Author Topic: Software to share To-Do lists? (Read 31,791 times)

superboyac · « **on:** February 22, 2011, 04:49 PM »

My coworker and I need to share a task list (To-do list). Is there a nice, simple software that will allow us to do this? Something that we install on both computers and share a file over the network? Is there anything like that?

timns · « **Reply #1 on:** February 22, 2011, 04:54 PM »

There's this one: Task Merlin (paid) which I actually like quite a lot. It has todo's and a shared calendar.

Of course there's also OneNote, which supports rudimentary ToDo lists, and I really like. It's very smooth in use.

But I bet there are loads more - although finding one that truly shares its db really whittles the field down, I've found.

superboyac · « **Reply #2 on:** February 22, 2011, 04:59 PM »

Yeah, I'm hoping there's some small freeware thing that can do it. I don't need anything complicated. Basically, one line for a description and a checkbox. I don't need to overengineer the todo list. And we'll never have like more than 20 things to do.

ha14 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 22, 2011, 05:17 PM »

Rainlender
http://www.rainlendar.net/cms/index.php

possible with Remember the milk
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/?hl=en-US

Google To Do List:

Zenbe Lists
http://lists.zenbe.com/welcome

The Big Picture
http://www.thebigpic.org/

Taroby
http://www.taroby.org/index.html

Central Desktop
http://www.centraldesktop.com/pricingmatrix

Dormouse · « **Reply #4 on:** February 22, 2011, 05:59 PM »

Does what you ask.

And a whole host of other things, should you ever need/want them.

Abstractspoon's ToDoList2

timns · « **Reply #5 on:** February 22, 2011, 06:00 PM »

It's probably just me, but I dislike those online collaboration sites. Unless it's installed on my PC, and shared on my VPN, I'm paranoid that one day it will all be lost.

Plus they all have that same soft, flabby Appley look don't they?

40hz · « **Reply #6 on:** February 22, 2011, 06:01 PM »

You could try Zoho Project. It's free for a single project with unlimited users.

Might have more features than you need, but there's nothing to say you have to use them all. And it doesn't cost anything to check it out.

Quote

Zoho Projects is an online project management software combined with collaboration and bug tracking that allows project teams to collaborate and get work done faster. Planning and Tracking helps you keep your project on schedule. Collaboration helps improve the communication within the team and keep everyone on the same page. And the new Bug Tracking module allows you to organize and track the bugs that software projects are bound to generate and fix them all in time.

Main page link here

Some screenshots. (More screens plus demo videos up on product page.)

[attachthumb=#] [attachthumb=#]

We've been evaluating Zoho's offerings for one of our clients. So far, we're pretty impressed with what we're seeing.

If that's too heavy looking, they also have Zoho Planner which is a straight-up todo/reminder app. Mainpage here. Review here. Can't speak for this since I've never tried or formally evaluated Zoho Planner. It's frequently compared to 37Signal's product Backpack if that helps.

Obligatory disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with Zoho in any way, shape, or form.

40hz · « **Reply #7 on:** February 22, 2011, 06:15 PM »

Quote from: timns on February 22, 2011, 06:00 PM

It's probably just me, but I dislike those online collaboration sites. Unless it's installed on my PC, and shared on my VPN, I'm paranoid that one day it will all be lost.

I hear you.

But unless you want to set up and administer your own server and VPN, it's pretty much your only choice.

FWIW, I used to feel that way about web apps. But over time (and now that most of the weaklings have been purged from the herd) I've grown to grudgingly accept that there are times when web apps aren't just a viable solution, they're also the only practical solution for many small businesses with tight (or nonexistent) IT budgets.

What can I say? Maybe things like Zoho aren't the ideal solution. But They're workable and affordable. And so far (knock wood) the big players all seem to be reliable.

Besides, when is anything ever ideal when it comes to small business deployments?

Quote

Plus they all have that same soft, flabby Appley look don't they?

+1.

In general, I don't care too much for that Fisher-Price Web 2.0 color pallet they all seem to gravitate towards. I prefer a darker solid color scheme myself. But supposedly there's been a lot of research that shows all that kiddie-toy blue and orange and purple and green is actually more restful for the eyes, and psychologically calming to the user.

