{"id":1648,"date":"2012-12-12T19:05:42","date_gmt":"2012-12-12T19:05:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oneminutetodolist.com\/blog\/?p=1648"},"modified":"2014-04-10T09:04:42","modified_gmt":"2014-04-10T16:04:42","slug":"syncing-outlook-tasks-with-toodledo-using-gsyncit-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/syncing-outlook-tasks-with-toodledo-using-gsyncit-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Syncing Outlook Tasks with ToodleDo Using gSyncit (Part-1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dec 12, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

As you probably know, in the MYN\/1MTD<\/a> task systems I recommend using either of two Task Servers<\/a>: Outlook\/Exchange and ToodleDo<\/a>. Each has its own advantages; and now you can access all the advantages by using both and keeping them synced using the software gSyncit<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A while back I wrote<\/a> that I\u2019d heard good things about gSyncit, but in that article I mentioned that I had not tried it yet, and so could not endorse it or explain how to use it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Well, recently I started using gSyncit and I find it works great\u2014it has greatly expanded my mobile task management options. So it\u2019s time to write this up so you can try it too.<\/p>\n

Article in Two Parts<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am going to present this article in two separate parts, otherwise it will get too long. In this first part I\u2019ll talk about why you might want to sync tasks between ToodleDo and Outlook in the first place, and how it works at a high level. I\u2019ll also mention some harsh realities to keep in mind when doing this.<\/p>\n

Then in Part 2<\/a> I\u2019ll follow with detailed gSyncit setup and use instructions.<\/p>\n

Why Task Syncing is needed<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are a lot of reasons to want to sync tasks between ToodleDo and Outlook. In general though it\u2019s all about mobility. You see, ToodleDo offers more MYN\/1MTD mobile solutions for tasks than Outlook does, so copying tasks to ToodleDo opens up many more mobile options.<\/p>\n

For example, my<\/em> specific reason for syncing was that I found no task software on the Surface RT that allowed me to fully manage my Outlook tasks stored on my Exchange server. So I set up gSyncit to sync tasks between my Outlook Exchange server and a ToodleDo account, and I now use ToodleDo to manage tasks when I am using the Surface RT. Any changes I make there get posted almost immediately back to Outlook. This works great\u2014and I am quite happy with it. [By the way, you might think using Outlook\u2019s web app would work on the Surface RT; it does, but unfortunately it does not have enough features to fully manage MYN\/1MTD tasks.]<\/p>\n

So in general, any time you don\u2019t have a way to manage Outlook tasks on a particular mobile device, using gSyncit to sync with ToodleDo may be your answer.<\/p>\n

Before you get started though, you need to understand what you are doing. If you don’t think it through first, data syncing can lead to unintended results. When using gSyncit, there are two cases to consider: Outlook without Exchange, and Outlook with Exchange.<\/p>\n

Outlook without Exchange<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first case to describe is the simplest one: using Outlook without<\/em> Exchange. In this case you probably have a POP mail server like Yahoo, or have Hotmail, Gmail, or something similar.<\/p>\n

You may know that in this case, Outlook stores your tasks on your computer\u2019s hard drive, and so you have no easy way to store your Outlook tasks in the cloud for use with mobile devices. So we\u2019ll use gSyncit to allow you to use ToodleDo as your cloud-based tasks server<\/a> and access your tasks through it.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how that looks in a diagram; notice that gSyncit is represented by the red arrow:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The blue mobile devices box in the lower left represents devices with ToodleDo access. For example a web browser on a tablet (or a Mac or PC) can do MYN\/1MTD task management through ToodleDo. Or if using a smartphone then an app like Pocket Informant<\/a>, or Ultimate To-Do List<\/a> (both on Android), or ToodleDo\u2019s own apps<\/a> (on iOS) all have MYN\/1MTD capability. See this page<\/a> for more information on ToodleDo\u2019s MYN\/1MTD options.<\/p>\n

Outlook with Exchange<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you use Outlook with Exchange, things are different. In this case, your tasks are stored in the cloud on the Exchange Server. In other words, Exchange becomes your tasks server<\/a> and you can access them from multiple computers running Outlook.<\/p>\n

