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SimpleTODO Tutorial

SimpleTODO is a tool to keep track of projects or work you need to do. The basic steps to using SimpleTODO are:

  1. Add items to the TODO list
  2. Add and change descriptions of items
  3. Link documents to items
  4. Set the priorities of the items
  5. Set the deadlines of the items
  6. See the items as a flat sorted list to see what is the next item to do
  7. Keyboard shortcuts

1 - Add items to the TODO list

You can add an item to the TODO list in one of two ways. The first method is to use the 'New' button on the SimpleTODO window and the other method is to click on the taskbar SimpleTODO icon.

When you click either of these you will see a new TODO item appear in the main window.

Immediately when this item appears you can enter a summary for the item. When you have entered a summary, hit return and the item will be stored.

If the item is composed of multiple sub-tasks which you wish to track separately, then you can select the item (left-click) and click 'New Child' to create a new child task under the original task.

If you want to move a task under another task, you can click and drag the summary from one task onto another. This will move the original task under the target task.

If you want to move a task to the top level, click and drag it to the title bars.

2 - Add and change descriptions of items

Each TODO item in the list can have a more complete description or notes section shown at the bottom of the window.

To view or edit the description of the item just selcet the item in the table and make any changes you want in the description area at the bottom of the window.

3 - Link documents to items

Each TODO item in the list can also have a list of documents or files associated with it.

To associate a file with an item you can either drag the file onto the description area or file list, or click the 'Add File' button.

To associate a something else such as a web address with the todo item you can drag a URL shortcut (from the title bar of explorer) or you can use the 'Add Other' button.

Once you have associated files or links with a TODO item you can view them by selecting them and clicking the 'View' button.

For more information on how you can customise the document linking and the applications used to view documents and links, please check the FAQ.

4 - Set the priorities of the items

Each TODO item has an associated priority. The sorting of the list of items is based around this priority. Items with higher priority appear higher up in the list. It is entirely up to you how you use these priorities but the general meaning of the priorities is intended to be as follows:

  • 0 - (highlighted RED) - this is the default priority for a task. A task with a priority of 0 has not yet had it's real priority assigned . As such it is placed at the top of the list so that it is not accidentally forgotten.
  • 1 to 5 - these are the standard priorities of tasks, the priority area of the task is highlighted with a differenct colour for each one. Priority 1 tasks are higher priority than priority 5 tasks and they are therefore marked as RED etc.
  • 6 - (highlighted GREEN) - the task is complete , it may be kept around as a finished task or deleted if it is no longer useful information.
  • 7 - (highlighted BLUE) - the task is obsolete and is no longer to be done. As with a finished task it may be kept for information or deleted.

5 - Set the deadlines of the items

Each TODO item has an associated deadline. The sorting of the list of items is first by priority, but then by deadline. Items with the same priority appear higher up in the list if they have a closer dealine.

If the deadline for an item is today or has passed , the deadline area for that task on the table is highlighted in RED.

When people refer to dates they very rarely say such and such job needs to be done on the 15th of May or some other very specific date. More likely people will refer to 'this friday' or 'next tuesday' to specify a deadline. SimpleTODO has an intelligent date parsing system which allows you to enter dates in a more human manner.

The following are examples of deadlines that SimpleTODO will accept

  • '25th' - the date part of the dealine is moved to the 25th of the month
  • 'sep' or 'sept' or 'september' etc - the month part of the date is moved to September
  • 'fri' or 'friday' etc - this friday
  • 'tues x2' etc - 2 tuesdays away (not this tuesday but the next)
  • 'wed x3' etc - 3 wednesdays away
  • '1st dec' - the 1st of december
  • '2010' - the year 2010
  • '13:10' - 1:10pm on the deadline date
  • '3pm' - 3pm on the deadline date
  • '1600hrs' - 4pm on the deadline date
  • '23/11' - 23rd November
  • ' ' - today

So if you know a task has to be done by next friday, you can simply enter 'fri x2' - no need to figure out the date and then waste time and effort painstakingly entering in 'Friday 22nd May 12:15pm'.

6 - See the items as a flat sorted list to see what is the next item to do

When you have multiple trees and lists of tasks that need to be done, it can be difficult to figure out what to do next. SimpleTODO helps make this easier.

SimpleTODO allows you to flatten the list of tasks to see all tasks with their associated priorities and deadlines sorted against each other . This has the effect of showing all the most important tasks and tasks with the shortest deadline right at the top of the list, regardless of whether they are under some other tasks. The tasks which should do next naturally float to the top of the list.

7 - Keyboard shortcuts

SimpleTODO accepts the following keyboard shortcuts to make organising your tasks easier and quicker:

  • Ctrl-S - save the current TODO list.
  • Ctrl-C - copy a summary, description priority or deadline.
  • Ctrl-V - paste a copied summary, description priority or deadline.
  • Ctrl-M - create a new task.
  • Ctrl-N - create a new child task under the seleceted task.
  • Ctrl-K - delete a task.
  • Ctrl-Z - undo the previous change.
  • Ctrl-R - redo the previous undo.

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