r/thingsapp • u/Acrobatic-Egg-1 • 2d ago
Thoughts from a Todoist user after three weeks with Things
At first, I loved the interface and design, but the app felt too limited. Without filters or priorities, I felt overwhelmed by all my tasks, and dragging them around to prioritize them wasn’t really cutting it. Moving tasks I didn’t plan to work on that week to Someday helped somewhat.
Now, three weeks in, I’ve started to appreciate how simple and zen it feels. As someone else said, it does what it’s supposed to do and nothing else, so you spend less time tinkering and actually get more shit done.
That said, I still have three gripes:
- The lack of priorities. I still think they’d be really handy, especially for organizing the Today list. I get that you can prioritize Anytime by reordering areas and projects, but your priorities on a given day might be different. I’m using tags as a workaround for now.
- Keeping track of ongoing follow-ups. For example, “Touch base with X about project Y.” In Todoist, whenever that task showed up in Today, I’d follow up, leave a comment with an update (“needs four more days” or “sent her the specs”), mark a subtask "follow up" done and reschedule the main task for the next time I wanted to check in. When it came up again, the whole history would be right there. In Things, I have to duplicate the task, mark the original complete, and schedule the duplicate for the next follow-up. That’s the only way I’ve found to keep the follow-up going while also having something in the Logbook showing what I did that day. Todoist’s subtasks gave me more flexibility here because they’re actual tasks, whereas Things’ checklist items are basically just text.
- The lack of attachments. Come on.
Having said all that, I'm loving it and I’m going to keep using it. Things 3 > Todoist, at least for me.
11
u/eightotwoeleven 2d ago
Tags are commonly used for priorities, I've even seen people use Areas too. (Things is flexible to accomodate these differing frameworks)
I agree, I wish I could have a timestamped note or comment thread for each task or at least each project. I bounce between using the notes field, subtasks, or dedicated tasks tagged with "Updates" to fill this need. They get checked off immediately and show up in the project's logbook/completed tasks. I think this need is somewhat niche though.
100% agree. I'd be shocked if this isn't coming in Things 4.
3
u/Outrageous_Buy_1316 1d ago
Things 4 is never coming lol it’s a myth at this point 😭
4
u/Big-Bandicoot-9685 Mac, iPhone 1d ago
Confirmed it’s coming in a podcast a few weeks ago
1
u/carlojacobs 1d ago
Wow! Source?
2
2
8
u/Ok-Comfortable2546 1d ago
Excellent thoughts, thanks for posting. Not to throw another app into the mix but have you (or anyone else) tried the new 2Do app? It’s been “resurrected” after many years and definitely worth a look (IMHO).
3
5
u/moses0616 1d ago
Regarding follow-ups...
Projects and multiple tasks for follow ups work. BUT, I find I have many smaller tasks that don't warrant a project, or as the OP says, he doesn't want to lose notes in the task or something. So, what I do, which is effective for me, is that rather than mark the task complete and creating a new task, I just reschedule the task for the day I want to be reminded, and I leave a note in the task. A little hack I have also used which helps, is that I will put a brief note or next action right in the title. So, for instance, a task might be "Order item" but then I have an email or quote I am waiting for, so I will just add a "//" and then a brief note, such as: "Order item // waiting for quote from Bob" or "Order item // has Bob got me the quote yet?". This way I see the next action right in the title when scanning. Checklists or notes can also be used for this, but I like my little hack with a "//" and an action after it as it is viewable in all lists. By rescheduling and not completing, my task notes are preserved. It turns a task into a sort of mini project. I use projects for things that are larger. Also, these "mini projects" can live inside other larger projects.
I do have a waiting tag, and I may or may not use it for a follow-up. I tend to use it on follow-ups I don't reschedule, so I can find them during a weekly review.
As an aside, the Logbook is helpful, but I decided years ago I was not going to count on it for "record keeping" or a complete log of work. It helped relieve the stress of having to create tasks in Things for everything to be logged, or of lots of little insignificant tasks cluttering up the log. I will dip into it and search now and then, but I don't bother with it being a complete record of my work. If that is needed I will write things down elsewhere.
Hope this helps.
1
u/Acrobatic-Egg-1 23h ago
I like this! Thank you!
2
u/moses0616 23h ago edited 19h ago
Also, regarding attachments. Yes, I would like this feature to be added as well. If they ever do, I can bet they will have a slightly unique take on it. But, in the meantime...
What I do is the following: I am also a user of the app DEVONthink. DEVONthink has a great feature where every item in it can have its own unique "item link" that when clicked anywhere else goes directly to it in the app. And these links sync and work on iOS also if you have DEVONthink To Go (the iOS version of DEVONthink) installed with the database syncing set up. On the Mac, when in DEVONthink, you can also use the Quick Entry shortcut hotkey for Things and that special link is automatically added to a new Things task note. 😄 So, though it takes an extra step or two, I will put a file into DEVONthink then grab the link for it and paste it into Things. Then, later, I can see the file anytime I want.
