared calendar support, publishing through webdav, it has the potential of being as good as iCal !

Re:Mozilla Sunbird

[Steinfiend]

How about a link?
Mozilla Sunbird

Grey matter?

[Anonymous Coward]

I figure if it's important, I'll remember; if I forget ... it wasn't that important after all.

KOrganizer

[Nasarius]

It doesn't have the best interface, but KOrganizer is pretty good if you use KDE. You can even store your data remotely and access it via FTP or SSH through kioslaves.

Booby PHP App

[SlongNY]

Its great.. and you can view it anywhere with web access...

http://www.nauta.be/booby/

oby provides Web-based management for bookmarks/favorites, contacts, todos, notes, and news, allowing the user to import and export to common standards (Netscape/Opera bookmarks, Opera contacts/vCards, etc.).

The application is fully themeable (by using phpSavant) and has support for multiple users and languages.

Booby is written in PHP and is database independant (sort of) by using the database abstraction layer 'ADOdb'.

Why not create it yourself?

[Marxist Hacker 42]

Could be done in any given database/front end language pretty easily. If you're not satisified with any of the applications you've tried, make a list of what you like and dislike about them, and just do it. The basic fields are, ID, Flag, Complete, Description, DueDateTime, StartedDateTime, CompletedDateTime, ProjectLink, and BackgroundColor (for highlighting). Additional fields can be added, compound fields use a child table. Write and compile for your favorite OS, it's not like it's something you can sell, but it's a simple enough application and you don't even really need a relational database to implement it.

With something this simple, I just don't understand why people don't code it themselves. It wouldn't take me much more than an hour- and at the end I'd have an application that has everything I need and nothing I don't.

Re:Why not create it yourself?

[BoRictor]

That reeks of work. So why don't *YOU* do it and I'll just d/l it off you when it's done. Oh and if you can code this in around an hour.. heck I'll even give you 2, I will gladly donate some money for your efforts! thanksbye!

Re:Why not create it yourself?

[Quill_28]

I don't believe you could do it in an hour.

Please let me know when you are finished, where I can download the source and how long it took.

Re:Why not create it yourself?

[hmhoek]

I'm working on a PostgreSQL backed system like this. I'm still at the design stage though, since I'm a shitty programmer and a shitty DBA. I've got a nifty table design that allows parent/child relationships of table elements to be determined by joining a table to itself. I originally intended it to be for managing inventory categories but it's generic enough that the same tables can be used for a todo list.

Don't hold your breath though, it's slow going.

Re:Why not create it yourself?

[Marxist Hacker 42]

Why the heck are you putting child tables in a freakin' TOTO list? Here'a my solution from Access 2002:
ID-Autonumber, Primary Key
Done-Yes/No (Binary) field
Description- Memo Field
Priorty-Long Integer
DueDate-Date/Time

Now just write a single-form VB program for a front end and you're done. Couldn't be THAT much harder with PostgreSQL and PHP....or any other frontend/backend you care to name.

Re:Why not create it yourself?

[Marxist Hacker 42]

See below for pseudocode done in under 5 minutes. Add whatever the hell features you want- I couldn't care less which is why this sort of thing is best programmed by the end user. Only the end user knows what they really want out of something like this- for a programmer to make a guess is just a waste of time.

http://www.bestpractical.com/rt/

[Craig Shergold]

This software has completely changed my life. I use it as a TODO list, I use to to manage developers, I use it to manage myself, and I'm now using it to manage the process of renovating my house (will eventually require my contractor to use it). I will never go back to the days of using a TODO list that's bound to a particular phone, handheld, laptop, or desktop.

the best to-do list manager is analog

[Greg@RageNet]

I find the best to do list manager is a yellow legal pad. You never have to worry about the batteries running down on it; it won't lose your data due to a system crash; accessable even when you don't have internet access; it features an intuitive user interface (dubbed a 'pen'); it's ease-of-use is well documented; and best of all it is compatable with open standards such as english, french, and japanese.

One caveat, it's not freeware; it could be as expensive as a dollar, but you'll recoup that quickly with the electricity savings.

-- Greg

Re:the best to-do list manager is analog

[Anonymous Coward]

other caveat, you have to know how to read and write
why not use a tape recorder

Re:the best to-do list manager is analog

[deque_alpha]

I agree. I am sitting at my desk right now, in front of my laptop and Palm, and what do I use for todo's? My Yellow Legal pad. Write stuff down you need to do / remember, scratch it off when it's done or no longer relevant. I occasionally go through it and record anything that might have long-term importance into somepleace else, usually an address entry in my palm, or a text file relating to a particular project or what have you. I kind of use it as a task "buffer" and it complements the high-tech stuff I use perfectly. It's the only thing I've found that _actaully works_.

Re:the best to-do list manager is analog

[crmartin]

3x5 cards. You get all the advantages abouve, plus they're random-access.

Re:the best to-do list manager is analog

[Evil Pete]

Agree. I actually use a notepad like the notepad.exe icon. It's small, fits in my pocket etc. I follow the maxim that I believe Henry Ford used: write down the 5 most important tasks to complete that day, if you complete them you're doing well. When you start putting everything in then I find I just don't get much done ... it has to be simple or fine grained.

Though for work programming projects (home programming is nowhere near as organised) I have a text file to-do list, as in 'vi', that is more formal and far more complex since the tasks are more long range than a single day or even week. It also acts as a diary of ideas about things to try out and the results so I can look back later, so I tend to add lots of notes to the items -- I find this very useful.

Re:the best to-do list manager is analog

[N1KO]

What if your pen runs out of ink/you lose it? It's been over a year since the blackout we had on the east coast, but I've had to buy about 6 or 7 pens in that time.

Re:the best to-do list manager is analog

[WuphonsReach]

I've done the yellow legal pad, I've done Franklin-Covey / Day-Timer, I've done PalmOS.

What works best largely depends on what your job function is like.

Franklin planners and Day-Timers excel where you have things to be done on a specific date, or need to keep track of your time / appointments. The pain of carrying over tasks from day-to-day is supposed to make you want to either classify them as "never do" or "do it so I don't have to copy it to another day again". The system does well if your job is largely 1-2 hour tasks that can be done on a particular day (e.g. expense account on the 1st, putting together end-of-month report Y). College students and corporate employees are good candidates for date-oriented task-lists. I definitely wish I had known how to use a day-planner back in college.

A yellow legal pad, OTOH, is great if your job is primarily task-oriented (e.g. fix computer Y, go see user Z, write module X) and you don't have any date-driven tasks. Every few days, you copy the undone tasks to the next clean page and toss the old pages in a file.

An electronic PDA is a hybrid between a day-planner and a legal pad of paper. Gives you the advantages of both methods, with very few drawbacks. The key to a PDA is that either you integrate it into as many aspects of your life as possible, or it's a waste of cash. (That means tracking expenses on it, getting software that will upload the results into your financial software, tracking your car expenses, exercise log, diet log, passwords, etc. and anything else that you need to keep track of.)

Re:the best to-do list manager is analog

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, so fucking clever...

"I find the best to do list manager is a yellow legal pad"

I'm tired of "clever" fucks who post to /. with their "witty" little opinions that have nothing to do with the topic at hand. This person was looking for calendar software, not office supplies, you jackass. Get off your "i'm so cool because i'm natural" high horse hippy bullshit and get with the program. Some people like to use computers for this type of thing, and besides, using paper kille trees, you insensitive clod.

Re:the best to-do list manager is analog

[crmartin]

You guys just think I'm being funny. My office is about ankle-deep in 3x5 cards.

Microsoft has patented that...

[Lodragandraoidh]

My understanding is that Microsoft has patented this technology - so you might have a difficult time finding a version other than that in Outlook...

Action Outline and Ecco Pro

[Drubber]

ActionOutline (http://www.actionoutline.com/) is nice for Windows users. It's got a hierarchical view and you can add arbitrary rich text for each node. You can also add hyperlinks and flag things in various ways.

The best, in my experience, was Ecco. After NetManage bought it and destroyed it, it died. Luckily, they still (ostensibly) offer it via FTP, but I haven't been able to access that link for a long time. Plus, it's the last build, so it's a very stale Win16 app now. Still usable, though, if long in the tooth.

Re:Action Outline and Ecco Pro

[rmcd]

Ecco is still fantastic and still completely usable. Its peer-to-peer synchronization is amazing. I have it running on 2 XP desktops and an XP laptop, and it syncs among the three and with my brand new palm phone.

I still can't believe that Microsoft had the brass to leave peer-to-peer synchronization out of Outlook. As if home users with a desktop and laptop are going to install exchange server.

As mentioned previously....

[FerretFrottage]

a wife (and/or significant other , well if it's an "and" don't let the wife know about it) is one of the best to-do list reminders. As in "remember how you wanted to have....well you better first remember to cut the grass, take out the trash, recompile to the 2.6.7 kernel, bathe the kids, gas the car, rotate the tires...."

Next thing I know, it's morning.

Ecco

[nukey56]

If you want to format your notes into a hierarchical outline, ecco is awesome.

Disclaimer: I've used the old version, which is no longer available from normal distribution channels. No idea if this one requires the mouse or not.

Wikity Wikity Wak: Emacs Wiki, MegaWiki

[Brian Dennehy]

I just discovered MegaWiki for Palm OS and EmacsWikiMode for Emacs. It essentially allows you to create hyperlinked documents with ease. Basically, it's a private Wiki. If you don't know what a Wiki is, check out wikipedia.org for an example.

This software allows you to type text documents with minimal formatting, and the real beauty is that when you WriteSomethingLikeThis (i.e. CamelCase), it automatically turns that string of text into a link to a new entry. Click on that link and you can fill in the details for that new entry. I've found MegaWiki on the Palm does a great job of keeping my thoughts organized. Check it out.

This is great if you're a scatterbrain like me and come up with a new thought while you're writing one thought down.

Wait a minute...

[mrbarkeeper]

...a story on Slashdot and no chance to make a joke about melting servers?

At least you get a chance to slashdot your Dilbert calendar. :-)

I use a nifty little freeware program, ATNote

[Howler]

Personally, I have a tendency to forget the small details. You know, the ones that come back to byte you in the ass in a BIG way.

I had been trying to get organized at my new job and I was looking for something as well.

I came across a Post-It like solution for the computer, much like whats currently in Gnome and I am pretty sure KDE. Its called ATNote and its freeware. Its a nice little program with alarms and sticky-like windows that stick to your Windows desktop if thats what you use (I have to at work like most people out there). It has some nifty features. Alarms, changing colors for different stickys, translucency, and resizeable.

Its really helped me remember things. I just have to have that type of stuff right in my face or I will lose the note or forget about it.

It may well be worth the look.

Task

[Webdude]

I found this program a while back and it is very cool.
http://www.alexking.org/index.php?content=software /tasks/content.php

Wiki

[mcbevin]

I simply use a private wiki. The advantage being I can access it from work or at home or when travelling. Flexible enough to store a to-do list or store some bookmarks or whatever information you want to store. Lots of easy-to-install wiki software out there. I had previously quickly coded a simple PHP todo list but using existing wiki software is simpler and more powerful. Its not like a todo list requires some specialised software.

Re:Wiki

[truffle]

Excellent recommendation, a great wiki for this purpose is
TWiki. Makes for a great Web accessible todo list.

The interface may not be as fast as dedicated todo list software, but it has the benefits of being good for taking notes, colaborative document editing, file upload, definable users lists for reading and editing documents.

Re:Wiki

[demian031]

i second that wiki recommendation.

super easy to install.

i also keep a list of songs i want to download.
http://ophinity.com/wiki/index.php?Song sIWant

Re:Wiki

[emerge-ant]

I use a wiki as a workspace. What's better than a to-do-list that's shared? Gets things crossed off quicker by having it visible, and sometimes with people do things for you.

Re:Wiki

[versus]

Agreed.

But long TODO lists scare me away, I have to use NextList with them. NextList shows just a few top items from ToDo.

I even wrote MoinMoin plug-in to insert ToDo into any wiki page with macro [[NextList(N)]]

I dont know about you...

[SmileR.se]

... but no matter what app I use my big problem is to force myself to actually DO something about the growing list. ;/

Sex

[Silvers]

SafeSex!

Yay Nullsoft.

http://www.nullsoft.com/free/safesex/

Re:Sex

[los furtive]

I'll second that recommendation. Its unobtrusive shrinking to a tiny box when you're not using it, it saves without having to hit a save button, it encrypts your data, it works great for dumping snippets of code, it goes away when it loses focus, I love it.

Some things I don't love about it? Well, sometimes it hides itself off the screen (negative coordinates) and I'm forced to manually change it in the ini file (mostly happens on my notebook when i switch from monitor to lcd). I wish it pasted to one font/color, rather than keeping the font/color of whatever you're copying/pasting. The right click menu doesn't have copy/paste (for when my hands aren't on the keyboard).

Of course, I have no reason to complain since the source is freely available...I just lack C++ skills.

Re:Sex

[Strawp]

Oh, I made a little update to the Sex source code and renamed it StrawpEX (http://strawp.net/strawpex). It now lets you hotkey to the app, print and has hotkeys for underline, bold, strike, font size etc. I should pop the source online as well really...

Re:Sex

[Daedius]

Agreed. Its the greatest program i've ever used! I've had Sex on my machine for several years now! As for sex in my real life...thats another matter entirely. PS> Thankyou Nullsoft! They also have a lot of other great open source software at www.nullsoft.com. Check out NSV.

