Task and To-do Applications and Techniques Revisited

Submitted by Kevin Kleinfelter on Sun, 2009-04-26 14:56.

I'm revisiting the the topic of my to-do list. Some things that are important to me for a task list:

Rapid capture of new tasks
Available online, offline, and mobile (e.g. carry-with in pocket or accessible via cell phone)
Supports manual sequencing of tasks (e.g. This item goes here in the list.)
Supports nesting of tasks
Cross-platform
TheGTD concept of 'contexts' would be nice. However, in my current
situation I have many non-exclusive contexts. For example, when I'm at
the office at my desk, I'm simultaneously in the Phone, Computer, and
Office contexts; when I'm at home, I'm simultaneously in the Phone,
Computer, and Home contexts.
Ability to capture task notes along with the task title (typically an email body).
Note: I can type much faster than I can write; much, much faster than I can write legibly.

The three I currently consider viable are index cards, todoist.com, and Evernote. Checkvist and tonido are worth watching, in the event they add missing functionality. I'd like online and offline, but if I can't get both, online is more important because I can use it from all my computers.

Index cards are simple, but I can type much faster than I write, and they get to be cumbersome when you've got 150 open tasks.
Evernoteshould be a really good fit, but it isn't really an outliner or a to-do list, so it is adequate at all and great at none.
Todoist isn't bad. Backups are via http://www.kinggary.com/tools/todoist-export.php, or you can write your own using the API.

In the table below, Y = Yes, N = No, P = Partially, or with some
issues/limits. On = Online, Off = Offline, Mob = Mobile, Nes = Nesting
tasks, Seq = Sequencing, Kbd = Good keyboard interface, CGrp = Context
Groups, Rap = Rapid entry, Bak = backups are feasible

Tool	On	Off	Mob	Nes	Seq	Kbd	CGrp	Rap	Bak	Notes
Index Cards	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	P	N	Hard to see the complete list. Sorting and grouping can be slow when you have a lot.
Outlook	N	Y	P	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y
rmilk.com	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y
Evernote	Y	Y	Y	P	Y	P	N	Y	Y
Orchestrate	Y	N	N	N	?	N	Y	N	?	No recent dev
Todoist	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Use the Firefox sidebar. Write your own back-up using their API. It isn't hard.
MLO	N	Y	?	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Bonsai	N	Y	P	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
tadalists	Y	N	N	N	Y	N	N	N	Y	Can't edit a task!
OneNote	N	Y	?	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Todo.txt	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Adding task notes is not elegant.
ToDoList (abstractspoon)	N	Y	?	Y	Y	Y	?	Y	Y
Toodledo	Y	N	N	N	N	?	?	N	?
Tudumo	N	Y	N	N	?	Y	?	?	Y	Windows only
Tiddlywiki	?	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y
Excel	N	Y	P	P	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Backpack	Y	N	N	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y
Checkvist	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y!	N	N	Y	No filters. Tags are on their radar. Really nice, if they add tags and rapid entry.
Jello	N	Y	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y
Google Tasks	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	Attached to GMail; employers block web mail.
eyeos.org										Doesn't do tasks yet (April 2009). DIY Google apps plus file sharing.
groundos.org										Releases May 1, 2009. DIY Google apps plus file sharing. Don't see tasks mentioned.
tonido.com	Y	N	Y	N	N	N	N	N	Y	DIY Google apps plus file sharing. Does do tasks.
getontracks.org	P	P	Y	N	N	N	Y	N	Y	Either web OR local
TaskToy	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
Task Coach	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	?	?	Y	Windows, Mac, Linux - no synch
TaskToMe	N	Y	N							a basic, Windows-only task program
SwiftToDoList										way too expensive
Vitalist	Y	N	Y	Y	?	?	?	Y	?	$5 per month to get past free limits
Task2Gather	Y	N	Y	?	?	N	?	N	Y	I was unable to figure out how to nest tasks. UI is hard to use.
Enleiten	Y	N	N	N	N	N	?	N	?
HiTask	Y	N	N	N	?	N	?	N	?
Nozbe	Y	N	N	N	Y	N	?	N	?