A few years ago, I created my own electronic version of a Day Timer. I put everything on my calendar (I use Apple’s Calendar) even jf it doesn’t have/need a specific time. I also started a Pages document (named To Do), everything that goes on my calendar also goes on the To Do document, which always remains open on my Mac & is synced w/my iPhone & iPad. When I complete the task, I remove it from the To Do document and add Done to the task name on the calendar.
I use this system for everything: phone calls, appointments, errands, bills to pay, maintenance tasks in my home, etc. When I make a phone call, if there’s info I need to remember, I add it to the task entry in the calendar, so it’s always there. Granted, I am retired so I don’t have real “work” tasks to handle but I think it would work for “work” tasks as well. Does require maintenance but any scheduling system will require maintenance.
Works for me & I find it easier than adding another app to the mix.
I have yet to find the perfect solution for this, but the one that’s working for me at the moment is a combination of Todoist and Fantastical. The reason I particularly like this setup is that it isn’t specific to GCal, iCloud’s calendar, local Mac calendar, or a Caldav account – it just works regardless of whatever you’re using for a calendar service. I suspect you could create smart rules in Todoist that would ensure that only particular tasks show up via Fantastical, regardless of which project they may be in. The only other thought I have would be to somehow create an automation that automatically takes tasks with assigned dates from the task manager and adds them as all day events on the calendar. In this way, the tasks would show up on the right days without being boxed into a specific time.
I have been using TaskPaper for several years and absolutely love it even though there’s no companion iOS/iPadOS app. Because it’s plain text, if the developer stops developing it I will still be able to access my prior task lists.
I wish BBEdit would add TaskPaper support that would be grand.
It’s available on Setapp.
As for iOS apps, I do have my TaskPaper in the cloud and occasionally I refer to my current TaskPaper file in a plain text editor on iPhone. But the reality is I do almost all my deep, creative etc. work on my Mac.
When I want to add a task on iPhone, I tend to write it in Apple Notes and migrate it from there.
I have one TaskPaper file per year, (arranged hierarchically by quarter/month/week) plus for any project (e.g., if I write a substantial document, or for any new release of our Hookmark or mySleepButton app) I create a TaskPaper file.
I use Hookmark to create and link my TaskPaper file to what it’s about. (I wrote about it here years ago: How to Turn a TaskPaper File into a Project Information Hub – Hookmark). E.g., if there’s a substantial feature or bug in our Bugzilla instance, I do Hook to New > TaskPaper to get a new tap file, and I write my todo’s there. I have naming conventions that let me randomly find my TaskPaper files using LaunchBar or I use Hookmark’s Bookmarks window. And of course because the TaskPaper file is hooked, I can instantly navigate to and from the Bugzilla issue page and the TaskPaper file.
The TaskPaper developer is not doing anything with TaskPaper as far as I can tell, but it’s fine as is, and I assume he’d update it if macOS broke it. The developer is focusing on Hog Bay Software – Bike: Tool for thought, but that has a proprietary file format so it’s less future-proof than TaskPaper.
FWIW, I also use Reminders.
I have a bunch of content in OmniFocus too from past projects, and I occasionally use OmniFocus using the same tricks ( Hook to New, and Hook to Copied Link). (How to Create Systematically and Stay “in the Zone” using OmniFocus, OmniOutliner, OmniGraffle and Hookmark). If it weren’t for TaskPaper I’d be living in OmniFocus; it’s so powerful and works across devices.
Oh one esoteric thing I do which I find keeps me focused. I use my free mySelfQuantifier spreadsheet to track my time. One or more row per project. When I switch projects I add a new row, filling in the start and later, the end, times. There’s a column for “goal”. Sometimes to keep myself focused I will briefly write the “goal” which is essentially a task description, in the appropriate cell of the row. Then when I’m done I might write the “result”, which lives in the column to the right of the goal. This is an example of integrating time management with time tracking. I use the Timing app to help me out. One could develop a way to copy the project from OmniFocus, represented as a path, and paste it in mySelfQuantifier. ( Not really feasible for TaskPaper.) ( mySelfQuantifier is a spreadsheet I developed [and share for free] for time tracking; it is used with Timing app or other similar app.) I would love to see an integration between OmniFocus and Timing, where the projects in OmniFocus are reflected in Timing – i.e., both Timing and OmniFocus have project lists. My propsal is for Timing to pull its project list from OmniFocus or Things That might bring me back to OmniFocus. (I still think OmniFocus is a genius app.)