I use ToDoList

[telstar]

ToDoList ... currently on version 3.6.4 is a great To-Do list manager. Incidentally, the site it's offered through (TheCodeProject.com) is a great resource for Windows developers as well.

Re:I use ToDoList

[Xiberk]

I second this. Very solid app. Saves all data as xml so it's easy to publish in an intranet-centric environment.

Please, somebody have a good answer to this!

[fisternipply]

Please, I neeeeed something that *works*!

Very easy...already on your computer

[Anonymous Coward]

Very few people know this, but it is already installed on YOUR computer right now. It just isn't easily accessible via the desktop Start icon but it was installed during the upgrade process from your cable modem provider.

Here are the instructions that I will tell you now (are you ready?):

Take your keyboard, right click on "date/time" flow off from the ALT key (which appears to be a new invention :-) and voila you have launched the Best To-Do List Software it is call Anser Albifrons and is available on all modern versions of the OS especially the Wintel Mac OSX classic version of Linux BSD. Make sure your graphics card has TV-out or else you will not be able to take advantage of all of the advanced features such as keyword lossage or bitstream saving to 19.2k (used by all modern DVD players)

What appears on my particular screen is that it is currently Friday afternoon around 3 or 4pm and all week I have been hacking away at this &*(@#&* database application which has now killed off all of my brain cells so all I can do is make up crap which I now type into the screen as a random flow of words but my To_Do List software can record up to the maximum length of the input field.

I do fear it is time to go home and start drinking heavily now...

Simple Yet Elegant Solution for Windows Users

[Anonymous Coward]

For all of you Windows users, check out this OS ToDo list :
http://www.codeproject.com/tools/ToDoList2.asp

Very simple to use and the author is very responsive to suggestions.

Jim
qtextender.com

the cutting edge of TODO list technology

[mboedick]

My TODO list is ~/TODO. I edit it with vim. Sometimes I grep it. When I get things done I dd that line.

I can access it anywhere with ssh.

Re:the cutting edge of TODO list technology

[slagdogg]

Ah, that's way too much work. Mine is "~/todo", so I don't need to hit shift twice ;)

I make little boxes and leave them empty for things I'm working on, and use slashes and dashes to indicate how complete others are, i.e.

[ ] Not done yet.
[ ] Either is this.
[-] Halfway through.
[/] 25% complete.
[x] Kick ass.
[\] Take names.

Re:the cutting edge of TODO list technology

[archen]

Ah, that's way too much work. Mine is "~/todo", so I don't need to hit shift twice ;)

alias todo='vim + ~/todo'

So there =P You also might want to look at the "+/{pat}" command line option for vim. Then you could search for the '[ ]' which would autoskip to the first task you don't have done.

Re:the cutting edge of TODO list technology

[slagdogg]

> alias todo='vim + ~/todo'

Holy crap, I just got served. Alright, alright, I'll try to save myself:

kpanic (slag@pts/10)% where t
t: aliased to jmacs -nobackups ~/todo

But wait, there's more!

kpanic (slag@pts/10)% tail -2 ~/.xbindkeysrc
"rxvt -e 'jmacs -nobackups ~/todo'"
control + shift + t

OK, I feel slightly less "served" now.

Re:the cutting edge of TODO list technology

[bender647]

That's funny, I use ~/todo also. Got a half dozen of them on different machines. Mostly I

cat >> todo

Once a month I actually read one and delete all the stuff that's not important in it. I do the same with pads of paper. Turn sheets over as I fill them, throw them away in bunches unread.

Re:the cutting edge of TODO list technology

[sbranden]

This works really well for me. I have cat ~/todo in my bash_profile so I am reminded every morning.

Re:the cutting edge of TODO list technology

[Doofus]

If you dd the line, how do you keep track of everything you've accomplished?

Anal as it may be, I use text-based to-do lists too, but I also keep a contemporaneous work log in a {not-to-be-named} spreadsheet program.

To-Do lists are great for things you plan to do, but they don't handle all of the things customers/coworkers/supervisors ask you to get done, often immediately, and often with no notice. And you don't want to lose track of all of that material - sometimes your review can depend on what's in a contemporaneous work log like this.

It's a simple spreadsheet, with 5 columns. Time start, time end, customer, project, notes. Time start and time end run from about 0700 to 2400 hours, in 15 minute increments. Customer is usually a department, and notes is freeform, often abbreviated, but includes pertinent information like who I spoke with, did something get delivered/emailed/deployed, etc.

Anal, obsessive-compulsive, whatever. It's saved my bacon a couple of times. A to-do list that you erase, saving no record of your work (except the work, in most cases)? No thanks.

Re:the cutting edge of TODO list technology

[mystik]

at work, I vim trick, but w/ a file named 'stack'.

As more stuff needs to be done, the file grows downards. As I finish stuff, i delete the lines, till i'm back to my original task at hand.

works great for me ;)

Re:the cutting edge of TODO list technology

[igny]

mine is /dev/todo

Active Desktop

[JKDguy82]

I use active desktop(on my Windows machine) and use it to access a simple page on my webserver, and voila, a to-do list.

If I need, I can even access it at work, on the road, etc...

daily planner

[jokach]

I know people who use a daily planner as their to-do lists instead of using any type of software. They live and die by it. I myself use the small notebook with scribbles all over it. I experimented with many different pieces of software in an effort to be more efficient, and found that filling it out, then updating it, then making sure you delete entries you've completed seems like just another task on the list and more work than its worth,

Sticky Notes!

[ejaw5]

http://loban.caltech.edu/stickynotes/

It comes included with most Linux distros under Gnome. KDE has KNotes.

Not exactly what you are asking for but ...

[pavon]

my favorite tool for todo-lists is my palm. I have tried many different task list programs, and even with a good one (like omni outliner for OS X), I find myself rarely using them. Having something that is sitting right there on my desk where it is always visable and I have instant access to it all day long is far more usefull than an application than I have to start up. When I don't have my palm I end up like you, resorting to sticky notes (which are too small) or notebook paper (which gets lost in all the rest of my papers).

Furthermore, unlike a desktop application, I can take my palm with me to lab, the field, the other lab across the street, the grochery store... you get the point. The only complaint I have about the palm is that I wish it let me have more catagories. I have about 10 catagories for home use and another half dozen for all the projects at work, and some of those could really be broken into sub catagories (one of the reasons that omni-office rocks: nested todo-items). But still, the palm is the most used todo tool I have ever had.

hehe I just read all of that and realized I could be talking about writing notes on my hand, and everything I said would still makes sense.

Write your own

[spiffy_dude]

If none of the recommended pieces of software fit your needs, why not just write one? You will be able to fulfill your exact needs and end up with what you want. For something basic such as a ToDo list it "should be" fairly simple.

HNB - hierarchical notebook

[JuliusRV]

I'm currently using HNB as my calendar and TODO-List. HNB is a text-mode app:

HNB Screenshots

A Wiki?

[mikeboone]

I use a wiki to keep track of my to-do list. I document all of my projects on separate wiki pages.

I currently use Twiki, which is sort of a pain to set up, but has a lot of features. One plugin for it is called the Action Tracker, and it can be used to auto-generate a single to-do list from the action items on various wiki pages.

Sometimes I get lazy about the action lists, and a simple wiki page with a text to-do list works fine.

Re:A Wiki?

[Anonymous Coward]

Bingo. We have a winner, folks.

I do the same exact thing. It can take a while to set up (software, entering in data, etc), but it is well worth the investment. It's like having an organized, indexed, and searchable brain dump.

And if you save your wiki pages as html, you can have some kind of hope for a migration path for your data in the future if a newer, better application springs into existence, unlike the other software suggestions made so far.

Palm-OS Syncable Solution

[Angry Black Man]

I use this, Agendus a powerful to-do list solution for a palm if you've got one.

I know you wanted a PC solution but let's face it - they all mostly suck. I need something super-portable and syncable if it's going to be my to do list for the entire day. That's why I prefer the PalmOS software.

It costs a bit of money but you know, who pays for these things anyway? Well it should be you.

Alternatives

[TheCodeFoundry]

A couple of task apps that I've used in the past are Postive-G's Task Tracker or Dev Planner.

What I've resorted to now is using Microsoft's OneNote and creating sections for the products I'm working on, with pages for TODO lists, Wish Lists, R&D, code snippets, etc. Easy to use and probably one of the best applications Microsoft has released in years.

Software?

[rafael_es_son]

Don't know how much good would software do for that, I feel I can always rely on a HB2 dead-tree-meat-enclosed graphite shaft and a nice wad of dead-tree-flakes, of course periodical persistence of task states to any available neuron-driven state persistence machine does help also with few notable exceptions.

To-do list

[wing03]

http://www.bugme.net/bugme/

Best of sticky notes plus ability to scribble something down.

IMO.

mindcontrol

[photon317]

I have a great notes/todo app I use called mindcontrol. I wrote it myself in C using GTK, pthreads, and libxml2. I made it as a "thoughts/notes organizer" of sorts, it's got an explorer-like tree on the left pane, and the right pane is the contents of a node. You just create a heirarchy of nodes in whatever way suits your brain and type or paste text into the contents of the nodes on the right pane. Supports pruning and grafting nodes to rearrange your tree of stuff.

I mainly wrote it as an exercise in 3 concepts (one of which I never got around to), multithreaded programming, implicit autosaving with no filenames to worry about or find, and infite undo/redo saved between sessions (which I never got around to).

Your tree is always stored in ~/,mindcontrol.xml. It gets autosaved on the fly the whole time you're typing. You just exit, or even kill -9 it, at will whenever you want and it always shows the same stuff the next time you open it. There's a seperate thread for saving to disk which saves insanely frequently in the background while you type.

There are no menus, just 6 buttons across the top for Creating, Destroying, Pruning, and Grafting nodes, a Prefs button (there's two prefs, word wrapping and confirmation of node destruction), and a Quit button.

I originally wrote it some 2-3 years ago, and much to my surprise I compiled the old source on a recent gentoo box and still compiles and runs fine. I still never published it, but if anyone thinks it might be useful to anyone but me I could slap it on sourceforge or something.

PINE - Postpone message

[GillBates0]

PINE works great for me. I write myself a todo list and "Postpone" it (Ctrl-O). This way PINE asks me if I want to continue my Postponed message, or write a new one. That acts as a gentle reminder everytime I send a new message - which is often enough.

Here're a couple of screen shots:
PINE 4.58 MESSAGE INDEX Folder: INBOX Message 2,444 of 2,444 ANS
.
.
Continue postponed composition (answering "No" won't erase it)?
Y [Yes]
^C Cancel N No

N 127 Jun 18 xxx xxxx (4422) To Do list

Excellent app

[interJ]

On Windows, try ToDoList. Now that I'm using it, I don't know how I managed to keep track of my tasks before.

He needs....

[Anonymous Coward]

....MS Bob!!!!

clippy

[justforaday]

why, clippy of course! he always seems to want to help me make a list, so i let him. now if only i could get him to actually perform the tasks...microsoft, you listening?

Re:clippy

[catdevnull]

ha-- why did this little vignette come into my brain? Click here

Nerd Alert!

[Seft]

"Greetings, Council of Slashdot." Oh dear, and I thought I was a nerd.

Re:Nerd Alert!

[Anonymous Coward]

Shit, that's exactly what I thought too. F'n nerds and their pussy expressions. If someone said that to me, I'd be planting my foot up their ass and they would shitting size 10.

Re:Nerd Alert!

[Anonymous Coward]

Move along guys, we're all nerds here. Please clean your rifle somewhere else.

ToDoList - additional positives

[Jorj X. McKie]

It's freeware, source is available, and the lists are stored in XML format.

Re:ToDoList - additional positives

[Anonymous Coward]

It's freeware,

Yes, but you have to register for an account to download it. LAME!

Need More Phones Supported

[nikonius]

I think iCal is great. But, I bought a non-supported phone Nokia 6820. Great phone that is just begging for iSync. Any Apple people head my whining.

Page-A-Day

[SuperChuck69]

While I don't suggest using your current Page-A-Day, my officemate keeps an old Page-A-Day in his drawer for the sole purpose of writing quick notes.

It's brilliant. He always has it handy for writing things down and when you get a note from him, you get a free Far Side comic with it! And since he got it just after the new year, he paid a buck for it. Can't argue with cooler AND cheaper. (and the date on your desk will be correct)

I use post-its. I'm boring.

Excel + Notepad (any spreadsheet/ text ed. really)

[twigles]

I have been doing the following for over two years with great success:

Created an excel (obviously any spreadsheet/text ed will work) file named 2004-06-14-todo (just use Monday's date). It has columns labeled: Priority; Task; Steps; Done; Notes. Pretty self explanatory. Create tabs for Mon-Fri. On Tuesday morning you copy-paste Monday's stuff in, then edit/update.

Create a notepad file with the same name and use it for scratch pad, like when you have to read a 2-page email and don't want to be on the corporate VPN the whole time, just paste it in there.

Every Monday you copy-paste the previous Friday's stuff into the Monday tab, erase the other days' stuff and save as the new date-todo. Create a new notepad file at will.

PGP and archive the old ones and you can go back to any week you want and see exactly what you did. The other plus is that you can open the stuff on any machine with standard software.

You missed the most important steps!!

[Haydn Fenton]

Profit

what's awful about notepad?

[Rai]

A nice alternative to the truly awful Notepad

I know notepad is very basic, but what's awful about it? I can say that's the one MS program I've used that has never crashed and I use it a lot.

Re:what's awful about notepad?