Whatever... $:-\$

superboyac · « **Reply #8 on:** February 22, 2011, 06:30 PM »

These are all entirely too complicated. Not for me necessarily, but for my coworker. Actually, for me also. Forget it, we're just going to share an Excel file.

superboyac · « **Reply #9 on:** February 22, 2011, 06:37 PM »

Quote from: 40hz on February 22, 2011, 06:15 PM

FWIW, I used to feel that way about web apps. But over time (and now that most of the weaklings have been purged from the herd) I've grown to grudgingly accept that there are times when web apps aren't just a viable solution, they're also the only practical solution for many small businesses with tight (or nonexistent) IT budgets.

I've searched long and hard for an easy setup solution for a VPN. But I haven't found anything. everything is a pretty major hassle. I must have at least two threads about this. All I want is a way for me to share files and folders with other users. Just like an ftp, but more smooth. Like a networked drive...that actually works. i don't need to be able to stream. I just need to be able to read/write...for example, edit a word document through the VPN. There's gotta be a way to do this, how has somebody not created a simple solution for this? Why does everything have to be so painful to configure with this VPN stuff? I don't see why it can't be like an ftp server/client thing. You open the server program, setup the usernames/logins, ports, etc. Then use a client or something that sets it up as a networked drive. Why does all the rest of it have to be so...manual?

jeromg · « **Reply #10 on:** February 22, 2011, 06:37 PM »

Hi superboyak,

I understand you may have given up already, but I will definitely recommend TodoList mentioned earlier on this thread... I've used it to share a common todo-list between several co-workers and it just works and offers some more advanced features if you need them.

Cheers /jerome

app103 · « **Reply #11 on:** February 22, 2011, 06:39 PM »

Dropbox plus my little todo list app?

http://appsapps.info/todolist.php

Small, lightweight, portable, so simple it really needs no instructions.
It saves in 2 plain text files, one for todo and one for done. It autosorts all entries alphabetically, so if you want to group or sort them by priority, just add a prefix of category or rank number to the entry.

superboyac · « **Reply #12 on:** February 22, 2011, 06:40 PM »

Oh snap...could GBridge (Google Bridge) be the answer?
http://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/viewListing?productListingId=5619303+11654411784860340142

superboyac · « **Reply #13 on:** February 22, 2011, 06:42 PM »

Quote from: app103 on February 22, 2011, 06:39 PM

Dropbox plus my little todo list app?

http://appsapps.info/todolist.php

Small, lightweight, portable, so simple it really needs no instructions.
It saves in 2 plain text files, one for todo and one for done. It autosorts all entries alphabetically, so if you want to group or sort them by priority, just add a prefix of category or rank number to the entry.

That's nice! That may just do fine. Thanks app!

40hz · « **Reply #14 on:** February 22, 2011, 06:49 PM »

Quote from: superboyac on February 22, 2011, 06:37 PM

All I want is a way for me to share files and folders with other users.

For basic todo, I'd definitely try April's suggestion above. Almost Zen-like in it's simplicity. (I really like it. Yay April!

)

For basic file sharing I'd go with Microsoft's free Skydrive.

If either of those are too complicated for your partner, then it's spreadsheet time.

superboyac · « **Reply #15 on:** February 22, 2011, 07:00 PM »

Quote from: 40hz on February 22, 2011, 06:49 PM

Quote from: superboyac on February 22, 2011, 06:37 PM
All I want is a way for me to share files and folders with other users.

For basic todo, I'd definitely try April's suggestion above. Almost Zen-like in it's simplicity. (I really like it. Yay April! )

For basic file sharing I'd go with Microsoft's free Skydrive.

If either of those are too complicated for your partner, then it's spreadsheet time.

For this particular request (todo list), I think app's will be perfect. If my coworker doesn't like it, then Excel is our other choice. We have networked shared drives, so we can share any files with each other. So I don't need Skydrive.

i will use skydrive for my other projects between individuals in different locations.

But the best solution would be a networked drive that can work over WAN. I need to be able to work with the files in the actual folders they are in. Not with some kind of two-step sync method (dropbox, skydrive).

