Task Manager Comparison: Toodledo vs. Remember the Milk
25. Apr, 2010 
52 Comments
This post needs to start with a disclaimer. I was initially going to compare two task managers, Remember the Milk and Toodledo, giving equal time to both as I put them through the paces. But along the way, something strange happened. As I put the two services to the test, I fell head over heels for one of them. I'm talking about the kind of love I previously have only felt for Evernote and LastPass. This post will still touch upon both Remember the Milk and Toodledo, as each one is useful in its own way, but you will see a bias here, and a more thorough discussion of Toodledo, as I abandoned Remember the Milk after a few days of using both.
Why a Task Manager?
Why do you need a task manager, when you could just use your memory, email inbox, or paper? Or maybe you're a Getting Things Done fanatic, and have tried Bobby's excellent method of using Evernote as a GTD tool.
I had taken a look at task managers in the past, and even had a mothballed Remember the Milk account, but nothing ever made me say "I need to keep using this." My task management system consisted of sticky notes on my desk, emails to myself, and liberal use of the "Mark as Unread" button in my Gmail inbox.
Recently, though, as I felt more and more disorganized, I decided that I needed a system, and set off to try out several task managers. Eventually, after trial and error, I narrowed my search down to three: Remember the Milk, Toodledo, and Todoist. While Todoist is very elegant and easy to use, it lacked many of the features I needed, so I narrowed my search down to Remember the Milk and Toodledo. Both received great reviews around the web, and, important to me, both had an iPhone app.
Remember the Milk
Usability and UI
On a complexity scale, Remember the Milk sits somewhere between Todoist and Toodledo. One of the nice things about Remember the Milk is that, out of the box, it is simple and easy to use. If you're looking for a task manager that you can dive right into it, then Remember the Milk is a better solution than Toodledo.
Remember the Milk's interface is simple, although it took me some time to realize that the way to perform certain actions on a task (such as moving it to another list, changing its priority, deleting it, etc.) was by using a dropdown menu just below the tabs near the top of the screen. Remember the Milk does use AJAX, which enhances the smoothness and elegance of task entry. Remember the Milk makes setting up a task easy. You simply type in the task, and hit enter. You can then set the various task options in an area on the top right of the page.
Options and Features
Remember the Milk makes it easy for new users to get started. You can switch between a few predefined Lists on the front page, such as Personal, Work, and Study, and enter tasks into the big entry box below the tabs. Whatever you enter will go into that list. In your Remember the Milk settings, you also can create different lists. For example, I created a list for 40Tech.
Each task that you create can be assigned to one list. From there, you can assign tags to a task, set a location, set a due date, designate whether the task should repeat, set a task priority (1, 2, or 3), and enter a an estimate of how long it will take to complete the task. You also can associate a URL with the task, and associate notes with the task.
Remember the Milk has some other nice touches. When you set the priority of an item, a rectangular box to the left of the item will change to a different color, making it easy to pick out your higher priority tasks. Remember the Milk's search feature is very powerful as well, allowing you to search by almost every task characteristic you can imagine. You also can enter tasks by emailing them to a RTM email address.
Although Remember the Milk's simplicity is one of its strengths, it does have some customization options that make it more powerful. You can save searches, which adds those searches as tabs to the right of your lists. For example, I have a saved search that displays all the high priority items in my Work list. Tags also give you some flexibility, as you can add multiple tags to a task. Some users use tags as a way to overcome RTM's lack of subtasks (a task within a task).
Overview
Remember the Milk is a clean, fast, and easy to use task manager. There aren't many customization options, though. You can use the tagging feature to mold Remember the Milk to suit your needs, but that felt a bit like a workaround to me. But if you don't need to mold a task manager to your own system, Remember the Milk is a strong choice.
Remember the Milk Summary
Strengths: Ease of use, AJAX interface, saved searchs.
Weaknesses: Limited customization, lack of subtasks.
Target user: Someone who likes an easy interface, and doesn't require too much customization.
