Microsoft To Do is a task management app to help you stay organized and manage your day-to-day. You can use Microsoft To Do to make shopping lists or task lists, take notes, record collections, plan an event, or set reminders to increase your productivity and focus on what matters to you. We’ve been a little quiet on the blog recently, because we’ve been hard at work delivering updates for you. We thought we’d take some time to let you know all that we’ve been up to. Let’s start with our brand-new smart lists rolling out this week. See all your tasks in one view One of your top-r.
Among the daily activities we do at the office all day long we can count for sure notes taking, either to remember something that needs to be done later or to make a plan for a project we’re working on or to write down something that might be of importance some point in the future.
As you can imagine there are plenty of online apps that let you do just that. All you have to do is pick and choose a service that’s reliable and which helps take notes fast, on your phone, tablet or desktop, notes that you can later search, organize and share with your peers.
Cloud sync is mandatory, so you can access your notes on a computer for example, right after you’ve left a meeting where you only used your phone. But let’s skip to the meat of the article and see the apps I’ve used in the past or use right now:
Evernote
I think that Evernote is one of the pioneers of note-taking. The app does so much more than that, including saving web pages, adding audio and video memos, formatted text (of course), tables and to-do lists.
App capabilities differ from platform to platform, so depending on what device you’re on the things you can add to your notes differ quite significantly. On phones and tablets, you can add hand-written text, audio, and video recordings from the onboard cameras, while the web interface is slightly more limiting, but there are browser extensions that enhance these capabilities, including full-page or partial web page clippings. If you do install the desktop app things improve significantly.
No matter the method you’re using to take notes, you can start on one device and continue on another. Easy and intuitive.
The free account limits the maximum note size and you also have a monthly quota, which resets periodically.
There are also quite a few other differences between free and paid accounts, especially when it comes to team management, functionality only available to business accounts. Sharing notes and notebooks (collection of notes) can be done on either account types, even the free plan.
Even if you don’t opt to subscribe and stay on the free plan, for a single individual there’s enough functionality to enjoy Evernote and find your previous notes with ease.
Personally I’m not a big fan of Evernote, as I find Microsoft OneNote more convenient. The truth is on the other hand that Evernote is well supported by third party services, so there’s a chance the service is already integrated into your favorite mobile apps, so you can save notes from basically everywhere.
Microsoft OneNote
My favorite app at the time of writing this article is OneNote from Microsoft. It’s probably partially because the app comes preinstalled on Windows 10 and is also available on pretty much any operating system out there, including the defunct Windows Phone.
Fortunately, the web version is more than capable, allowing you to take handwritten notes, using the mouse cursor if you don’t have a touchscreen and can even leverage the webcam for video and audio notes. OneNote is one of the few apps that doesn’t sacrifice functionality in the browser version.
Like Evernote, it can organize notes in notebooks, but you can also add subnotebooks, for better management. Plus, if that’s not enough for you, there are add-ons that enhance functionality or integrate with third party services.
Notes and attachments are stored in your OneDrive account. This way you can access these files in the cloud, but you also need to make sure you have plenty of space to store them and, very important, don’t erase a notebook by mistake.
Collaboration options are also present, at the notebook level, so you can share and participate in notes for the whole team.
Another alternative to Evernote and OneNote, much simpler, is Google Keep. When it comes to functionality, the app is really basic. You can’t even save notes in notebooks, but you do have the option to apply multiple labels.
What Google Keep does really well is taking handwritten notes on the web interface. The drawing algorithm is pretty good, as you can see in the comparison below.
Sometimes you just need to bookmark interesting articles you see online so you can read them later. You can it by using browser extensions, or the included bookmark functionality or using, or with apps like Evernote and OneNote, but the easiest way I’ve found to organize web pages is with Pocket.
All browsers offer the possibility to create bookmarks and even sync them via the cloud if you sign up for a free account. Pocket does that and more, by supporting every major browser out there. Since I’m using more than one browser on my computer this is a godsend.
Pocket organizes saved pages in articles and videos sections. You can add tags, archive pages that disappear from the main list and assign favorite badges to the ones you like. You can even send links by email and they’ll be sent to your account automatically.
Articles can be read directly in the app interface, where the content and design will be stripped to the bare minimum: text and images. It makes for a very fast reading experience.
What makes Pocket’s offering strong is the high number of compatible services and apps like Twitter, Feedly, Flipboard and all major browsers. The paid plan offers support for offline article download, which will be available even if the source gets deleted.
