Swift To-Do List Blog » Tips & Tricks

Strike-through style for done tasks added

Jiri Novotny — Thu, 22 Dec 2016 18:49:41 +0000

You can now have your done tasks displayed with a strike-through style instead of just being gray.

This is one of the improvements in the last Swift To-Do List update, v10.1. You can download the new Swift To-Do List here.

As always, this update is free for all customers who have a Swift To-Do List subscription.

You can enable this new style using menu File – Options. Simply check the Strike-through Done Tasks checkbox in the Task-View section of Options.

Here’s how it looks -

Strike-through style for done tasks added is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

The Key To Higher Productivity [video]

Jiri Novotny — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 09:14:15 +0000

Here’s a new fantastic video from Eben Pagan that explains the 1 most important key to increasing your productivity, success and profit in your business and personal life (just opt-in to watch it free):

Free Video: The Key To Higher Productivity

Make sure to get the PDF download, and the 1-page summary sheet download as well, and do the exercise to identify the ultra high-value “money making activities” in your life and business.

In the video, Eben explains how he transformed and dramatically increased his productivity with one simple mindset and action change.

He also shares:

How to use the little bit of willpower that you get each day to leverage UP your productivity for the long-term
How to identify the activities in your business and work that make you the most money – so you can do more of them every day (and make more profit
The one consideration that richest and most successful investor of all time uses to decide where to invest his attention, time and money
The exercise that he uses to discover where he is wasting time – so he can re-allocate it to doing things that create success, growth and profit
And much, much more…

This video is about 18 minutes long, and will change the way you think about time management and productivity.

The best part is that you can watch it for free, by just opting-in here:

Free Video: The Key To Higher Productivity

Watch it now (it will be up only for a limited time), and don’t forget to download the PDF exercise and summary tip sheet!

The Key To Higher Productivity is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

3 easy techniques to instantly stop procrastinating

Jiri Novotny — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 19:05:01 +0000

The following 3 techniques are extremely powerful and work instantly. I’ve been developing and refining them over the years – they are based on solid proven psychological and productivity principles.

In order to beat procrastination, first of all, pick just one important task you are procrastinating on. Then use the following 3 techniques, and I personally guarantee you that you will stop procrastinating and start working on the task immediately.

1. Explore and map the task

Procrastination is often related to fear. We are often afraid of unknown work. After all, it might be too much work, or we might be unable to do it. The easiest way to reduce this fear is to explore, map and research the task.

So, how do you explore a task? Well -

Just break the task down into subtasks! This is the best way to “explore” it, unpack it and see what’s really going on.

If you use Swift To-Do List, to break a task down into subtasks, simply select it, then start adding subtasks with all the steps necessary for completing the task.

Add even all the small steps. Try to order the subtasks roughly in the sequence they need to be done.

While you are adding the subtasks, pay extra attention to all the “research” actions – steps that require you to gather extra information and data in order to move forward. These “research” actions are what you want to do first, because doing them will help you to unpack the original task even further.

Once you break the task into subtasks AND start gathering all the necessary information, materials and data, and possibly discuss it with your co-workers or boss, the fear of unknown will diminish, and as a result, you will be able to start doing the task right away without procrastinating anymore.

2. Find the smallest possible next step – then do it!

When we procrastinate, we often feel that we are simply unable to do the task. However, when you identify a tiny easy action to get started on the task, you will be absolutely confident that you can do it.

For example, you might be procrastinating on this task: “Write the 70-page Q3 report”

So, you quickly think about what you actually need to do to get started on it, and determine this smallest possible next step: “Open MS Word and write a rough half-page outline of the Q3 report”

Can you open MS Word and write a rough half-page outline? Of course you can! You know you can absolutely do it. You are confident. So there is no reason to procrastinate anymore. You can just do it. So you do it.

And once you do it, you can simply repeat this process – what is the next small easy step?

3. Schedule fun and limit the work

This technique might seem counter-intuitive at first, but it’s extremely effective. It uses powerful reverse-psychology.

Get this -

Another big reason for procrastination is the fear you will miss out on all the fun and pleasant things in life.

The solution is ridiculously simple: Guarantee the fun first. Then limit the time you have available for work.

Simply schedule some fun! Plan and schedule a night out. Or, schedule any of your favorite relaxation, entertainment, sport or fun activity that you just love.

Ideally, schedule this pleasant activity right after work.

Next, limit the time you have available for your work. Give yourself a hard time limit that forces you to stop working at a specific time of the day. Absolutely no overtimes allowed. This will motivate you to stop procrastinating and get to work, right now.

Tip: When scheduling the fun activity, ideally pick an activity right after work that involves other people. You will know that you HAVE to be there because of the other people, so you will know that there is a very real time limit on your work today. This will strongly motivate you.

As an extra bonus, the fun activity will help you recharge your batteries and sharpen your saw, so the next time you get to work, you are strong. Obviously, this also makes you immune to burnout.

How procrastination works

If you want to learn more about how and why you procrastinate, you will love this.

Here’s my summary of The Now Habit, which is probably the best book on procrastination ever written.

This summary will give you the most important insights from the book in just a few pages.

In the summary, you will also learn additional causes of procrastination (perfectionism, fear of judgment, fear of success, and more).

3 easy techniques to instantly stop procrastinating is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

30-second check: Do you get the maximum from Swift To-Do List?

Jiri Novotny — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 13:33:41 +0000

Here is a quick self-check you can do. Just answer these 3 questions:

Do you have any tasks that are not captured in Swift To-Do List?
Do you have to remember any time-sensitive information that you’ve not captured in Swift To-Do List (or other appropriate tool)?
Do you have to remember any work-related information that you’ve not captured in Swift To-Do List (or other appropriate tool)?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, I have both bad and good news for you. The bad news is that you are not getting maximum benefits out of Swift To-Do List. The good news is that in just 10 minutes or so, you can feel happier and more efficient.

The #1 cause of work-related stress and worry is the necessity to remember information that is not written down. This starts an endless spiral of worrying and questioning yourself: “Am I forgetting about something important?”

You probably already understand this problem. And I salute you for obtaining Swift To-Do List. However, if you really want to feel relaxed and reclaim all your mental resources wasted on worrying, you need to do the following.

You need to write all tasks, all time-sensitive, and all important work-related information into Swift To-Do List. Not just tasks – but anything you would have to remember otherwise.

Note: If you have a lot of reference material, you might already have some other system than Swift To-Do List for managing it – and that’s completely fine. Just make sure that your mind is not part of that system!

Since version 8, Swift To-Do List allows you to manage not just to-do lists, but also “Lists” in general. You can use them, along with Memos, to capture non-task information.

So, what are you juggling in your mind? Write it into Swift To-Do List, right now. You will be glad you did – and feel the difference with an immediate sigh of relief.

If you would like to learn more about why it is important to capture information into Swift To-Do List, and how to do it best, take a look at my new Swift Mind Freedom e-book.

30-second check: Do you get the maximum from Swift To-Do List? is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Is your to-do list impossible to finish?

Jiri Novotny — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 21:19:44 +0000

(This article is based on Principle #5 in the Swift Mind Freedom method.)

Sometimes, you might have a feeling that you will never finish your to-do list. And you know what? It might be true. It might be entirely possible that your to-do list is indeed impossible to finish. This happens when you place non-tasks on your to-do list.

