9 ms·

Reading through the comments under this thread, there are many users who swear by a plain text file, but who then build quite a lot of snowflake software to reg

by Igrom 1y ago

Reading through the comments under this thread, there are many users who swear by a plain text file, but who then build quite a lot of snowflake software to regain functionality offered by more structured TODO applications. That includes: - having your computer alert you to things that come up - being able to tag notes - being able to add events to a calendar - being able to set priority of tasks - expecting prioritized/currently relevant tasks to be at the top of the agenda - being able to add recurring tasks - full-text search (grepping) - formatting features (markdown) Some of the laborious (or, in my opinion, plain unholy) solutions include: - feeding TODOs to an LLM to filter for the currently relevant ones and send Telegram notifications - hand-copying currently relevant tasks to the top of the TODO list - running a script on a VPS to sync notifications - set up cron job with git commit - writing post-it notes by hand I would encourage everyone to try out emacs with org-mode. It takes some time to get used to the editor and its keybindings (though provisions exist for vim users), but _every_ item on the list above is handled out of the box, or is offered through a free and maintained plugin. The author of the OP claims to have tried _every_ todo app, and has afterwards moved (regressed?) to writing notes in a plain text file, but there is a path extending from this point that the author has not walked yet. I strongly suggest that, especially for people with a computing or technical background, it is an undisputed upgrade. https://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html https://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html being the bible, of course.