Microsoft To-Do Wunderlist
When you work on multiple projects at once it’s easy to forget the things you have to do. In these moments the best help comes from a to-do list app that offers an easy interface to add tasks and mementos, organize them into lists and set reminders.
I’ve tested personally quite a few options before getting to Wunderlist, the app that completely changed the way I work.
In Wunderlist you can create folders for lists of to-dos. You can move mementos manually to another list, you can sort them by a few criteria, you can even share lists with collaborators and you can choose how you get notified.
Mementos can have attachments like text, links, and files, and can even be split into subtasks if needed. Using folders means you can separate personal and work quite easily. I’m using separate lists for groceries and for the projects I’m working on.
Wunderlist can be accessed both in the browser and on many popular operating systems. If there’s something I don’t like about Wunderlist is that it was acquired a while ago by Microsoft, and will be moved/migrated soon to Microsoft To-Do, their own organizer. Microsoft announced that Wunderlist will be shut down completely.
At the start, Microsoft’s offering was quite inferior to Wunderlist. The original owner recently even said at some point he would like to buy back the app from Microsoft. Fast forward a few months of using the new app and I can honestly say that Microsoft To-Do is just as good as Wunderlist. It’s not perfect, but shows what it means to have the man-power to tackle a problem. Hope Microsoft continues on this path with To-Do. It’s a pretty usefull app for me.
These are the apps I recommend after using them for quite some time now, but if you wish to try something different I suggest you check out Todoist and Remember The Milk.
Import To Microsoft To Do
Streamlined, intuitive task organizer that can help you focus on what needs to be done, created by Microsoft as a future replacement for Wunderlist
Ever since Microsoft acquired Wunderlist in 2015, its users have been wondering what the future holds for the popular task organizer. We seem to have our answer now, in the form of Microsoft To-Do, which will eventually be the successor of the retired Wunderlist.
A to-do list manager that bears a striking resemblance to the app that inspired it, Microsoft To-Do has received numerous updates since its release, but it has yet to replace Wunderlist.
Change can be good, but Wunderlist users may need some convincing
While it is clear that Microsoft has some pretty big plans for this new project, it is still too early to determine whether or not scrapping the original app and starting fresh was a good idea. The development team intends to incorporate the best features of Wunderlist into Microsoft To-Do, however, so the end product should not be drastically different.
Initially lacking in the feature department, To-Do has been improved in multiple respects. From small quality of life updates to UI enhancements, the application certainly seems to be moving in the right direction.
Start your day with a clean slate and keep track of what’s important
The application’s standout feature has to be the “My Day” list, which is refreshed each morning and is intended to help you focus on what needs to be done today, without worrying about upcoming events. If you don’t have a lot to do, the app can even offer suggestions from your other lists.
Naturally, you can add tasks to separate do-to lists, both one-time and repeating events, set reminders and append relevant notes. Different themes can be applied to each list, and the handy search function enables you to find tasks more easily.
An appreciated feature found in Wunderlist, shared lists, has also been implemented. Moreover, it is possible to sync your Outlook tasks and keep track of everything from one place.
Promising to-do list app that is certainly worth watching
Microsoft To Do Fails Wunderlist Import
Your data can be synchronized across all devices that you are using to run Microsoft To-Do, and mobile apps are also available for macOS, Android and iOS devices. Alternatively, you can access the service at any time even from your web browser.
Since this application is designed to replace Wunderlist eventually, it is no surprise that an import tool is included to help you migrate your data. The process is very intuitive, but it may take a few minutes for your lists to be transferred.
On the whole, Microsoft To-Do is a very capable to-do manager, and things can only get better in the future. Whether you are an existing Wunderlist user or are looking for a better way to organize your day, this app is certainly worth a try. It remains to be seen when it will finally replace Wunderlist, however, as development seems to be rather slow, even though it is heading in the right direction.
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Microsoft To Do was reviewed by Catalin Chelariu- We’ve made a few accessibility fixes and improvements to the app sync process to facilitate a seamless in-app and cross-device experience for you.
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This enables Disqus, Inc. to process some of your data. Disqus privacy policyMicrosoft To Do 2.42.41091.0
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- runs on:
- Windows 10 32/64 bit
- file size:
- 52.5 MB
- main category:
- Office tools
- developer:
- visit homepage
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