You see, there are two types of items that might appear on your personal organizer lists: tasks and non-tasks.

Tasks are actionable. Tasks are actions you decided to do.

Non-tasks are non-actionable. Non-tasks are ideas, notes, thoughts, reference-material and information.

It is very important to understand the difference between “actionable” and “non-actionable” (tasks and non-tasks), because if you don’t, it will be absolutely impossible to finish your to-do lists.

You should never place non-tasks on a to-do list among tasks. Why? Because you can’t “do” non-tasks, so they just sit there cluttering your to-do list, making it cumbersome to read – and impossible to finish!

To-do lists are for tasks you can do. Non-tasks belong in a separate list or place.

Since we all have both tasks and non-tasks, I strongly recommend having at least 2 separate lists.

One or more to-do lists with tasks (actions)
One or more lists with non-tasks (ideas and information), and as many collections of notes, memos and reference material you need. Again, all this should be kept separate from your to-do list with tasks.

Note: Ideas are not tasks because you’ve not yet decided to do them, so they are not yet actionable. But if you decide to take action on some idea, it becomes a task.

How to separate tasks and non-tasks in Swift To-Do List

I will now show you how you can separate your tasks and non-tasks in Swift To-Do List.

Just do this -

Make sure that you have an “Ideas List” created in the to-do list tree. You will be moving all non-tasks into it. To create it, use menu Tree – Add To-Do List, and in the Add To-Do List window, check “List“. Then name the list “Ideas List” and press OK.
Now, go through all the tasks you’ve captured up to this point, and whenever you encounter a non-task, move it to the Ideas List. You can simply select the non-task and using mouse, Drag and Drop it to the Ideas List in the to-do list tree. Or, you can select it and press Ctrl+X to cut it, then click the Ideas List, and press Ctrl+V to paste it. Tip: You can do both these operations with multiple items at once.
Now back to the information you put into “Ideas List”. If you have lot of non-tasks, you might want to create multiple “Ideas Lists” and categorize them by project or topic if possible. (You can just Drag and Drop items to other lists or to-do lists in the tree.)

And that’s it! Congratulations! You’ve separated your tasks and non-tasks. Isn’t that better? Now, it should be actually possible to “finish” your to-do list.

Also, here is an important distinction: At times you will have information, reference material or notes that are directly connected to a specific task. You want this information handy when you look at the task and ready to do it. Put this information into the Notes section of that particular task, instead of keeping it isolated on the idea list or somewhere else. This way, when you work on the task, you will immediately see the important related information, and it also won’t unnecessarily clutter your Ideas List.

Is your to-do list impossible to finish? is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

2 rules of naming tasks correctly

Jiri Novotny — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 08:58:50 +0000

I will share with you 2 rules of naming tasks correctly. If you apply them, your to-do list will empower you to take action. If you don’t, your to-do list will cripple your ability to move forward.

I’ve already talked about the importance of writing everything down immediately to maintain a peace of mind. I’ve also talked about the importance of consolidating your to-do lists and keeping everything in one place. These two things indeed are the key – but once you master them, there is another thing you can do to make your to-do lists super-useful and empower you to take more action.

Tasks are actionable items. They are actions that need to be taken. And it’s too easy to forget this when writing your tasks down. The words you use to write a task matter a great deal.

You should always use actionable task names, which contain specific actions – verbs.

In the task name, always write the action you need to take to move the task forward, and be as specific as possible.

Two rules of naming tasks are:

All task names should contain an action (begin with a verb, and ideally describe the next step).
All task names should be as specific as possible

So, for example, don’t just name a task “Report”. A slightly better way to name it could be “Finish the report”, but it’s still not the best wording because it’s not specific enough. It’s vague. It doesn’t tell you exactly what to do to finish the report, and which report.

Here’s a better task name: “Write the final summary in the Q4 Report to finish it”. That’s pretty specific and actionable. You know exactly what to do to move the task forward, and exactly which report the task relates to.

Or, you could name it like this: “Finish the Q4 Report” and add a subtask named “Write the final summary” – the subtask still contains the next action.

Why is this important?

When we look at our list and see just “Report”, we have no idea what to actually do or even a hint on how to start. We have to stop and figure it out, which is very inefficient, but also demotivating and creates a friction between us and the task.

It is much harder to get going when the task names are not actionable and not specific. All our brain sees when we look at vague task names is “This task is huge! Too much work! Too much thinking! Let’s do something else!” In such situations, we spend too much valuable energy trying to get started on the task. This opens the door for procrastination (social media, news, web-surfing and pointless busywork).

Try to use specific, actionable wording right when you first write the task down. In that moment, you probably know what the actual specific action is. So write it down. Don’t force yourself to figure it out later, when you don’t have all the relevant information on your mind anymore. When you start using specific actionable task names, you will save yourself a lot of time and energy. It’s just smart.

Task names which are specific and contain the action you want to take are:

More motivating and less intimidating
Easier for you to get started on
Saving you valuable time and mental energy
Less likely to be procrastinated on

Best of all, it takes you just a very little effort in the moment you are writing the task down for the first time. By writing the task in a way so it’s obvious what the next specific action is and what precisely needs to be done, you will get all the benefits above.

Here are a few examples of good and bad task names:

Bad task name	Good task name
Jim	Call Jim and ask about the quote
Paper	Finish the summary of the white paper and send it to Peter
Chair	Order online 5 new caster wheels for my office chair
Annual meeting	Prepare my presentation for the annual meeting
Letters	Sign and mail the letters to our 5 VIP partners

Here’s how you can apply this right now to experience the difference yourself: Open your to-do list, and re-word some of your most important tasks, so they contain the next action, and are as specific as possible.

(This post is an edited excerpt from my new e-book Swift Mind Freedom).

2 rules of naming tasks correctly is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Color your tasks in Swift To-Do List – The Definitive Guide

Jiri Novotny — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:06:07 +0000

In Swift To-Do List, you can can color your tasks based on Priority, Type, Status, Context or Assigned To..

Additionally, 3 different modes are supported when coloring tasks (column, task name, whole row). That’s a lot of combinations! So let me give you an example for coloring by Priority – I will show how each of the modes looks like:

1. Color inside the Priority column:

2. Color Task Names (based on Priority):

3. Color whole rows (based on priority):

By default, Swift To-Do List uses colors only in the Priority column, as shown in the first example. But you can customize and use colors much more – and in this post, you will learn all about it.

How to enable or customize colors

To enable or customize the colors, use the Manage menu:

Let’s say that we want to customize coloring by Type, so we will click the Type menu item. The following Manage Types window will be shown:

Very similar window would be shown for Priorities, Statuses, Contexts or Contacts (Assigned To). It works the same.

In this manage window, you can do 3 key things:

Enable or disable colors, by clicking the checkbox, as shown in the screenshot above.
Choose the color mode (Column/Task Name/Whole Row), as explained at the beginning of this post.
Change the colors for individual items. To do that, select an item, then click the Color button on the right.

Please note that for obvious reasons, you can’t use the Whole Row or Task Name coloring mode for two or more fields at once – e.g. both Priority and Type can’t color the Task Name.

However, the Column coloring mode can be combined with any other modes of other fields – e.g. Priority can color task names (or even whole rows), and at the same time, Type can color the Type column.