[nucal]

As I recall, the Win95 version of Notepad used non standard control codes and I got tired of either not being able to use ctrl-s to save files or ctrl-c/ctrl-v for cut and paste (I don't remember which and I guess this has been fixed with W2K or XP). At any rate, I switched to Metapad which still had tight code and a couple of nice features that made it easier for me to use it to edit html and text files - and I've stuck with it.

Hey, if you like Notepad, more power to you ... you won't be alone!

Re:what's awful about notepad?

[Jimmy_B]

It's the only text editor I've ever used which doesn't read Unix-style linefeeds. That alone is enough to make it unusable. It doesn't have multi-level undo, which makes it easy to toast your data. It's notorious for screwing up file extensions when you're saving. Some versions of it are unable to open large files. It is completely devoid of the many useful and necessary features which other text editors.

Re:what's awful about notepad?

[kisielk]

Notepad has (or had? haven't used it in ages since I started with Vim) a file size limitation. It just simply refuses to open files above a certain size (64kB or something like that).

Re:what's awful about notepad?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's crash on me. Funny the only winders program I could given the "used that has never crashed" was minesweeper.....

But I don't "use it a lot".

Re:what's awful about notepad?

[steveha]

All versions of MS Notepad until Windows 2000 sucked: you couldn't hit Ctrl+S to save, and the 9x versions couldn't edit a file bigger than 32KB (although they would hand off to WordPad, although WordPad was a bit slow).

Win2K and WinXP versions of Notepad have the shortcut keys, and can edit files of decent size, so that particular annoyance has been smoothed over.

My favorite Notepad clone has a cool feature: a toolbar button that lets you toggle between a fixed-width font and a proportional font. By default I prefer to read text files in proportional font (Times New Roman or similar) but if you need to look at "ASCII art" or a document that lines up by columns, you can toggle it into a fixed width font. I want this feature in GEdit, and for that matter in Evolution and anywhere else I might be reading a plain text document.

steveha

Re:what's awful about notepad?

[Anonymous Coward]

had...they've changed that.

Re:what's awful about notepad?

[Anonymous Coward]

- It can't display unix line feeds properly.
- It's MS.

Re:what's awful about notepad?

[drinkypoo]

Well, if you need those features, and you have enough machine to run it (IE, anything windows will run on) you can always use wordpad. Wordpad will even save files with Unix-style line breaks, read and write RTF files, and read and sometimes write some DOC formats.

With that said, on Unix I use vi/vim for notes, on Windows I use notepad. Notepad is small and gets the note taking job done.

Re:what's awful about notepad?

[hagnat]

erm...
i already crashed notepad... TWICE
don't ask how, don't want to remember
(lost a half hour work in both times)

Re:what's awful about notepad?

[ThisIsFred]

Except that if you're using WordPad, you have to put up with line wrapping (it's ambiguous when the feature asserts itself but apparently related to the file extension), and the fact that it constantly nags you if you try to save in any other format besides Word 6. This drove me nuts when I was editing Tcl code on Windows, so now I either use the built-in editor in Visual Tcl (it's not so great, but is integrated), or JED for Windows.

The NT version of Notepad is tolerable. It doesn't have such a low memory limit. When I used to use it to do Tcl code, I wrote a little utility in C to convert the control codes between MS Text(tm) format and The-Rest-of-the-Universe text format (and vice versa).

Re:what's awful about notepad?

[drinkypoo]

If you want a windows editor, I heartily suggest gvim. You can use it in bozo mode, meaning it is not modal and you don't have separate input and control modes, or not, and it does pretty printing with syntax hilighting and all that fun jazz, plus it's fast, though not fast to start up.

Re:what's awful about notepad?

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

And, of course, older versions don't have replace, and there's no Print dialog (it immediately starts printing, which can be wasteful if you accidentally clicked Print, or meant to change settings). Moreover, the default settings have page headers (so it's hard to get a blank page), and at least recent versions refuse to print a blank page. And find/replace on new ones doesn't handle newlines, which compounds the problem. And undo undoes too much; a paste is considered part of typing, so undoing a paste undoes to the beginning of your own typing.

It does have one feature: try creating a text file with .LOG as the first line, closing, and reopening it. (not sure if it still works....)

Re:what's awful about notepad?

[mst76]

Try Metapad. It has everything you list, and it's incredibly enough even smaller than notepad (41K). Unlike some "notepad replacements" written in VB...

Re:what's awful about notepad?

[mibus]

If you want to save a non-standard extension in notepad from Win9x and up, surround the full name in quotes.

Instead of:
foo.c

Write:
"foo.c"

That should fix that problem :)

Re:what's awful about notepad?

[Anonymous Coward]

you haven't truly lived until you've managed to crash notepad.exe :)

Re:what's awful about notepad?

[blueskies]

What is non-standard? Thanks for the tip, but it still sux0rs that it takes quotes to force correct behavior.

Re:what's awful about notepad?

[kwalker]

While notepad.exe is one of Microsoft's more stable and less bloated programs, it is still idiocyncratic.

This is from personal experience.

Under Win9x/ME, Notepad is limited to files of < 30k bytes.

Under Win2k/XP, Notepad has problems with files over 30k bytes. Turning on text-wrap and saving the file moves the cursor to a random spot within the last ~500 chars of where it was before. Also, it randomly puts in newlines at the end of each line when you save the file.

Under all platforms, it cannot read UNIX-style text files correctly. It places a block symbol where the new lines are supposed to go. Even EDIT doesn't do that.

Re:what's awful about notepad?

[Alexis de Torquemada]

Yes, it now supports any file that fits under the 640k-boundary.

devtodo

[Janek Kozicki]

apt-get install devtodo

it proved to be so good that even my wife abadoned small sheets of paper and started using it.

Re:devtodo

[peter_gzowski]

Thanks! Another example of 's/apt-get install/urpmi' working well! In this case, you have to have cooker contrib in your list. I'm gonna go try it out.

JPilot

[Devlin-du-GEnie]

JPilot is an open-source, freeware organizer. You get a calendar, to do list with categories and priorities, address book, dialer, and memo pad. It is designed to sync with Palm devices. However, it can export to other calendar and address book formats (iCalendar, vCard, LDIF).

If you just want a free-as-in-beer organizer, the Palm Desktop is free for personal use on Mac or Windows.

Re:JPilot

[Bopper]

I vote for jpilot as well. As well as the obvious organizer functions and syncing with Palm devices, I find myself keeping miscellaneous notes and records in the memo pad. The app is light so the startup time is snappy, which makes it more useable than other calendar-like tools.

Palm the way to go

[Anonymous Coward]

Pick up a cheap used black and white Palm from eBay (a IIIe would be a good choice). It has several advantages over paper: Alarms if you need a reminder, keeps track of long term to-dos that would get lost in a paper system, easy to reshuffle priorities and insert in the middle of your list, can link to-dos to appointments, phone numbers, text files, etc.

The built-in ToDo list doesn't handle hierarchies, for that I like to use Brainforest.

Re:Palm the way to go

[amyhughes]

How long does it take to add "pick up milk" to a Palm-based to-do list, starting from turning the thing on. Tell me the steps to adding to the to-do list, including entering the text.

I know nothing about these Palm gizmos except that even the most techno-savy, gadget-happy dudes end up selling them.

Are they really useful for note-taking?

Re:Palm the way to go

[Anonymous Coward]

Absolutely.

I have a Plam Tungsten E.
9 months ago, I thought palms were lame and I'd never want one until they could run Maple and Matlab for me; however, my wife got a Palm Tungsten T3, and I was so intruiged that I got the lower-end Tungsten E. It is amazing how helpful these things are. Don't expect it to be a computer (though mine has an SSH2 client, so if SDIO WiFi ever comes out, I'm all set), but it's a fantastic organizational device.

With the Fitaly keyboard (search google -- it's not an external device, but an on-screen replacement for the Graffiti interface), I can write very quickly. I've written many long emails this way, and I even wrote a full speech on an airliner without any real strain. I'm quite certain this keyboard is faster than my handwriting.

The steps?

1) take it out of pocket, (how fast are you?)

2) as I grab it, hit the ToDo button, which turns it on and takes it to the todo page. 1 sec;
takes same amount of time as un-folding a folded 5x7 paper card.

3) enter whatever

4) put it back in my pocket (it will turn itself off in 30 seconds anyway)

faster than paper or 3x5,5x7 cards, I'm sure!

Re:Palm the way to go

[mikew03]

Note taking is not a very good use for the device unless maybe you buy a keyboard, but no I wouldn't recommend it for that. However it does easily import text files which I use all the time. For example at work I have a variety of backup/emergency procedures that I sometimes need to perform and with my Palm I can access those with two clicks.

Another thing it is very good at is pre-built lists... for instance grocery shopping. There are several apps that let you prebuild a list of things you buy and then just use check boxes to keep track of what you need to purchase right now.

Here's another great thing I do with my palm. I have a variety of things I need to back up, MP3s, email, quicken records... but I need to back up Quicken more often than my MP3s. So in my Palm I have a list of all the things I need to back up and when they were last backed up. In about a second I can look over my backups and see if there are any I need to get moving on. I do the same thing for routine maintenance on the house like cleaning gutters.

Specifically for to-do lists I will admit it is very slighly slower to write down say a one sentence to-do item then it is to do the equivalent on paper but it is balanced by the ease of finding the to-do later and being reminded of a time sensitive to-do

Bonsai!

[Anonymous Coward]

Bonsai works perfectly well for me: Hierarchical ToDos and tasks, Palm and Desktop-Application, links to Palm-Todos for reminding.

Lotus Organizer

[ThousandStars]

It's closed source, but for an individual PIM (personal information manager) I use Lotus Oragnizer on Windows, which comes as part of the Lotus SmartSuite from IBM. The beauty of the program is that it emulates a filafax, and the real-world metaphors make it much easier to navigate and control than Outlook. Still, it has no network functionality of which I am aware. That's fine for me beause I use it as an individual, but others it might be problematic.

So to add-on to the poster's question: does anyone know of an OSS PIM similar to Organizer, which also employs a filafax metaphor?

May I recommend...

[Anonymous Coward]

Microsoft Outlook? It works as wonderfully as you'd expect from professional grade software, provided you aren't a fool who opens strange attachments.

ToDoList from Abstract Spoon

[jazzwind]

I use a freeware app called ToDoList from Abstract Spoon Software. It is hosted on The Code Project. You can download it (with source code) here.

Lightweight and simple, it does what I want and not much more. Has a nice feature that lets you automatically export to an HTML file, so you can easily publish it for others to read.

Re:ToDoList from Abstract Spoon

[fyrie]

I like this one too. It has does a simple version control check-in/check-out which works handy-dandy for sharing a list.

ackerTodo

[Rob Hensley]

Within the past few months I decided to sit down and write my own web based todo application. All that's required is a mySQL server and a webserver with php. ackerTodo (http://ackertodo.sourceforge.net) is good for me because I can access it from anywhere (home, work, school, on my pda, etc). Check it out, maybe it's what you're looking for.

Wiki - seconded

[coljac]

I also use a private wiki. I have a ToDo topic which is my to do list, and as a bonus I keep any other information I need there. It's perfect. I even have a couple of cron jobs set up to copy my bookmarks over and so on, so it's a great information "home base" that I can get to from anywhere, even my smartphone. I use VQWiki.

Life Balance

[Anonymous Coward]

Check out Life Balance. It is the first to-do manager that I've been able to stick with, and use successfully.

What sort of to-do list?

[Xerp]

It really depends on the sorts of tasks you are handling. If you are, for example, a builder then you will have a critical path and (hopefully ;-) strict deadlines. For something like this a calendar based task scheduler is fine. Things like KOrganizer or Plans could be used.

If there is a great number of tasks with no critical path, for example a call center, then you will want something a little more complicated. You'll need to be able to log a task quickly, give it an urgency, tie it back to a particular caller, be able to assign it, maybe even have a searchable knowledge base. For this area things like OTRS are great.

Then you could be a developer, where critical paths vary daily and tasks need to be assigned to specific modules and versions. The obvious choice here is bugzilla

Desktop or web-based is also a consideration. You may require access from multiple locations; maybe you are an off-site engineer; so that needs to be taken into consideration too.

shameless plug

[ColonBlow]

TaskMaster is free. um...for thirty days.
*shrugs* you'll be out of this 'organized' phase of yours by then anyway.

The problem with open source to-do list software..

[Anonymous Coward]

... is that most of them having pretty big to-do lists of their own!

Ba-dum.

ListfulThinking

[masukomi]

ListfulThinking is the only self-prioritizing ToDo software out there as far as I know. I use it all the time. Of course, I wrote it...

It could use a few more features but the next version should take care of most needs. It's Free, open source, and written in java.

If your using OS X take a look at Hog Bay Notebook

[Anonymous Coward]

Hog Bay Notebooks (http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/) is pretty neat for Mac OS X. It has a fast full text search and advanced outlining features.

Jesse

Here's the problems with software todo...

[switcha]

At least for me, if I type it into stickies or something, I'll ignore/forget about it. I hate alarm based things, because they're always going off when I can't drop everything to switch tasks.

I have a todo pad on my desk and I write down everything. Then, I rewrite it the next morning, with updated info. I find that rewriting everything each day, as opposed to saving it on some computer document, forces me to not let things with far-out deadlines creep up on me.

Whiteboard

[aaamr]

That way it's always staring me in the face.

Sometimes I use my blackberry as well.

What I use for my to-do lists is.....

[theJerk242]

my arm. Hand works too but data is sometimes lost due to the elements.