Toodledo
Usability and UI
One of Toodledo's strengths is just how customizable it is. That customization means that it isn't as easy to pick up, out of the box, as Remember the Milk. You will need to make some decisions on how to use it, whereas Remember the Milk guides you along. For example, Toodledo doesn't have predefined lists like Remember the Milk, but does have Folders, Contexts, and Tags that you can populate to your heart's desire. I use Contexts to designate my tasks by type: Work, Personal, Errands, and 40Tech.
Toodledo's interface, while not pretty out of the box, is very functional. Like Remember the Milk, Toodledo uses AJAX, eliminating many page reloads. Want to change a task's context? Click on the task's designed context, and select the new context in the dropdown menu without every reloading the page or having to click a "Save" button.
Toodledo supports different user-created styles, using Greasemonkey or Stylish. With just a couple of clicks, you can drastically change the appearance of Toodledo. The screenshot above shows my setup, using the "Toodledo by Nonimage" style. The look is very similar to the base Toodledo look, but I find the colors to be easier on the eyes.
Options and Features
The columns in the screenshot above show only some of the options that are available in Toodledo. In your settings page, you can specify which columns you want to use. I use the following columns: Star, Task, Folder, Context, Priority, Due Date, Due Time, and Length. Other available columns include Tag, Timer, and Start Date, among others. You can also arrange the columns in whatever order you want, although the Star column must always be first, and the Notes column must be last. There is also an option to toggle to a more basic view with one click, which will hide most columns from view.
A strength of Toodledo is the manner in which you can slice and dice your data. As with Remember the Milk, Toodledo lets you save your searches, but the available searches are almost mind boggling. You can set up, in essence, arguments in your search, using "and/or" parameters. While Remember the Milk's advanced search instructions suggest that such searches are supported, Toodledo allows you to set up these searches with a few clicks. You don't need any knowledge of Boolean search strings.
All of Toodledo's features let you use it how you want to use it, not how the developer envisioned you would use it. I've implemented a Getting Things Done system of sorts, and use Folders for that purpose. For example, some of the folders I created are named Someday, Actions, and Projects. In my GTD system, I start each day by going through my "Next list" (those items I target during my weekly review), and adding a star to those tasks that I want to accomplish that day. I then have a saved search that lists all tasks that meet the criteria of being in my "Next list" folder, in my "Work" context, and that are starred. I have several other saved searches, including what I call my "weekend" search. My weekend search contains all tasks that are in my Next List folder, AND are starred, AND have a Personal or 40Tech or Errand context.
Like Remember the Milk, the free version of Toodledo does not support subtasks. So, for example, I could not create a task of "create new website," with subtasks of "pick theme," "set up database," and "write content." Unlike Remember the Milk, however, Toodledo's paid account does offer subtasks. In addition to subtasks, Toodledo's Pro Account retains your completed tasks up to 2 years (on a free account, it is 1-6 months), gives you access to stats and a task scheduler, gives you an SSL connection, and several other features. A Pro Plus account has all of this, plus 5 GB of storage for any files you want to upload with your projects. A Pro account is $14.95 a year, while a Pro Plus account is $29.95 per year. You can find a full comparison here.
Toodledo's usefulness can best be measured by looking at the results. In my case, there is no question it has made me more efficient. My staff at work joked that they needed to get me out of the office more, because I was generating much more work for them than normal. I credit Toodledo for much of that increase in productivity.
Toodledo Summary
Strengths: Customization features, AJAX interface, saved searchs, powerful.
Weaknesses: Not as pretty as RTM without some customization. Harder to grasp in the beginning. Can only have one context and one folder per task.
Target user: Geeks who want to tweak a task manager so that it fits their needs.
Conclusion
Remember the Milk and Toodledo are both great products, with loyal users. When I first looked at Remember the Milk and Toodledo, I was actually more impressed with Remember the Milk during the early going. Remember the Milk, out of the box, is easier on the eyes, and easier to jump right into. The more I used them, however, the more I was blown away by Toodledo.