Also please note, that done tasks are always displayed in gray text with no color highlights.

Your coloring customizations are of course automatically saved and remembered, even after restarting the program.

Coloring Due Dates and Start Dates

Due Dates and Start Dates can be also additionally colored in the task-view. This is how it looks in action:

To configure this, use menu File – Options, and in the Options window, go to the Task-View section.:

There, make sure “Color due dates and start dates” is checked, and click Customize upon this checkbox. This will display the following window:

As you can see, today, tomorrow and expired dates can be highlighted using a color of your choosing. The “today” and “tomorrow” dates are also displayed in bold for extra highlight.

Bonus tip for Ultimate owners: Creating a “Color” column

This is a fun trick. If you want to color your tasks yourself, and not based on Priorities/Types/Contexts/Statuses/Assignees, you will love this -

If you own the Ultimate edition, and don’t use the Context or Type column, you can rename it to “Color”. To do that, use menu Manage – Columns. In the window shown, select and enable the Context or Type column, then click the Rename button. Type in “Color” and confirm.

Now, use menu Manage – Colors and rename all the contexts to color names. Then set them the appropriate color. As an example, after customizing, it can look like this:

And now, here’s the fun part! From now on, you will have a new “Color” column that you can use in Swift To-Do List. For each of your tasks, you can set an optional color. The result can look something like this:

Any questions or comments?

So, that’s it. Now you should be a master when it comes to using colors in Swift To-Do List.

We have a nifty little comments box at the bottom of this page – if you have a question or a comment, don’t hesitate to write something into it and click Submit comment! I will be happy to reply to all comments.

Color your tasks in Swift To-Do List – The Definitive Guide is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

How to get more great ideas

Jiri Novotny — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:23:39 +0000

Even if your job is not predominantly creative, great ideas can often save you hours of work, as you might figure out how to do something in a much more efficient way.

The tricky thing with ideas is that ideas are fleeting. You must capture then in the moment, or they are gone for good.

Let me tell you a story -

When I was a kid, I used to keep a dream journal. Every time I woke up, I’ve immediately written down the dreams I had that night. Before I started keeping the journal, I usually remembered just one dream – and that was if I was lucky. But just after couple of weeks of keeping the dream journal, I remembered at least 3 dreams every night, oftentimes even 5 or 6.

We all actually have multiple dreams every single night, but we simply don’t remember them. The reason for that is we pay no attention to them, so we don’t try to remember them. But if you don’t pay attention to your dreams at all, your brain then figures out: “Ah! Dreams are not important.” Your brain will then literally prevent you from remembering your dreams, and you will forget them before you fully wake up or right after that – for the sole reason you are not paying any attention to them.

I think that in many ways, ideas work pretty much the same as dreams. Great ideas are often created by our intuitive right hemisphere, which is also the hemisphere which dreams at night.

If you pay no attention to your ideas, you will get less of them. You will essentially close the idea pipe, and ideas will stop flowing to you.

The solution is rather simple – whenever you get a good idea, write it down immediately! This will help you to get more and more great ideas. And it doesn’t matter how you write or capture it.

Remember – ideas are fleeting. If you don’t write an idea down, you might lose it for good, just as you can forget a dream you had. Not only that, but the next, even better idea, won’t even come to you.

You can’t really capture too many ideas. The more ideas you capture, the more ideas you will get, and the better ideas you will get.

When I get an idea while on my Windows computer, I usually use the system-wide Ctrl + Alt + S hotkey to display Swift To-Do List, and capture the idea into my idea list. (I actually think it is very important to keep ideas separate from tasks – but I will talk more about that later, and moreso in my upcoming Swift Mind Freedom e-book). The to-do list tree in Swift To-Do List allows you to manage not just to-do lists, but also memos and lists. The latter two are perfect for storing ideas.

How to get more great ideas is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Minimalistic Swift To-Do List Setup

Jiri Novotny — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 14:45:25 +0000

Have you thought that Swift To-Do List is too robust and powerful to turn it into a minimalistic sleek organizer, which can be even run as a small always-on-top window on the side of your desktop? Well, think again! :-)

While I personally prefer to run Swift To-Do List in full-blown fullscreen mode, so I can fully focus on either managing my tasks and notes or the actual work, some people prefer using something very simple, or something that can be run as a small always-on-top window on their screens.

And even if you also prefer to run Swift To-Do List in fullscreen, this post might still inspire you to hide some parts of Swift To-Do List that you don’t use. For example, I do not use the main toolbar, because most of the operations it offers can be easily accomplished in more efficient ways.

Because Swift To-Do List is so flexible and customizable, you can turn it into a truly minimalistic, yet fully functional task and notes organizer.

This is possible for two reasons:

You can hide just about anything that you don’t need (e.g. toolbars and panels)
Even if you hide everything, you can still use most of the features, via right-click menus or keyboard shortcuts. For example, if you hide the tree panel, you can still switch lists using Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab. This way, you can have a tiny window with a powerhouse of all the Swift To-Do List features.

In practice, the minimal possible setup looks like this (and the window can be still made a bit smaller):

How to make Swift To-Do List minimalistic

To do this, just follow these 3 simple steps:

First, use the View menu to hide all the panels you don’t need:

Second, hide the columns you don’t need:

And finally, resize the window as you see fit.

Optionally, if you desire so, you can make Swift To-Do List window always on top using the View menu.

You can also change the task-view and tree fonts to something smaller. Segoe UI, size 8 works great. This can be accomplished using File – Options.

Examples of other minimalistic setups

There are many variants you can try. For example, this variant includes the notes panel:

And this is a variant with to-do list tree shown:

Or, do you fancy a calendar panel instead of tree?

Finally, just for the heck of it, this is how the regular non-minimalistic Swift To-Do List setup looks like. The one shown below has hidden calendar panel as well as the info panel:

How to use the minimalistic setup

The short answer is – the same was as you normally would! But if you used the main toolbar heavily before, its time to learn some shortcuts and other neat tricks -

When it comes to adding tasks, there are multiple ways other than the Add Task button:

Press Ctrl+T or Ctrl+Enter
Hold the Alt key and click anywhere in the task-view
Doubleclick into an empty space in the task-view
Use the global hotkey for adding tasks, configurable in File – Options, Hotkeys. By default, it is Ctrl+Alt+A.
Paste text into the task-view
Drag and Drop emails into the task-view. You can also drag & drop email .eml and .msg files.

To edit a task, simply double click it, or select it and press F2 or Enter.

To switch the currently viewed to-do list, use Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab. You can also use Alt+Shift+Up/Down to navigate between tasks in all lists.

To switch view mode, press Ctrl+F1 to view only the current list, Ctrl+F2 to view current list + its sub-lists, and press Ctrl+F3 to view all tasks at once.

To find tasks, press Ctrl+F.

To delete (archive) a task, select it and press Delete.

To move tasks up or down, use mouse and just drag and drop them where you want to place them. Or, use Alt + Up/Down.

You can also right-click any task or empty space for list of available options.

—

It looks pretty cool, huh? If you still haven’t downloaded Swift To-Do List, download it and play with it. Chances are, you can make it exactly the way you want it to be.

And if you are already using Swift To-Do List, perhaps you now have some inspiration for customization. (As I said, I do not personally use the minimalistic setup. But it’s good to know that I can hide things if I don’t need them.)

