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TaskPaper 1.0 adds new features (and "fiddling" isn't one of them)
Merlin Mann | Oct 24 2007
Hog Bay Software’s TaskPaper was recently released in a completed 1.0 version (previously), and if you’re the sort of person who casts about for a simple way to manage projects and tasks from a Mac, this just may be your app. But, even more significantly, if you’re not looking for a simple action management system — if you’re that particularly pathetic sort of character who’s convinced that features like tagging, syncing, collaboration, graph paper generation, and the introduction of an onboard artisanal breadmaker are all that stands between you and getting your stuff done — well, you may need TaskPaper more than anybody. Because, friends, TaskPaper is just about fiddle-proof, and, frankly, I know a lot of people who could benefit from that today. Here’s what a simple document looks like in TaskPaper:
There’s your projects, there’s your tasks, there’s your contexts, and there’s your ability to see what you’ve ticked off. THAT, as John Hodgman might say, IS ALL. So, first off and best off, TaskPaper is just text. Although documents created with TaskPaper will have the “
I like the clarity and simplicity of the document’s formatting, and how it virtually negates the ability to fiddle. Actually, on first glance, the magic of TaskPaper may look familiar to people who have used syntaxes like Chairman Gruber’s peerless Markdown. I mean it really is just endlessly portable and mungeable text; it’s TaskPaper’s li’l engine that turns that formatting into the hooks that let you “do stuff” like view by context or project, and so on. This latest cut adds tabs for doing this neato functional stuff, and I have to say it’s really appealing. The approach is similar to OmniFocus — but even more obsessively concerned with keeping the system focused solely on completing tasks (rather than grooming and feeding them for months while they grow long hair and learn how to drive a stick). Yes: absolutely — TaskPaper will be way too simple for a lot of people’s needs (including mine). But, if you’re so overwhelmed with “flexibility” that you’re getting close to throwing in the towel on an electronic system and are considering going back to paper, (while I’d never be one to stand in your way) you might want to give TaskPaper a whirl. If you love text and could benefit from the portability of a simple electronic document, it’s definitely worth looking at. TaskPaper is free to try, and it’ll only set you back $18.95 if you decide to buy a copy. Download ‘er now. POSTED IN:
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Oooh, a gui on todo.txt
I’ve been loving the python scripts from http://code.google.com/p/todotxt/ for hacking on my todo.txt file, especially the philosophy of “choose your own project format”.
Perfection for Me
TaskPaper is the GTD app I was waiting for (and I didn’t even know it!). I’ve been using the OmniFocus builds for months, and I’ve noticed that I spend an inordinate amount of time fiddling around with it. Furthermore, I have to use a PC at work, so I was rocking a separate text file as my work To Do list. Yesterday, I added a .taskpaper extension to the file, mucked a tiny bit with the formatting, and—BOOM!—it’s a TaskPaper file.
This is definitely one of those cases where simplicity = bliss. I purchased last night, after only one day of trying it out.
PS The screenshots in the post look suspiciously Leopard-y… :P
PC @ work, any future ideas?
Skylarp,
I’d be interested in hearing more about how you use your Taskpaper file on your work PC. I recently started at a company which uses PCs and Lotus Notes. Naturally, I miss my Mac, especially when I see wicked useful apps like Taskpaper, which would be perfect for my needs.
Are there any workarounds that could be developed for using a Taskpaper-like program on Windows? Web-apps are unfortunately not really allowed either.
M
tag for paper planner 'sync'
In the past week I tried the 0.9.x version of this app and I love it. But I still use my paper planner a lot, with its gtd project / next actions lists and its ‘notetaking feature’, which even allows me to create mindmaps (fiddle-proof).
Switching between paper and computer is a bit counter-intuitive, but confusion can be kept under control:
I only use taskpaper for projects and next actions that I have to do at my computer or my desk - I found that everything else, especially project lists, ‘errands’ and ‘waiting for’-tasks, is easier to review in paper. When a project or task is related to an item in taskpaper, I mark it in the paper planner with a rectangle. In taskplanner, items that relate to paper planning can be marked as well, with a tag like @calendar. Works great so far!
Yes...
I’m stuck in a no-mans land between it and Omnifocus.
OF matches my complexity.
But tasks have hid there too.
In using TP a few things really do help.
- You can’t futz. Very important.
- Straightforward implementation of multiple contexts, tags whatever.
