Dec 4, 2014 [Updated Nov 11, 2015]
I’ve been recommending the Android version of the TouchDown app for years as a way to bring MYN tasks to your Android smartphone or tablet (see this post).
But what about the iPhone version of TouchDown, do I recommend its Tasks module for MYN or 1MTD?
Well, sort of. It doesn’t sort tasks quite right for MYN, but it might work for you. Here are my thoughts on the most recent version of it.
[9/27/2017 Update: the Touchdown App is no longer being sold by Symantec]
First, the TouchDown iPhone app is the only smartphone-based Exchange e-mail module that supports categories on emails, and it converts emails to tasks (both I discuss here). So you may want the iPhone TouchDown app for those reasons alone.
Tasks Module
The Tasks module can sort of be useful for MYN. It appears that if you set the Filter (funnel icon at the top of the Tasks list) to Today and Overdue, and set the Sort to Priority (High-Low), you can get moderately close to MYN needs, but not completely there. The problem is there is no subsort on start date descending within Priority groups—that’s the main thing lacking.
You can work around that since the sort settings are so easy to do on the fly. Just use the Priority (High-Low) sort setting when you want to view your High priority tasks. And when you want to view your Opportunity Now tasks (Normal priority) in start date descending order, just toggle the sort to be Start Date (Last-First), and you’ll see them in the right order for MYN. Toggling between the two is not perfect but it is doable.
Note however, your start dates in Outlook would need to equal your due dates on all your tasks for the sort and filter to work right; that’s a default setting in Outlook, so not really an issue.
If you are excited about TouchDown iPhone, please place a post in there forum here asking them to add a subsort feature to tasks. Make sure you mention you are talking about the iPhone product (this forum supports all versions), and that you want a start date descending subsort added to the Tasks module.
Until that feature change happens, though, I’d use the TaskTask app instead on the iPhone since it fully supports MYN. There’s no reason you could not use TouchDown for its excellent e-mail module, and switch to TaskTask when managing tasks. Any e-mail you convert to a task in TouchDown would show up in TaskTask within seconds.
Michael Linenberger
Good morning Mr. Linenberger,
So does this mean that Touchdown performs better for email than does eMailGanizer on iphones? Will I simplify my life at all by switching?
-Ed B.
Ed, TouchDown is better if you want to categorize email and use the built in Tasks module. Otherwise, I’d decide based on other features. Michael
My plan is to use Touchdown for converting emails from my iPhone to a task that resides in the Exchange Server. Years ago, I took your advice and have been using TaskTask for managing the tasks per MYN views. Until Touchdown figures their stuff out, I’ll just bounce between the two apps to convert and then view/manage.
Ben, good plan! Michael
Will Touchdown will interact with other aps on my device?
James, I think the answer is no, but not sure. Michael
This may seem like a silly question, but…if you use Toodledo (and the corresponding app on the phone), would you then not need to use Touchdown? I.e. Do you only use Touchdown if you’re trying to keep Outlook as the primary base for task management? I find the Toodledo app easier to use than the task component of Touchdown…so even though I CAN use Outlook, I’m leaning toward using Toodledo for all my task management because the application (both phone and web site) is so good. I know that you recommend Toodledo for those “who can’t use Outlook” or those with Macs, but are there any downfalls (increased complexity, required work-around’s, etc.) that I’m not thinking about if I use Toodledo over Outlook? Is pure Outlook considered the BEST POSSIBLE OPTION? And Toodledo the best option if you can’t use Outlook? One thing I’ve thought about is that because Outlook is technically my WORK software, it really shouldn’t house my personal tasks. For instance, and extreme example is that if I got fired, and I had my whole personal todo life on Outlook, I could lose all that data. Not to mention that anything on your work email (Outlook) is property of the company and subject to their review/use at any time. Not that I have anything that NEEDS hiding, rather it’s more of a conceptual issue. So if I’m going to use a non-Outlook system for personal…I’d rather not have to keep two todo systems (personal AND work)…thus the contemplation of only using Toodledo, even though I could do it all on Outlook.
I’m just trying to keep my systems as simple and usable as possible…thanks in advance for the insight.
HI Deb, yes, using Toodledo for tasks and Outlook/Touchdown for email and/or calendar is a viable strategy. I did essentially that for about a year and it worked fine. Just keep in mind that the built-in convert-email-to-tasks features of Outlook and Touchdown will no longer work. Instead you’ll need to use the Toodledo forward-to-server feature, and that has a few minor limitations. And you’ll want the paid version of Toodledo to get attachments. More here: http://www.michaellinenberger.com/blog/converting-e-mails-to-tasks-in-toodledo/
Michael