I think I have BY FAR the best to do list...

[Bryan Gividen]

1. Natalie Portman 2. Brittney Spears 3. Kirsten Dunst 4....

The best!

[bunnyman]

The Todo list that Microsoft patented of course!

Dude!

[Saint Aardvark]

It's like you read my mind. Come cower before the greatness that is...JobJar!

From the description:

Jobjar is a Small but Useful (tm) utility to manage a list of non-critical jobs to do...you know, like a job jar. You can add a job to the jar, you can remove a job, or you can just print out a job for you to do. In the grand tradition of Unix, the list is called ~/.jobjar and is a simple text file. None of your binary Windows nonsense here...no, sir! And in the grand tradition of GNU software, it's released under the GPL. What more could you possibly want?

JobJar: Because if you need more than Perl, plain text and a command line, you are a heathen and must die.

Lists and Calendars..

[cioxx]

On OSX, I use iCal. Don't think anything else comes close. With the built-in WebDav functionality, it can be combined with .Mac, or OSS PHPiCalendar which makes a great to-do/calendar package for those who like to access their information from elsewhere. Works with Mozilla Calendar and KOrganizer too.

On Windows, there is a shareware app called Biromsoft To-Do List. Pretty simple and straightforward.
I recommend it for those who are looking for a listmaker without all the bells and whistles that might otherwise come with aformentioned calendar apps.

Not exactly open source... but embedded

[students]

I use my cassio wristwatch. Can't lose it because I only take it off for swim meets (it's waterproof). I also use KOrganizer.

Can't do that. It's patented.

[IGnatius T Foobar]

Sorry folks, you're not allowed to do TODO lists. That has been patented by Microsoft.

Perhaps you should consider circumventing the patent by making a list of "Stuff I gotta remember not to forget" ?

LifeBalance

[trajano]

Try LifeBalance, its a pretty good to-do list tool, it has outlining capability and automatically manages the task list for you. Its available at www.llamagraphics.com

Evolution?

[14erCleaner]

Does anyone use Ximian Evolution for this?

I last tried it about a year ago, and found myself constantly annoyed. It seemed to lock up and lose my settings a lot. How's it looking these days? Surely there's somebody out there in slashdot-land using this thing...

Re:Evolution?

[Anonymous Coward]

I use it for mail & new feeds, but not too much for Todo lists (hope to write my own in Python some day...). Never locks up in Gentoo.

ThoughtManager

[MrBlic]

My Boss, loves his ThoughtManager from Hands High Software so much that he gave me a Palm Zire so I could install it and he could beam his heirarchies of notes / to-do lists to me when we meet. It has an import from MS Word outlines too.

It isn't open source or free, but it's worth $30 if you need something really well done (and own a palm.)

-Jim

Well

[Anonymous Coward]

You could always out source to a small country. ;)

Office:mac Project Center

[benj_e]

I just got Office 2004 for the Mac, and it is by far the most useful organizer I've ever had. The Project Center is simply amazing.

Coupled with the appropriate email rules in Entourage, it works amazingly well. I've created projects for each major life/work area. All email, files, notes, tasks, and calendar events are easily grouped for each area.

I even have a standard note called issues in each project that I can keep outstanding issues recorded in. When I create my weekly summary for work, all my project accomplishments, issues, and upcoming schedules are right at my finger tips.

Oh Yeah!

[Bingo Foo]

...I was going to get around to compiling a list of them one of these days...

NullSoft's "Safe Sex"

[Anonymous Coward]

NullSoft had a cool program called "Safe Sex" that encrypted your "To Do" list.

You are so busted.

[loteck]

because, as we all know, Microsoft patented the to-do list, as previously discussed. Bill will be calling soon, no doubt. Hope your last name isn't Rowsoft ;)

Re:You are so busted.

[Sven-Erik]

As long as you don't write TODO's in your sourcecode, you are safe from that patent. But who knows if the eminent USPO has granted patents to other kinds of to-do lists?

Re:You are so busted.

[bhtooefr]

I thought that was just the support for creating a TODO remark that added an item into a todo list along with a line number to go with it.

Re:You are so busted.

[whoisjoe]

It's easy to show prior art:

$ find . -exec grep -Hn "TODO" {} \;

Re:You are so busted.

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess that makes Visual Studio the default best todo list software. It isn't cheap though...

Re:You are so busted.

[nwbvt]

Doubtful. The minute MS tries to enforce their patent it goes to court where the judge would likely throw it out.

Re:You are so busted.

[bhtooefr]

For clarification, look at this tiny piece of BASIC:

10 REM This is a demonstration of TODO code
20 PRINT "I am the greatest"; CHR$(7)
30 REM TODO Write looping code
40 REM TODO Put fake Applesoft prompt here, in case someone figures out the way to get out of the loop

It would show up in a Tasks list like this:

Tasks:
Line 30 - Write looping code
Line 40 - Put fake Applesoft prompt here, in case someone figures out the way to get out of the loop

Korganizer

[JThundley]

Use Korganizer, it's nice.
This question is kind of boring isn't it?
Is a to-do pad that big of a deal?

Outreach Project Tool

[guy_davis]

This web app can be used for shared to-do lists (and a lot more). Try out the demo site.

Palm OS Tasks

[CompressedAir]

That's what I use, the Tasks software on my T3.

As someone else said, it's not a technical problem... getting organized is a state of mind. Thus, for me, the key was always having my to-do list with me, and the PDA solved my problem. (Plus it's darn nifty for other stuff too.)

So it may not be a technical problem, but I solved mine with technology. :+D

Getting Things Done

[chrisatslashdot]

What type of To Do tool you use depends on what type of To Dos you do. I recently read David Allens book Getting Things Done. I wish I had read it years ago. I usually hate this type of self-improvement book but this book is great. Its not about creating a complex organization system but rather about using very simple, effective mechanism to catch and direct everything one is faced with.

David uses a plain PalmOS organizer and PalmDesktop with no add-ins.

Ecco URL

[buckminster]

Ecco is still the best. You are correct that it hasn't been updated since 1997, but it's definitely a Win32 application. I've heard rumours that it runs under WINE as well.

Netmanage essentially abandoned this product although you can still download for free from their ftp site:
ftp://ftp.netmanage.com/support/pub/utilities/EC40 1/

Users manual should be included as well.

This is way more than just a simple outline program. Think unlimited relational outlines connected by user definable columns. All fully integrated with the calendar and address book.

As I contemplate switching to various other platforms this is still the one application I cannot live without. No other outliner/pim comes close to ECCO.

Re:Ecco URL

[rich_r]

I've just downloaded this and it looks like just the thing I need! If only I had mod points...

Re:Ecco URL

[netringer]

ECCO is just what I needed! Ironically I bought a copy in the days before NetManage bought 'em. I still have the package and documentation. I didn't think I could trust it to work on the NT kernel.

I just installed this in Windows XP and it works!

Thanks for the URL!

Re:Ecco URL

[Drubber]

Ah, you're right. My firewall wasn't allowing FTP to that URL.

It is indeed Win32 (still quite stale, though). The shooter still works, at least.

It's sad and baffling why they did this. For an app that is this old, it's a testament to its quality and uniqueness that it still has such a loyal following.

If they can't monetize it and maintain it, thanks to NetManage for letting us use it, at least.

Brainforest

[lelitsch]

I did use Brainforest for a number of years and really liked it, it was nice and simple and worked on my PC, Mac and Palm. Its biggest shortcoming was that the outlines didn't allow for hyperlinks. Which sucks if half your tasks are "look at the following web page and fix it". But nowadays, I just use the ouliner in my word processor.

Excel

[Anonymous Coward]

I use excel for my to do list. One sheet for open items, one sheet for closed items. Item description, assignment date, priority, close-by date, notes, and status.

Real simple and it works well =)

best *stand alone* todo list?

[jafomatic]

Might be this one right here. I think Sun hired this guy to integrate it into something of theirs (java desktop maybe?). It looks pretty sturdy.

here is a good one. Agenda at Once

[Bauguss]

I went through this search recently as well.

I found a brilliant one for Windows.

Agenda at Once. It is $30 and very easy to use. What I really like about it is the fact that it sits in the system tray. It is the first task manager I actually use. The only feature I wish it had is sharing tasks with others. Even then though, I still use it everyday and open it many many times a day. Small memory footprint is a bonus too. Also has a nice scheduler to remind you of stuff.

Oh, it does have a free trial. Go check it out.

The best I ever used was Quick-To-Do Pro

[crashnbur]

I used Quick-To-Do Pro for about six months, ending a little more than a year ago. It's a great program and it did all the things I wanted it to do:

1. Kept track of upcoming events or tasks
2. Allowed me to prioritize them by user-defined categories
3. Allowed me to set recurring events (daily, weekly, etc.)
4. And allowed me to set how the software reminded me of a task

There were two problems with Quick-To-Do: (1) the way it embedded itself in my system (WinXP Home then, now I use WinXP Pro), which was only a nuisance; (2) it erased all my tasks on more than one occasion, and I never figured out why.

I can barely remember using the software now, because I found actually using to-do list software was much more annoying and less productive than actually keeping track of daily tasks myself. Sure, I forget something every now and then, but at least I place the blame where it should be -- on me -- instead of on a piece of software that has no emotional attachment to my daily life anyway.

Stickies

[grioghar]

OSS, but for Windows, though I don't know what kind of hacking you'd want to do to get it on your OS of choice.

I use this EVERY day for my notes. The network communication feature for passing the notes around that are persistant on your desktop. Quick note that negates sending an email when I can send a persistant (See 'Always On Top') sticky that you have to acknowledge to put away.

Anyhow, the URL: http://www.btinternet.com/~tom.revell/

I had to send Tom (the maintainer) a thank you note after 2 weeks of using it. It's been a lifesaver a couple of times. The network features are excellent.

E-Mail

[bstadil]

Best system is sending an email to yoursleves and mark it. Mozilla or Thunderbird are excellent for this. Install POPFileand create a special Bucket and an Anchor and you are set.

By the way only make ToDos for something important and fairly complex where the email description of what is required is a real help

Things like Mow the Lawn is a waste of bandwidth and computer cycles. ToDos and planning is not the same thing.

Lastly keep as much as you can in your head, it a good mental training and your subconscious sometimes gives you a helping hand. .

Okay maybe I am a geek, but...

[strobert]

I just use a text file that is a part of my cvs controlled home directory. then a have a perl script or two for generating stats on it.

Re:Okay maybe I am a geek, but...

[Seraphim_72]

No maybe about it

you *are* a geek.

Sera

About to write one...

[Animaether]

Checked out the responses here, and though I'm sure the solutions proposed are ideal for those who suggested them, not seemed too ideal for what I need to do.

So I'm about to write my own in ASP (eek.) on my own website - already planned this yesterday, so this topic came about at just the right time for me to check existing solutions :)

Just to give you all a laugh

[BlightThePower]

I use the to-do list and calendar in Outlook.
Works for me. Yeah, Outlook, it is a bit of a liability, but its what we have at work. No arguments will be entered into by the powers that must be obeyed.

That said, before you snort cheetos and coca-cola out of your nose, I will remind you Don Norman, the reigning king of usability studies is himself is a fan.

MediaWiki

[HenrikOxUK]

Seriously, it may seem like overkill but I've been looking for something simple for months and years. I've tried Treepad, Keynote, etc. I just installed MediaWiki locally today in fact, so I could manage my todo list and other short items. The real advantage is the flexible structure it provides. You can link to various files that may be works in progress, web pages, etc. I've used it for websites before, and just like the way it works. (btw: MediaWiki is the engine for Wikipedia)

Why not just outlook?

[eagl]

My employer licenses the full office suite, and plain old MS Outlook puts it all in one interface. There are even templates available around the net that can print your to-do list in a format that fits into any type of binder you might be using, including a regular size 3-ring binder, 6-ring dayplanner, or even custom spiral bound paper packs.

I wouldn't buy office pro for home use since it's damn expensive to buy just one license, but since I have it at work I can put due dates/times on almost any item including email and calendar entries, and set up automatic reminders, print or view them in whatever format I like. Although I don't do it because of strict security restrictions at work, outlook and palm OS PDAs work together pretty well so it would be trivial to sync my entire schedule, task list, etc. with my palm pilot even from home over a vpn connection. Any costs associated with this would be at worst a 2 or 4 year software update cycle.

It's part of the MS empire and sometimes I feel like I should be wearing a white stormtrooper helmet and when I use it, but outlook is more than good enough and I have felt no desire whatsoever to find an alternative email, calendar, note, and task manager.

MS also makes a standalone product designed more for tablets that integrates with outlook and allows for freeform notes and other journal/notebook style entries, but I forget what it's called. OneNote or something like that. Again, it just works and again if you can get your company to buy it for you, it's more than good enough.

Re:Why not just outlook?

[Anonymous Coward]

I must confess, I've use Outlook for TODO management for years now. What I like:
- Drag and drop tasks into priority order
- Timed reminders, set-and-forget
- Periodic recurring tasks, with log per-task
- Synchronize with your PDA of choice
- The joy of haveing completes tasks in strike-through :-)

B-liner

[nonya]

Check out B-liner. It's a hierarchical organizer and spreadsheet. I've been using it for about ten years (it used to be called sdt) and can't live without it.

Alex King Todo 2.0

[Daath]

Once in awhile I use Alex King's Todo.
But mostly because I haven't made anything better yet (I am doing it though)... Mine will be a little more complex (but easy to use).

Emacs Diary!