akkartik 1y ago
Do I need to start living in Emacs to get these benefits? Or are you saying I can use Emacs as my todo list app, close it after writing a todo, and have it pop up notifications?
- pja 1y ago
  https://github.com/doppelc/org-notifications https://github.com/doppelc/org-notifications is a thing if you want that. Emacs will happily run in the background.
- tikhonj 1y ago
  I've known folks who used Emacs for writing and org-mode, but didn't live in it otherwise. But living in Emacs is more the sort of thing you get to do, not the sort of thing you'd need to do ;)
- pydry 1y ago
  No. I hate emacs but orgmode is still a good file format. I use orgzly revived with it. Org mode could do with a bigger non emacs ecosystem, though.
- spauldo 1y ago
  Yes, with a little setup. But never forget that org-mode is the gateway drug of Emacs. You start using it for the agenda and TODO lists, learn it has spreadsheet functionality that ties in with the arbitrary-precision calculator, start taking notes and exporting them to PDF via LaTeX, writing reports in it with your company letterhead, merging your contacts list, migrating your email into Emacs, and next thing you know you find yourself fifteen pairs of parentheses deep in a custom elisp function that tweaks the date format for that one manager that insists on yy/dd/mm whenever you send your weekly progress report. Not that I'd know anything about that.
not_kurt_godel 1y ago
Apple's Reminders app does all of those things and many more without having to learn emacs
- koakuma-chan 1y ago
  Ironically the Reminders app sucks at reminding. I use the Clock app for my todo list; it makes a pretty loud noise pretty reliably, which makes it pretty good for reminders.
  - haukilup 1y ago
    Being pedantic, based on your example, I think the Reminders app does a good job at reminding, but a bad job at alerting. But that’s because a reminder to me is a gentle concept.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
  - YVoyiatzis 1y ago
    I believe the Reminders app, when used alongside Notes and Calendar, is becoming a strong competitor in the productivity space. One feature I'd love to see added is persistent nudging reminders that keep alerting you until you manually dismiss them. Things 3 is another excellent third-party option in this category. Together, these apps form my essential productivity stack. I honestly can't function without them.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - not_kurt_godel 1y ago
    I agree it would be nice to have more alarm-like notification options. Flagging, setting as high priority, and assigning a date/time and getting in the habit of checking the Today category regularly all help mitigate; a bug-me-until-this-is-done feature would be a welcome alternative. (I will note that the GP's emacs stack isn't even close to offering native mobile push notifications, to state the obvious.)
the_af 1y ago
I don't do anything that you mentioned. I truly just use a plain .txt file. Every "add-on" and layer beyond the .txt happens to run on a complex wetware device that came built-in with my body.
- jasode 1y ago
  >Every "add-on" and layer beyond the .txt happens to run on a complex wetware device that came built-in with my body. He was addressing the comments such as mine that determined a txt file without any runtime software layered on was not enough for some people. The built-in wetware was inadequate. Apparently, you are one of the lucky ones that can just use a txt file. For others, they need a little more support apparatus ("bicycle for the mind") enabled by some type of active app that complements the TODO.txt file.
nosianu 1y ago
> - having your computer alert you to things that come up If my own experience is a valid example, alerts are overrated. They don't work for long. I hate getting interrupted by something that actually does not need my attention at that precise moment. I would disable those alerts in no time. I prefer leaving physical cues in the real world. I think screens are bad UI unless you already spend way too much time in front of them. The god old in- and out- baskets are great, for example. Or notes on a physical board. Sometimes when I think of something I want to do in the morning, I just leave an object that does not belong in a place I will definitely have to use in the morning. Seeing that object will remind me of that thought I had just before going to bed. I don't even need to write down what it was. Physical cues are wonderful! And THAT is what I would want from Augmented Reality (in addition to it no longer requiring cumbersome hardware to wear). A flexible recreation of former physical work places, but using the new flexibility of computer augmentation of what I see. To be able to place digital notes in the real world. To view and touch documents not fixed in a single place in front of me, but anywhere! I put some documents on the left, some on the right, some on the wall, and I move my body around to view and use them. A purely screen-based app, when I already hate having to stare straight ahead for hours every day just doesn't cut it for me. I want my digital world to be in the real world, and use my entire body, not just very limited arm and hand movements while barely moving the head because the viewport is just one small two-dimensional rectangle in my large reality. Okay, that went slightly OT, but I made that point because it is relevant for TODOs and most interactions with computers. I think they are much better when tied to our real world, not inside a tiny screen where a lot of stuff is already squeezed in and waiting for our attention, and everything can only be used like a surgeon doing keyhole surgery - indirectly through a tiny port and tools, instead of ones hands. Place TODO hints in the real world on or near appropriate places.
- brettermeier 1y ago
  Alerts are most important, that's why paper doesn't work for me. I just write everything in my calender app in my phone.
  - skydhash 1y ago
    Taks tracking is different from reminders. There’s actually few things that I want to be reminded of, and they either belongs to a calendar (collaborative items) or a reminder app. The separation is blurry and they can all fits within the agenda concept. As for tasks tracking, it’s all lists. And a daily/weekly/monthly review is enough for me.
jmull 1y ago
I think the reason people use text file + "snowflake software" is that they want just the structure (constraints) they want, and no more. BTW, what people want changes over time and by circumstance. org mode has a lot of features, including customizability, but imposes some heavy constraints as well. By its nature it's only going to satisfy a sliver of the people who have come around to text file. It's good you linked that document, though. At a glance it gives a fair idea of what you'd be buying in to.
atoav 1y ago
As somone who uses text and paper for todos, happily for years now after spending equally much time procrastinating in search of the perfect task management system I will now do a half-ironic take on answering your points: > having your computer alert you to things that come up That's what the calendar or the alarm is for > being able to tag notes Write #tag and then grep for it. Not that hard > being able to add events to a calendar A event isn't a todo, you add it to the calendar instead > being able to set priority of tasks Cut it and paste it up to the top or write "IMPORTANT". If you have so many tasks that you need something better, you probably spend too much time organizing your todos and should start working > expecting prioritized/currently relevant tasks to be at the top of the agenda If your todo lists are so long thst you cant read them in 30 seconds they are too long. Split them up and mive them to the relevant project. > being able to add recurring tasks Just leave it in the list and add a questionmark at the end. If it is time critical add it to the calendar > full-text search (grepping) Yeah, good observation you can grep text pretty fine. If you're annoyed by having to type the filename that is a shell oneliner - formatting features (markdown) You can use markdown in text, it is just more or less useless wothout rendering. But I don't see how formatting leads to more productivity > feeding TODOs to an LLM to filter out the currently relevant ones and send Telegram notifications Yeah ok, that one is bad. > hand-copying currently relevant tasks to the top of the TODO list Get a decent texteditor where you can press modifiers + arrow keys to move lines. Works pretty well. In fact better/faster than dragging with your mouse. > running a script on a VPS to sync notifications No need to do that, you have a calendar > set up cron job with git commit If you need your todos in a git you either work at a nuclear facility, a space station or you take yourself too seriously > writing post-it notes by hand What else would you use, a typewriter? Just kidding. Paper has undeniable strengths for the todo space. It is there and you don't have to remember to open it. Rewriting your todos is doubling as both checking their state, refreshing your memory and cleaning them up. Paper can be read without electricity and by other people without any form of setup. People know how to use it without onboarding. Hackers cannot use a flaw in the the paper has been made to gwin remote code execution (they can however potentially use photographs of paper to do so). I am not kidding, one of the best work-handoffs I ever had was entirely organized via emails and post its. It worked flawlessly. And I say that as someone who has spent days on todo systems, task warrior and the likes. Everybody has their own needs, but very often boring and pragmatic wins.
radley 1y ago
I'm in the process of doing most of this via Claude check-ins, using a combination of MCP, Obsidian, and Things. Obsidian is the memory system, context info, and archive, while Things hosts the active lists and desktop widgets. It doesn't work perfectly or even that well, but it's coming along.
ChromaticPanic 1y ago
Too many programmers think they have a unique use case without considering that maybe the existing projects are bloated for a reason. Then they end up just recreating the same bloat.
- Lalabadie 1y ago
  "Surely I can do it better in a few weeks than all preceding civilizational knowledge" is probably the most popular tech entrepreneur stereotype.
- dialup_sounds 1y ago
  Gall's Law: A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a working simple system.
  - treetalker 1y ago