I have a feeling this doesn't exist because it would basically lead to closed loop p2p activities. But it sure would be cool to be able to access your friends' folders/files in a way that it appears as a regular folder in your file manager. That seems to me to be a very convenient tool.

timns · « **Reply #16 on:** February 22, 2011, 07:16 PM »

Re: setting up a VPN, I actually must've been really lucky. I had it up and running in a few minutes under Win2K3. Then a little script on each client to automatically connect to a shared drive on there, and we were off to the races.

skwire · « **Reply #17 on:** February 22, 2011, 07:29 PM »

Quote from: superboyac on February 22, 2011, 07:00 PM

But the best solution would be a networked drive that can work over WAN. I need to be able to work with the files in the actual folders they are in. Not with some kind of two-step sync method (dropbox, skydrive).

I have a feeling this doesn't exist because it would basically lead to closed loop p2p activities. But it sure would be cool to be able to access your friends' folders/files in a way that it appears as a regular folder in your file manager. That seems to me to be a very convenient tool.

I've already mentioned in your other thread that you can do this using Hamachi or NeoRouter, etc. Install, create a private network with the two of you, map a shared folder and you're done. However, if you're dealing with large files, you will be subject to your internet pipe's limits.

40hz · « **Reply #18 on:** February 22, 2011, 07:36 PM »

Quote from: superboyac on February 22, 2011, 07:00 PM

I have a feeling this doesn't exist because it would basically lead to closed loop p2p activities. But it sure would be cool to be able to access your friends' folders/files in a way that it appears as a regular folder in your file manager. That seems to me to be a very convenient tool.

I believe some of the private VPN apps like Hamachi will let you map a connected computer's folders and drives to your machine. Don't know if the free versions allow mapping. I know they definitely allow file transfers.

EDIT: Ignore the above. Skwire answered sooner and better!

skwire · « **Reply #19 on:** February 22, 2011, 07:38 PM »

Quote from: 40hz on February 22, 2011, 07:36 PM

I believe some if the private VPN apps like Hamachi will let you map a connected computer's folders and drives to your machine. Don't know if the free versions allow mapping. I know they definitely allow file transfers.

The free version allows mapping; I do it myself when I travel for business.

wraith808 · « **Reply #20 on:** February 22, 2011, 08:04 PM »

I was going to recommend TuDuMo. It was originally supposed to be a pc version of TaskPaper, a plain text to-do app for the mac. It had many advantages: Plain text files. Very simple, and keyboard shortcuts. Not free, but very reasonable for the power.

But, now it uses XML files. And they're still decipherable, but a long way from the old format. In the old format, each todo was a line in the file. Tags were @tags at the end of the line. When a task was done, it was flagged with a - before the line. The app interpreted all of this into its interface, but it was beautiful. But now it's an example of what happens when someone decides to do too much with their original idea.

It's still a cool app, but I weep for what it was before.

Maybe I can make one that does what it used to do...

superboyac · « **Reply #21 on:** February 22, 2011, 08:39 PM »

Quote from: wraith808 on February 22, 2011, 08:04 PM

I was going to recommend TuDuMo. It was originally supposed to be a pc version of TaskPaper, a plain text to-do app for the mac. It had many advantages: Plain text files. Very simple, and keyboard shortcuts. Not free, but very reasonable for the power.

But, now it uses XML files. And they're still decipherable, but a long way from the old format. In the old format, each todo was a line in the file. Tags were @tags at the end of the line. When a task was done, it was flagged with a - before the line. The app interpreted all of this into its interface, but it was beautiful. But now it's an example of what happens when someone decides to do too much with their original idea.

It's still a cool app, but I weep for what it was before.

Maybe I can make one that does what it used to do...

You know, this reminds me of a nifty text based task organizer I saw last year. It was all text files, but the way it was controlled was with certain prefixes for each line. It was simple and neat. i wish I remember where I saw it or the name.

skwire · « **Reply #22 on:** February 22, 2011, 08:44 PM »

This is what I use for my quick ToDo list: http://todotxt.com/ ; For larger projects, I use ToDoList.

superboyac · « **Reply #23 on:** February 22, 2011, 08:47 PM »

Man, there was one that was really cool. It was stored as text files, and certain prefixes did certain things inside the program. it was extremely simple. Similar to the one skwire mentioned above, but even more simple. What was the name? Someone either recommended it here, or it was on BDJ. I don't remember.

wraith808 · « **Reply #24 on:** February 22, 2011, 09:29 PM »

I think that was tudumo. It used to be that way.