In making a choice, it really comes down to personal preference. The short answer is that Remember the Milk is simpler, and a good choice if your needs are basic, while Toodledo is more complex, but more powerful and able to be customized. Toodledo will work better for someone who has specific needs, and doesn't mind tweaking an app.
I've really just scratched the service of Toodledo's features. I haven't even touched upon the Goals, Scheduler, or Booklet feature (some of which are Pro features). If you're looking to get organized, I strongly recommend that you give Toodledo a try. A 7 day trial of the Pro account is also available, in addition to the free account. The best way to try Toodledo is to make a committed effort to use it heavily for a day or two. You may be daunted by its options and interface at first, but once you get comfortable with it, you'll appreciate just how powerful and easy it is under the surface.
Do you use a task manager? If so, share your experience with us in the comments. If not, do you think you might consider using Remember the Milk or Toodledo?
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Great review. I made the switch from RMR to Toodledo over a year ago and I’ve never regretted it.
One thing that your review did not cover is the attitude of the developer over at Toodledo. Requests for features are answered directly by the developer,and he turns out upgrades of Toodledo regularly. As a Toodledo customer, I feel I am valued and listened-to, and that is quite different than what even the most loyal RMR user will tell you.
Toodledo is a great product with outstanding support and a very involved user community who is more than happy to lend a hand to “newbies” in the forums.
Thanks for pointing that out, Adam. When trying out the two products, I did notice the responsiveness of the developer. I saw the post in the Toodledo forums last year about some issues caused when Toodledo’s hosting provider was having issues. The developer was frank and upfront about everything, and received nothing but love in return.
I haven’t been with Toodledo long enough to see the response to feature requests, but it is great to hear that the developer listens.
Interesting! I am even more curious now….
Sorry – RMR should be RTM. It’s been so long since I’ve abandoned Remember the Milk due to their bad attitude to customers and the lack of any major upgrades to their product in three years (excluding mobile apps), that I’ve even forgotten it’s name!
I’ve tried Remember the Milk twice, and it was never able to draw me in. It has some great features, as you mention, but it never really did just what I needed it to.
I am curious about Toodledo and checked it out as soon as you mentioned you’d be doing this post — it seems pretty cool overall, but the only thing that really holds me back is the pricepoint. I usually need a good month at the least to get a feel for a product — a 7 day trial might not be enough for me.
I may give it a try anyway though.
The nice thing is that you can get most functionality with the free account. The only real key thing with the Pro account is the subtasks. I liked that, plus I liked the app so much that I really wanted to support it. You may want to play with the free version for a few days, and then when you’re comfortable with it, bump up to the 7 day Pro trial so you can see how subtasks work.
I initially thought 7 days was a bit short, too, but I ended up making up my mind that I was going to get a Pro account after about 24 hours.
I know you’re a GTD fan, so you may want to check out the Toodledo forums for some GTD implementations. For example, here is one:
http://www.toodledo.com/forums/5/2660/0/proximos-gtd-setup.html
Anyway, the whole experience was rather odd for me- I went from thinking “maybe I should at least give a Task manager a try,” to being an absolute huge fan of one.
Interesting. I know you are a ReQall user — how do you feel it compares. I bit the bullet and went for a pro version of ReQall about a month or so ago. I may have to wait a bit before I can justify another yearly subscription…
My recollection is that ReQall was a different type of animal (I use it, but only to send myself reminders, and almost never go to the site itself). I took a very brief look again at ReQall when looking around at different task managers. It has different components to it, right, such as shopping list, tasks, etc.? My recollection was that the task processing in ReQall was pretty limited. You could move them to different categories (Soon, Now, etc., or something like that), but couldn’t do much more beyond that. Toodledo has so many customization options, that it can be a bit daunting at first. I do use Dial2Do with Toodledo, as that allows you to send tasks directly into Toodledo.
