Questions and Answers on ToodleDo

Dec 15, 2010

I received a ton of great notes from people about the ToodleDo software article. Here are some of the questions and my answers:

• Q) Did I know about the Outlook synchronization software for ToodleDo by Chromatic Dragon?
• Yes, Chromatic Dragon, I’m very familiar with it. I tested it and had a conversation with the author programmer. It worked for me but the problem is the author has decided not to support it or update it anymore. So if Microsoft makes code changes in Outlook/Exchange that break it, the software will be defunct (some people are already having issues). So I cannot recommend it. Also, it requires a client install on your computer (it does not use ActiveSync or any other server direct connection against normal APIs), which rules out use in most big companies.
• Q) Have I tried software called [fill in the blank]? I like it a lot, you should look at it.
• Thanks for those suggestions, keep them coming. I have pretty much tried them all, and while some are good, nearly all break down when it comes to MYN configurations—that’s my key test. Can you sort or group first on Priority, and then sub-sort on start date descending. Can you filter out tasks with future start dates. It is amazing how few software packages can do those together. I am told Things on Macs and iOS can configure for MYN—I will try that soon.
• Q) You say the iPhone cannot sync with Outlook Exchange, but there are a few apps that say they can.
• Yes, for some reason Microsoft or Apple (not sure who made the decision) left Tasks out of the ActiveSync module for the iPhone and iPad. As a result, none of the native iPhone or iPad apps can display tasks from your Exchange server. So some third parties have tried to fill the gap. iMExchange 2 and TaskTask are the two I have seen. Unfortunately, neither app allows the full MYN configurations; but I have just had promising conversations with TaskTask folks, and their next version may support MYN. I’ll write an article on it if or when it does; it’s relatively close now—it just cannot filter out tasks with future start dates yet. But maybe soon. This one also seems to have the best Exchange support.
• Q) On ToodleDo, can you do Outlook-style follow up tasks like in the Outlook book?
• Unfortunately, if you are using Outlook as your mail client, the follow-up method in my book –the one where the original Outlook e-mail is included as an attachment– will not work with ToodleDo. You cannot even do it manually by attaching the e-mail since the Outlook message file type is not supported in ToodleDo as an attachment. Solution? Create a follow up task manually and manually copy the email info into the task. Or, here’s an interesting solution: keep a browser open with Outlook Web Access running, and put the url of the original message in the task. Not great but better than nothing.
• Q) Isn’t ToodleDo inappropriate for corporate use since it’s web based with no Encryption?
• Encryption is an option with the paid versions. That said, as a reader reminded me recently, if you forward an e-mail to your ToodleDo address to create a task, that e-mail is not encrypted during that transmission time (just like any other e-mail you send outside your corporate system). So keep that in mind—some e-mail-to-tasks you may want to create manually.
• Q) If I am using ToodleDo on my laptop web browser, how do I work offline? Let’s say I am on an airplane?
• There is a PC application called TaskAngel that loads ToodleDo tasks; you can use it offline. However it does not sort right for MYN, so I’d use it only if you have no other way. For example, it would be a good way to input new tasks while on a plane. You’ll find a link to it on the Tools & Services link at the left side of the ToodleDo web window.