Hi, Tolqua.
There are an unusually large number of issues in your latest post. Let's
deal with some smaller ones first.
1. __Support__. I rely on the MLO support email for issues like, I found
a bug, or I can't figure out how some feature should work. I rely on the
forums for help like, how can I get the most out of some feature, how
do I use MLO to manage some complex situation, or is there a workaround
for some bug that isn't fixed yet. This is working pretty well for me.
2. _Recurring Folders._ Everything you said is correct. Folders can do
everything that tasks can do except for being completed. This includes
being a project, which is sometimes useful. It also includes having
recurrence options, which is unfortunately meaningless for an object
that cannot be completed (as you have pointed out). My guess is that
nobody before you has ever tried. It would be a good idea for mlo to
gray out the recurrence options for folders. But this does not seem
like a really urgent fix.
3. _Multiple inboxes_. It's very likely that at some point you created a
new profile on some device, used it for a while, and then set up synch,
and this caused your multiple inboxes. Cure: pick one inbox and move all
of your inbox content there. Delete all empty inboxes. Sync. If you have
multiple inboxes again, repeat the procedure another time or two.
Explanation: New profiles are created without an inbox. There are
numerous functions within MLO that reference the inbox, if there is none
one is created. Now you have one. If you sync, the sync process will add
the inbox folder from the cloud copy to your profile. Now you have two
You are allowed to have multiple tasks on MLO with the same description,
so MLO does not recognize anything wrong with having two inboxes. This
should probably be fixed, but none of us have pushed the issue very
hard, probably because it only affects users who are still trying to get
their workflows set up, after a while they get it cleaned up and don't
care enough to pursue getting a fix.
4. _Repeating tasks with repeating parents._ This is very unlikely to
produce the results that you wish for. Each task will be regenerated
when it is completed, and then will be regenerated again when its parent
is completed. If that is what you really want you can do it but almost
everyone wants their tasks to be regenerated only once for each time
it's completed.
OK, that brings us to the big issue: the requirements for the checklist
you want to build. Short answer: I don't know how to meet all of these
requirements in a single design. Maybe somebody else does, in which case
I will learn something. Otherwise, I would venture to say it's probably
not possible. This does not happen very often. One possibility here is
that you are asking for something that is actually more complex than
what you really need. In that case, , maybe some of the people on this
forum could help you envision something that you would find useful
although it's not what you were requesting. Alternatively, maybe there
is a different tool that would be able to do all of this. I haven't seen
one, but maybe you would find one.
Recapping what I think are your requirements:
* Multiple checklists
* Each checklist has a header that describes it
* Each checklist follows a schedule for when it appears, like daily
0900 or weekdays 1700
* Each checklist has multiple (zero, one or several) tasks under its
header
* When all of the tasks in a checklist are completed the checklist
header becomes inactive and does not appear until it is next
scheduled. The checklist header does not have to be closed or
completed, completion of the last task will close it.
* When a task in a checklist is completed it does not reappear until
some subsequent appearance of the checklist title
* A task may be present every time the checklist header appears or in
may have its own schedule. For example, a daily 0900 checklist could
include a task which appears only on weekdays.
* A checklist can be opened with a single click at which time all
tasks that appear on this issue of the checklist will appear
* A checklist can have a reminder which will appear in the
notification area of a phone running MLO. From the reminder area, it
should take no more than one click to bring up the checklist header
and another click to open the checklist and display its tasks.
As I said, I cannot envision a way to use MLO to satisfy these
requirements. If I were trying to make checklists of this sort, I would
devote a context to each checklist and create a saved view showing each
checklist. I would create tasks, each with its appropriate recurrence
and with a context associated with its checklist.On my phone, I would
create a home page within my launcher with up to four MLO widgets, each
showing one checklist. On Windows, I would create a series of locked
workspaces, each showing one checklist. When I want to see a particular
checklist it should be only one tap to get there. I would doubt that I
would need a reminder for checklists that are tied to major events of
the day, like getting up or end of work. If I felt, for example, that
lunchtime might sneak up on me without my remembering to scan my
lunchtime checklist, I might set an alarm in my alarm app that says
"lunchtime checklist" to remind me, but without a link to the checklist
- no a big loss to me if the checklist is only a tap away.