    Gall's Law almost always deserves to be repeated and higher up in HN threads, and this is another instance where I wish I could upvote more than once. Here, Gall's Law provides an accurate explanation for why so many of us have returned to paper, pencil, and brain cells. It is also apropos of your comment's sibling comment regarding how tech folks frequently and mistakenly believe that they can improve on a solution that has worked well for thousands of years of human civilization (e.g., paper + writing instrument + human thought) in just a few weeks. For all the talk of Emacs's being relatively ancient and mature software, handwriting is orders of magnitude more mature and sanded down. With software to "solve" the problems of thinking, remembering, linking ideas, or deciding what to do … now you have two problems, as we say.
- k4rnaj1k 1y ago
  [dead]
- wpm 1y ago
  The existing projects probably have crap docs then. If I build it myself at least I’m likely to understand it.
AiAi 1y ago
I think one thing that is missing from emacs/org-mode is the mobile integration. There are apps that handle some features of org-mode on mobile, but probably missing features of the desktop version. Currently, I manage my notes only on the desktop because I haven't found a good companion on mobile.
- j0e1 1y ago
  If you have Android, emacs is now officially supported on Android (https://f-droid.org/packages/org.gnu.emacs https://f-droid.org/packages/org.gnu.emacs). Along with https://github.com/Julow/Unexpected-Keyboard https://github.com/Julow/Unexpected-Keyboard, it turns out to be a pretty usable (assuming you are the type that is okay working with emacs in general). I am now in search of a simple way to sync notes between my phone and computer (without using Big Tech solutions).
  - eadmund 1y ago
    > I am now in search of a simple way to sync notes between my phone and computer (without using Big Tech solutions). Syncthing?
pancakemouse 1y ago
What this shows to me, as someone who has committed some of the unholy crimes above, is that people want their system, however esoteric, to come naturally to them. I think reading docs, understanding a new system which someone else has designed, and fitting one's brain into _their_ organisational structure is the hard part. Harder than designing one's own system. It's the reason many don't stick with an off-the-shelf app. Including Org mode.
- fmbb 1y ago
  Also, if you are a developer by trade a lot of these features are quick and easy to implement.
  - barbazoo 1y ago
    And might even be fun to implement and maintain.
    - benreesman 1y ago
      I think we have a winner. This sort of personal toolsmithing is fun, and you can try out some new programming language or whatever. We all love a good excuse to build something small-to-medium sized for our own perfect "tailor fit" preferences. All the excuses about other tools not being adequate are just what we need to say to ourselves to justify the time ;)
      - jama211 1y ago
        This starts to sound like something someone might waste time building instead of actually being productive…
        barbazoo 1y ago
        In terms of earning money, but surely that's not what's it's all about, is it?
graemep 1y ago
A lot of this is solved by todo.txt format ( https://github.com/todotxt/todo.txt https://github.com/todotxt/todo.txt ) There are apps that support it on many platforms and it is easy to sync across devices.
- dcanelhas 1y ago
  Sometimes I like to imagine early people inventing, forgetting about and inventing the wheel again.
  - _9ptr 1y ago
    Now that I think about it that probably actually happened, considering the large distances between groups.
- piyushco 1y ago
  I published https://todotxt.in https://todotxt.in a week ago. Browser based, saves txt in the browser local storage.
crossroadsguy 1y ago
Because it’s never about finding the good or good enough or even the perfect system of something. It’s about the itch!
jimbokun 1y ago
I think a lot of your examples demonstrate the power and low learning curve of a single text file as an organizing tool. Org mode is one direction you could take your text file in. Feeding your text file into an LLM or committing it to git or formatting with Markdown are others. But starting with a plain text file doesn’t commit you to any of those paths.
zem 1y ago
from James Hague's blog https://prog21.dadgum.com/56.html https://prog21.dadgum.com/56.html: 8<--------------------- I still like to implement my own ideas, especially in fun languages like Erlang and Perl. I'm glad I can program, because personal programming in the small is fertile ground and tremendously useful. For starters, this entire site is generated by 269 lines of commented Perl, including the archives and the atom feed (and those 269 lines also include some HTML templates). Why? Because it was pleasant and easy, and I don't have to fight with the formatting and configuration issues of other software. Writing concise to-the-purpose solutions is a primary reason for programming in the twenty-first century.
rambambram 1y ago
Not so fast my dear, just this year I finally adopted the default home-directory structure of my linux distro (Document, Pictures, Music, Video, etc.) in my workflow. I'm not ready for more big obvious changes like this. ;)
- makapuf 1y ago
  Am i the only one to generally find those directories getting in the way ? I have very few videos or music, or even images worth storing as images and not related to other documents. Downloads and documents might be useful but then, documents is almost everything that is not online so why not put it in $HOME. And I don't like capitalized folders but that's me.
  - _9ptr 1y ago
    I put my media files in other folders, just to spite Microsoft
  - eadmund 1y ago
    man 5 user-dirs.dirs I hate the default directory names, and like you I hate the capitalisation — fortunately they can be overridden.
    - makapuf 1y ago
      Thanks. But then, starting discussion, what would be a sensible directory choice? downloads, backups ? Nothing?
  - spauldo 1y ago
    Nope, I've hated those for years. Seriously, capitalized directory names?
  - rambambram 1y ago
    I 'hated' this too for a long time, but I finally gave in. It now also matches my backup workflow perfectly. And now I don't have to tweak that much after installing a new distro. Sometimes my tools have to adapt to me, sometimes I adapt a little to my tools.
amelius 1y ago
That's more because Emacs is an OS-within-an-editor, which imho is not a good thing.
- spauldo 1y ago
  It's a portable Lisp environment that just happens to have an editor as its default application. I know it's advertised as an editor, but that's like saying a web browser is a website viewer.
csallen 1y ago
"Copy-pasting tasks is laborious" "I recommend people read this 30,000 word technical guide"
- jama211 1y ago
  Lmao
nonethewiser 1y ago
Im perfectly happy with markdown in vscode. Right next to my work and with a search function. I guess I could do txt but the syntax highlighting makes things a bit more readable. I think it works for me because it's mostly just a working memory. I virtually never visit my notes again. It is not some personal knowledge base nor project tracker.
- _345 1y ago
  This satisfied me for awhile, eventually though I wanted a more comprehensive solution to record todo notes alongside thoughts and project ideas, so I escaped my IDE and got a simple obsidian setup going. I can definitely recommend
  - nonethewiser 1y ago
    Yeah it definitely doesnt scale for every use case. It has been enough for me.
- CompoundEyes 1y ago
  Same and if I need to share a bit often times I just highlight it and tell an LLM to blast out a markdown table, render preview and screenshot it to someone.
t_mann 1y ago
How about having a synced and editable version of your to-do list on all your devices, including mobile? I've found that to be the main filter for note taking setups. You seem to suggest that there's an emacs plug-in that can handle that?
- alloutofnickels 1y ago
  I don't use emacs but vi on all of my devices. This should probably work with emacs stuff if they save it in regular files/directories. I put everything in ~/notes. Quick sync before leaving the house, sync when I return. Can use your desktop as the central location if you don't have a home server. Works with termux on android. I think iphone has iSh or something for alpine. Swap src and dest as necessary (could use other options but this is compatible with OpenBSD openrsync): rysnc -rlpt --delete notes/ user@lanip:notes
- p_j_w 1y ago
  There are apps for iOS that will read .org files and allow you to edit them and include the ability to sync with iCloud. beorg is one of them. I'm not sure about Android, but I have to imagine they exist there as well.
wim 1y ago
Combining the feel of plain text with real structure is also exactly why we're building an "IDE but for tasks/notes" [1]. With structured apps (task managers, outliners) you lose the illusion of editing plain text, but plain text alone lacks things like structure, links, dates, and collaboration. We've spent the last few years building an editor completely from scratch to keep the ease of text editing while adding planning and structure. [1] https://thymer.com https://thymer.com
- antiframe 1y ago
  There's a few bits of information missing on the website that is critical to some people: - What platforms are supported? - What is the business model? - Does the editor support customizable key bindings? Are there presets for Emacs, vi, or others?
btilly 1y ago
You give a long list of features that I don't want. And then go on to encourage everyone to switch text editors, and adopt a specific plugin that happens to work in the way that you personally like. As a vim user, this is kind of what I have come to expect from emacs users. Honestly, I'm glad that you've found something that works well for you. But I hope that some day you internalize the fact that other people aren't you, and they shouldn't always be "encouraged" to give up their existing solutions to do things in the way that you've decided is perfect.
- massysett 1y ago
  Don’t switch text editors, and don’t use a plugin. For a few years I used Orgmode. I didn’t use Emacs. That is, when I needed to edit text files, I used Vim or macOS TextEdit. I used Orgmode to track my tasks and keep notes. That Emacs was underneath it was purely incidental, and I didn’t use Emacs for anything else. For me, Orgmode was not a plugin. It was the primary software I used, and there was this Emacs thing under it. Ironically, these days I do actually use Emacs, and I use OmniFocus for tasks, mostly because OmniFocus gets multi-device sync right so it’s worth the price. But don’t hesitate to use Orgmode even if you don’t want Emacs otherwise.
  - btilly 1y ago
    And now you encounter the issue of, "a long list of features that I don't want". It is hard to sell someone on a solution to a problem that they don't have.
    - spauldo 1y ago
      org-mode is basically better Markdown with a bunch of automated things that don't get in your way unless you specifically put them in there. The only unwanted feature you're likely to encounter is automatic sub/superscript conversion, and that's documented and easy to turn off. I'm not recommending org-mode. I personally don't care if you use org-mode or not. I never understood that mentality. But the type of software you're describing is crap, and org-mode doesn't fall into that category.