It won’t take you a week to decide. And the annual subscription, at $14.95, is a mere 4 cents/day. In a world of $2 coffees, that’s pretty cheap for a great organizational tool.
I use a firefox plug-in with RTM that adds some nice functionality. I do like that it moves the lists over to the left instead of a bunch of tabs on the top.
A Bit Better RTM
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/14832
- display list tabs to the left
- drag-and-drop list re-ordering
- drag-and-drop move tasks between lists
- display tasks count
- resizable task list
- hide useless lists (available through Settings -> Lists)
- unique URL for lists and tasks
- configurations section is on the Remember the Milk Settings
page, under the A Bit Better RTM tab
SHORTCUTS:
- “Shift + j / k” – switch between lists (Shift + o – open selected list)
- “Ctrl + g” – Go to list. Displays a popup for selecting a list to go to.
- “Ctrl + m” – Move to list. Displays a popup for selecting a list to move tasks to.
- “q” – quick add list
- “/” – focus search box
Sounds pretty cool, David. That sounds like something the developers should bake right into RTM, actually.
The Google Apps Calendar sidebar add-on for RTM is nice too.
Also when I’m on my ubuntu laptop there’s a desktop applet that goes right in the taskbar.
I found the lack of nested list/subtasks to be a real drawback with RTM. Tried work-arounds like saved searches and GreaseMonkey tweaks, but once I get a task manager set up, I just want it to work. The first time I tried Toodledo was about a year ago and it just wouldn’t work for me. Something must have changed with Toodledo, because I tried it again about 6 weeks ago and after two days, upgraded to Pro and started importing data from RTM and I’ve not looked back – love it, love the iPhone app, too.
I used ToDoist for quite some time, and had it set up beautifully for work and personal tasks, but could not consistently rely on the SMS alerts so finally abandoned it. Don’t need those alerts often, but when I set do, it’s a real pain when I don’t get the reminder.
Seeing these comments like yours, Shelley, I’m glad to hear I’m not alone in my love of Toodledo. It is interesting how some apps really can engender loyalty in users, while others miss the boat.
That was my comment word for word from a few posts up. What?
I’ve deleted that poster’s comment, Adam (just mentioning it here, so there’s some context to your message). There’s a new wave of spam going around, where the spam comment matches an earlier comment, verbatim. Our spam filter (Akismet) has been catching most of them, but unfortunately a few slip through. I think the spammers erroneously think they get some Google juice from the link in their name.
Hi,
What about 2DO ? Can you please take a look at this new App?
Thank you very much
I’m not familiar with 2DO. Is that an iPhone app? Any idea whether it can sync with Toodledo?
Hi Evan,
Yes, it can sync with Toodledo, I did it.
Bu I’m not expert at all these GTD apps, so I need the “pro” advice.
It’s an iPhone App, yes. With push and other features, maybe too much. But looks nice
Here’s the link: http://itunes.apple.com/es/app/2do-a-stunning-to-do-list/id303656546?mt=8
I’ve downloaded the free version, and if I like it enough, I’ll buy the full version (although I’ve already paid for the Toodledo iPhone app). If I ended up using it, I’ll try to write a review.
The Lite version doesn’t sync with any other program. You have to pay to do that.
But note that in their FAQ in the forum section, they indicate that it doesn’t quite sync with Toodledo completely. It does not sync contexts, which is a big issue for many users. It also doesn’t sync Toodledo’s goals. I’m not sure what else it doesn’t support on Toodledo, which is full of features. There is some workaround to allow users to sync Toodledo contexts as 2DO tabs, but I really don’t like that kind of stuff. Software should sync with another program cleanly without the need for workarounds.
In my opinion, the best iPhone app to sync with Toodledo is Toodledo’s iPhone app, which with the exception of saved searches, supports all of it’s own features in a manner identical to how it works on the website. And, BTW, Toodledo has promised that saved searches will be synced and will work in the iPhone version in a future release.
The Lite version doesn’t sync with any other program. You have to pay to do that.