[Greyfox]

I put all my reminders in Emacs diary now. I usually have Emacs open (I read mail with vm) and it's pretty good about telling time and stuff. It'd be interesting to hack out a separate todo list generator that can export data to a palm pilot type device. Hmm... (Adding "investigate palm conduits in emacs" to todo list...)

Re:Emacs Diary!

[viking_kiwi]

Well, naturally emacs has todo functionality available:

<M-x> todo-mode

Re:Emacs Diary!

[Cynbe]

This is probably not Dignified Enough to count, but I just use outline-minor-mode with outline-regex set to something like "^[A-Za-z]"
and two custom keybindings to un/fold.
(Like Greyfox, I usually have xemacs open anyhow, either for coding or else for reading email in Gnus, or most likely both. I type this on an 11Mpixel display with at a quick glance four main emacs windows open -- and this isn't even my C coding or email desktop. So xemacs start-up time isn't usually a consideration...)

Re:Emacs Diary!

[Greyfox]

Emacs actually has everything I really want in a PDA. If the applications aren't already tightly integrated, some fairly simple coding tweaks can make them work with whatever you need them to. It's a pity that PDA manufacturers are too busy adding useless features to PDAs rather than making their platforms as easy to use and modify as Emacs is.

RequestTracker

[rainmanjag]

I'm a big fan of the web-based software RequestTracker, affectionately known as RT.

Homepage

It is similar to Bugzilla, except it's not software bug oriented so much as "Stuff To Do" oriented. It has a simple email gateway, it keeps track of absolutely everything, it allows you to add custom fields quite easily, it changes priorities of your events over time, and it allows you to keep track of how much time you've spent on various projects. Around my office, it's pretty key.

-jag

Re:RequestTracker

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm also a big fan of RT.

Re:RequestTracker

[foxjazz]

I use C-Organizer...

Re:RequestTracker

[Eil]

It is similar to Bugzilla, except it's not software bug oriented

We use bugzilla where I work as a kind of task tracker and don't find it at all "bug oriented". With a small amount of planning and the right configuration, Bugzilla works great as a general issue or task tracker. You could seriously do a global search on the source code and replace every instance of "bug" with "task", nobody would be the wiser. It was a little strange at first to be asked how you were doing on a particular "bug" when the "bug" was something like setting up a new wireless gateway.

Before I came onboard, they tried to use RequestTracker but found it unusable due to the high load it placed on the system when only a couple users were logged in. They said they didn't have the inclination to debug it, so they decided to try Bugzilla next and have been using it since. (Sometimes we use it to file actual software bugs too. ;) )

We also looked at Mantis, but were horrified at how limited it was. But a bug-tracking system like Bugzilla is almost certainly overkill for a one-man todo list, which is what the submitter sounded like he wanted. For this, I tend to throw all those little tasks into a text file and then paste them into my personal wiki at the end of the day, where they never get seen again. (This is what has allowed me to post to Slashdot so frequently.)

Re:RequestTracker

[Anonymous Coward]

We used RT for our support tickets - worked very well indeed..

Re:RequestTracker

[cloudmaster]

I use Bugzilla for my personal task management and formy work task management (sysadmin). It works well, and since setting pu the email gateway, I just bounce requests to bugzilla@ (for those who forget to send them there themselves) and things don't get forgotten anymore. It's as much overkill as can be convenient, IMHO.

The answer is in /. article earlier today

[MisterMoney]

From this link about MS Word 5.1:

"Indeed, for some, Word 5.1 was so flexible it became a one-stop shop for all their computer needs. It was used for writing, but also as an address book, a to-do list and a calendar."

So there ya' go.

*NIX: at

[gellenburg]

If you have access to a *NIX machine, or use one for your daily work, then what I do may work for you.

I simply use the at scheduler to schedule an email to remind me on specific days. I have a rule set up to automatically flag the messages and to ensure they won't end up in my Junk Mail folder.

Something simple like:
at "6/21/2004 19:00" mail -s "TODO: TAKE OUT THE TRASH" [userid]

Of all the apps on my Mac, the one I'm in the most is Mail.

Free. Simple. Searchable (using my mail program). Not perfect, but it works.

It's a Trap!

[TheDukePatio]

It's just Bill Gates and the SCO lawyers poking around trying to find out who to sue for patent infringement! A noble effort gentlemen, but your plan shall be foiled again!

Now where'd I put my foil hat....

non-/. ed treeline cache

[paintballluvr]

google cache: Treeline

There wasn't a cache of rc0 site that I could find.

Re:non-/. ed treeline cache

[Anonymous Coward]

You shameless hussy.

vi + ssh + apache + mozilla

[Anonymous Coward]

ssh, vi, apache, and mozilla.

apache, to serve todo.html
ssh, to access your webserver remotely
vi, to edit todo.html
mozilla, to view and search todo.html

That's what I do anyway.

ATnotes

[Anonymous Coward]

I use ATnotes http://atnotes.fr.st/

Keynote

[511pf]

Keynote is a very good open source hierarchical notes organizer. However, it's Win32 only. http://sourceforge.net/projects/keynote/

I need one for managing my projects

[netringer]

What a timely question!

I need a To-Do list system to manage myself handling muliple projects in different phases. I was about to search for one myself in hope I didn't have to try writing one (in Outlook VBA maybe, sigh.)

I like to have a way to have a standard set of sub tasks like:

• - gather requirements
• - 1st meeting scheduled for mm/dd/yy hh:mm at xyz
• - 2nd ....
• - send proposed solution
• - email project lead
• - etc

each with a due date and reminder and the ability to mark the task complete and add notes.
and have each of those labeled up front with Project Name - 1234

What I'd like is to have multiple view so I can answer the questions like: "What do I need to do next to move that (or all of my) project(s) along." "What's the status milestone in that project?"

I've been making Outlook tasks for some of those, I have no way to group them by project or to auto-create them as I need, much less have the multiple views.

I think that MS-Project won't cut it. I don't have manage any more than me.

(Note: to MS-bashers: Save your breath. I don't have a choice at work because it's the corporate standard. I'll have to sell any other solution I find becuase of that.)

To Do

[jvagner]

I suppose if you really wanted to use software I would recommend:

Tasks by Alex King.

But I actually prefer a stack of index cards. I work at too many locations and at too many different kinds of computers and my home is too rural for me to count on Internet access too much.

I also don't limit my "todo" tasks to technical stuff -- I have plenty of other projects to keep track of.

Keep a stack of index cards. Write a title/category across the top. Keep a day card. At the end of the day, what you didn't get done off the day card gets written somewhere else (this is a little Franklin-Planner-esque).

It's my favorite method. Index cards + binder clip.

out look

[minus_273]

i think outlook is hard to beat. I started using it after i got a pocket pc 3-4 yrs ago have been addicted to it since. Organization and info sharing with outlook was relly nice all through college.

What was the problem with Mantis?

[int2str]

I am a contributor/developer for the Mantis project. What did you not like about it?

Is there something we can improve upon?

Thanks,
André

Re:What was the problem with Mantis?

[Seek_1]

Keep up the good work!! I love Mantis! I've also just started to use it as an organizer/planner (in addition to development of course). Can't wait for version 0.19!

SCARAB

[nettdata]

For our development process, we manage all of our group to-do lists using SCARAB

This includes development, sales, business, and client stuff. Might be a bit overkill for a single user, but it's pretty handy for a web-based solution. You can also include attachments with the issues, and comments, so it's pretty good at electronically storing paperwork as well. We're actually using it to keep track of some of our corporate paperwork, etc., with offices in Boston, London, and Vancouver, without the need for expensive ERP or CRM software.

For now it does what we need it to do.

For other stuff, I use a personal WIKI, and/or the Omni Group's OmniOutliner. (Yes, I'm an OSX weenie ;)

Re: Moz. SunBird / iCalender (MOD UP PARENT!)

[Zaiff Urgulbunger]

Agree about the buggyness, but I do have high hopes for this product. It would be great because it is based on the iCalendar standard (or something... I forget), and plus being able to run the same software cross-platform is particularly useful with day-to-day software such as email/todo/calendar software.

knowit

[carlos_benj]

I've been playing with knowit and it's pretty simple.

KOrganizer

[rasz]

KOrganizer works for me.

yank

[Anonymous Coward]

http://yank.sourceforge.net/

Simple interface, hierarchical list.

yank also supports priorities, notes, deadlines

I don't have anything to do...

[whoisjoe]

you insensitive clod!

dry erase marker

[KI0PX]

Use a dry erase marker on your computer screen.

Dry erase markers are the best. You can even use them to draw crosshairs on the inside of your sunglasses. :)

Progect

[Anonymous Coward]

The progect software for palm is quite good, and i believe there is a desktop component for it called PDesk - unfortunatly - i dont' know the url right off hand - but i'm sure you can google it

Re:Progect

[Noksagt]

Progect is quite nice. One app that I do miss since replacing my Palm with a zaurus. They had been selling PDesk, but it looks like it GPLed now as well & they claim *nix versions are on the way. Definitely something to watch!

Try Sex, Really

[SeinJunkie]

I agree, Sex is good for just about anyone. As long as you don't require a lot of extra stuff, I would recommend Sex. (I guess I would recommend sex either way :)

I found Safesex to be a pain, though, because of the extra protection. I didn't think it was really necessary.

Obviously, if anyone sees Sex on your work computer, you'll more than likely have some 'splainin' to do.

Re:Try Sex, Really

[Daedius]

Hahaha, yes. Whenever I install Sex at work, I have to cleverly hide it and rename the executable.

Try Omnigroup's OmniOutliner

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.omnigroup.com/

A review can be found at:

http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2003/12/12 /o mnioutliner.html

Consider Full-Fledged PIMs like Zoot

[Akilesh Rajan]

There are some very interesting pieces of software out there that combine task management with personal information databases -- places to store bits of information collected from documents, web pages, and so on. Some go far beyond the information organizing capabilities of Outlook and other standard personal information managers (PIMs).

One such piece of software is a cult-hit, Zoot. See reviews here and here. Find out more at the Yahoo Group for it, which also happens to have excellent lists of other excellent but often underappreciated PIM software.

Also consider web-based task managers like Yahoo Calendar. The advantage is that they are easily accessible from anywhere and there's no need for backups. Yahoo task management also syncs with a lot of other stuff, I think.

Re:Consider Full-Fledged PIMs like Zoot

[Akilesh Rajan]

Whoops that first link to a review should be http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97aug/zoot.htm. It's by James Fallows from The Atlantic Monthly.

Treeware.

[a24061]

Small pad of paper in your back pocket and a Space Pen (not because they can write in boiling water but because they fit conveniently in the "watch pocket" of jeans).

Big Fan of Tasks

[scid]

I am a big fan of Tasks, it is a great PHP/MySQL based hierarchical todo list organizer, there is a free version and a multi-user pro version. It has really worked well for me and my clients. you can have rss feeds of various tasks as well as integration with iCal or php iCalendar. It really bears checking out.

Re:Big Fan of Tasks

[The Bammer]

agreed, Alex has put togther a wonderful piece of software

Tasks

[ZorbaTHut]

I use the Tasks Basic Personal edition (i.e. free version). I can access it from anywhere via HTTP and it's got nested tasks, which I find important.

The only problem I've been having is that if you have a *lot* of tasks in one group with a lot of notes, it can take four or five seconds to open the group - I presume it's just making a ton of giant database queries, but it's irritating.

Re:Tasks

[alexkingorg]

This isn't a problem in Tasks 2.0 - most of the back-end code was rewritten and better optimized in 2.0.

Re:Tasks

[10gauge]

I'll have to chime in support here, as well. I use Tasks Pro, and have two different installs of it on my web server at the moment for two different groups. I started out with the free version, which was great for single-user scenarios, and now have multi-user sharing working pretty well. The newer versions seem to be pretty snappy, even with tons of nested tasks and comments, and even when hosted on a DSL line. When accessing the app from local LAN, there is usually little to no latency even when there's a lot to pull from the MySQL backend.

Re:Tasks

[ZorbaTHut]

Unfortunately, Tasks 2.0 costs money :P

Also, I ended up making a few changes to the Tasks code - I'd have to port them over (and this is what makes taking advantage of your free trial difficult - I'd be looking at source-hacking for an hour or so just to make it do what I want, unless you've added it as an option.) (If you're curious, I entirely disabled the "percentage complete" system, as well as eliminating the code that marks projects as complete once all their subprojects are complete. The way I use it, those features are actually counterproductive.)

I suppose if you've got that problem solved, I'll give it a try, assuming there's some way to port over my old Tasks data. I don't relish retyping 232 open tasks in. :P

Re:Tasks

[alexkingorg]

Yes, there is an "upgrade from 1.x" option in the install script.

Re:Tasks

[alexkingorg]

It sounds like you could use the Notes features in 2.0 for what you want. Notes do not have a % Complete, etc., they are used for organizing information.

Re:Tasks

[ZorbaTHut]

But from the screenshot I saw, it didn't look like they had priorities (although I could be wrong since that's a grand total of one screenshot.)

Re:Tasks

[Anonymous Coward]

Would you please describe what changes you made (I'm assuming in Tasks 1.8.6) to disable the marking of projects as complete once all of their subprojects are complete?

Re:Tasks

[ZorbaTHut]

Hrm. I don't actually remember in detail, it was a while ago. I think I ended up searching the source for some critical string (maybe the "complete" flag in the database?) assuming it wouldn't be referenced often, then just dug through it one item at a time until I found the right one.