mbonnet 1y ago
how exactly is a .txt not greppable?
zaptheimpaler 1y ago
Todoist does all of that and more, basically any reminders app does most of that. Just a counterpoint to say, many of us look for a todo app, use one of the many great ones on the market and then don't write blog posts about it. It's worth just trying one of the many existing apps instead of building your own.
XenophileJKO 1y ago
So my current pet project is a to-do system with an app that you can look at, edit, or complete tasks in. But I have both a fully agentic interface and simpler LLM powered inputs. I'm really enjoying it. I think it is a good example of how to leverage LLMs to reduce drudgery. Things I can do now: - take a picture of a notice like a license renewal and a task is created and automatically filled with due dates and information extracted from the image and likely from online searches. - turn a design document into a reasonable task plan. - create classified and researched tasks with a sentence. I'm just getting started on it but it already is kind of feature complete. Programmed with Claude Code, about 20k lines. The key I think is to have something as easy to input as a text file, because it applies intelligence to remove friction.
heresie-dabord 1y ago
> many users who swear by a plain text file, but who then build quite a lot of snowflake software The most robust, stable solution for me has been to use foundational tools with proven longevity: = bash = git = ncal https://github.com/viviparous/showcal.git https://github.com/viviparous/showcal.git
waffletower 1y ago
I have used emacs for more than 30 years, use it as a primary code editor now, and I have never found use of org-mode, despite a few attempts, to become a lasting habit. Of the list of integrations provided here, I only see alert and calendar support being of interest (but because of this, I may give org-mode one more try).
geor9e 1y ago
please accept that some of us need to re-invent emacs with org-mode from first principles, to fully appreciate it
nkrisc 1y ago
> but _every_ item on the list above is handled out of the box, or is offered through a free and maintained plugin. Which one writes post-it notes for you?
bitexploder 1y ago
Most of this is solved by: todo list in one file. One list. Use markdown. Try Obsidian. Read Randy Pausch last lecture. Look at his todo list. Copy that. Use a calendar if it is time sensitive. Look at your todo list often. Want to be fancy? Have an inbox file that is also a list. Your backlog is stuff that moves down to priorities other than 1. Try the Covey quadrants for your task priorities. Don’t over complicate this. You can make an art form out of procrastinating on real tasks to create the most perfect todo system ever. We got LLMs now. It can query your text file, categorize, etc.
- temptemptemp111 1y ago
  [dead]
hal009 1y ago
Emacs is the unholiest of them all.
komali2 1y ago
If people want an excellent todo list system that's essentially infinitely customizable but still approachable for basic productivity, org mode is good. The mobile experience is somewhat lacking but good enough with Orgzly on Android. However with org mode I had the same issue I had with all my to-do list systems, wherein I tended to record too many todos. I needed granular prioritization and gtd contexts and scheduled and deadlines and repeaters to keep track of it all. I needed to install org super agenda to get useful views. I switched to trillium and nuked 90% of my todos in the migration as out of date or just kinda vague things that'd be nice to do and chucked those into a future projects note. Trillium's to-do UX is slightly better than a markdown document because you can click to check the boxes, that's about it. It's high friction. I have to go to today's note, go to the Todo section, and then put my to-do in the list. Or the week Todo section, or month or year. What I've found is now I actually do all my to-dos because now they're all actually worth doing. I'm not scrabbling down every single thing and cluttering up my list.
tempestn 1y ago
I feel the same way. I landed on Evernote rather than org-mode, but it similarly provides all these features out of the box, while letting me largely customize my setup. (I basically do GTD with a notebook for each priority level.) Was regretting it a bit in the 2020-2023 range when Evernote was going downhill, but it's improved a fair amount since the acquisition. Almost (but not quite) to the point where I'd recommend it to others again. What I would recommend is spending the time to learn some system beyond just a text file. I've ultimately found it well worth it, to the extent that I couldn't imagine going back now. It is definitely an investment up front though.
coolThingsFirst 1y ago
All of this is BS and not important. No one goes through 20 high priority meetings or tasks a day. It's one and maximum 3. If you need an ALERT for something important, it likely isn't important in the first place.
davedx 1y ago
Text files are too basic, I'm a spreadsheet TODO fella
setopt 1y ago
To add a different perspective, I love Emacs Org-mode for note taking but gave up on it for task management after a couple of years. Not because the tool is inadequate – my attempts at Todoist or Taskwarrior didn’t fare any better – but because the GTD-style workflow just doesn’t fit my personality. I’ve now happily used a paper-based bullet journal instead, and am about to transition to a Rocketbook for this use. The problem is that a GTD-style workflow requires a lot of discipline to stick to daily/weekly reviews, where you prune or reschedule tasks, and it requires you to be strict about deleting tasks you’ll never do. If not, you just get an endlessly growing list of stale tasks, and for me personally the list becomes so associated with guilt and stress that I just burn out and get paralyzed unless I regularly throw it all out and start from scratch. (Is "TODO bankruptcy" a thing?) Surprisingly, this led me to the conclusion that being able to forget tasks is crucial for me to remain focused, productive, and mentally stable. Being able to start each day with a blank page, write or transfer tasks that I can realistically do today, and letting the unimportant ones silently disappear on old pages without having to consciously delete them, somehow works better for me. For notes however, Org-mode is great. I’ve found great value in rediscovering old ideas and knowledge 5 years later, whereas finding 5 year old undone tasks is rarely something I want.
renegat0x0 1y ago
All that you write is not necessary for me. I use a plain text app on phone for TODOs. I hate notifications, do not use full text search. I have been using it for 5 years now and I hate the notes apps with their clunky buttons, limiting software, where you cannot write or do what you want to. I see apps often as regressions toward freedom of note apps.
- zelphirkalt 1y ago
  You do understand that org-mode is plain text, yes? You are basically losing nothing, if you write an org mode file. You don't even have to use org syntax. The point is you can and you can do things faster, if you do. Like inserting a new heading, or changing the order of text blocks, or inserting a quote or a table.
finaard 1y ago
> I would encourage everyone to try out emacs with org-mode. You can even do that, _and_ do stuff from your unholy list. I have my org folder synced via syncthing to every device I care about. I used to do automated git commits on that folder, but eventually stopped it years ago as commit messages like "daily automated commit" are not better than regular backups. But thanks to LLMs I went back to that - now I have a systemd timer which calls a script that calls Emacs (because I have all the LLM bindings set up in there already) with the git diff to generate a commit message. That does a pretty good job at summarising my changes.
myaccountonhn 1y ago
I like caldav instead with todoman. Allows me to use reminder/whatever on my phone, sync with fastmail and also have my CLI todo list.
7thpower 1y ago
Just wait until I tell you that the reason people have done all of that work is because it is a satisfying form of procrastination.
billfruit 1y ago
I think using org mode is way overkill. If someone wants to do pros tastination dressed up as emacs-gardening, it may be a good option. The best todo app ideally should be a smartphone app, which you'd have always with you. I think Microsoft Todo is a good choice for Android. It is mostly functional, free of cost and does not have any ads.
zdc1 1y ago
Obsidian is my happy medium. Does many of the above while also doubling as my journalling tool.
debussyman 1y ago
> who then build quite a lot of snowflake software So close! People building snowflake software is a consequence of it not being a generalizable problem, not the cause of it. Everyone organizes their notes/todos differently, and though the variations may seem slight, they are best solved by a blunt and unopinionated tool. > It takes some time to get used to Non-starter. A text file is the hammer of the digital world
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BrtByte 1y ago
But I think part of the OP's point was about deliberately not chasing extra features, even if they're free and
meistertigran 1y ago
Org mode is nice, but ultimately you are adapting someone else's approach. The best is making your own, for which you know all features and which works exactly as you want it to work.
v3ss0n 1y ago
- Not everyone like EMacs , i am not going to open up another editor just to use orgmode .. it needs a lot of preparations. - Orgmode format itself is a mess , it only good because Emacs's orgmode extension is very good working with Orgmode. What would be really good is a Markdown-Compatible Todo System , with notes linking and tagging , and status/progress integration. There was Dandrite, it was quite close to what needed but that project was abandoned.
- Cebul1234 1y ago
  Check Obsidian: https://obsidian.md https://obsidian.md
  - v3ss0n 1y ago
    Not opensource. If you checked dendrite it had features of obsidian
lvturner 1y ago
I've taken to using an LLM to organize my Todo list (self hosted interface with a little MCP server I wrote and a postgrss db on my network), it's still very simplistic however for someone with ADHD just having fast and unorganized data go in and structured data come out, is a real win. It isn't perfect, and still lacks a lot of features that other people may consider a must have, but so far it's been the best Todo app I've ever used.
willlma 1y ago
How do you check your todo list on mobile?
Suppafly 1y ago
>but who then build quite a lot of snowflake software to regain functionality offered by more structured TODO applications. That includes: I pretty much don't want any of that stuff though.