But note that in their FAQ in the forum section, they indicate that it doesn’t quite sync with Toodledo completely. It does not sync contexts, which is a big issue for many users. It also doesn’t sync Toodledo’s goals. I’m not sure what else it doesn’t support on Toodledo, which is full of features. There is some workaround to allow users to sync Toodledo contexts as 2DO tabs, but I really don’t like that kind of stuff. Software should sync with another program cleanly without the need for workarounds.
In my opinion, the best iPhone app to sync with Toodledo is Toodledo’s iPhone app, which with the exception of saved searches, supports all of it’s own features in a manner identical to how it works on the website. And, BTW, Toodledo has promised that saved searches will be synced and will work in the iPhone version in a future release.
Yep, unfortunately I noticed the lack of syncing after I downloaded it. That makes it impossible for me to test out 2DO in “real world” conditions, unfortunately.
I’ll be excited when the Toodledo iPhone app will sync with saved searches, as I live on the saved search page on the web page, so I can’t use the iPhone app exactly how I use the web app.
Evan: I’ve found I can get pretty close to the saved searches in Toodledo already by taking advantage of the sophisticated filtering capabilities of the Toodledo iPhone app.
2Do actually drove me to use Toodledo! I wanted to manage my tasks while mobile and have a nice desktop interface the rest of the time, with reasonable syncing between the two.
2Do does support Toodledo’s contexts and folders now. It is the easiest and best app I have found for quickly entering multiple tasks. I can empty my mind before I forget something. Many other apps make you select too many options about each task, causing me to lose thoughts.
The other feature that really shines is the ability to perform functions on multiple tasks, like moving them to different folders ore marking them as complete. Some of the terminology it uses is different from Toodledo, but it is simple enough to learn.
And 2Do looks good. It’s unmatched.
Thanks for the detailed info. I looked at 2Do briefly, but the trial version didn’t allow syncing with Toodledo. If I don’t get the Toodledo iPhone app working how I want, I may revisit 2Do.
I think I’ve about setttled on Toodledo. However, as you note, I need to stay with it awhile to get comfortable and familiar with what it’s possiblities include.
I have been trying to find something to replace Franklin Covey Planning software…version 8.2. It has been the best planning software on earth for me, but I can’t upgrade and use it (Franklin 8.2) with any of the new smartphones. I’m sad about that.
I believe I’ll have to settle for a combination of Google calendar & Toodledo. Those two will do much of what I’ve done with Franklin Covey Planning Software in terms of desktop functions with a hard sync to my trusty old Palm Treo…which I want to replace with one of the great new smartphones.
One thing I have yet to figure out for sure..but highly suspect: Toodledo will not allow me to order my task list (i.e….listing each item in a specific order… 1-infinity)…am I right? I really will miss being able to do that.
Anybody have any thoughts/suggestions on my paradigm??
k.p.
Kent, regarding your question, do you mean specifically designate that a certain item will be #1 in the list, another #2, and so on? I don’t think Toodledo supports this, but someone else can correct me. You can set a priority (5 different levels), and sort by that way, so you could do it with up to 5 items. You can also sort via due date. One thing that might work, which I haven’t tried, is to use tags (e.g. use tags of 1, 2, 3, etc.), and then sort by tag. I haven’t tried that, though.
Evan,
Yes, I would like to be able to list each task in order, by number. If I have 20 tasks for the day, I want to be able to list them 1-20. (I always have way more than 5 items per day) With the Franklin software it was easy. The tags idea probably would work..but seems like alot of effort would be required. Seems like this would be one of the most basic things to build into a daily task manager software programs. Anybody else agree…or not?
I had never thought about it before, but now that you point it out, I could see many people wanting to use it that way. I’m still part way through the GTD book, and for now use a combination of folders (I have “Next” and “Today” folders, for example), but also use due dates and priorities. I find that when I do that, Toodledo does a pretty good job of sorting and puts the more important stuff at the top of the list.