I rarely use my physical notebooks, but for whatever reason I sometimes find it convenient. (I have notebooks in several rooms, and if needed I take a photo of the page so I can use it at my Mac.)
As for Todoist: no AppleScript, can’t be automated on Mac side. Not a fan.
I use Microsoft ToDo. You can create groups and have it behave similarly to the Steven Covey quadrant organization, which is an excellent way of setting priorities. It is also cross platform and can be accessed from a browser. It is also syncing with Apple Reminders while it being anemic can sometimes be useful. While it does have some shortcomings as most of its competitors also have, it is solid, works reliably and is reasonably easy to customize for your needs. Also, one cannot argue about the price as it is free.
Since you mentioned TaskPaper, I recalled that Drafts has a sort of “task” text based mode, which could synchronise with Reminders.
Anybody with experience regarding Drafts as a task manager?
—e.
Use: Notes.app
Why: It’s simple and syncs well across devices.
I have a list of the week days, then manually add-in quickie events taken from my calendar for the week on the Sun before the next week, it takes just two minutes to do that weekly. Quick timed tasks are not calendared anyway. They’re in rough order of need/time, with day task(s) at top. I may set a manual alarm at beginning of day for a time later that day so I don’t miss something important.
I then strike-through after each task done, so I can see I actually did something at the end of day before deleting it, which helps keep your morale up that something got done!
Mon:
day: write-up project guidelines.
Michie’s; em re. missing thing.
AM: bank; tel.
16:15 for 16:45: Deepro’s; J’s meeting.
14-15: Mike@Pranip; expect call re. thing job.
PM: Elena; em re. project timing (she’ll have ansr then).
PM-late: Smithies; pickup thing.Tue:
day: spreadsheet re. thing.
organisation; em re. chasing item sent yet?[…]
————————
w/e:
clean garden (shed tack board).
go to X, maybe?Sat:
AM: running thing.
18:00 for 19:15: event.Sun:
prep thing.
Then I have bottom bit of the same note, I keep expecting things, and copy-paste them by date
(order: mth.date adding 2-digit day if needed):
Expecting:
12.01.Sa by: pods auto-del move/delay?
8.04.Mo by: OMW: tel/em me back? (see info doc)
7.17.Th by: passport renewal rec’d (+og docs after)?
7.02.We~: claim chase (30ds=6.30.Fr).
And a final Regulars section, for things that need doing regularly (1d = daily, 28/m~ = around 28th per month, 12.22/y = Dec.22 each year, bold the next date due, et al.).
Regulars:
1d: AV chk / Am dels / Eb wd.
5/2m: R zyx/J xyz acs; sm’ts reconcile (nxt:1/3/5/7/9/11).
28/m~: tfr £money P ac>J ac.
12.22/y: Bobit Co.; pmt adv r’d? tel if not.
8.07: chk br (Th’s: 6.01/8.03/10.15/11.30) (see 1P).
5.01/y~: tax rtn do.
Everything else was too much work TBH.
Of course no system is infallible or perfect, but unless you need a task planning app for heavy intensive projects, for daily things quick & simple is best.
Wow. I didn’t think I was alone in my struggle to coordinate Tasks vs calendar, but this topic is obviously a BIG and CONSTANT challenge for a lot of people. I’ve also tried many but not all of the Task managers mentioned… really disliked almost all of them (including the popular Fantastical).
I landed on ToDoist several years ago, tried it and frankly love it. It is structured but provides a fluid, easy, cross device way of managing the constant additions, changes and completions of tasks. No, it does not sync automatically with my BusyCal (which I also feel is the best calendar out there).
I’ll stir the pot a bit… I don’t really believe someone is finally going to solve this gordian knot puzzle. I think this issue is more analogous to dog training… it’s not about the dog… it’s about the owner. We are searching for the ultimate “fix”. It ain’t gonna happen. What we dislike is that it takes discipline to do the daily review of tasks, priorities and make the constant adjustments to our calendar to make life work. We are the solution.