by Igrom 1y ago

akkartik 1y ago

Do I need to start living in Emacs to get these benefits? Or are you saying I can use Emacs as my todo list app, close it after writing a todo, and have it pop up notifications?

pja 1y ago
https://github.com/doppelc/org-notifications https://github.com/doppelc/org-notifications is a thing if you want that. Emacs will happily run in the background.
tikhonj 1y ago
I've known folks who used Emacs for writing and org-mode, but didn't live in it otherwise. But living in Emacs is more the sort of thing you get to do, not the sort of thing you'd need to do ;)
pydry 1y ago
No. I hate emacs but orgmode is still a good file format. I use orgzly revived with it. Org mode could do with a bigger non emacs ecosystem, though.
spauldo 1y ago
Yes, with a little setup. But never forget that org-mode is the gateway drug of Emacs. You start using it for the agenda and TODO lists, learn it has spreadsheet functionality that ties in with the arbitrary-precision calculator, start taking notes and exporting them to PDF via LaTeX, writing reports in it with your company letterhead, merging your contacts list, migrating your email into Emacs, and next thing you know you find yourself fifteen pairs of parentheses deep in a custom elisp function that tweaks the date format for that one manager that insists on yy/dd/mm whenever you send your weekly progress report. Not that I'd know anything about that.

not_kurt_godel 1y ago

Apple's Reminders app does all of those things and many more without having to learn emacs

koakuma-chan 1y ago
Ironically the Reminders app sucks at reminding. I use the Clock app for my todo list; it makes a pretty loud noise pretty reliably, which makes it pretty good for reminders.
- haukilup 1y ago
  Being pedantic, based on your example, I think the Reminders app does a good job at reminding, but a bad job at alerting. But that’s because a reminder to me is a gentle concept.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
- YVoyiatzis 1y ago
  I believe the Reminders app, when used alongside Notes and Calendar, is becoming a strong competitor in the productivity space. One feature I'd love to see added is persistent nudging reminders that keep alerting you until you manually dismiss them. Things 3 is another excellent third-party option in this category. Together, these apps form my essential productivity stack. I honestly can't function without them.
- deleted 1y ago
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- not_kurt_godel 1y ago
  I agree it would be nice to have more alarm-like notification options. Flagging, setting as high priority, and assigning a date/time and getting in the habit of checking the Today category regularly all help mitigate; a bug-me-until-this-is-done feature would be a welcome alternative. (I will note that the GP's emacs stack isn't even close to offering native mobile push notifications, to state the obvious.)

the_af 1y ago

I don't do anything that you mentioned. I truly just use a plain .txt file. Every "add-on" and layer beyond the .txt happens to run on a complex wetware device that came built-in with my body.

jasode 1y ago
>Every "add-on" and layer beyond the .txt happens to run on a complex wetware device that came built-in with my body. He was addressing the comments such as mine that determined a txt file without any runtime software layered on was not enough for some people. The built-in wetware was inadequate. Apparently, you are one of the lucky ones that can just use a txt file. For others, they need a little more support apparatus ("bicycle for the mind") enabled by some type of active app that complements the TODO.txt file.

nosianu 1y ago

> - having your computer alert you to things that come up If my own experience is a valid example, alerts are overrated. They don't work for long. I hate getting interrupted by something that actually does not need my attention at that precise moment. I would disable those alerts in no time. I prefer leaving physical cues in the real world. I think screens are bad UI unless you already spend way too much time in front of them. The god old in- and out- baskets are great, for example. Or notes on a physical board. Sometimes when I think of something I want to do in the morning, I just leave an object that does not belong in a place I will definitely have to use in the morning. Seeing that object will remind me of that thought I had just before going to bed. I don't even need to write down what it was. Physical cues are wonderful! And THAT is what I would want from Augmented Reality (in addition to it no longer requiring cumbersome hardware to wear). A flexible recreation of former physical work places, but using the new flexibility of computer augmentation of what I see. To be able to place digital notes in the real world. To view and touch documents not fixed in a single place in front of me, but anywhere! I put some documents on the left, some on the right, some on the wall, and I move my body around to view and use them. A purely screen-based app, when I already hate having to stare straight ahead for hours every day just doesn't cut it for me. I want my digital world to be in the real world, and use my entire body, not just very limited arm and hand movements while barely moving the head because the viewport is just one small two-dimensional rectangle in my large reality. Okay, that went slightly OT, but I made that point because it is relevant for TODOs and most interactions with computers. I think they are much better when tied to our real world, not inside a tiny screen where a lot of stuff is already squeezed in and waiting for our attention, and everything can only be used like a surgeon doing keyhole surgery - indirectly through a tiny port and tools, instead of ones hands. Place TODO hints in the real world on or near appropriate places.

brettermeier 1y ago
Alerts are most important, that's why paper doesn't work for me. I just write everything in my calender app in my phone.
- skydhash 1y ago
  Taks tracking is different from reminders. There’s actually few things that I want to be reminded of, and they either belongs to a calendar (collaborative items) or a reminder app. The separation is blurry and they can all fits within the agenda concept. As for tasks tracking, it’s all lists. And a daily/weekly/monthly review is enough for me.

jmull 1y ago

I think the reason people use text file + "snowflake software" is that they want just the structure (constraints) they want, and no more. BTW, what people want changes over time and by circumstance. org mode has a lot of features, including customizability, but imposes some heavy constraints as well. By its nature it's only going to satisfy a sliver of the people who have come around to text file. It's good you linked that document, though. At a glance it gives a fair idea of what you'd be buying in to.