Minimalistic Swift To-Do List Setup is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

The next actions and prioritizing

Jiri Novotny — Tue, 17 May 2011 16:12:43 +0000

Effectively prioritizing is a very important skill to master in order to work efficiently. One of our customers, Gary, has been curious how I personally do this with Swift To-Do List. I’m going to share some techniques that I use myself in this post.

Next tasks

Next tasks are tasks that you are currently working on. You should always know what tasks to currently work on. At any given moment, you should be able to easily pull a list of these “next tasks”.

There are two main approaches that work well for me personally:

1. The “Next” priority: I’ve created a new priority called “Next”, and I’ve set it a bright green color. Now I always assign this priority to tasks that I want to complete today or in the next couple of days. I usually have around 5-20 tasks with this “Next” priority.

The downside is that these tasks are in various to-do lists, so I need to use the “View All To-Do Lists” view mode to view all tasks. Then, I either sort the tasks by priority to see what’s next, or use filter to display just the tasks with the “Next” priority.

2. The “Next” To-Do List: This is an alternative approach. In this case, I create a new to-do list called “Next”, and I drag & drop tasks that I want to work on now into it. The rest of my to-do lists act as a database (or library) of tasks that I pick tasks from.

The downside is that the tasks moved to the “Next” To-Do List will lose their original to-do list categorization. However, the upside is that it is ridiculously easy to display the list of next tasks, and I can also reorder the tasks in the list. Also, I usually delete the completed tasks anyway, so the loss of the original to-do list categorization is no big deal for me.

Next actions

Every of your tasks has a certain sub-tasks (or steps, or actions, however you call it). GTD (Getting Things Done) uses the term “Next action”.

It is very important to know the next step necessary for completion of any of the tasks you are currently working on.

Task notes are usually the most efficient way of recording the next actions. Simply write mini to-do list into the notes of the task you are currently working on. You can be very specific and write lots of details and thoughts. Once you complete any step, simply delete it from the task notes.

Since Swift To-Do List 9, you can create subtasks. You can now have the next steps in form of sub-tasks directly in the task-view. This is probably the most powerful approach.

Prioritizing in fast-paced environment

The above techniques of managing next tasks and next actions work pretty well in majority of cases. However, there is one exception.

Some complex tasks (eg. software development) are in constant shift, and you can complete literally over 50 small steps (sub-tasks) every day while working on such major task or project.

In such cases, I simply create a new memo for any complex task that I am currently working on. The large text area works great for “chaotic” and complex tasks that require a lot of thinking and are changing constantly. Memos give me a great deal of freedom and flexibility in these cases.

How about you?

Please don’t hesitate to share your own approach to prioritizing in the comments below.

The next actions and prioritizing is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Recurring Tasks – All About Them

Jiri Novotny — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 11:12:54 +0000

Swift To-Do List has excellent support for recurring (repeating) tasks. This post will tell you about all the different possibilities of recurring tasks.

You can easily turn any task into a recurring task. All you have to do is to Edit the task, go to the Recurrence tab, and set up the recurrence pattern.

What is a recurring task?

A recurring task is repeating task. It is a task that needs to be done more than once, and it needs to be done periodically. It can have an ending date specified (check Ending on to set the date).

What happens when the task recurs?

Multiple things happen -

First, the recurrence Action for that particular task is executed. These actions are task-specific. You can select from these different actions for each of your recurring tasks:

Set undone – When the task recurs, it will by simply unchecked (set as undone)
Set undone and remind me – Same as the previous action, but a reminder window informing you about the fact that the task has just recurred will also be shown
Duplicate – A new identical copy of the task will be created. The copy will be unchecked (set as undone). The original task will be left untouched, only the recurrence settings will be carried over to the new task and removed from the original task.
Duplicate and remind me – Same as the previous action, but a reminder window informing you about the fact that the task has just recurred will be also shown
Just remind me – When the task recurs, a reminder window will be shown.

Second thing that happens are actions based on recurrence settings that you can configure in the Options window. These actions are not task specific. These options apply to all recurring tasks.

Use File – Options, then go to the Recurrence tab. Here, you can configure what happens when a task recurs. For example, the Due Date of a task can be automatically set to the date of its next recurrence.

And finally, third thing that happens is that you can receive an email notification (in Professional edition only) that the task has just recurred. This is purely optional – if you want the email notification, check “ + Email me” in the Recurrence tab of the Add/Edit Task window.

What’s “Immediate” recurrence? (NEW SEPTEMBER 2014)

In version 9.10, the following option was added into the Options window, Recurrence tab (you can open the Options window using menu File – Options):

“Recur tasks immediately after I complete them”

This option is enabled by default for new users of Swift To-Do List. Existing users have it disabled by default.

With this option enabled, tasks will recur immediately when you complete them. This allows you to work with the next instance of the task immediately and gives you move overall flexibility.

Even with this option enabled, you will still receive recurrence reminders based on the original schedule at the appropriate time. Recurrence reminders are generated when you use recurrence action “Set task undone and remind me”, “Duplicate and remind me” or “Just remind me”.

With the immediate recurrence enabled, if you use the recurrence action “Duplicate” for any of your recurring tasks, the task will also recur based on the original schedule even if you won’t complete them in time. If you don’t want the task to recur unless you specifically complete it, then use the recurrence action “Set undone” instead.

How can I tell when a task is going to recur next?

Since version 7.33, you can use the recurrence Preview feature. In the Add Task or Edit Task window, go to the Recurrence tab, and click Preview. This will show you the next ten times and dates when the task is going to recur.

Another way is to use the Recurrence column. To display it, use the menu: Go to Manage – Columns, and in the Manage Columns window, check “Recurrence” to display the Recurrence column. The recurrence column displays the day when the task is going to recur next, and also the recurrence pattern for that particular task (None, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, hourly, etc).

How can I tell if a task is recurring?

You can either use the above mentioned recurrence column, or, you can also use the Flags column. The icon with green circular arrows symbolizes recurrence.

Can I disable recurrence for multiple tasks?

Yes. Select the tasks, then right-click them, and use Batch Edit – Disable Recurrence, as shown below:

Need repeating reminder? Use task recurrence!

One of the actions that you can choose from is “Just remind me“. This is perfect for repeating reminders. For example, you can create a task with hourly recurrence that will remind you every 1.5 hours to stretch, drink some water, etc.

What happens when I archive/delete recurring task?

When you delete (archive) a task, the task won’t recur anymore. If you restore it, it will start to recur again from the next closest recurrence date. (All recurrences that should have happened when it was archived will be skipped).

Any other questions? Post them in comments

Please post any other questions in comments, and I will expand this post promptly based on your input.

Recurring Tasks – All About Them is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

How to attach emails from Outlook to tasks (Video)

Jiri Novotny — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 11:54:53 +0000

You can attach emails to tasks in Swift To-Do List v7.10 (released on November 8, 2010) and newer versions.

Supported email clients include Outlook, Windows Live Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird, The Bat! and possibly others – please let us know if your email client is not on the list. PocoMail is not supported, as it doesn’t support drag & drop between applications.

Basically, all you have to do is to drag & drop the email message into Swift To-Do List. You can drop it in the Notes panel or Attachments panel.

