Zengobi Forums

[Raemahn]

I'm finding myself using OmniFocus now as I need a method to track tasks to completion that come out of my meetings. My process is I create my notes in my meetings using Curio (or Evernote and then transfer to Curio), add tasks in Curio that come from the meetings, and then check them off as completed in Curio once I've created ongoing tasks in OmniFocus (so I don't have to track in two places).

I am not convinced this is the best process, but I do it this way because I need to add notes to my tasks to track the history of the item, I need to have a central repository for my tasks, and I need access to my tasks from my iPad. (I walk around with my iPad and get in conversation where I need to jot down notes and tasks on the fly. I also like taking the iPad to meetings to take notes using Evernote. I then transfer the notes to Curio. I like having the tasks in the meeting notes in Curio as it adds context.)

It would be nice if Curio had an interface (much like it has with Evernote) that allows Curio to create tasks in OmniFocus. It would also be nice if Curio could sync with OmniFocus to track task completion so dates and task completion are consistent. It would be really, really nice if Curio had an iPad client so the additional software was completely unnecessary.

These are just some thoughts I'm having, and I realize the process isn't perfect, but the bottom line is I need some way to do the above and this is what I've landed on. Not perfect, but it works. Is anyone else trying to do something similar, and if so, what are you doing?

Your thoughts and experience are appreciated.

[jshadow007]

Evernote and Curio are typically my "go to" spots to store information for long term or short term projects, but I love OmniFocus too much to ever abandon it. It will always be my task manager of choice.

To get at info on the go I typically export relevant idea spaces to Evernote or Dropbox as PDFs, and then...well it somewhat depends on my mood and what I want to accomplish. Make a list or outline? Into omni outliner I go. Jotting down notes or other info? Evernote or if I want to make sure something gets into curio, I'll actually just use OmniFocus to do it, and then I've got something actionable to remind me. Sometimes I'll also just type write onto a PDF with iAnnotate or a similar program.

Two way Evernote sync would be killer, but some sort of todo sync would also be helpful. The biggest help short of an actual iPad app would of course be an automatic or one-click method of exporting idea spaces or whole projects to PDF etc.

[mnmcook]

I have purchased and used many of the iPad/iPhone to-do and note taking apps. All have their pluses and minuses, it sort of depends on what you prefer, though some are clearly much better than others. They are also continuing to improve and add features, especially the better ones.

I also have Curio on the desktop and feel your pain with respect to syncing between iOS app (whatever it is) and Curio on the desktop. My situation is further complicated because I can't use a public cloud intermediary like Evernote or Dropbox from work. I could at home, but then I prefer any personal task management on my iOS device rather than firing up Curio on the iMac.

I really like the Curio project management tools quite a bit at work though, but over time I found myself (regrettably) ending use of that functionality because I'm much more likely to need task management (and note taking) on the go where I can't lug my macbook.

I haven't tried Omnioutliner which does have apps across iOS and Mac, but since it doesn't connect to Curio, I've not been inclined to buy them. In other words, yet another task management app on the Mac doesn't appeal to me. Now if I could seamlessly use it with Curio that would be tempting to migrate.

With respect to Evernote, if you are interested in something with to-do features as well as note taking, you might try Awesome Note by BRID. I've had it for a long time and like it very much, though I use it more for note taking than task management. It will do both well though I think. AN also integrates with Evernote for storing of notes, to-dos, tags, etc. I've successfully accessed everything AN stores in Curio via Evernote, though of course it's only one way now and the "to-dos" are simply text and metadata. No way to make them into Curio to-dos and you can't go the other way.

Besides Awesome Note, if you want a combination of to-do and notes, there are a number of them now. Some of my favorites are 2Do, Project Informant, and Appigo's To Do. I also have many of the apps that are aimed at handwritten note taking, but I'm not sure any of them really has task management built in. Awesome Note will let you insert handwritten notes as an attachment though.

Many apps will sync with Evernote or Dropbox, then allow markup to PDF etc. So jshadow007 is right, that's one way to export/import Curio docs if you use that functionality.

[jjweimer]

With regard to creating tasks from Curio to OF ... on the desktop side, you can create a task or project in OF, use the Copy as Link function from OF, and then paste that link in to Curio. It will open OF directly on the task or project. The alternative ... create a task in Curio that automatically becomes a task in OF ... could be done via Applescript (which Curio does not currently have). Doing this directly from Curio may otherwise now be verboten by sandbox restrictions, because AFAIK, sandboxing prohibits an application to issue a command to a different application that will force the other application to create a new object (ie, Curio can no longer request that OF create a new "action"). The restriction is in a nutshell to prevent some evil force from taking over your Curio application and issuing back-door commands to your OF database that flood it with an infinite number of "buy car insurance today" tasks, for example.

With regard to my use of Curio for project / task management ... I use Curio to oversee the top-level perspectives as well as resource management on projects and use Omnifocus (this could also be Things or The Hit List or ...) for task / project management. For example, Curio contains my ...

* life perspectives as mind-map layouts
* swim-lane / Kanban type diagram to follow the over-all status of a project (on-hold, pending, active, completed)
* weekly calendar layouts with key duties for that period (especially for my teaching schedule)
* snapshots of notes or reports on projects, meetings, ideas ...

Sometimes, I will set due dates on "tasks" in Curio, though I tend to gravitate back to Omnifocus just to avoid having to look in two places. I appreciate greatly that Curio can store assets directly or as aliases. In this way, it is a good resource management tool for a project. For a given project, I tend therefore to have one Idea Space that contains a link to the OF project and links to the finder-level folder(s). I am also starting to use Goalscape as a tracking tool, and my life perspectives have been migrated over correspondingly. I can also use the Copy as Hyperlink option from Curio to paste links in Goalscape that jump me back to the Idea Space in Curio.

Absent a iX version of Curio, the one improvement I would appreciate is to streamline the project management tool sets and their layouts in a cohesive manner.

Given an iX version of Curio, I would hope that hyperlinks will work across applications. When I would create a link in Curio that is omnifocus:// ... (task to complete) ... I would want that link in the iX version of Curio to jump me to the iX task view in Omnifocus.

[Raemahn]

[jjweimer]

[Raemahn]

[jjweimer]

[george]

Internally they're basically identical.

[jjweimer]

[george]

Use the Evernote client to export the note to your Desktop then zip it up and mail it to me. I'll import it into my Evernote then see what it looks like.

Evernote conversion is a bit tricky. We manually convert their proprietary ENML format to HTML then ask the Mac's text system to convert the HTML to RTF. Things can get lost or a bit weird in that process, obviously.

We don't do anything custom for Evernote-specific ENML tags such as checkmarks so those would get dropped.

[jjweimer]

Will do.

FWIW, I suspect the improper space translation issue is an Awesome Note problem. The same happens when a note is pulled in to TextEdit.

Support of the ToDo tag in EverNote would be great!

The file is on its way.

--
JJW