By the way, curious how you got your picture posted to the left of your name(s) above. Can’t figure out how to get mine up.
If I recall, there are two ways to get that. You need either a WordPress.com account, or a gravatar.com account WordPress (upon which 40Tech is built) checks your email address against both of those sites, I think, and pulls your avatar from there.
Thankyou. Great comparison. You can’t underestimate the need for details. And you can’t underestimate the need to know what processes are running. These help reveal hiddens ones as well I think if I’m right. Cheers.
Keira,
mobile comparison´s last blog ..Compare Apple iPad Deals
And by the way, I choose Toodledo over RTM mainly because Toodledo does very nicely sync with Outlook. RTM does not and seems to have no plans of doing so if you look at the huge amount of people asking for it in the discussion forum for *years*.
On top of that I often work with my Todos on my iPad/iPhone with the excellent App Todo from Appigo. This App syncs with Toodledo but RTM has just shut down it’s API for this App.
To me personally these issues were two more important reasons to choose Toodledo over RTM.
I saw word somewhere on the Toodledo site that there were issues with the Outlook connector messing up, and deleting all tasks a while back. Have you seen any issues with that?
So far I haven’t had any problems. I guess with syncing there’s always some risk associated. It’s also important to set it up properly when adding a new device to the sync. One might accidentally update the cloud with new the (and empty) device’s data. That would delete everything.
If I encounter problems within the next month I’ll post them back here.
Thanks for the info, Daniel, and for checking back in.
A major missing feature in Toodledo– perhaps the one thing that prevents me from switching– is Toodledo’s lack of a “smart add” feature that lets one enter relaively complex TODOs with single english-like sentence and no fiddling with drop-downs, check boxes, date pickers, etc. This lack is REALLY significant for me– and judging by the discussion(s) on the forums about this topic, it’s not just me!
You can use “Smart Add” formats to add tasks via email and Twitter, and I believe the options for adding tasks this way provide more features than RTM does. The format to use is here: http://www.toodledo.com/info/help_email.php
There is also a third-party app called “Toodleair” which does the same thing and can run in the background allowing you to enter tasks without even being logged on to Toodledo. It’s here: http://jga.me/tagged/ToodleAir
I often use email to enter tasks quickly this way, but I agree that it needs to be a built-in feature on the Toodledo website. A couple of days ago, the developers at Toodledo posted a thread indicating that for the past few months behind the scenes, they have been rebuilding the web program in order to make it easier to add new features in the future. They understand completely that the interface is a weakness, but couldn’t resolve many of the issues or introduce new ones until the code was updated. Now that this has been done, I think we’ll see a flood of changes to the interface shortly, including the addition of a quick-add feature.
I’ve never thought of that, Chris, but you’re right. That’s not in Toodledo. I don’t use Toodledo that way, but it sounds like many people do. I guess it can be hard for one tool to do everything, but maybe it will be added in the future, if the developer’s track record is any indication.
So how easy is it to sync with a Blackberry Curve and with Outlook
I’m not sure Mo, as I haven’t used it with either, but maybe someone else will see this and chime in with an answer.
Anyone tried this one ? http://mytaskpad.net
Simple web interface, sync with iPhone, iPod, iPad.
That’s a new one to me, Mike. It does look intriguing.
Anyone ever try to move tasks from a Palm Treo to Toodledo? The Toodledo site makes it sound easy, but when you try to export the tasks, it saves them in a “tda” which seems to be proprietary to Palm.
Any suggestions?
Sorry, Maury, I have no idea. Have you tried asking in the Toodledo forums? It seems like a helpful bunch over there.
Good review.
I’ve been using Things on my iMac and my iPhone (until I lost it). I liked the UI (best in the biz) and the relative simplicity of Things, but got tired of waiting for meaningful updates and the total lack of customer satisfaction by Cultured Code, not to mention the bruhaha in the forums.
I had tried to move to RTM a little over a year ago, but found it to be like a British sports car – drive, tweak, drive, tweak… It never seemed quite right. Now I’ve heard terrible things about the developers and their relationship with their customers. Don’t want more of that!