This video will show you how easy it is to attach an email to a task in Swift To-Do List. (Click “Play”)

You can also drag & drop calendar items and tasks from Outlook the same way.

To learn more about embedded file attachments, see the previous post “Swift To-Do List 7.10 released: Embedded file attachments, attach emails to tasks, and more“

How to attach emails from Outlook to tasks (Video) is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

How to print or export a single task

Jiri Novotny — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 13:38:17 +0000

Learn how you can print or export a single task, or multiple specific tasks in Swift To-Do List.

Please note: If you want to print a whole to-do list, multiple to-do lists, or memos, then you do not need this guide. You can just use File – Print or Export. It allows you to specify which to-do lists to print/export, supports filtering, and more.

If you want to print a single task, or multiple tasks, here is how:

Step 1: Select the task(s)

First, you need to select the task that you want to print. You can also select multiple tasks. If the tasks you want to print are not in the same to-do list, you can switch the view mode to “All To-Do Lists” (using the View menu),

Step 2: Use Task – Print or Export menu item

Now just go to Task menu and click Print or Export Task(s)…. You can also right-click the task selection – this will display similar menu, that also has the Print or Export Task(s)… option.

Step 3: That’s it!

You can now just click the Print or Export button. You can optionally configure the output.

How to print or export a single task is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Create more productive environment at your desk (10 tips)

Jiri Novotny — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 09:43:30 +0000

Becoming more productive is much easier in the right environment. Creating such environment is easier than you think. These 10 tips will give you some great ideas about what you can do right now to improve your work area.

1. Log off from Facebook and other websites where you waste time. Seriously, checking it once (or twice) a day is enough. You do not have to be constantly logged in. When you log off and then go to www.facebook.com during your workday when you are procrastinating, you will have to log in again – this will remind you that you in fact do not want to spend your time on Facebook now.

2. Remove all shortcuts and links to useless websites, games and programs that waste your time. That’s easy to do – but you still need to relax. That’s why you also need to discover and start using new ways to relax – ways that actually help. Taking a walk is the time-proven favorite of numerous geniuses and great minds. Or consider taking a short nap. Resting by staring in the screen some more won’t help at all. (See older blog post Prevent Repetitive Strain Injury for some extra tips about what to do on your work-break.)

3. If you use a tabbed browser, close all old tabs. If you keep websites that you want to return to later in the browser tabs, then bookmark them instead, but close the tabs. This will make it much easier to focus. Also, clear your browsing history, so it’s harder to go to websites where you waste time – you will have to type the website addresses manually again.

4. De-clutter your work desk. Ideally, only things related to your current task should be located on your work desk. Put everything else away – if there’s no place to put the stuff, get some drawers. Just put the stuff away.

5. De-clutter your Windows desktop as well. Remove old programs and files that you don’t need anymore.

6. Are there any popups or notifications jumping in your face during your workday, demanding your attention? Disable them. Close all programs that display them. You can’t work like this – it’s impossible to focus when you are bombarded by infinite stream of distractions and demands. (For example, Twitter supports RSS – why not use that instead of real-time notifications?)

7. Close all programs that are not relevant to your current task. This is crucial. If these programs start automatically with Windows, disable it. (The easiest way to do it is: Press Win+R, type in ‘msconfig’ (without the quotes), hit Enter, and then go to the Startup tab and disable all programs that you do not need automatically started with your system).

8. Can you ergonomically improve your work place? New chair, better keyboard or desk – things like this matter. Is there any aspect of your working environment that could be more comfortable? Improve or fix it.

9. Turn your LCD display sideways. This might sound like a joke, but it’s not: Displays that support the “pivot” technology and allow you to turn them sideways are great, because a work-area that is taller than wider is extremely useful for many kinds of work, including writing and reading – probably the two most common tasks that you do at your computer. Even the cheapest displays nowadays support this technology. Perhaps your LCD display already has it, you just don’t know about it! If not, consider getting a new and better display.

10. Most importantly – get and stay organized. The easier it is for you to be organized, the more likely it is that you will be and stay organized. Swift To-Do List makes this the simplest thing in the world. In fact, it makes being organized literally fun – and I’m not exaggerating here. That’s the exact word that our users report about their experience with Swift To-Do List. Download it today.

Sponsored message: If you would like to learn how to keep your office more productive and efficient, consider getting an on-line masters degree in organizational leadership.

Create more productive environment at your desk (10 tips) is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

How to paste plain text in notes

Jiri Novotny — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 18:47:21 +0000

You probably regularly paste text from other applications into the notes area of Swift To-Do List. Whether it is an HTML email, snippet from MS Office or anything else, it might have colors, font styles, tables, or some other formatting or objects – and you might usually want just the text.

So, the question is – how can you paste just the plain text into the notes area? It is very easy:

Use Ctrl+Alt+V to paste anything as plain text into notes. You already know that Ctrl+V will paste the text with all formatting, but Ctrl+Alt+V will always paste just the plain-text without any formatting. You can also use the right-click menu:

Have you already pasted the text?

If you already have the notes with formatted text or some broken tables etc, you can easily convert the whole notes to plain text using the notes toolbar as shown below:

This will remove all formatting from the notes, and remove any objects, tables or images, etc. It will also set the default font and font color for the text.

How to paste plain text in notes is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

How to change the default reminder time

Jiri Novotny — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 06:00:01 +0000

When you create a new task in our task list manager, the reminder is not enabled by default (of course). But if you enable the reminder, it has a default time when it’s shown. The program comes with default time set to “in 60 minutes”. However, you can change this. How?

How to change the default reminder time

This is how you can change the default reminder time in the Add/Edit task window:

First, click Add Task or edit a task that has no reminder set
Go to the Reminder tab
Use the Quick Preset button for either reminder time or date
And that’s it! This will not only change the time for the reminder of the current task, but also the default reminder time for all new tasks and for all tasks that have no reminder set yet.

More about default reminder time

The main purpose of the Quick Preset button is to allow you to rapidly set time and date, but it also has this additional hidden functionality in the Reminder tab.

Because there are over 40 different presets (For example: In 10 minutes, At 14:00, Tomorrow, The Day After Tomorrow, In 30 Days, The 1st Of Next Month, etc), you will be able to set the default reminder time that is just right for you.

If you set the reminder time manually, it will not change the default reminder time. You have to use the Quick Preset button.

How to change the default reminder time is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Include fun and rewarding tasks in your to-do lists

Jiri Novotny — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 04:58:04 +0000

Life is just one of long stream of tasks. That makes it even more important to do more things you love doing. If you are not doing things you love, your life is silently fading away. But you can change it!

Start a new project – “Happy Me”!

The goal of this project is to make you happy.

What are the things that you’ve always wanted to do but never got to do them? Surely there must be a way how to make some of these things happen!

Once you discover some fun things that you want to do, assign them yourself just like any other task. You can create an extra task type in Swift To-Do List program for these tasks, named “Fun” or “Happy {your first name}”.

Huge benefit is that if your to-do list has mixed dull and fun tasks, it will overall look much more optimistic and fun. In fact, your overall productivity can skyrocket!

After all, why are you doing all the boring tasks? Probably to earn a living and security – essentially, these are things that make you feel good. So why not take a shortcut sometimes?

Do more things for yourself.

Productivity boost is a hidden benefit

Have you ever woken up and felt like you really, really, really do not want to do any tasks today?