atoav 1y ago

As somone who uses text and paper for todos, happily for years now after spending equally much time procrastinating in search of the perfect task management system I will now do a half-ironic take on answering your points: > having your computer alert you to things that come up That's what the calendar or the alarm is for > being able to tag notes Write #tag and then grep for it. Not that hard > being able to add events to a calendar A event isn't a todo, you add it to the calendar instead > being able to set priority of tasks Cut it and paste it up to the top or write "IMPORTANT". If you have so many tasks that you need something better, you probably spend too much time organizing your todos and should start working > expecting prioritized/currently relevant tasks to be at the top of the agenda If your todo lists are so long thst you cant read them in 30 seconds they are too long. Split them up and mive them to the relevant project. > being able to add recurring tasks Just leave it in the list and add a questionmark at the end. If it is time critical add it to the calendar > full-text search (grepping) Yeah, good observation you can grep text pretty fine. If you're annoyed by having to type the filename that is a shell oneliner - formatting features (markdown) You can use markdown in text, it is just more or less useless wothout rendering. But I don't see how formatting leads to more productivity > feeding TODOs to an LLM to filter out the currently relevant ones and send Telegram notifications Yeah ok, that one is bad. > hand-copying currently relevant tasks to the top of the TODO list Get a decent texteditor where you can press modifiers + arrow keys to move lines. Works pretty well. In fact better/faster than dragging with your mouse. > running a script on a VPS to sync notifications No need to do that, you have a calendar > set up cron job with git commit If you need your todos in a git you either work at a nuclear facility, a space station or you take yourself too seriously > writing post-it notes by hand What else would you use, a typewriter? Just kidding. Paper has undeniable strengths for the todo space. It is there and you don't have to remember to open it. Rewriting your todos is doubling as both checking their state, refreshing your memory and cleaning them up. Paper can be read without electricity and by other people without any form of setup. People know how to use it without onboarding. Hackers cannot use a flaw in the the paper has been made to gwin remote code execution (they can however potentially use photographs of paper to do so). I am not kidding, one of the best work-handoffs I ever had was entirely organized via emails and post its. It worked flawlessly. And I say that as someone who has spent days on todo systems, task warrior and the likes. Everybody has their own needs, but very often boring and pragmatic wins.

radley 1y ago

I'm in the process of doing most of this via Claude check-ins, using a combination of MCP, Obsidian, and Things. Obsidian is the memory system, context info, and archive, while Things hosts the active lists and desktop widgets. It doesn't work perfectly or even that well, but it's coming along.

ChromaticPanic 1y ago

Too many programmers think they have a unique use case without considering that maybe the existing projects are bloated for a reason. Then they end up just recreating the same bloat.

Lalabadie 1y ago
"Surely I can do it better in a few weeks than all preceding civilizational knowledge" is probably the most popular tech entrepreneur stereotype.
dialup_sounds 1y ago
Gall's Law: A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a working simple system.
- treetalker 1y ago
  Gall's Law almost always deserves to be repeated and higher up in HN threads, and this is another instance where I wish I could upvote more than once. Here, Gall's Law provides an accurate explanation for why so many of us have returned to paper, pencil, and brain cells. It is also apropos of your comment's sibling comment regarding how tech folks frequently and mistakenly believe that they can improve on a solution that has worked well for thousands of years of human civilization (e.g., paper + writing instrument + human thought) in just a few weeks. For all the talk of Emacs's being relatively ancient and mature software, handwriting is orders of magnitude more mature and sanded down. With software to "solve" the problems of thinking, remembering, linking ideas, or deciding what to do … now you have two problems, as we say.
k4rnaj1k 1y ago
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wpm 1y ago
The existing projects probably have crap docs then. If I build it myself at least I’m likely to understand it.

AiAi 1y ago

I think one thing that is missing from emacs/org-mode is the mobile integration. There are apps that handle some features of org-mode on mobile, but probably missing features of the desktop version. Currently, I manage my notes only on the desktop because I haven't found a good companion on mobile.

j0e1 1y ago
If you have Android, emacs is now officially supported on Android (https://f-droid.org/packages/org.gnu.emacs https://f-droid.org/packages/org.gnu.emacs). Along with https://github.com/Julow/Unexpected-Keyboard https://github.com/Julow/Unexpected-Keyboard, it turns out to be a pretty usable (assuming you are the type that is okay working with emacs in general). I am now in search of a simple way to sync notes between my phone and computer (without using Big Tech solutions).
- eadmund 1y ago
  > I am now in search of a simple way to sync notes between my phone and computer (without using Big Tech solutions). Syncthing?

pancakemouse 1y ago

What this shows to me, as someone who has committed some of the unholy crimes above, is that people want their system, however esoteric, to come naturally to them. I think reading docs, understanding a new system which someone else has designed, and fitting one's brain into _their_ organisational structure is the hard part. Harder than designing one's own system. It's the reason many don't stick with an off-the-shelf app. Including Org mode.

fmbb 1y ago
Also, if you are a developer by trade a lot of these features are quick and easy to implement.
- barbazoo 1y ago
  And might even be fun to implement and maintain.
  - benreesman 1y ago
    I think we have a winner. This sort of personal toolsmithing is fun, and you can try out some new programming language or whatever. We all love a good excuse to build something small-to-medium sized for our own perfect "tailor fit" preferences. All the excuses about other tools not being adequate are just what we need to say to ourselves to justify the time ;)
    - jama211 1y ago
      This starts to sound like something someone might waste time building instead of actually being productive…
      - barbazoo 1y ago
        In terms of earning money, but surely that's not what's it's all about, is it?

graemep 1y ago

A lot of this is solved by todo.txt format ( https://github.com/todotxt/todo.txt https://github.com/todotxt/todo.txt ) There are apps that support it on many platforms and it is easy to sync across devices.

dcanelhas 1y ago
Sometimes I like to imagine early people inventing, forgetting about and inventing the wheel again.
- _9ptr 1y ago
  Now that I think about it that probably actually happened, considering the large distances between groups.
piyushco 1y ago
I published https://todotxt.in https://todotxt.in a week ago. Browser based, saves txt in the browser local storage.

crossroadsguy 1y ago

Because it’s never about finding the good or good enough or even the perfect system of something. It’s about the itch!

jimbokun 1y ago

I think a lot of your examples demonstrate the power and low learning curve of a single text file as an organizing tool. Org mode is one direction you could take your text file in. Feeding your text file into an LLM or committing it to git or formatting with Markdown are others. But starting with a plain text file doesn’t commit you to any of those paths.

zem 1y ago

from James Hague's blog https://prog21.dadgum.com/56.html https://prog21.dadgum.com/56.html: 8<--------------------- I still like to implement my own ideas, especially in fun languages like Erlang and Perl. I'm glad I can program, because personal programming in the small is fertile ground and tremendously useful. For starters, this entire site is generated by 269 lines of commented Perl, including the archives and the atom feed (and those 269 lines also include some HTML templates). Why? Because it was pleasant and easy, and I don't have to fight with the formatting and configuration issues of other software. Writing concise to-the-purpose solutions is a primary reason for programming in the twenty-first century.