I'd be willing to send the source I have, but it's not Tasks 1.8.6, it's Tasks 1.8.1, that being what was the current version when I did it. The recent version upgrades haven't seemed major enough to install and figure out my modifications again.

Re:Tasks

[ZorbaTHut]

Wait, cancel that. I can't redistribute the source, the license says so. I presume this means I can't send the patch file either. (Unless you're the writer and forgot to sign in.)

Maybe I should write my own open-source task manager - there's very little that Tasks supports that I need.

ToDoList 3.6.4

[funvill]

ToDoList 3.6.4

Natara Bonsai

[Anonymous Coward]

www.natara.com

what was wrong with mantis?

[bani]

i've found it perfect for todo lists. very concise and easy to use, and well suited to todo lists as well as bug tracking.

cat .plan

[Ayanami Rei]

^D

cat <(date) - >> .plan

[Ayanami Rei]

<typing>
^D

(sorry)

yank

[Anonymous Coward]

yank:
* note organization in a tree structure
* 3 different types of notes
* sortable todolist
* drag & drop support
* regular expression& substring searching
* saves xml (with optional compression)
* basic plugin system

Dang, you people

[Anonymous Coward]

The best To do List for getting things Done is a Wife.

Just get married.

And if you really need to make sure you don't forget something...Just turn on the NAG Mode Feature.

vim outline mode

[markjugg]

After trying digital sticky notes and formal solutions like Korganizer, I've gone back to using a basic text file in my favorite text editor, vim.

vim has as "outline" mode, which looks like it could make it even more useful, but I haven't try migrated to it.

I used to think that this solution was too low-tech to be especially useful. However, I found all the more formal solutions I tried felt too clumsy. Because they were slower to use, I didn't use them.

As a programmer, I always have the text editor open and can search and organize the text document easily.

Re:vim outline mode

[Anonymous Coward]

Here!

Great if vi keystrokes are hardwired into your hands.

A huge improvement over a text file with set foldmethod=indent, which was my previous tool of choice.

Single Panel Text Outliner - The only way

[JPyObjC Dude]

Single panel outliners allow brainstorming of just about anything including to-do lists. I use it for my design layouts, issue tracking, to-do, Program pseudo code, Meeting logs. Palm - ShadowPlan: Looks good, however their windows application bites. The palm component is sweet but I just hate those small screens. Give me my old 21" please! Win32 - Ecco: I use this every day because I work for a M$ loving company. Very well thought out program but originally made for win95 :p It's also free! Mac OSX - Omni-Outliner Great company. Very well written tool. Copied Ecco or at least motivated by it. Only supports single page per file though :[ (This is due to lacking native tab support in Mac OSX) Mac OSX - NoteTaker Well written, Supports chapters, pages and good outlining. Does not support columns which can be helpful for gathering tabular information such as due dates and scales... *nix - Nada (as in none) None that I really like (yet). There is Vim outliner if you like Vim. There are others but they are still very simple programs right now. I am seriously thinking about building a cross platform one myself like Ecco/omni on top of Mozilla XUL or Eclipse Platform or maybe some quazi ObjC-Java-Python monster. ...Any takers??? JD

Wife Organizer

[nortcele]

I don't use them. My wife does. So I bought her a nice PalmPilot. She loves it and prints out our schedule for me.
For work... I just use the pen and scratch paper method. I know. I'm a slacker.

Tasks Software

[kzion]

Check out tasks (free version) at alexking.org.

Yahoo tasks is good

[Anonymous Coward]

Because it can send you an email everyday with your overdue list and it will keep nagging you every day until you mark them off.

What's wrong with pencil&paper

[seawall]

One word: Backups.

Although it's a LOT more expensive to replace the media (palm vs. notebook), it's much much easier to backup, and later replace, the data on new media.

Also; there is a tendancy to say "It's just a $0.75 notebook, what's the big deal?" when it becomes inconvenient to retrieve. I don't say that about my Clie even though the data inside is worth more than either.

Finally, in repeating redundancy, as others have pointed out, there is a nicety to being beeped a little while before you have to do something. This has saved my job on ocassion but I acknowledge other more organized people may not need that.

best I use

[redled]

rainlendar. google it. lots of features, and syncs to a server if you wish for multiple computers and other apps.

what about ...

[Anonymous Coward]

brain v1.0?

Life Balance

[Saltation]

LifeBalance is an outliner with top-down schedule-influenced prioritisation. Awesomely well designed. Elegant in every sense of the word. All interface designers should study this app. I LOATHE to-do apps as they are more time-consuming than time-enabling. LifeBalance I have used daily since I downloaded it about 4 years ago. It's utterly different. check out http://www.llamagraphics.com/ , in particular the walk-through.

Try a specialist...

[danshapiro]

My wife is a Professional Organizer, a discipline that, while growing fast, is still widely unknown. A good PO can help you not only pick a technological solution, but use it effectively. You can find a PO near you through the National Association of Professional Organizers. Of course, if you're in the Seattle area, I recommend my wife's company, Personworks. She regularly deals with geeks and our particular needs. In any case, most reputable POs will do free consultations, which should be enough to get their advice about organizing software and determine if their services will be worthwhile for you.

Franklin Planner Software

[planckscale]

The Franklin Planner is pretty sweet if you use it correctly. I messed around with the trial software and it's really pretty nice. It would be even better on a tablet PC but then again, you asked for Open Source...

Home Grown

[Keck]

I've been writing my own groupware application after toying with many of the others out there and not liking them for one reason or another, and not liking their code (and thus it wasn't worth the time to mangle it to my purposes). I'll post a screenshot Here. I made a nice calendar with Date::Calc in about 20 lines that does day, week, and month views, and the todo list is integrated with it. I hadn't heard of mantis though, will check it out.

Franklin-Covey Planner System

[srau]

I took the Franklin-Covey time management class a couple of years ago, and have been a convert ever since. There is an electronic version of it for Palm and Winders, but I really prefer the low-tech paper system.

It is a complete system, and I highly recommend the class in order to get the most use out of it.

The "Franklin" in Franklin-Covey is from Ben Franklin, who carried around a little black book for his notes, appointments, and, in particular, goals and values planning.

Slacker To-Do

[Anonymous Coward]

MindLube software makes a great to-do application that works well on OS X! It gets better with each release and it is priced fairly.

todo-mode.el

[wallyghost]

That combined with gnotime fits all my needs.

Sex and SafeSex (the software of course)

[cj_cliffe]

I'm still a fan of Justin Frankel's handy little note taking app known as Sex. Also available for the tinfoil hat wearing crew is an encrypted version called SafeSex :)

http://www.nullsoft.com/free/safesex/

The Leo Editor.

[drew crampsie]

although not specifically a time management app, i store my TODO, along with just about everything else, in Leo.

Leo is really the most important tool in my toolbox. i find i can't work without it anymore. If you are not familiar with leo, check it out. there is not enough room here to explain everything that leo does, but if you have information of any kind to store, or if you are a programmer who's source consists of more then one file (which *is* most of us ... non?) i'm sure you'll find leo to be the best for doing what it does.

Leo is really unique in that it lets you organize your data in your own way, and then 'tangle' the result to create your actual source files. i use it for web-sites as and html template system, and in just about every program i write as an IDE. it interfaces with your favorite editor and has a host of great plugins.

Re:The Leo Editor.

[heydan]

Agreed. I use Leo for everything too.

GTodo or Evolution

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a little GNOME app called GTodo that is nice. Evolution works as well.

In process of building my own

[mooman]

I wanted to have something similar, but one of my prioirities was global accessibility. I tried notebooks, daytimers, postits, etc, but invariably it would always be at home when I was at work, or vice versa, or left behind when I travel.

So my first step was an online note tool called NoteToSelf that I use to keep all those interesting articles, recommendations for movies, homework assignments, job descriptions, consumer ratings, etc. I wrote it in PHP and love it. It's pretty primative as I haven't put any extra work into it since I got it functional. But it's great for me and I use it throughout the day.

My next step is the to-do list. As an interim, I just use a note in NoteToSelf to keep the tasks, but really want something with priorities and reminders. So I've looked at various ones, and I think I'm going to integrate Horde's Kronolith for calendaring and Nag for task lists. They're all PHP and MySQL so I can integrate or tweak as much as I feel like.. With those 3 things I think I have most of my "PIM" needs met and accessible from any internet-connected device around. I've been mulling over a PDA, but only to act as an offline copy of those 3 apps, and not for their own native PDA apps.

ScheduleWorld will do that and more

[MarkSwanson]

Free, based on open standards, interoperates with Exchange/Outlook/iCal/Notes/etc... server hosted for you for free, encrypted todos/events, multi-machine sync (soon also SyncML), Java Web Start client to support OS/X, Linux, Solaris, Win32, and more...

Sidekick ?

[tuomoks]

Is there any clone of sidekick available ?? I miss it - it was the best ( the new version ! ) Fast, easy to use, well organized.

To Do list

[DMUTPeregrine]

I thought microsoft patented the To Do list. On a more serious note, I use either my palm pilot or a nice little perl script that e-mails me when I need to do something.

Don't be a technophobe.

[chris_sawtell]

Attack the problem with vim and vigor , but note that KOrganiser has a pretty good to do section.

Above and Beyond

[duckygator]

I've always had a fondness for Above & Beyond from www.1soft.com. It's best feature is a dynamic workload balancing tool that prioritizes the items and allows me to give realistic estimates of WHEN I will likely get something complete. It's not free, but you can download a free trial... It's worth a look to understand how nice that feature is.

HWiki

[krokodil]

I've used Shadow Plan but switched to HWiki

That isn't funny...

[Mr. Arbusto]

I've seen Post-it notes on a CEO's laptop screen.

I then realized why someone would use Macintosh Stickies.

Use a text editor

[Hibernator]

To-do list tools come and go, and they all have proprietary formats. Over the years I've settled on a scheme that's simple and robust--use a text file. You can sort your items any way you like, search through them easily, switch editors or operating systems with ease, and you're not limited by someone else's view of how things should be organized or sorted.

My Wrist: with pen applied

[mekkab]

I write todo lists on the inside of my wrist:
better than writing on my hand because if I wash, THERE GOES MY LIST!

Long enough, becuase I can write up to my elbow (any more than that, and you've got too much to do!)

And in more gentle company it can be hidden by a long sleeve shirt.

As each item is done- you wash it off.

Backup is hard, and getting caught in the rain is a problem.

Served?

[LFS.Morpheus]

Oh, I believe... ITS ON.

Oblong Graph Paper Pad

[jbum]

Office Depot sells an oblong pad of graph paper that is designed to sit under or in front of your keyboard.

It has the same width as a keyboard (but not as deep) and the binding is along the long edge.

I love this thing, and bought a handful of them in case I never find them again.

It costs $2.00

[Mustang Matt]

Go buy a broken palm pilot off ebay. License requirements fullfilled.

Text editors ?

[Cygnus78]

Pfft.. losers ! I make my todolist in assembler.

Re:Text editors ?

[carlos_benj]

Well, I bet you think that's pretty hard-core...

As a procrastinator who never seems to get anything on my todo list checked off, I have them tattooed all over my body! Should I eventually complete a task, I'll carve it out of my flesh with a utility knife.

webnote

[White Shadow]

I've been playing around with the idea of a sticky-notes/post-it style app in a web browser using CSS and javascript (so it will work in IE 6+ and mozilla/firefox).

I call it webnote and anyone can play around with it. I mainly wanted something I could access anywhere but is a bit nicer than a plain text TODO file in my home directory (which is what I used to do). This is also easy to share with other people (partially because I haven't implemented any security yet).

Not sure if this works for you...

[ThisIsFred]

...But seeing as how I've got a Slackware Linux box on my desk at work, I use the following:

knotes: Short reminders and temporary stuff.

JPilot: Short projects or reminders that are persistent for a month or two. I also use it for its calendar and address book features.

For anything longer, I write out the project description in a document, then draw out a timeline on the chalkboard in my office. If it involves lots of people, I distribute the document to them, and do the diagrams in OpenOffice Draw. And where I work, anything larger than that involves a committee. It's not readily apparent how anything gets accomplished after it goes to committee. ;o)

notepad

[chocolatetrumpet]

I actually do use notepad, you insensitive clod!

I used to use ms outlook, but the install was messed up somehow (bad memory?)... and I had to install office in a virtual machine to get my notes back.. exported them and I now read and edit them using notepad. It's easy and reliable.

Sure, I should patch up that memory but I don't have too many problems with my computer.

Very cool little open source app...

[RocknRoller]

Try Keynote by Tanglos Software. It is very useful to store all kind of data (http://www.tranglos.com/free/index.html)

Re:absolutely

[Anonymous Coward]

Keynote is great and free as beer.

http://www.tranglos.com/free/index.html

New Technology

[MacWiz]

I don't know if anyone has heard of this, but a pad of paper and a pen or pencil are remarkable tools for this sort of thing. Works with all operating systems, all languages are supported and, as far I can discern, no one has yet filed a bogus patent claiming they invented it.

Re:New Technology

[The MESMERIC]

i keep losing pens
i keep staining paper-pads with coffee.

Spreadsheet

[gokeln]

I use a spreadsheet (Excel at work) with one page for currently active. When completed, I cut/paste to a completed page. It's not elegant, but works.

Evolution on linux, outlook on windows

[np_bernstein]

I can't believe that no one mentioned them, but having an email program that can integrate with your calendar as well as has a to-do list is great. If you get an email for a meeting, accept, schedule, setup reminders, etc. The to-do list is for general stuff, but it's nice to have a calander so you can get those pop-up reminders.