However there are only a few mobile apps that access Outlook tasks off Exchange in a MYN\/1MTD compatible way; two come to mind: TaskTask<\/a> (on iPad or iPhone) and Touchdown<\/a> (on Android or Windows 8 Store Apps). But nothing is available yet that works in a browser for MYN\/1MTD.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why we\u2019ll use gSyncit to move tasks to the ToodleDo server to open up our mobile MYN\/1MTD options (that\u2019s what I did to solve my Surface RT problem).<\/p>\n

However, one very important point about gSyncit<\/em> is that it runs inside the Outlook client software, not in the cloud. So there\u2019s no direct connection between the Exchange server and ToodleDo\u2019s server. Rather, Outlook must be open and running on a PC to sync tasks through it, between the servers.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how that looks; notice again that gSyncit is represented by the red arrow.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The yellow mobile devices box in the lower right represents devices with an Exchange-based tasks app on them like I listed above. And the blue mobile devices box in the lower left represents devices with ToodleDo access (also listed above). So if I change a task in the first, once gSyncit runs on the PC, the change gets registered in the second.<\/p>\n

Possible Problems with the Exchange Solution<\/strong><\/p>\n

This sync architecture generally works fine, but it also could lead to problems. What if you are away from your Outlook-PC one day (it\u2019s turned off), and you make a task change on the blue mobile device in the lower left corner, and want to see that change appear on the yellow mobile device in the lower right. The task change would never make it there since the PC in the middle is turned off!<\/p>\n

Well, we solved that problem in this way. We keep a PC in the office with Outlook running all the time\u2014we never shut it down, even when I am away. gSyncit is running on that Outlook with auto-syncs scheduled for every 15 minutes; so all mobile devices are kept in sync. This only works for one Outlook account at a time of course\u2014if you had a company with ten people in it say, you\u2019d need to set up ten computers\u2014so it does not scale well. But it works fine for an individual who has an extra computer.<\/p>\n

MYN Users Must Ignore ToodleDo Due Dates<\/strong><\/p>\n

1MTD users skip this next point; but MYN users, heads up.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another fine point to keep in mind. MYN users may recall that in MYN Outlook we ignore the Outlook Due Date field and use other methods of setting deadlines. That\u2019s because of our emphasis on using start dates<\/a> on all<\/em> tasks in MYN, and because of a bad design in Outlook that forces you to always populate the Due Date field if a start date is set (see page 85 of my Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook book 3rd<\/sup> Ed. for more discussion on this).<\/p>\n

So MYN users, when syncing between Outlook and ToodleDo, you will have to ignore the Due Date field in ToodleDo\u2014it will contain erroneous information. This gets a bit odd since, during the sync, Outlook will populate ToodleDo with a due date for every<\/em> task\u2014you\u2019ll see tons of due dates in ToodleDo appear after the first or second sync. But just ignore those. In fact, I recommend you hide the Due Date field in ToodleDo to prevent that from becoming confusing. And needless to say, you won\u2019t be setting alarms on due dates in ToodleDo. Instead, just use the same methods for setting and alerting you to deadlines that we use in Outlook (again, refer to pg. 85 in the Outlook book).<\/p>\n

1MTD Users: Due Dates Can Change in Sync<\/strong><\/p>\n

Users of the simpler 1MTD system, you can<\/em> continue to use due dates, since you don\u2019t use start dates on all tasks; but you should note the following. The ToodleDo software will allow you to set a due date that falls before a start date, even though that makes no logical sense. Typically this happens if you advance a start date to the future in ToodleDo, and forget to reset the due date. But in Outlook you cannot do that\u2014you cannot have a due date that falls earlier than its start date. Previously, if you tried to sync a ToodleDo task like that into Outlook, gSyncit would detect the error and not sync the task at all (and probably present an error message). But, recently gSyncit added a feature (at my request) that, in that Outlook task, resets the due date to be equal to<\/em> the imported start date. That prevents the error, and allows easier use of gSyncit (my thanks to the gSyncit team for making that change!). So note your due dates can change in that sync. You\u2019ve been forewarned!<\/p>\n

Setting up gSyncit follows in Next Article<\/strong><\/p>\n

Okay, that\u2019s enough for the reasons, methods, and harsh realities behind syncing between ToodleDo and Outlook. In the next article<\/a> I\u2019ll tell you how to set it up.<\/p>\n

Michael<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dec 12, 2012 As you probably know, in the MYN\/1MTD task systems I recommend using either of two Task Servers: Outlook\/Exchange and ToodleDo. Each has its own advantages; and now you can access all the advantages by using both and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1648"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1654,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648\/revisions\/1654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}