Well, if you kick-start your day with appetizer fun-tasks, it might just switch you into the task accomplishment mode and you will continue working on other tasks! Try it and see how it works for you.

You can also specify a reward/fun task for each of your hard tasks. Simply specify the reward in the task notes. This will make hard tasks much more appealing. You can even start by finishing the reward/fun tasks first. Once you enjoy the reward, you simply have to finish the hard task, don’t you? :-)

Include fun and rewarding tasks in your to-do lists is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

How to export your task list to Excel

Jiri Novotny — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:44:50 +0000

Like every proper task list manager should, Swift To-Do List allows you to not just print your tasks and notes, but also to export them, either to HTML or CSV (comma delimited format). Excel can work with CSV files – you can simply open the exported CSV file using Excel.

This short guide will tell you how to export your tasks into Excel step-by-step:

Step 1: Open the Print or Export dialog

Simply click the Print or Export button in the main toolbar, or use File – Print or Export.

If you want to export only one task, or a couple of particular tasks, you can select the tasks in the task-view, right click them, and click Print or Export Task(s)…. This is possible in version 7.065 released on August 7, 2010 or higher.

Step 2: Click the Export button

You can now configure the columns that you want to include in the export, grouping, sort, filtering and other options. Please note that some options, like “Colors”, “Borders”, “Wide Tables” (and other) apply only for export to HTML or printing.

When you are satisfied with the export options, click the Export button.

Step 3: Select CSV file type in the Export Tasks dialog

Dialog for saving the export output will be opened. All you have to do is to select CSV in the “Save as type” dropdown, and then save your export.

Step 4: Open the CSV file in Excel

This is quite easy – just start Excel, go to the Open file dialog, set the filter to All files and open your freshly exported CSV file. Excel should be able to handle it without any problems.

There are many programs that can work with CSV files, including OpenOffice Calc and other spreadsheet software.

How to export your task list to Excel is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Complete notes shortcuts (hotkeys) overview

Jiri Novotny — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 08:21:33 +0000

Notes shortcuts and hotkeys overview

Swift To-Do List 7 is a great notes management tool and is equipped with many useful notes shortcuts. This is a thorough overview of all notes shortcuts and hotkeys that you can use.

These hotkeys work in all notes panels: In the main Swift To-Do List window, in the Add/Edit task dialog, in reminders, and of course also in memos.

Please note that not every action has a hotkey assigned (eg. “Remove Formatting” or “Clear Notes” actions must be used via toolbar):

Insert date, time, separator hotkeys

Control + D – Insert date and time
Control + G – Insert date
Control + Q – Insert time
Control + J – Insert separator

The “Insert date” hotkeys work in other text fields as well, for example, you can use them when editing Task Name or To-Do List Name.

Formatting and font style hotkeys

Control + B – Toggle Bold
Control + I – Toggle Italic
Control + U – Toggle Underline
Control + K – Toggle Strike through
Control + N – Toggle Bullet style
Control + Shift + L – Switch bullet style. You can use this to create numbered lists.
Control + ‘+’ – Toggle Superscript
Control + ‘=’ – Toggle Subscript
Control + Shift + > – Increase font size
Control + Shift + < – Decrease font size
Control + Alt + H – Toggle Highlight (yellow color)
Control + Alt + K – Hyperlink
Tab or Control + Tab – Indent text. The behavior of Tab key in notes can be configured in Options.
Ctrl + Shift + A – Capitalize all selected letters (set all caps)

Clipboard and find hotkeys

Control + C – Copy
Control + X – Cut
Control + V – Paste
Control + Alt + V – Paste as plain text – very useful hotkey
Control + F – Find/replace
F3 – Find next

Editing, selection and navigation hotkeys

Control + Z – Undo
Control + Y – Redo
Control + A – Select All
Control + Backspace – Delete previous word
Control + Left Arrow – Move cursor one word to the left
Control + Right Arrow – Move cursor one word to the right
Control + Shift + Left Arrow – Select word to the left
Control + Shift + Right Arrow – Select word to the right
Control + Home – Move to the beginning
Control + End – Move to the end

Complete notes shortcuts (hotkeys) overview is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

How to protect your tasks and notes with encryption

Jiri Novotny — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 10:49:18 +0000

Did you know that your favorite task management software supports database encryption? This post will tell you all about it. Advantages, disadvantages, and practical step-by-step guide how to encrypt your database.

Advantages of task database encryption

The obvious advantage is security. If you encrypt your database, no one without the password can open it, or get the data from it in any way. This is the only way to have truly secure to-do lists and secure notes.

The longer password you choose, the safer it is. Best are so called “password phrases” – long passwords that are easy to remember. For example, a short sentence with some strange word in it works great as a password. Long passwords are nearly impossible to bypass, as the attacker has to use brute force to try all imaginable combinations, and that takes extremely long time for strong passwords.

To ensure maximum security, make sure that you fully exit Swift To-Do List 7 using File – Exit or lock Windows when you are leaving your computer.

Great thing about Swift To-Do List 7 is that it allows you to remove the encryption if you decide you no longer want to protect your database. However, you need to know the password in order to remove it, of course. You can remove the encryption in Options, Encryption.

Disadvantages of task database encryption

There are also some disadvantages of encrypting your database:

You have to enter the password every time you open the database.
If you forget your password, you can not retrieve it. Your database is lost.
It makes some operations a bit slower (around 10-40%), but you will usually never notice this.

How to encrypt your database step by step

Go to Options (eg. using File – Options), and go to the Encryption tab. Click the Encrypt button. This will open a dialog that allows you to set the password. Enter the password twice as instructed, and click OK. And that’s it!

Once is your database encrypted, a dialog like this will appear every time you open the database, asking for password:

How to protect your tasks and notes with encryption is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Keeping logs and simple records on your computer

Jiri Novotny — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 10:16:53 +0000

Our task list management software can not only help you to manage all your tasks and reminders, but also all kinds of notes, including logs. Log a simple text list where each item can have a timestamp.

I personally use Swift To-Do List to organize not just all my tasks and to-do lists, but also:

All my goals (for current month and year)
Predictions for the next year (this can be quite fun!)
Logs of books I’ve read
Logs of shows I’ve seen
List of interesting and inspiring quotes
List of things I’ve borrowed and that I owe to someone
List of things and activities I would like to try
List of places I want to visit
And most importantly, my thoughts (in a form of simple journal)
(And lots of other things, but that’s a story for another time ;-))

How to create and manage a simple log?

It is quite simple. You can either create a dedicated memo for your log, or place it in notes of one of your tasks – for example, if you have a task “Read 10 books about marketing”, you could maintain the list of books you’ve already read in the task’s notes.

Having a stand-alone memo works best for most logs, though. This is a screenshot of simple book log managed in Swift To-Do List:

Creating log step by step

Create a new memo in the to-do list tree (learn more about memos)
Write a header for your new memo and increase its font size (optional)
If you want the log to have multiple sections, make a few new lines, then insert a separator (Ctrl+J), write a header for that section, make a new line and insert another separator.
Now you can start adding records!
To create a record, simply make a new line, insert date stamp (eg. using Ctrl+D) and write the record (eg. the name of the book that you’ve just read).