-Dwight
On 4/26/2016 3:14 AM, Tolqua wrote:
Hi Dwight.
Not having a great deal of success here. I'm spending more time
writing these posts and sending questions to MLO support than I'm
saving using the program. This is to be expected at such an early
stage, but there are limits and if I'm not seeing any light at the end
of the tunnel I'll have to call it a day and try something else
(Todoist seems to have much better support, but I just couldn't get
started with the unhelpfully 'clean' UI). I've made a specific
request for some input on this here, but no luck so far and I'm still
waiting for a response to my last set of questions. Looks like it's
just one guy handling support and the quality isn't great.
Here's a copy of the message which brings you up to speed with where I am:
I’ve made a start and had some success using Folders for the lists
with the list items appearing as recurring Tasks (which
accommodates the differing recurrences of the items), but I’m
having some problems:
1.
I’ve set a daily recurrence pattern for the list Folders, but
since they’re folders, they don’t get completed so how’s the
recurrence supposed to work? I’ve set them so they’ll
regenerate when all Tasks are done but that doesn’t seem to
have created new folders – they’re still showing yesterday’s date:
I have the reminder set to get triggered from the list rather than
the individual tasks (that’s the point of the checklist) so if it
doesn’t get regenerated I don’t get a reminder. What’s the point
of allowing recurrence options on a folder if it can’t be
completed and doesn’t get automatically regenerated when all its
tasks are complete?
1.
When I tap on the Folder’s reminder (on the phone) it takes me
to the folder, but I can’t see how to get to the Tasks inside
– This is the same whether it’s a Folder or a Task.
2.
How do I Skip a recurring Task (it’s not required today so I
don’t want to mark it as done, but I do need to check it off
the list and regenerate the next instance)?
You can also see from the screen-shot that I have a couple of empty
erronrous duplicated <Inbox> folders. I have no idea how these got
created, but they only appeared after I'd done a Wi-Fi sync. I've
asked MLO support for some help, but they just said to delete them.
This I can do, but it isn't the first time I've seen them so it
probably won't be the last.
I'm a bit concerned now about the slowness of my progress and am
beginning to doubt that MLO's suitable for my needs. I don't mind
putting in the effort, but I'm seeing what looks like upredictable
(buggy?) behaviour, the support's not great and you're the only one to
have given any input here. Also, despite looking awesomely powerful
and configurable, MLO's a bit daunting in its complexity. I've also
had some unnecessary questions regarding the rather limited Wi-Fi sync
that could easily have been avoided if the documentation were clearer,
but pointing this out didn't get a great response. For now I'm
pushing ahead, but life's too short to waste time going down roads
that lead to more work so I'm also taking another look around.
Thanks again for your time.
Tolqua.
On Thursday, 21 April 2016 14:37:50 UTC+1, Dwight Arthur wrote:
Hi, Tolqua, glad to meet you. This forum is a good place for
advice on issues like this. MLO is good at ad hoc task list but so
are dozens of other task managers, some of which are probably
better than MLO at the most basic stuff. Where MLO really shines
is when you spend the ime to figure out what tasks you need to see
when, and set up a system of contexts, filters, etc that lets MLO
manage that for you. You seem to be totally headed in the right
direction.
As you say, there are probably many ways to address what you are
trying to do. If I wanted to do this the first thing I would try
would involve dependencies on repeating trigger tasks. I will
explain. Disclaimer: I have not tried this. I am not certain that
I fully understand dependencies on repeating trigger tasks. My
usual practice is to test any advice I'm unsure of, but I don't
have time right now. So I'm going to share untested advice, please
come back and report on what you do next (if you are lucky some
other user will show up with advice better than mine) and if you
need it, I may be able to help with debugging or further
refinements next week.