I have been through this loop recently. The only contribution I can add is that I got quite excited by GoodTask, only to find that in its calendar view you can only edit tasks and not calendar items. FWIW, following iOS Reminders and Calendar moving closer with iOS 18, GoodTask’s developer has said he will look at integrating calendar items better.
The background to this is that for many years I relied on DayLite for GTD sorts of things, in OSX Mavericks. Following migration to an M2 Studio, I abandoned DayLite because it’s now license only, with costs more aimed at corporates, which I could not justify.
I wrote to Bare Bones Software with this request and Rich Siegel mailed me back saying:
There exists a language module for TaskPaper, though we haven’t looked closely at it: Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.
I plan to try it out. I do all my plain text writing in BBEdit except for what I’ve been using TaskPaper for.
This is a good point. What we need is a task management construction kit where you can assemble the various possibilities into a coherent whole that meets your individual needs without extraneous features.
I’m tempted to try to use AI to write my own app.
One of my dominant struggles around task management has always been how to organize, prioritize, and schedule my daily appointments, meetings and tasks in a way that is driven by larger goals and objectives. It often seems easier to allow the daily juggling act drive your schedule and consume time. I have yet to see a task management app that helps the user stay focused on the bigger question… What is most effective use of my time now to move forward today on my larger projects and objectives?
You can try your best to squeeze your life into digital apps, but sometimes it works best to let the dinosaur out and return to using an old-fashioned daily planner like one of these: Amazon.com : SUNEE Academic Planner 2025-2026 Weekly and Monthly, July 2025-June 2026, 6.4"x8.3", Tabs, Note Pages, Pockets, Bookmark, Flexible Cover, Spiral Binding, Black : Office Products
I’ve been using Amazing Marvin (https://amazingmarvin.com/) which is extremely customizable, and does all you want. It’s a small operation, but they have been very good with updates and support. It’s helped me a lot, you might take a look.
I tried the language module out and it doesn’t do much as far as I can tell.
Came here to echo this.
I have used OmniFocus off and on since before it was acquired by Omni. I have seen a person who was a real wizard with OF, and all credit to him. He gets a lot done all the time. But it requires more meta-management than I am inclined to give to it. (Thanks ace for the port manteau.) I used Wunderlist and followed it across to Microsoft as ToDo. It works okay, though I wish there were some things…
I use BusyCal for the calendaring and scheduling, but was unable to resolve a small failure in its task management so it tells me that I have 11 things to do. (They were done long ago.) BusyCal is good at C&S, plus it integrates well with BusyContacts, with Apple’s native apps, and with its i-apps that are updated regularly. These are annual subscriptions and I happily pay for the performance.
Occasionally I get fed up and go back to BBedit, and then find the abandoned todo lists from years and decades past.
One day a few years ago as I was looking for other options I realized there are so many of these task management apps that 1) developers and users both want something for task management but b) the features wishlist is so individualized that I will never find the perfect task manager. I just have to make do with whatever is good enough. So I am currently settled on something that is a little too simple but integrates well across devices, and that is the aforementioned ToDo.
I am reminded of jwz: “Some people, when confronted with a problem, think “I know, I’ll use regular expressions.” Now they have two problems. --Jamie Zawinski”
For me, this is like the search for the Fountain of Youth or the Holy Grail. I keep returning to Workflowy, which follows a basic outline framework and must work like my brain does. It integrates what I need to integrate easily. It’s easy to tag things for later retrieval. It is dead simple (for me) to use and can transform into other formats (kanban), as needed or wanted. I mention it because it doesn’t look like anyone else has. I’m not sure what that says about it. I don’t rely heavily on digital options on the organizing front, so consider that. My ‘mission critical’ list ends up on paper.
I’ve tried many and settled on TaskPaper. The app allows easy juggling of items between lists or archiving as done.
Dates and projects can be set but I rarely do that and just keep one list per project.
A friend recommended TickTick, which I’ve been liking for a few days now. It’s a bit more involved than Sorted, but provides a very similar bula board approach to combining tasks and events in a daily view.