rambambram 1y ago

Not so fast my dear, just this year I finally adopted the default home-directory structure of my linux distro (Document, Pictures, Music, Video, etc.) in my workflow. I'm not ready for more big obvious changes like this. ;)

makapuf 1y ago
Am i the only one to generally find those directories getting in the way ? I have very few videos or music, or even images worth storing as images and not related to other documents. Downloads and documents might be useful but then, documents is almost everything that is not online so why not put it in $HOME. And I don't like capitalized folders but that's me.
- _9ptr 1y ago
  I put my media files in other folders, just to spite Microsoft
- eadmund 1y ago
  man 5 user-dirs.dirs I hate the default directory names, and like you I hate the capitalisation — fortunately they can be overridden.
  - makapuf 1y ago
    Thanks. But then, starting discussion, what would be a sensible directory choice? downloads, backups ? Nothing?
- spauldo 1y ago
  Nope, I've hated those for years. Seriously, capitalized directory names?
- rambambram 1y ago
  I 'hated' this too for a long time, but I finally gave in. It now also matches my backup workflow perfectly. And now I don't have to tweak that much after installing a new distro. Sometimes my tools have to adapt to me, sometimes I adapt a little to my tools.

amelius 1y ago

That's more because Emacs is an OS-within-an-editor, which imho is not a good thing.

spauldo 1y ago
It's a portable Lisp environment that just happens to have an editor as its default application. I know it's advertised as an editor, but that's like saying a web browser is a website viewer.

csallen 1y ago

"Copy-pasting tasks is laborious" "I recommend people read this 30,000 word technical guide"

jama211 1y ago
Lmao

nonethewiser 1y ago

Im perfectly happy with markdown in vscode. Right next to my work and with a search function. I guess I could do txt but the syntax highlighting makes things a bit more readable. I think it works for me because it's mostly just a working memory. I virtually never visit my notes again. It is not some personal knowledge base nor project tracker.

_345 1y ago
This satisfied me for awhile, eventually though I wanted a more comprehensive solution to record todo notes alongside thoughts and project ideas, so I escaped my IDE and got a simple obsidian setup going. I can definitely recommend
- nonethewiser 1y ago
  Yeah it definitely doesnt scale for every use case. It has been enough for me.
CompoundEyes 1y ago
Same and if I need to share a bit often times I just highlight it and tell an LLM to blast out a markdown table, render preview and screenshot it to someone.

t_mann 1y ago

How about having a synced and editable version of your to-do list on all your devices, including mobile? I've found that to be the main filter for note taking setups. You seem to suggest that there's an emacs plug-in that can handle that?

alloutofnickels 1y ago
I don't use emacs but vi on all of my devices. This should probably work with emacs stuff if they save it in regular files/directories. I put everything in ~/notes. Quick sync before leaving the house, sync when I return. Can use your desktop as the central location if you don't have a home server. Works with termux on android. I think iphone has iSh or something for alpine. Swap src and dest as necessary (could use other options but this is compatible with OpenBSD openrsync): rysnc -rlpt --delete notes/ user@lanip:notes
p_j_w 1y ago
There are apps for iOS that will read .org files and allow you to edit them and include the ability to sync with iCloud. beorg is one of them. I'm not sure about Android, but I have to imagine they exist there as well.

wim 1y ago

Combining the feel of plain text with real structure is also exactly why we're building an "IDE but for tasks/notes" [1]. With structured apps (task managers, outliners) you lose the illusion of editing plain text, but plain text alone lacks things like structure, links, dates, and collaboration. We've spent the last few years building an editor completely from scratch to keep the ease of text editing while adding planning and structure. [1] https://thymer.com https://thymer.com

antiframe 1y ago
There's a few bits of information missing on the website that is critical to some people: - What platforms are supported? - What is the business model? - Does the editor support customizable key bindings? Are there presets for Emacs, vi, or others?

btilly 1y ago

You give a long list of features that I don't want. And then go on to encourage everyone to switch text editors, and adopt a specific plugin that happens to work in the way that you personally like. As a vim user, this is kind of what I have come to expect from emacs users. Honestly, I'm glad that you've found something that works well for you. But I hope that some day you internalize the fact that other people aren't you, and they shouldn't always be "encouraged" to give up their existing solutions to do things in the way that you've decided is perfect.

massysett 1y ago
Don’t switch text editors, and don’t use a plugin. For a few years I used Orgmode. I didn’t use Emacs. That is, when I needed to edit text files, I used Vim or macOS TextEdit. I used Orgmode to track my tasks and keep notes. That Emacs was underneath it was purely incidental, and I didn’t use Emacs for anything else. For me, Orgmode was not a plugin. It was the primary software I used, and there was this Emacs thing under it. Ironically, these days I do actually use Emacs, and I use OmniFocus for tasks, mostly because OmniFocus gets multi-device sync right so it’s worth the price. But don’t hesitate to use Orgmode even if you don’t want Emacs otherwise.
- btilly 1y ago
  And now you encounter the issue of, "a long list of features that I don't want". It is hard to sell someone on a solution to a problem that they don't have.
  - spauldo 1y ago
    org-mode is basically better Markdown with a bunch of automated things that don't get in your way unless you specifically put them in there. The only unwanted feature you're likely to encounter is automatic sub/superscript conversion, and that's documented and easy to turn off. I'm not recommending org-mode. I personally don't care if you use org-mode or not. I never understood that mentality. But the type of software you're describing is crap, and org-mode doesn't fall into that category.

mbonnet 1y ago

how exactly is a .txt not greppable?

zaptheimpaler 1y ago

Todoist does all of that and more, basically any reminders app does most of that. Just a counterpoint to say, many of us look for a todo app, use one of the many great ones on the market and then don't write blog posts about it. It's worth just trying one of the many existing apps instead of building your own.

XenophileJKO 1y ago

So my current pet project is a to-do system with an app that you can look at, edit, or complete tasks in. But I have both a fully agentic interface and simpler LLM powered inputs. I'm really enjoying it. I think it is a good example of how to leverage LLMs to reduce drudgery. Things I can do now: - take a picture of a notice like a license renewal and a task is created and automatically filled with due dates and information extracted from the image and likely from online searches. - turn a design document into a reasonable task plan. - create classified and researched tasks with a sentence. I'm just getting started on it but it already is kind of feature complete. Programmed with Claude Code, about 20k lines. The key I think is to have something as easy to input as a text file, because it applies intelligence to remove friction.

heresie-dabord 1y ago

> many users who swear by a plain text file, but who then build quite a lot of snowflake software The most robust, stable solution for me has been to use foundational tools with proven longevity: = bash = git = ncal https://github.com/viviparous/showcal.git https://github.com/viviparous/showcal.git

waffletower 1y ago

I have used emacs for more than 30 years, use it as a primary code editor now, and I have never found use of org-mode, despite a few attempts, to become a lasting habit. Of the list of integrations provided here, I only see alert and calendar support being of interest (but because of this, I may give org-mode one more try).

geor9e 1y ago

please accept that some of us need to re-invent emacs with org-mode from first principles, to fully appreciate it

nkrisc 1y ago

> but _every_ item on the list above is handled out of the box, or is offered through a free and maintained plugin. Which one writes post-it notes for you?