I had also tried TD back when I was trying RTM, but didn’t like the cluttered, and, quite frankly, ugly interface. I had also looked at a couple of other task managers, but found them too basic for my needs. So a few weeks ago, I decided to give TD another try. I’m really glad I did.
Been using it for 3 weeks now, and have found it does virtually everything I want in a task manager. It does take a little time to get used to and to get set up the way you want it. It did take some help, and I’ve posted at least 7 or 8 questions in the forums, getting replies in as little as 3 min, or as long as 24 hrs, maybe a little longer. I consider that excellent customer service. Some of the replies were from other users, but most were from the developers. I found a posting from about a year ago in which the developers apologized for not being able to get back to questions in the forums in less than a day anymore because of the number of posts, but promising to reply within 2 days. They did better than that with all my queries. Very impressive.
Beyond that, the tone in the forums is very friendly and helpful. It’s difficult to be negative there, though a few still manage it. Having spent a lot of time in the Things forums, TD’s are a very pleasant change.
I did the 7 day trial on the Pro account late last week, and upgraded before it was over. The additional features include subtasks (the one I wanted most), a third sort criteria, individual task notifications (instead of a task list sent early each day), linking (you’ll have to go to site for an explanation, but it is NOT tesk dependencies), statistics (breakdown of how many tasks in various folders, contexts, etc.). Even if there weren’t so many useful features, the upgrade is worth it just to make sure TD is around for a while.
TD is a feature rich, stable, powerful task manager with, I’m told, a couple of iPhone options. Haven’t tried those yet. It also has excellent customer support, maybe the best in the biz. Overall, a hard combination to beat. Invest a little time in it, and it’ll pay you back a hundred times over.
Great review, Salgud. You hit on many of the things I love about TD. I use the official TD iPhone app. It doesn’t have the “wow” factor, but it does the trick for me.
Hi….I’m new to the GTD concept (currently reading the book) and spent the weekend searching the web for to-do type programs. I’m in dire need of something to help me get through my work days! Found Omnifocus, and although I like the basic format, sure hate to spend the $80. I am a school counselor, so some of the information for my tasks and projects involve either the children at school and/or school educational programs. I worry that there is a concern for security when using an online organizational-type program (like Toodledo) versus buying the software for something like Omnifocus, which stays privately on my computer. Aren’t there more hacking concerns with online programs like Toodledo? Plus what if Toodledo goes out of business…can you lose all your hard work? Thanks so much for your help.
Great question, Mary, and a very valid concern. I think there are two questions here: (1) where is the information more secure?, and (2) does your profession have any specific requirements?
Regarding #1, many people make the argument that information is more secure on a cloud server that is secured by professionals, than on individual PC’s secured by lay people with various levels of security expertise. That probably depends on your situation. If it is a locked down school computer (gets Windows updates almost immediately, uses security software, doesn’t visit questionable sites, you don’t open attachments to emails or download files you’re not expecting), then you might be better off with a local program. Otherwise, it depends on your expertise, and how vigilant you are about keeping your system secure. With the millions of compromised personal computers in the world, there are many people who are better off with their info on a secured server in the cloud. I feel pretty confident in my ability to keep my data safe on my machine, but if I were setting my mom up, I’d have her store data in the cloud, as I’m less confident in her ability to keep a non-infected PC.
Regarding issue 2, I don’t know what requirements your job may have about external data. I work in a profession that requires client info to be kept confidential. I do use Toodledo for client data, but I enter the tasks in such a way that there is no info that would personally identify a client.
I also have a Pro account, which uses an encrpted SSL connection.
As far as data safety, Toodledo does give several methods for exporting your data (in your “Tools and Services” section). I do that manually on occasion, although I may have seen a script someone wrote in their forums for automated backups. I will have to check that out. I also have a local copy in the iPhone program, so, worst case scenario, I could manually view and transfer my tasks from there.