Contexts are treated as tags, you can mix and match Contexts in the trad GTD sense, some 43-folders ones (@cogitate and the like…), and subproject headers as tags. Easy and I like it.
I also found that I ended up with very complex project structures in OF. Very. Complex. And TP makes me be simple. Which is kind of great, you gotta just do.
But… then again, there’s a part of me that brackets my experience of it. I’m always aware that I’m stopping my analytical break-it-all-down side from fully flowering… TP just doesn’t do my projects justice.
Stuck in the middle….
Re: TaskPaper 1.0 adds new features (and "fiddling" isn't one of
Speaking of TextMate, I made a bundle that's very much inspired by TaskPaper.
Nice bundle!
Oh, sweet. I’m so linking to this from the home page tomorrow.
Nice work, and thanks, Henrik.
Great for iPhone
This is a very nice little application. I love it’s simplicity.
It works well to get a list onto my iPhone. I have an email account that I use only for loading info onto my iPhone. It’s easy to copy and paste the TaskPaper list into an email and send it to my iPhone account.
I pick up the email on my iPhone as I walk out the door and I’ve got all my lists with me for review. TaskPaper works great for this because it is so simple and the list is in plain text.
Inspired!
Re: Great for iPhone
Man, I really hope we see an end to the need for hacks like that soon, you know?
After while, a Smartphone without action management starts not seeming so smart.
Hi Merlin, Actually, I’m
Hi Merlin,
Actually, I’m probably alone in my thinking on this but I don’t think Apple intends to have iPhone NOTES sync to the desktop.
That way I see it the whole philosophy behind the iPhone is very email-centric. The way you get to read PDF, Word, Excel, docs, etc. is to email them to youself (most conviently by using a special email account). I see NOTES as an extension of that. Apple knows that a lot of people send themselves emails as reminders. The NOTES is just another way of doing that.
If I’m right, you can send a Note from your iPhone to NOTES in Mail, and vice versa, but they will not sync.
Apple wants to get away from mini-databases and list managers. The way you get apps on iPhone is to use Web Apps, and the way you get documents and lists on the phone is to use Email.
There will be 3rd party apps soon, and we will see what all that is about. But if I read the oracles right, Apple’s iPhone is all about the web and email as well as voice and voice mail. It’s not really intended as a Smartphone. It’s a different category of gadget and a different way of thinking and doing things.
;-)
Looks like SimpleGTD
I’ve been using simpleGTD (which is free, like all good webapps) for quite a while now to manage my projects and next actions. TaskPaper looks like a locally-stored version of its incredibly stripped-down interface.
If you find that TaskPaper is almost what you want but not quite, you might want to give simpleGTD a gander since it’s so similar.
Also, I’ve been able to use a text-based browser and some shell scripting to print to index cards direct from my simpleGTD lists… very tasty.
Surely!
First off, let me say that I just started using it at work yesterday, so this is all very preliminary.
Previously, I had been using a simple .txt file to track my tasks at work. I used Notepad++ (specifically, the PortableApps.com version) to edit it, mostly because it seemed to be a lot like TextMate in some ways.
Yesterday, I changed the extension of this file to .taskpaper and told Windows to use Notepad++ to open .taskpaper files. I then modified the contents of the file using TaskPaper’s scheme (“:” after projects, “- ” before tasks, “@” for tags).
Today, I discovered the utility of Notepad++’s macro recording functions. Specifically, I recorded a macro that appends “@done” to the end of a task with a press of Ctrl-D. (This is very close to TaskPaper’s Cmd-D for the same.)
Honestly, that’s all I’ve gotten around to so far. I plan to investigate Notepad++ further to see if there is any way to teach it to mimic other TaskPaper functions (cross out completed tasks, for example), when I have the time.
Long story short, TaskPaper has already been a big boon for my productivity.
Taskpaper and Quicksilver
I just started using TP and it is perfect for me (keeps me from fiddling). Here’s a quick thought on how to easily implement an INBOX and how to fill the INBOX with Quicksilver:
Rename you taskpaper file to whatever.txt (i.e. change the extension to .txt) - it will still work normally in Taskpaper and Quicksilver will be able to apply text commands like “Append” and “Prepend”
Use Quicksilver to “Prepend” new tasks, voila a simple ubiquitous capture system
In Taskpaper, your INBOX simply is the top of the file
That’s it.