Some useful notes hotkeys:
Ctrl+D – insert time and date, Ctrl+G – insert date only, Ctrl+Q – insert time only.

You could also use bulleted list that Swift To-Do List supports, but the bullets are not very useful in this case, as every line is a different record anyway.

Summary

As you can see, Swift To-Do List is very versatile, and can be used to manage list of various things, including logs (lists with timestamps). Similar approach could be used for simple journaling. I will write more about that in one of the future posts.

There are many kinds of lists – and logs are one of them. I hope that this post has inspired you to create more lists, because lists are great tool not just for living organized life, but also for retaining information and knowledge.

Keeping logs and simple records on your computer is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

How to copy tasks in and out of Swift To-Do List

Jiri Novotny — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 05:32:44 +0000

Did you know that you can use clipboard (Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V) to copy tasks in and out of Swift To-Do List? It couldn’t be simpler.

How to copy tasks out of Swift To-Do List

Simply select some task(s) in Swift To-Do List, press Ctrl + C (or use Edit – Copy), and they will be copied to clipboard. Now you can paste them anywhere.

If you paste them outside the task management software, they will be pasted as a list of task names, one per line.

If you paste them back in Swift To-Do List (eg. in a different to-do list, or even the same one), they will be pasted as exact copies, retaining all fields, notes, attachments, reminders, recurrence, etc. Just the Creation Date and Change Date will be set to current date.

How to paste tasks into Swift To-Do List

You can either paste a single line of text into our task organizer, or multiple lines.

When pasting a single line in the task-view, Add Task dialog will be opened with task name prefilled with the text in clipboard. This also gives you the chance to edit the task fields and enter additional details.

However, when pasting multiple lines (eg. task list), Add Multiple Tasks dialog will be opened. You can edit the individual lines to make sure that only tasks that you want will be added. When you press OK, you can right click the freshly added tasks and use Batch Edit to specify the details of the tasks.

How to copy tasks in and out of Swift To-Do List is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

How to join two different task types (or priorities, contexts, etc) in Swift To-Do List

Jiri Novotny — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:28:01 +0000

Being organized using every possible priority and task type has it’s merits, but minimalism is also appealing in many cases. If it ever occurs to you that you simply have too many different task types / priorities / contexts or contacts, and need to join two (or more!) of them together, here’s how. It’s really simple!

This short guide will be for task types, but the same approach applies for priorities, contexts, and contacts (used for Assigned To field).

Example: There are two types that you would like to join together: “Triviality” and “Small Task”. After joining them, only “Small Task” task type will remain, and all tasks that used to have “Triviality” task type will have “Small Task” type instead.

Step 1: Go to “Manage Types”

Go to Manage menu in the main Swift To-Do List window, and click Types…

Step 2: Delete the redundant task type

Select the redundant type (“Triviality” in our case) and click Delete.

Step 3: Select new type for tasks that used the deleted type

This is the whole trick! If any of your tasks had the type that you’ve just deleted, Swift To-Do List will ask you for a different type to replace it with.

We will select “Small Task” in our example:

So the result is this: “Triviality” task type is deleted, and all tasks that had “Triviality” task type now have “Small Task” type. In result, these two types are joined together. If no task had “Triviality” type, then it would be simply deleted.

If you need to join together more than two types, then simply repeat Step 2 and Step 3 for the other redundant types.

How to join two different task types (or priorities, contexts, etc) in Swift To-Do List is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

New “Memo” feature: Organize not just tasks

Jiri Novotny — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:23:21 +0000

Memos can be used to organize all your notes. All the .txt files haunting your desktop. All the lists of things you shouldn’t forget. All your ideas. The new version of our task list manager is not just for task management!

What is a memo?

Memo is a new feature added in Swift To-Do List 7. It is an independent note that you can add to the hierarchical to-do list tree. You can now create not just to-do lists, but also memos. This brings the functionality of our Tree Notes right into Swift To-Do List. A powerful combination, indeed.

Memos are very useful, because they give you a lot more editing space than task notes. Sometimes you just need to store your notes or a text that is not related to your tasks somewhere. That somewhere can now be Swift To-Do List :-).

How to create a memo

Creating a memo is very similar to creating a to-do list. All you have to do is to open the Add To-Do List dialog, and select “Memo” in the Create box. Then just choose the name and icon, and press OK as usual..

How does memo look?

This is how Swift To-Do List looks with a memo currently selected in the tree:

As you can see, there is no task-view when a memo is selected – just the notes area, with all features enabled (formatting, saving to files, opening from files, printing, attachments, etc).

Memo tips and tricks

Some things you might not know about memos:

Memos can be searched using the Find Tasks feature – just make sure you have Memos checked in the Find Tasks dialog.
Memos can contain attachments, just like tasks
Just like task task notes, all changes of memos are saved automatically. However, when editing a memo, you can also use Ctrl+S to force an immediate save and add the current state to the undo-history available from Edit menu. This trick applies for task notes as well, by the way!
Do you have any empty to-do lists that just contain other to-do lists? You can edit these empty to-do lists and change them to memos. You can then a write short summary of the sub-lists in the memo (or anything else). That is much more useful, isn’t it?
Memos have a special indicator in the tree (if enabled in Options), that looks like this: ●

What can I use memos for?

You already know how to organize your tasks – and memos are a great choice to organize everything else.

For example, memos are great for maintaining various list of things, because not all lists are actionable task lists. Also, memos are the best way to store your ideas.

I personally use memos for keeping various records and logs, writing my personal journal and thoughts, storing interesting snippets of information and quotes, storing my favorite website links and resources, yearly goals, ideas etc. Once the information is stored in a memo in Swift To-Do List, I know I will never lose it. That brings me true peace of mind.

We’ve substantially enhanced memos in version 7.05. You can now export and print them using the Print or Export dialog just like to-do lists. If you have not updated to the latest version yet, you can download it now from our website.

New “Memo” feature: Organize not just tasks is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

How to prevent repetitive strain injury with reminders

Jiri Novotny — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:58:22 +0000

If you are like me and sit at your computer for long hours, you might sometimes get backache, arm pain, sore eyes or overall uncomfortable feeling. Worse, over a long time, these nuisances could develop into serious health issues.

However, prevention of these issues (called RSI) is fairly simple – take short breaks every 30-60 minutes, and a longer break every few hours. Walk around, stretch, do some jumping jacks or ride a horse (if you live on a farm :-)). You should also look into a distance (eg. from a window) to help your eyes.

The problem is to remember to take these breaks

That’s the real issue here! It is nearly impossible to remember on your own to take these breaks. In fact, sitting at your computer can put you in a light state of trance. You need reminders to prevent RSI.

There are some specialized RSI prevention software products designed to prevent RSI. They periodically remind you to get up and move around a bit, but I consider these solutions to be an overkill.

How to prevent RSI with reminders – the simple solution

Our to-do list program supports recurring reminders. The reminders can repeat in longer (e.g. daily/weekly) or shorter periods (e.g. every 30 minutes) – you can set any interval you want.

If you create a task and set it to “recur hourly” with a reminder, Swift To-Do List will periodically remind you of this task in the specified time intervals. One of the benefits of this method is that when you restart your computer or the program, the timer will also reset, and you will be reminded after your set time interval passes after the new start.