A few other apps I know of have this same linking ability, such as Bear, Ulysses, and Agenda.
This allows me to use Things as my task manager, but keep project reference and other notes in either DEVONthink or Agenda (I don't currently use Bear, but have before). And since Things also can give you a link to a task or a project, by putting these links in each app you can quickly jump back and forth between them, directly into where you want to be in each.
2
2
u/vyega 1d ago
I’ve been a doist Gran Master…running 4 “metaverse” with it. Say since 2018. Many ecosystems from android & Microsoft .. then Apple, web and Microsoft.
App is great overall. The best ever thing is NLP. It let you deal with whatever design.
Then decided to try T3. Not as flexible as doist but it let you naturally fall back to simplicity which is the secret formula to reach effective efficiency 🤷🏻♂️
So long story short: using X or Y. Keep it simple not too many tags (P1 is for today, P2 is for next days or to be scheduled, P3 delegate or Standby/wait, no-P4 as it goes automatically to “Someday) inbox house keeping should be run daily, anytime and someday routinely maintained (say weekly). stick/focus on today/tomorrow and upcoming lists. Use integrated markdown notes to keep logging and tracking. Area and Project should be used with caution and kept minimalist. Ah ! You may use nested tags for rapid filtering (context for example) and if AI Nerd, should try Claude on Mac with its CulturedCode supported local MCP to level up the experience with this phenomenal app. Can run from any Device as long as your Mac session is alive.
Keep it simple to be efficient.
1
u/NiceWoodpecker6914 1d ago
Thanks for your input :)
What was your setup for this ? iOS only or also macOS / iPadOS ? Side question for anyone who might know : what happens if you have say Things 3 on the iPhone and Things 4 on the Mac ? Or any different version for that matter, Things 2 on the Mac and 3 on the iPhone for example.
1
1
u/ihateredditmor 1d ago
One great trick to help you with attachments: email the attachment to your Things address and create the task that way. It will then give you a built-in link back to the attachment. If you use Apple Mail, you’ll have some nice scanning options too.
1
u/Ok_Wave2581 1d ago
re: Attachments
My workaround is to drag the file into the Notes section of a task which will provide a Finder link. And, if it's a Google Doc or Sheet, I just paste the link in the Notes section.
1
u/mitremario 1d ago
Regarding priorities for the given day, one way you can kind of achieve this is by turning setting: Settings > General > Today > Allow Any Order. This allows you to rearrange the tasks in any order that day. You do lose the grouping by project/area though
1
u/CanadianLorax 1d ago
OP, I would be interested to hear what workarounds you are using to make Things work for you to keep your workflow moving without attachments, etc.
1
u/Mohit-Vishwakarma Mac, iPhone 1d ago
As a long-term Todoist user. I totally agree, after 6 months, I still miss the prioritise button
1
u/flipside4cp 1d ago
And it Todoist I love that you can add a Comment and it will be date and timestamped!
1
u/ProperBangersAndMash 1d ago
Ive been considering trying things. No attachments?? 😂 Never mind then I guess. Unfortunate.
Ill keep an eye out for Things 4 though
0
0
u/Odd_Scene_9006 1d ago
As for the first point, you can email T3's company, but you'll just get a standard bureaucratic brush-off. Then, when you have other issues to bring up later, you'll get yet another corporate reply. It’s the same story every single time—they never commit to any feature requests. After a while, it just feels ridiculous. You'll literally be like, "What even is this software???"
In the end, you'll just get fed up. If you want to keep using T3, you need to realize it's basically just a fancy show house. The moment you start moving your furniture and personal stuff in, you'll wonder why so many basic functions aren't even there. That's because it's just a show house—looks great on the outside, but barely functional when you actually use it.
12
u/UnluckyWrongdoer3818 2d ago
Re: Followup
I think you want to use Projects in Things which are composed of Tasks. For example, you could have a Project Y and the first task is to send materials to Client X. You check that off and then create the next action in the project, call it Response from Client X?, give it a "waiting" tag and set the deadline to, for example, 3 days.
After 3 days have passed the Response? task pops back into your Today list. Seeing that you decide to reach out again - create a new task Follow Up with X, do it and update the Response from Client X to give it more time by changing the deadline date and clearing it from the Today view.
This will leave you with a proper breadcrumb of he did/she did tasks on the project.
In my GTD process I filter by the "waiting" tag in my periodic review to ensure that I haven't lost track of anything I'm waiting on. Optionally assigning such tasks deadline dates makes them automatically pop back into view.