It's pretty nice. I have my "run nessus scan of network" pop up every wendnesday, and my "go through tripwire logs" pop up everyday at three o'clock. After a while, you just get in the habit of doing these things, but it's nice to have the reminders for busy days, or when you're not feeling motivated.

OmniOutliner, hnb, vi

[strudeau]

I love OmniOutliner for OS X. I also used hnb (Hierarchical Notebook) which is a commandline outliner, for awhile. Otherwise vi/emacs/notepad.exe/whatever is great.

GnoTime

[Anonymous Coward]

http://gttr.sourceforge.net
Gnome to-do list, time tracker, billing system, pseudo-blogger

TasksPro by Alex King

[Anonymous Coward]

I use the following task list manager... it is web based and very well designed, in my opinion:

tasks

there are a few different versions... the free one works great... the multi-user one costs money, and there is one in between.

it also has good OSX integration.

Give Tasks a shot

[scid]

you should give Tasks a shot it really is a well done PHP/MySQL hierarchical list manager.

Re:Give Tasks a shot

[Anonymous Coward]

dear god..that looks terrible. Think i'll skip.

Problematic

[neosapience]

To do lists are problematic. They take too much time to manage. They also can't remind us of things unless we're in front of the computer when the timer goes off. What you need is a PDA with a voice recorder. It may cost a bit, but it's WELL worth it.

Stickies for Windows, open source

[Dorktrix]

I am biased because I wrote it, but I wrote an open source Stickies clone for Windows. It is pretty minimalist, but it functions well and has a fairly large, devoted user base.

And it's open source (unlike most every other Windows TODO manager I have seen), so if you don't like it, you can fix it...

Re:Stickies for Windows, open source

[g-doo]

Another free (but not open-source) stickies program for Windows is 3M's Post-it® Software Notes Lite.

http://www.3m.com/market/office/postit/com_prod/ ps notes/download_lite.html

(I like your Stickies clone, by the way, me being an Apple fan. I kind of wish I didn't have to use Microsoft.NET, but ah well.)

TuxCards

[Anonymous Coward]

TuxCards is a program to organize your notes and thoughts. It stores the notes as RTF files, so they are easily accessible with a lot of formatting power.

TasksPro

[crazyj]

We use TasksPro to manage our to-do and tasks. There are different versions depending on what you need including a free [beer] version and an inexpensive version for single users. The "full" version is multi-user capable and allows you to assign items to people and groups or keep them private.

TuxCards

[betterthanducttape]

TuxCards
TuxCards is a program that will store your notes in RTF format and organize them in a tree. Very handy, also sorts by category I believe. Try it.

A real alternative : Keynote

[Anonymous Coward]

A real idea organiser which is easy and reliable, and completely free : Keynote.

http://www.tranglos.com/free

Re:A real alternative : Keynote

[ScribeOfTheNile]

I must agree. AFAIK, there is no Linux port, but if you use windows, it's great. :)

Circular ref...

[twoslice]

Let me get this straight... On the guy's todo list is to find a good todo list organizer to manage his todo list that will tell him to find a todo list organizer to mangage his todo list....

I'm surprised

[gtshafted]

PersonalBrain (www.thebrain.com) is really good. Unlike most information managers, it doesn't use a tree structure - instead it uses a graph structure. The best way to describe it is a personal graphical wiki.

The only problem with PersonalBrain is that it's windows only and the $80 license fee is steep for something that isn't crossplatform. They have a java serverside edition... but it sounds like it's a couple of grand to license.....

Life Balance by Llamagraphics

[Random Tox]

Life Balance uses a structured outline with relative weighting to generate a dynamic ToDo list on the fly, with remarkable accuracy and helpfulness. It is available for PalmOS, MacOS and Windows.

Weighting is based on (roughly) how much you've already accomplished in the top-level category, how important the task is relative to its project, and where you are at the moment.

Each item is assigned an importance level, which is relative only the task above it. This means a task that is critical to the success of a minor project does not show up on the top of your to do list. That part is a big seller for me, as Life Balance does away with needing to rank all your tasks on a simple 1-5 (for example) scale.

The top levels of your outline are assigned relative priorities to one another, which means that when a category hasn't had tasks in its section finished, the importance of all its tasks rise slightly, as the days go by. This is a manifestation of the idea of Balance.

Life Balance has its own sort of organizational philosophy, but works extremely well with Allen's Getting Things Done approach, as well as Covey's First Things First. In fact, it allows you to meld the two quite well.

I am both horribly disorganized and very cheap, and have tried many different ToDo lists and organizers. The combination of Life Balance on my Palm Pilot and desktop was so clearly worth it to me that I only hesitated briefly before deciding to shell out the money for it.

Others have said--and I agree--that Life Balance should be evaluated for at least a few weeks in order for you to really see its value, since it uses your accomplishments as part of its prioritizing algorithm.

No, I don't work for the company, but after using this program for the past few months I definitely have a better grasp on my ToDos. Actually getting them done is another story--Life Balance doesn't force you to finish the things at the top of your list... But I do agree that what appears at the top indeed belongs there!

As an interesting footnote, Life Balance was originally developed for the Apple Newton, so its been around for a while.

Uncalendar (mod me up, karma be dammed)

[Ramses0]

This thing is great: Uncalendar.

I picked it up when I started college, and love it to death. Size of a palm pilot (fits in pocket), really sensibly laid out. You fill in the dates on a week-to-week basis, and it's basically a grid for the week (close up here), with an area at the top for lists, notes, etc.

Buy one. It's like $10 after shipping, and super-easy to get in the habit of using.

--Robert

customized private wiki

[papamay]

What works for me: a stock wiki + a custom 'daily reminders' script. When I need to be reminded of something, I put a note on the wiki's 'ReminderList' page, along with the date I need to be reminded. The daily reminders script is a cron job that moves 'today's' reminders to the wiki's home page. When I log in, the day's reminders are waiting for me. (The script allows recurring reminders, too). My mother appreciates that I no longer forget her birthday or anniversary.

Adding that to the ease of maintaining to-do lists in a wiki, for me it's a hands-down winner.

Wikis are customization-friendly, too. I wrote a script which checks the wiki's 'Project<foo>' pages and generates a summary page listing the status of all projects. So I always know where I'm at, even when buried under six projects.

I use my email client

[RayMarron]

I have a folder for each client company. Each one has a subfolder called "finished" and one called "reference". Items in the reference folder never expire, items in the finished folder get archived after a year. Items in the base folder require my attention. I usuallly strip (big) attachments before moving items to the finished folder. I'll send myself mail if there's something I need to add to my "todo list". The inbox is the "everything else" that requires attention folder, and I use my Palm datebook to remind me of future/recurring things like birthdays and such.

QTask

[deadzaphod]

It's currently in alpha and available by invite only, but QTask is by far the best I've ever used.

Nothing beats

[Texas Consultant]

Edit Pad Lite http://www.editpadlite.com/ I don't have loyalty to Windows or Linux, but, if you talk shit about my editor, you're eating dirt, pig.

small binders and loose leaf paper

[beforewisdom]

Seriously.

You have to go to a big office supply store to find them but

- their paper is cheaper then those day runner
packs.

- no batteries

- no logging in. Make your notes QUICKLY and
you are done.

- not nearly as fragile as PDAs.

- cheap

- flexible, ... just add more paper, dividers etc.

To Do

[DaveS002]

I use AZZ Cardfile. It is inexpensive (not free) and is a replacement for the old cardfile application from Windows 3.1.

Personal Analog Assistant

[ave19]

I have a "Fat Little Bungee Book" I got at Wal-Mart. Best thing since sliced bread! The spiral binding is large enough to hold a pen, and it does graphics!

(you have to draw them yourself.)

-ave

Its the method, not the medium

[beforewisdom]

....and the time management method I recommend is

HOW TO GET CONTROL OF YOUR TIME AND YOUR LIFE by Alan Lakien. ISBN ISBN: 0451167724

This book came out in the late 50's/early 60's. Its brief, its effective and every time management book since then has been a nod to it.

Of course as someone else mentioned no time management method works unless you stick with it, but this book even has a few chapters of advice in that area for the willing.

Once you got the method and motivation the medium is not all that relevant.

Recycled Dilbert calendars will do as much for as the most luxurious pda or expensive software.

Steve

Roundup Issue Tracker

[Richard Jones]

I've found that people say they like using Roundup for their TODO lists. It's a doddle to get going (unpack, and "python demo.py").

gnotime also records time spent on each (sub)task

[Anonymous Coward]

here is a todolist that also records the time you spend on each task and subtask
http://gttr.sourceforge.net/

Time & Chaos is hands down the best

[gelfling]

Bar none Time & Chaos is the greatest.

Re:Time & Chaos is hands down the best

[csirac]

Jesus I hated that program.

The version we have at work must have been old or something - it doesn't carry unfinished tasks on to the next day? I had to visit each day on the calendar to find unfinished tasks (which means I had to remember that the task was unfinished)...

More plausible is that I didn't know what I was doing (I rarely had to dive into it for myself), the concept of having to remember and locate unfinished tasks is just absurd...

Emacs, with planner.el and remember.el

[drf5n]

If you like emacs, look into planner.el and remember.el. planner.el

planner sets up a covey-like set of project and date files in a directory, and remember can keep notes on whatever on the date pages. It's great!

But if you don't already think emacs is a good tool, don't learn it for this purpose.

The BEST I've used is: roundup.sf.net

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the best todo/project/issues app I've ever used. Totally easy-to-use, extensible and accessible using a web browser.

http://roundup.sf.net

If you don't like the list of columns, just add custom ones in seconds. If you don't like the built-in reports/queries, just add custom ones in seconds. If you don't like the layout--you get the picture...

We use Roundup 0.6.7 for personal todos, project management and our bug/issue tracker system. Current version is 0.7.x but we haven't found any good reasons to bother upgrading since it works fine.

And yes, we use 3 different sets of columns, layouts, queries because it is so easy to customize.

I use my (Blogger) blog

[Jon_Aquino]

* access it from anywhere - even from your Palm or phone using post-by-email * your friends can see what's on your mind * make visual notes by taking digicam pics and having a script upload them to your blog

Franklin Covey PlanPlus

[AgentPhunk]

For the Win32 / MS Outlook users out there (yes, all 100 billion of you) there's an app by the "7 habits of highly successful people"'s Franklin Covey, called "Plan Plus", currently on their 2.0 release.

The Good:
Nice integration with Outlook
Has seperate sections for the "Big Picture" goals and weekly goals.
A really well thought out and task-oriented way to manage your to-dos
Easy Drag-and-drop Tasks to your calendar to schedule time to get shit done
integration with your palm pilot or PocketPC 2002 handheld (although this is definitely minimal and kind of sucks)
Lets you prioritize tasks better than standard outlook, lets you do A (high) B (mid) and C (low) priority tasks, with numbers to indicate their relative ranks (i.e. A1 - Get a job, A2 - stop reading /., B1 - get a girlfriend, etc)

The Bad:
Did I mention the win32/outlook thing? ok good.
You MUST have IE as your default web browser, otherwise the Planplus "home page" (i.e. daily to-dos, meetings etc) doesn't render right in outlook.
To-do's can't have sub-tasks, can't share tasks with other users

The Ugly:
Took them a freaking YEAR to release an update for it, and the update was minimal at best. The Tech Support sucks, blah blah yadda yadda. I sent them an email saying I was evaluating it for rolling out to my 30+ sales staff, but was concerned about something-or-other, and got NOTHING back. nada. zip.

So, bottom line, check it out if you're an Outlook user that's also a Franklin Covey fan, its a 90+ mb download, needs .NET and your firstborn son (and a gander at your wife/gf nekkid) but hey, IMHO if you can get ANYTHING to get you to be organized and actually Get Shit Done(tm) then you're on the right track. If Notepad.exe does it, good, just pick a tool and USE it. This means sticking with it after the initial honeymoon period. I find I always put in A-level tasks that never get done (i.e. get my CISSP, solve world hunger, knock wife up, etc) and then get discouraged when none of those happen (ok, well, I *did* knock the wife up ;-)

Hope this helps. Follow-up conversation is encouraged; I'd love to hear from other users/ex-users.

My sig: All Politicians Lie (www.unamerican.com)

minimalist script

[0x12d3]

Here's an ultra easy script I wrote for the job. My needs are pretty minimal, but this is easy as I can just type "note" from my command prompt and type a quick msg to myself; handy little journal too.

note ()
{
if [ -f ~/notepad ]; then
true;
else
touch ~/notepad;
fi;
echo -en "---------- $(date) ----------\n $(cat)\n" >>~/notepad
}

Re:minimalist script

[0x12d3]

Hmm. that redirect would actually create the file anyways; I should've saved myself an IF. I feel so dirty...

Yes, metapad.

[Futurepower(R)]

Metapad is the best, fastest loading small editor I've found.

Pieces of paper in my wallet!

[Misanthropy]

I've had several todo/organizer programs, a Palm, but they all failed to help me at all.
I always come back to the basics...Papers in my wallet -- preferably Post-Its
Why?
1. Accessibility: wallet is always with me.
2. Portability: very lightweight
3. Reliability: always on/no batteries!
4. Versatility: the post-its can be stuck on monitor or taken with me!

Sometimes I use electronic quick notes for stuff that I want to keep, but it's not urgent.
For that it's plain text files.
I've also been known to "touch quicknote" or "touch phone#"

Also I recently discovered Stickies on Macs. That's a pretty cool program. Nice for your laptop, but for a desktop machine it's post-its on the monitor all the way!