OK, so what I would do would be to create a recurring task for
each checklist (Morning Checklist, recurring daily at 7am, Going
Home checklist recurring weekdays at 4:45pm, etc). I would then
set up each of the tasks that belongs in each checklist, each with
its own recurrence schedule (example, pack lunch recurring weekly
on MoTuThFr). Here is an important gotcha: if there is a start
time it *must* be before the start time of the checklist header.
Otherwise it will be tomorrow's task. And I would feel safer if
the task start time was well in advance of the header's start
time. Make sure that any conditions for the task to go active
(open/closed contexts, dependencies, delayed dependencies, tasks
in order, uncompleted subtasks, etc) are all resolved *before* the
header task is activated. You can create a reminder for each
header task if you want it to appear on the phone's notification
bar: I think it should work as you want but I am not sure because
I don't use reminders often.
So, by 4:40 any weekday there will be a collection of tasks that
are all ready to go except for one thing: they are dependent on
the uncompleted "Going Home Checklist" task, which is itself
inactive pending its 4:45 start time. The dependent tasks will
consequently all be considered inactive and will not appear on any
list of active actions. at 4:45 the Going Home Checklist header
task will reach its start time and become active, appearing on
your active actions list. Presumably at about that time the
reminder will go off. Soon afterwards you will check the
completion box on the header task. Because it is a recurring task
it will not become completed; it will regenerate for the next
weekday afternoon. But during this regeneration process anything
that was dependent on the header task will see the dependency
satisfied and will become active, appearing in your active actions
list.
hth
-Dwight
On 4/20/2016 6:30 PM, Tolqua wrote:
I've just started using MLO, syncing between my Windows desktop
and Nexus 5 via Wi-Fi. I'm fine with using ad-hoc tasks and
organising them in Outline view, but I now want to set up a
system to deal with a particular type of recurring tasks.
I have noticed that there are two or three times in my day where
a ‘checklist’ of items to be completed would be extremely useful
(e.g. Before going to work, Before going home, etc.).The items on
the list would all be recurrent items, but with differing
patterns (e.g. every working day, every three days, alternate
Wednesdays, etc.) so each day’s lists will be different – or
different enough that a repeat cycle could be potentially very long.
The items on the lists would all be simple tasks without
sub-tasks (probably) that simply need to be checked off – whether
that’s achieved by marking a task complete or simply by putting a
check mark in a box is not important. What is important is to
have the lists appear on my To Do list or Action List as just the
checklist name (e.g. Morning Checklist) with the items on the
list hidden until the list is opened.This is important so that
the space on my daily Action List isn’t filled with all the
regular routine stuff on the checklists.The checklist should
probably have a reminder.Since I’m in the habit of checking the
status bar at the top of my Nexus 5 whenever I pick it up, this
tends to be my immediate action list as it’s available to all
apps, not just MLO.The reminder, unless Snoozed or Cancelled,
should take me straight to the open checklist or to the Action
List with the checklist highlighted so that one more tap would
open up the checklist ready for me to go through the things on
the list.The list would need to stay open or be available until
I’d checked off all the items, at which point the checklist would
disappear from the Action List until the next day (or be
greyed-out or changed in some way so it’s clear it’s complete).
I'm not sure whether the checklist itself would need a recurrence
pattern and how it would relate to the recurrence patterns of the
items, but in the unlikely event that none of the checklist items
was due to appear on the list, the list should either appear
empty or not appear at all.
It doesn't sound too complicated and I'm sure it's well within
the capabilities of MLO, but I need some guidance as to the best
way to set it up.Should I make each checklist a Project with the
items as Tasks or make each checklist as a Task with the items as
Sub-Tasks?How do I have the checklist appear on the To Do List,
but hide the items until the checklist is opened?How can I have
the checklist disappear when all the items have been either
checked off or ‘skipped’ (not done, but with the next occurrence
in the pattern generated)?
There may be many ways to achieve this and I’m sure I’ll have a
lot more questions once I start using it, but for now I just need
to get it up and running enough to be able to start working with
it on a daily basis so any help/suggestions will be most welcome.
Tolqua.
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