bitexploder 1y ago

Most of this is solved by: todo list in one file. One list. Use markdown. Try Obsidian. Read Randy Pausch last lecture. Look at his todo list. Copy that. Use a calendar if it is time sensitive. Look at your todo list often. Want to be fancy? Have an inbox file that is also a list. Your backlog is stuff that moves down to priorities other than 1. Try the Covey quadrants for your task priorities. Don’t over complicate this. You can make an art form out of procrastinating on real tasks to create the most perfect todo system ever. We got LLMs now. It can query your text file, categorize, etc.

temptemptemp111 1y ago
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hal009 1y ago

Emacs is the unholiest of them all.

komali2 1y ago

If people want an excellent todo list system that's essentially infinitely customizable but still approachable for basic productivity, org mode is good. The mobile experience is somewhat lacking but good enough with Orgzly on Android. However with org mode I had the same issue I had with all my to-do list systems, wherein I tended to record too many todos. I needed granular prioritization and gtd contexts and scheduled and deadlines and repeaters to keep track of it all. I needed to install org super agenda to get useful views. I switched to trillium and nuked 90% of my todos in the migration as out of date or just kinda vague things that'd be nice to do and chucked those into a future projects note. Trillium's to-do UX is slightly better than a markdown document because you can click to check the boxes, that's about it. It's high friction. I have to go to today's note, go to the Todo section, and then put my to-do in the list. Or the week Todo section, or month or year. What I've found is now I actually do all my to-dos because now they're all actually worth doing. I'm not scrabbling down every single thing and cluttering up my list.

tempestn 1y ago

I feel the same way. I landed on Evernote rather than org-mode, but it similarly provides all these features out of the box, while letting me largely customize my setup. (I basically do GTD with a notebook for each priority level.) Was regretting it a bit in the 2020-2023 range when Evernote was going downhill, but it's improved a fair amount since the acquisition. Almost (but not quite) to the point where I'd recommend it to others again. What I would recommend is spending the time to learn some system beyond just a text file. I've ultimately found it well worth it, to the extent that I couldn't imagine going back now. It is definitely an investment up front though.

coolThingsFirst 1y ago

All of this is BS and not important. No one goes through 20 high priority meetings or tasks a day. It's one and maximum 3. If you need an ALERT for something important, it likely isn't important in the first place.

davedx 1y ago

Text files are too basic, I'm a spreadsheet TODO fella

setopt 1y ago

To add a different perspective, I love Emacs Org-mode for note taking but gave up on it for task management after a couple of years. Not because the tool is inadequate – my attempts at Todoist or Taskwarrior didn’t fare any better – but because the GTD-style workflow just doesn’t fit my personality. I’ve now happily used a paper-based bullet journal instead, and am about to transition to a Rocketbook for this use. The problem is that a GTD-style workflow requires a lot of discipline to stick to daily/weekly reviews, where you prune or reschedule tasks, and it requires you to be strict about deleting tasks you’ll never do. If not, you just get an endlessly growing list of stale tasks, and for me personally the list becomes so associated with guilt and stress that I just burn out and get paralyzed unless I regularly throw it all out and start from scratch. (Is "TODO bankruptcy" a thing?) Surprisingly, this led me to the conclusion that being able to forget tasks is crucial for me to remain focused, productive, and mentally stable. Being able to start each day with a blank page, write or transfer tasks that I can realistically do today, and letting the unimportant ones silently disappear on old pages without having to consciously delete them, somehow works better for me. For notes however, Org-mode is great. I’ve found great value in rediscovering old ideas and knowledge 5 years later, whereas finding 5 year old undone tasks is rarely something I want.

renegat0x0 1y ago

All that you write is not necessary for me. I use a plain text app on phone for TODOs. I hate notifications, do not use full text search. I have been using it for 5 years now and I hate the notes apps with their clunky buttons, limiting software, where you cannot write or do what you want to. I see apps often as regressions toward freedom of note apps.

zelphirkalt 1y ago
You do understand that org-mode is plain text, yes? You are basically losing nothing, if you write an org mode file. You don't even have to use org syntax. The point is you can and you can do things faster, if you do. Like inserting a new heading, or changing the order of text blocks, or inserting a quote or a table.

finaard 1y ago

> I would encourage everyone to try out emacs with org-mode. You can even do that, _and_ do stuff from your unholy list. I have my org folder synced via syncthing to every device I care about. I used to do automated git commits on that folder, but eventually stopped it years ago as commit messages like "daily automated commit" are not better than regular backups. But thanks to LLMs I went back to that - now I have a systemd timer which calls a script that calls Emacs (because I have all the LLM bindings set up in there already) with the git diff to generate a commit message. That does a pretty good job at summarising my changes.

myaccountonhn 1y ago

I like caldav instead with todoman. Allows me to use reminder/whatever on my phone, sync with fastmail and also have my CLI todo list.

7thpower 1y ago

Just wait until I tell you that the reason people have done all of that work is because it is a satisfying form of procrastination.

billfruit 1y ago

I think using org mode is way overkill. If someone wants to do pros tastination dressed up as emacs-gardening, it may be a good option. The best todo app ideally should be a smartphone app, which you'd have always with you. I think Microsoft Todo is a good choice for Android. It is mostly functional, free of cost and does not have any ads.

zdc1 1y ago

Obsidian is my happy medium. Does many of the above while also doubling as my journalling tool.

debussyman 1y ago

> who then build quite a lot of snowflake software So close! People building snowflake software is a consequence of it not being a generalizable problem, not the cause of it. Everyone organizes their notes/todos differently, and though the variations may seem slight, they are best solved by a blunt and unopinionated tool. > It takes some time to get used to Non-starter. A text file is the hammer of the digital world

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

BrtByte 1y ago

But I think part of the OP's point was about deliberately not chasing extra features, even if they're free and

meistertigran 1y ago

Org mode is nice, but ultimately you are adapting someone else's approach. The best is making your own, for which you know all features and which works exactly as you want it to work.

v3ss0n 1y ago

- Not everyone like EMacs , i am not going to open up another editor just to use orgmode .. it needs a lot of preparations. - Orgmode format itself is a mess , it only good because Emacs's orgmode extension is very good working with Orgmode. What would be really good is a Markdown-Compatible Todo System , with notes linking and tagging , and status/progress integration. There was Dandrite, it was quite close to what needed but that project was abandoned.

Cebul1234 1y ago
Check Obsidian: https://obsidian.md https://obsidian.md
- v3ss0n 1y ago
  Not opensource. If you checked dendrite it had features of obsidian

lvturner 1y ago

I've taken to using an LLM to organize my Todo list (self hosted interface with a little MCP server I wrote and a postgrss db on my network), it's still very simplistic however for someone with ADHD just having fast and unorganized data go in and structured data come out, is a real win. It isn't perfect, and still lacks a lot of features that other people may consider a must have, but so far it's been the best Todo app I've ever used.

willlma 1y ago

How do you check your todo list on mobile?

Suppafly 1y ago

>but who then build quite a lot of snowflake software to regain functionality offered by more structured TODO applications. That includes: I pretty much don't want any of that stuff though.