Life Balance is my choice

[Lemuel]

Several others have recommended Life Balance, and that is my choice too. LB follows a philosophy of assigning priorities to different parts of your life in order to bring things into balance. So, for example, if you feel that work is taking too much time out of your life you lower the priority for work all work tasks are accoringly moved to a lower place on the list according to home life and any other categories.

LB is hierarchical, so you can schedule tasks so that they don't show up until subtasks are complete.

While I mentioned the LB philosophy of balance, I have started using David Allens Getting Things Done approach. Life Balance works with it quite well and actually helps to keep me doing it.

I have both Palm and PC versions of Life Balance. the two synchronize so I can use either one. When I bought the Palm version it was the most expensive piece of Palm software I had bought. I begrudged them the money, but I'm hooked on the program. I have since bought the desktop version, which is easier to use when I'm at my PC.

Good simple ones for PalmOS & Linux

[rwa2]

As an anonymous coward has mentioned, Progect is a good one for palm. This is very close to pen-and-paper simplicity (as are most of the best PalmOS software). It's the only thing that threatens my use of paper todo lists. Yet it sports:

• flexible hierarchical organization. In fact, I end up using it as a general purpose outlining tool as well (are there even any good ones under Linux, outside of a word processor?)
• manual sorting (I really hate trying to sort by meaningless arbitrary "priority" numbers like in just about every other PIM sw)
• several simple forms of progress & completion reporting

HandyShopper is another good one for tracking non-hierarchical things that have costs and quantities associated with them. It does nice things like let you tally up totals, as well as maybe schedule recurring need-to-do/buy items. It's bizarre that it doesn't really have a desktop equivalent yet :/

For the Linux desktop, you might want to take a look at MrProject, a nice Project clone that's part of GnomeOffice. I've only played with it a little bit under Mandrake, but it looks fairly competent when you want to add hierarchical schedule and resource loading data to your task list. Sadly, there's little else that I've seen that comes anywhere close, and I've been searching for one fairly recently for a project management class I took last semester. Oddly enough, I don't even like MS Project for doing this kind of thing, it just doesn't give me enough flexibility in rearranging things, scheduling parallel activities, automatically sequencing constrained resources, etc.

So...

[Codifex Maximus]

Would putting a TODO list in your code and then GREPing for them violate Microsoft's patent?

hnb

[juhtolv]

I use hnb. Actually it is so called "outline processor", but it has TODO-functionality, too. It is included in Debian GNU/Linux.

O fucking T

[Anonymous Coward]

What's wrong with linux? It's bloated? No, that's no big deal, I've got a 1.4G athlon and a gig of RAM, it runs fine. The "desktop" isn't ready? No the desktop's great, kde integrates things like Quanta so brilliantly; I doubt any windows user is connected over ssh to a php file on a remote server, editing it in a feature-fucking-rich html/script/whatever editor (or maybe they are. I don't know and frankly don't care). That software's hard to find? No, urpmi (or emerge or whatever): one line and it's installed over the internet.

The problem is little apps like this treeline. I want to install it. I can't because I need PyQt. So I get that. Try to install it and find I need sip. Get sip and try to intall that. I get a flood of errors on make after it configured fine. Troll usenet. Find a few vaguely relevant suggestions. At this point I'm like, fuck this, I don't need an appointment book after all. It's the little things I fruitlessly spend so much time on that are the biggest bane of linux for me.

Re:O fucking T

[afd8856]

Are you sure about what you're saying? 'Cause at one point in your discussion you mention urpmi, and that means automatic dependency, so that should have solved your problems. So in the end, you're just trolling.

bugzilla? OT?

[somepunk]

I've always desired a todo manager that included timestamps for when the entry was made/resolved, and possibly with the ability to nest some notes, or to classify the entry. yeah, it sounds like bug/issue tracking, but I have them in a file called todo. I think there is some overlap here, so hopefully its not too off-topic.

I haven't tried using bugzilla, it looks a bit intimidating at first glance, but I could be wrong about that. Has anyone used software that has these features, and is simple to use?

a check_TODO script

[greenash]

Here's a script that checks for urgent items in your ~/TODO file. The format of TODO is supposed to be something like

06/20/04: mom's birthday
06/27/04: pay the cable bill
ANY: do that oil-change already !

The script:

DATE=`date +%m/%d/%y`
echo TODO for today, $DATE:

grep "^$DATE" $HOME/file/TODO
grep "^ANY" $HOME/file/TODO

Rainlendar - it's a calender and a to-do list, wow

[Anonymous Coward]

A wonderful little calender / to-do list desktop application is available at:

http://www.ipi.fi/~rainy

It has highly customizable skinning with tons available already. Integration with different Outlook versions. Simple interface, shortcut commands. Week-numbering, which is important in some countries. Easy to erase to-do items, and calender event alerting. Did I mention a fully customizable look for the floating windows. Version 0.19.3 is out now, go get it.

- A happy user, BBLean and Rainlendar, keeps my desktop clean and me on time.

Evolution

[Anonymous Coward]

Ximian Evolution. 'Nuff said.

vi...

[eastern]

vi along with sort, |, awk, and cat in various combinations...

WebTodo

[Anonymous Coward]

WebTodo is tricky to set up, but does the job. Also, it keeps all its task data in flat files, for those wanting to avoid all that database foo.

my brain 3.1

[intrep1d]

I use my brain.

Currently at v21.775 with an average uptime of 19.25 hours. Have seen random uptimes of 50+ hours.

I often lose things do to brain crashes. Normally a long shutdown will make things all better.

The brain causes everything under its control to get extremely hostile when food is not supplied.

vi

[Anonymous Coward]

bash$ vi

windows users

run > notepad

Outline/hierarchical/file-cabinet PIMs/DBs suck!

[macraig]

The problem with Treeline (as advocated in the first response) and other similar "PIMs" is that outlining is an inappropriate technique to try to organize complex and severely disparate bits of data.

What do you do when a particular bit of data has multiple possible locations - or folders - in an outline or hierarchy? Do you simply throw it in what you *think* is the most likely one you'll think to check in the future? Do you place copies in folders in ALL possible places you might anticipate trying to find it later? Do you add one folder with the data and then add other folders in all other possible locations with nothing but notes to see the first folder (and God help you if you ever decide to relocate the original)?

Personal information management - whether to-do lists or full-blown personal libraries - should be free-format, unstructured, INDEXED, and searchable by most or any word. This is the only approach that guarantees that you will be able to find what you want much later, even when you don't have the foggiest how/where you might have filed the original. Outline/hierarchical systems only work well if you have a bloody photographic memory to recall where you filed something... and if you have a photographic memory you wouldn't need a PIM or personal librarian in the first place, would you?

Some recommendations

[niklasf]

The three todo-list programs/methods that I really like are:

• Wiki
• OmniOutliner (MacOS X only)
• Leo -- hierarchical outlining editor for programmers

Try one of these

[TheBlackzone]

Although I personally use VIM with a handful of macros to drive my own todo list, I found the following tools to be really great todo managers (cross platform, console based):

Developer ToDo - http://swapoff.org/DevTodo

ToDo List Manager - http://www.rrbcurnow.freeuk.com/tdl/

HNB (which is also great for many other purposes) - http://hnb.sourceforge.net/

Voodoo Pad

[wilton]

Voodoo pad for mac is a personal wiki that you can enter AND run shell scripts with, embedd pictures, links and export to HTML, PDF, Word and wiki format.

From flying meat software

Ecco, soon Chandler

[hoggoth]

There is no doubt that ECCO is still by far the most powerful and easy to use personal information manager. It's years old, but still nothing has come close. You can download it for free from NetManage now that it's orphan-ware at ftp.netmanage.com, also the full original distribution CD and documentation are available. If you Google for ECCO you will find an active community and nothing but praise for this great piece of software.

Coming up soon there is an Open Source project called Chandler led by Mitch Kapor that promises to be very good. It will have some of the ideas of Agenda and ECCO but updated for today's tech (all written in Python). A lot of eyes are on it...

Re:Ecco, soon Chandler

[AndyElf]

I really do want to hope that Chandler would come close to ECCO's power. I doubt, however, that being written in Python would make it as robust as it needs to be. It also is in extremly early development stage -- but from my POV has already started to accrue some useless featurisms...

Keynote

[smurf975]

Most of the treebased PIM's are shareware or for Linux but after looking hard I found something free,opensource, nice and working for Windows called Keynote

Download Keynote and try the sample files to see what you can do with Keynote.

BTW: If you know Delphi you can help out adding new features.

Re:MS Project - why is this funny?

[Clansman]

Using Project or MrProject or any other similar app allows you to do something you can't do with simple sort by start or due date type apps. It allows you to stack all your tasks and say when do I have to start this task given all the other stuff I have to do.

Fab if you really have alot to do.

Mind Map software

[berntbert]

I use mind maps to organize todo-lists (and a lot of other stuff). It won't fulfill your requirements (it's not open source, runs on windows only and costs $119), but MindMapper is a decent product.

Best Todo-List Software?

[Kent Recal]

Easy: hnb.

...and at the risk of starting a package war

[drf5n]

Take a look at Sacha Chua's planner.el and remember.el

Wiki Emacs plugin

[rob_from_ca]

For Emacs there is a local wiki editor that supports linking; great way for organizing thoughts. If you're not into Emacs, there are a few dedicated apps that do the same thing, or you could get your own wiki hosted somewhere and keep it online (possibly with public and private areas).

I find the WikiWay matches pretty closely with the way that I keep my todo lists.

Lexa Organizer

[Spirit Of Atlantis]

Lexa Organizer is in my opinion the best To Do List software because it's so basic, no clutter...purely only what you need, it's sleek and light. The way a to do list should be...no distractions. Here's a link with screenshot: http://www.lexasoftware.com/organizer/

My todo(1) Perl script

[j.leidner]

I've got a command todo(1) in my 'bin' directory (source code below) that appends a time-stamped line to my 'TODO' file. [You can use 'head TODO' or 'tail TODO' to display parts of it in your login script, but I prefer not to...]

Example:

$ todo book flight to Sheffield

appends an entry that looks like this:

2004-06-19 17:08:12 book flight to Sheffield

Source (comments removed):

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
open(TODO, ">> /home/$ENV{'USER'}/TODO") || die("ERROR: could not open TODO file");
my $timestamp = `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'`;
chomp $timestamp;
print TODO "$timestamp\t@ARGV\n";
close TODO;

The TODO file is often edited with XEmacs (for reordering more than deleting entries, though...).

FREENOTE IS SPYWARE

[Ryosen]

Be warned. FreeNote contains MySearchBar which is spyware.

One word:

[Bilange]

recycling

Best ToDo list manager EVER

[Rysc]

nano.

Advantages:

Can be accessed easily from the command line. (Try THAT with your fancy project manager!)

With SSH, can update TODO list from anywhere with a net connection.

Simple, human-readable, cross-platform storage format.

Automatically sorts by date added, but new items can be inserted anywhere in the list with ease.

Example session

$ nano ~/TODO
--- todo-list
- Write a cool TODO list manager
^O
ENTER
^X

Done! Simple as that.

Now I realize some will claim that ed is even better for this, but I find that the extra steps involved in entering edit mode to be detrimental to productivity. If you prefer to sort your TODO list in reverse, cat >> can work well (but only for additions).

Those who suggest Emacs are either addicted to lisp or run it all the time anyway. Those attempting to suggest vi will do well to refer to my comments with regards to ed, because if they do so attempt I will be obliged to have them shot.

Even better, with some trivial effort you can write your TODO list in YAML, so it's machine readable if you ever need to load it into something else.

Maybe append it to your .plan, or some personal page, via cron. That would be handy.

Nothing?

[danheretic]

How about not worrying about a to do list? If something comes up, do it. If you don't have time, it'll make itself known again that it needs to be done.

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look (Outline, not To-Do?)

[Guru2Newbie]

I think you're asking for an outlining program, not necessarily a to-do list. I used a shareware app many years ago under MS-DOS called PC-Outline. It lets you do sub-[{sub-}]entries, numbered/lettered/roman numerals, promote/demote entries, collapse, etc. I used it for many, many years. You'd have to run it under FreeDOS, Wine or DOS-Emu, though.

I found some Linux outliners at 1st Spot Linux (scroll to the bottom of the page) You'll see Java Outline Editor, Think, Thoughtstream: News, Thoughttracker, Tkoutline, VIM Outliner, and Yank.
Good Luck!

And I thought I was a procrastinator..

[Novelty Act]

first 5 days of project - research to do list software on slashdot.

RT

[Door-opening Fascist]

I'm not sure what specific purpose you're aiming for, but Best Practical's RT has been extremely useful for us. I'm part of a two-member sysadmin team that should be four, and RT really has been wonderful way to keep two overworked sysadmins organized.

Re:Palm Desktop worth a look (Outline, not To-Do?)

[RancidBeef]

Thanks! I gave those a brief look-see. A couple of them look like they might fit the bill. I'll download them and give them a try!

Free Calendar Software

[Anonymous Coward]

I suggest checking out Mozilla Sunbird, here.

... great calendar program that uses the iCal standard.

-Dr. Poopypants

mantis limited?

[bani]

What exactly is missing from mantis that you require?

the best to-do list manager is a piece of hardware

[tropavantgarde]

known as the human brain. archivable, back-searchable, prioritizable, even with a good selective memory feature that allows you to "forget" whatever you don't really feel like doing...it's got it all.