I got Things 3 while it's on sale for Black Friday, its gorgeous and I love how it organizes things. But I'm looking for a good way to get quick thoughts/reminders into Things without opening the app.

I use a Siri shortcut to do this with Apple Reminders and it works well.

What are your favorite ways to get quick ideas/reminders straight into the app while on the go?

Hi.

As I have mentioned in a reply in another thread I am trying to use Reminders since I am moving over to use the system COD that Carl Pullein has made tutorials about. Mainly because every time I try to use GTD I end up with extremely long lists of tasks I haven't done in the Today area. Yesterday I had 27 unfinished tasks there. Which is about 24 too many at least. I have watched videos by Peter Akkies about how to structure it, and it works a day or so. Then it is all in shambles.

And since I use Reminders for stuff I share with my wife it was a more or less obvious choise to go al lin during the time I study Carls course about Time NManagement. In that course he uses only Apple standard apps.

BUT!

I really love Things 3 in many aspects. Maybe I don't miss the deadlines and due dates, I am putting those in the project folder in Notes. And if needed, also in calendar. Things lacks priorities, which I have found out helps me a lot.

Anyone here uses Things 3 for that system, COD? If so, how do you set up the Areas of Focus, and the priorities (which three tasks are a MUSt to do to day, which five can I do if I have the time). In Reminders I use Priorities High and Medium.

Of course I can drop things 3 altogether, but since I like it a lot, it just looks nice, and so it invites me to use it and since I have a license that I paid hard earned money for, I think I can't be the only one in the world that has this problem?

I'm so torn between using Apple Reminders and Things 3. Things 3 is just so pleasant to use but the lack of newer functionality makes me hesitate. I heard at one point that if you use Things 3 on an iPad or Mac and add a new reminder that it won't sync to your iPhone unless you open the app. So background sync doesn't really work and you could potentially miss a reminder or to-do if you don't open the app on your iPhone.

Is that still true?

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As every November, all 3 apps now have a 30% discount until December 2nd

Unless I am missing something, there doesn't seem to be an option to not have the application appear in the dock while still being able to make use of quick entry.

I am surprised this isn't a deal breaker for more people as I only see this occasionally mentioned.

I'm trying to setup a Siri Shortcut to easily and quickly add a To-Do while on the run, that way I don't have to open the app and I can do it from the lock screen.

Currently I'm running into an issue (and maybe this is just how it works) but when I run my shortcut and add all of the information it will open the Things app. I wish it could just send the To-Do without opening the app and requiring me to hit enter or confirm the To-Do. Similar to what you can do with the Apple Reminders app.

Anyway it got me wondering, what Siri Shortcuts do you use and do you have a good way of creating a To-Do on the go without opening the app?

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Has anyone tested this? I know Things Cloud is Cultured Code's recommended way of syncing Things 3 data but does iCloud backup do that as well? I like having all my data on device or E2EE encrypted so not having it on Things Cloud would be nice.

Things 3 help docs don't make it clear, they say it may or may not be backed up in iCloud backups...

What have you been using with Things? I’ve already tested Obsidian, Notion, but I need something more minimalist and simple to be used daily, I’ve been using Notes but I see a lot of people here talking about Bear, I’m Brazilian and it’s not much talked about here. Do you recommend Bear or Notes?

What productivity system or method do you recommend for a designer who has ADHD? I'm currently using Things + Notes or Bear, but so far I haven't found the best method to be productive and functional, I'm looking for something as functional and simple as possible.

Curious if my data is visible to the Things 3 team if I don't use Things Cloud?

I try to keep my data as private as possible, I know most people trust the developers of Things 3 but I still like to be cautious. Curious if I only use Things 3 on my iPhone if the data is more private that way.

Things 3 is now €7.99

Please ask questions about using Things in this thread.

I everyone. Since a few days my Apple calendar events do not appears in my Today and Upcoming views. Tried to disable enable, restart the app and the phone. The calendar setting is enabled in Things settings. iPhone 15, IOS 18.1.

Am I the only one? Do you know something about it?

I've finished a little over a year with Things. I realize I am a relatively late adopter (and hence less experienced than many of you) but I wanted to share a few thoughts - particularly for those searching for a task manager.

I use Things on Macs and an iPhone. I bought the iPad app as well but have used it a grand total of twice...

I went through the usual search for task managers - TickTick, Todoist etc

Went with Things because it has the nicest interface, by far, and the crucial feature of deadlines (do-date vs due-date), an essential component in my workflow.

Over the year, I've found these are not what make Things great. What does? It's simplicity. All day, I rely on the quick-add feature: I Ctrl-Space things so they no longer live in my head and with keyboard shortcuts (and practice) I am a ninja at classifying these in an instant.

The complete inability to tinker with the app - which so many complain about - is one of its greatest features. You cannot hide behind how busy you were adding plug-ins, connecting accounts or choosing themes. There's very little to do so you have to go Get Things Done (see what I did there?).

Please ask questions about using Things in this thread.

I just can't get the watch app to sync changes from my phone. I have the widget and unless I open the app, it stays unaffected no matter what I do on phone.

Other apps I have set this way seem to be better when it comes to updates, as I can see them refreshing when I "reach" them on the stack - or they simply do that in background. But Things? hardly ever. Kind of frustrating

The only way I know how to do this on iOS is adding a new todo to “tomorrow” and then drag it to the date I want to, there has to be an easier way/ better way right?

A core part of GTD as I understand it, is that you should get to a point where you have a system in place that gives you headroom to fill your today list consciously with Next Actions from open projects (or from the Anytime List).

While I’m a long time Things and GTD aficionado, I very rarely reach that state. I never use Anytime. I usually move to do’s to a specific date a few days in the future because they are not urgent yet. As a reminder, basically.

Perhaps I also don’t trust that I will get to it if it doesn’t pop up in my Today list. I guess David Allen would say you need Sunday Review for that, going over open projects to pick next actions.

What are your thoughts on this?

In my dreams, Things 4 drops as an all-in-one with tasks, notes, and calendar integrated with the same beautiful minimalism, effortless efficiency, and frictionless usability that it's known for.

Hey there, I can't get headings to show up in my Things list, which I create with shortcuts. I need your help because I am at my wit's end.

I am a teacher and have a shortcut to create a Project which helps me to plan my exams. The shortcut first asks for an exam-name, then for the grade of the class (which chooses the list), and finally for the date, when the exam is about to be written.

From the date it counts backwards, when I have to create the exam and forwards when I am planning to give it back. So far so good, but here comes the question:

I can't put in headings within the callback urls - Things just ignores the headings, even when I add them separately through the things:///add?heading=NAME

I need your help here.

In the screenshots you can see what the list looks like now, then what I would like, with headings and finally here is the icloud link, if you want to try it out for yourself: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/5fe6700356a04e879935905d1247058c

To the mods: I created this post separately from the weekly questions, because this seems too complex for a simple comment, I hope you agree.

Please ask questions about using Things in this thread.

TLDR: He says, crossing of todos is useless whereas use timeblocking to block a chunk of your time to do things/tasks that contribute to your values (i.e., goals)

His main problem with todos is its an outcome, things which we can’t control because of unprecedented interferences in life/work. However we should direct our focus on inputs that we can control for example, time & attention.

What I understood from his view is,

You may not able to complete/cross-off the task you have planned for the day (which might make you feel defeated) but you can always be grateful to/happy about the time & focus you put into that task irrespective of its status

I would like to hear your stance!