Simply create a new task, call it something like “Take a short break“, go to the Recurrence tab, select the “Recur hourly” frequency and the “Just remind me” action. And that’s it!

I also have one great tip for you:

Place ideas what you might do on your short break into task notes. The reminder window will then always display these notes to inspire you!

Some ideas to get you started:

Drink some water
Stretch or do a few yoga poses
Eat a piece of fruit
Do a few push-ups or sit-ups
Look out from a window
Jump – hey, it’s fun! Just don’t jump out of that window!
Take your favorite neuro-stimulant formula (eg. tea or coffee)
Self-massage
Juggle anything (eg. wireless devices)
Take a few really deep breaths
Close your eyes and softly massage them
Do a short meditation. Say something positive to yourself.

This is how the reminder window can look like:

Yoga is really great if you are alone or don’t mind others. Just search YouTube for “yoga poses for beginners” or something similar to get quick inspiration and instructions. These will really stretch you out!

How to prevent repetitive strain injury with reminders is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

How to sort your task list by multiple columns

Jiri Novotny — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:02:52 +0000

Multi column sorting is one of the new features in in our task management software.

It allows you to sort your to-do list by multiple columns – eg. first by Due Date, then by Priority. This will bring high priority tasks that you have to do today to the top of your task list, followed by the rest of the tasks that you have to do today, followed by tasks that you have to do tomorrow, etc. Quite handy, right?

How to sort by multiple columns

Hold the Shift key and click a column to add it as a second (or third, or fourth, etc) column to your current sort.

Example: If you want to sort by Due Date, then by Priority:

Click Due Date column
Hold the Shift key and click Priority column
(To add a third column: Hold Shift and click yet another column)

You can also click any of the columns twice to make its sort descending.

As you can see, it is quite simple. You can add as many columns as you wish to your current sort this way. The primary sort column will have a subtle back-light.

How to clear multi-column sort

You can hold the Ctrl key and click a column. This will remove it from the sort.

Another possibility is to simply click any column. This will sort your task list by that column, and clear any previous sort. I’ve simply clicked the Priority column in the example screenshot below to clear the multi-column sort:

How to sort your task list by multiple columns is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

How to create a recurring task and extra tips

Jiri Novotny — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:25:35 +0000

One of the new features in Swift To-Do List 7 is support for recurring tasks.

What is a recurring task?

Recurring task is a task that is repeated. It needs to be completed multiple times. Swift To-Do List 7 supports tasks that need to be done daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, etc. It even supports complex patterns like “Every second Sunday every three months”.

The great thing about Swift To-Do List recurrence feature is that you can choose what happens when the task recurs. It can be either just marked as undone, or it can be duplicated (copied). Swift To-Do List can also automatically remind you that the task has just recurred.

Creating a sample recurring task

Example task: You need to feed your panda every Friday, otherwise it would get very grumpy and eat your bamboo furniture. And we don’t want that, do we? Swift To-Do List can automatically mark your task “Feed the panda” as undone every week and remind you of it.

This is how to do it:

1. Click the “Add Task” button. Or, if you want to make a task that already exists recurrent, you can simply edit the task.

2. Go to the “Recurrence” tab:

3. Select “Weekly” in the drop-down: (or any other pattern)

4. Configure the recurrence pattern and optionally select an action: Everything else is optional, eg. you can select recurrence time at the top-right corner. You can leave Starting date set to today. Ending date is usually not needed.

5. Press OK and you are all set!

More recurrence options, you ask?

Some additional recurrence options that apply to all recurring tasks can be configured in the Options dialog, in the Recurrence tab. For example, Swift To-Do List can automatically clear Percent Done and Time Spent fields when a task recurs, or automatically set its Start Date and Due Date, and more.

You can display a Recurrence column in your task-view that shows the date of the next task recurrence. Use Manage – Columns to display it.

The Recurrence column looks like this:

We will talk about more advanced recurrence features in one of the future posts.

What is planned for the future

These are our planned recurrence enhancements for the future 7.xx versions:

Recurrence preview: Ability to see the next 10+ dates of the task recurrence before the task actually recurs
Recurrence after completion: New recurrence pattern (=Recur task X days after completion)
Hourly recurrence: New recurrence pattern

How to create a recurring task and extra tips is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Getting The Most From Swift To-Do List Undo Feature

Jiri Novotny — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:45:05 +0000

Pressed something you didn’t want to press? A big whoops? Did your cat walk over your keyboard? No worries!

Swift To-Do List has an awesome undo/redo feature that we are really proud of.

You can undo/redo nearly any action. The undo also has a deep history, so you can track-back quite a bit if necessary.

Some “soft” actions that do not modify the database (like viewing another to-do list) are intentionally not included in the Undo.

Deleted a to-do list by accident?

When you delete a to-do list by accident, you can simply undo it – it’s as simple as pressing Ctrl+Z or using Edit – Undo. Using Undo in Edit menu has a big advantage: you can see exactly what action will be undone.

This doesn’t apply just to to-do lists, but to anything – accidentally wiped out your notes? No problem.

Deleted a task by mistake? Easy fix.

Broken your precious list of task types / priorities? The cure couldn’t be simpler.

Task Archive

Please remember that although the undo history is cleared after Swift To-Do List exit, you can restore any deleted task using Task Archive available from Manage menu. Task archive has two purposes – it is a history of all the things you’ve accomplished in the past, and it also allows you to restore deleted tasks.

All deleted tasks are automatically moved in the Task Archive.

Getting The Most From Swift To-Do List Undo Feature is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

How to use 4-Quadrants Time Management using your own custom priorities

Jiri Novotny — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:53:05 +0000

Maybe you’ve heard about Stephen Covey’s four quadrants time management system, first published in his book First Things First (1994). The system allows you to divide your tasks into 4 categories that enable you to identify the really important tasks.

I’ve always liked this system, but not everyone knows it or wants to use it. That’s why we have decided to make the priorities fully customizable in Swift To-Do List 7 – now you can use Swift To-Do List with any time management / prioritizing system you want. You can easily turn it into 4-quadrants task management software and this post will show you how.

Create your own custom priorities in Swift To-Do List 7

Using the 4-quadrants system with Swift To-Do List 7 is very easy. Click the Manage menu and then Priorities…. Here you can customize all your priorities. Simply rename the default priorities to:

Urgent and important
Urgent and not important
Not urgent and important
Not urgent and not important

(You can delete the rest of priorities). Now, all you have to do is to set the correct priorities to your tasks and always try to do as much of the important tasks as possible.

Tip – you can also use some coding for the priorities to make them shorter, like I-U (as = Important & Urgent), I-NU (Important & Not Urgent), NI-U, NI-NU, etc. Use your imagination.

Using Stephen Covey's 4-Quadrants Time Management technique with Swift To-Do List 7, the number one task management software for Windows

When you fully develop this habit, you will become much more efficient. Stephen Covery further expands on this in his another book Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People.

But hey, you can even invent your own prioritizing system. We are all unqiue, so perhaps you already have an idea what might help you to be more productive.

You can choose your own colors for your priorities – or you don’t have to use colors at all. Creating custom priorities can be fun, and Swift To-Do List 7 gives you the power to do just that.

This is how the Add Task dialog will look like after you edit the priorities:

Add Task dialog with 4-Quadrants priorities

How to use 4-Quadrants Time Management using your own custom priorities is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

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