ForumsQuestionsProjects, Subtasks and Due Dates
Projects, Subtasks and Due Dates
| Author | Message |
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uselessuser |
Dear Internet,
I'm quite new to Toodledo, and I've only signed up here after using Appigo Todo on the iPod. This program lists projects which have a due subtask under "today": Not just the item, but the full project with all its subtasks. Same for "tomorrow" and so on. I've been trying to emulate this behavior with the Toodledo web interface. But no matter what, it always just lists the due subtask while the project itself disappears in the depth of the "no due date" list (I assign due dates to subtasks, not projects, but this wouldn't help either). What's worse, there doesn't seem to be an option to show which project the due task belongs to. So if I have two projects, each with, say, the subtask "buy tools" then I have no way of knowing what I'm supposed to buy. Now you could say, be more clear in your task descriptions. But I'm typing a lot on the go, using my iPod, and I don't want to put the project name into the subtask every time. So my question is, is there an option I'm missing or is it simply not possible to list project items the way Appigo Todo does? Best, -- useless |
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PeterW |
Try this setting:
http://www.toodledo.com/account_edit.php?edit=19 --> Indented mode shows all subtasks nested, even if the parent shouldn't be visible. |
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uselessuser |
Peter,
Thanks, I had already found this. What I don't like is that now the subtasks don't even show up under "today" when they're due, rather they are all listed under the project. But since the project itself has a later due date (or none) it will not be listed under "today" when in fact I should be doing something for it. I find this rather inconsistent, or am I just too illiterate to understand the settings here? |
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PeterW |
Yes, projects are not handled very well.
The key thing I've found that makes it work is to never put a due date on the parent task. Consider parent tasks simply as a 'container' for holding all subtasks. Subtasks can have due dates. If you do it this way, subtasks will appear when you want them to and the parent will also display if you have the third subtask option selected. This seems to be the best way of doing things. I use the second (i.e. recommended) subtask option so the parent is not displayed and I pre-pend an abbreviation of the parent name on all subtasks so I know what the subtasks belong to. I'd prefer to see the parent name as a separate non-editable (i.e. display only) field that appears alongside all subtasks (e.g. in a smaller font so that it doesn't take up too much space). I've asked for this before. |
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Paul |
I like how Appigo's ToDo handles this, as well. The Toodledo developers have said that changing the functionality of sub-task and parent task due dates is on their list, but it can't come soon enough for me.
I have dozens of projects with multiple sub-tasks, and the only way I can begin to make sense of my list is to view it with subtasks hidden. But if a project has a sub-task due and the parent has no due date, it won't appear in the "due today" area. Ideally, I'd like to see the parent task's due date be automatically set to the soonest due date of a sub-task. |
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Paul |
From the help:
It is important to understand the nesting behavior. When subtasks are nested, they will be hidden inside their parent task and will only be visible when you reveal them. This could cause you to forget about an important subtask. For example, if you have nesting turned on, a subtask that is due today will not appear in the "Due Today" section unless the parent task is also due today. It is safer to view subtasks flattened out because they won't be hidden and potentially forgotten. This is the behavior that I'd like to see changed. It may be safer to view subtasks flattened out, but that would show me hundreds of tasks and would rapidly become overwhelming. |
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uselessuser |
So the flat view is basically a workaround until they get around to fixing this? I seriously hope they're working on it. I've only got my pro account because of the subtasks, and I'm a bit disappointed that I basically had the same behavior with the sync function of Appigo's Todo before.
Too bad I didn't get a test account first, I was just assuming they'd handle it as in Todo. I couldn't even imagine it any other way. |
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PeterW |
@Paul - using the 'flattened' option can work. I also thought it would be useless but not entirely so.
A key thing to note is that each view remembers the subtask setting, so for example I leave my Folder view set to have subtasks 'hidden' so I can review the projects (parent tasks) with ease. In my Hotlist, I have subtasks set to 'flattened' so that I see the individual due or starred subtask. As a subtask is completed, I then promote the next project action (subtask) with either a due date or star. Nothing falls through the cracks and managing it on screen is easy. |
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Paul |
Posted by PeterW:
@Paul - using the 'flattened' option can work. I also thought it would be useless but not entirely so. I realize every situation is unique, and everyone is going to use Toodledo in their own personal way. Here's mine: I own a photography studio, and I use Toodledo to keep track of my workflow. Each type of client (senior, family, baby etc.) has a project template containing several dozen tasks. Each time I shoot a new client, I clone that template and rename the parent task as the name of the client. Right now I have just over 1500 tasks in my studio folder. I can filter by tags, but let's just say I want to look at seniors. Right now, I have 39 seniors in progress. Each has 33 subtasks (all the same). Looking at 1287 tasks in a flattened view is just not feasible for me. And, since they're all cloned from the same template, I would not be able to tell who each sub-task belonged to. I prefer to see all the seniors as a single, parent task each with sub-tasks hidden. Then, when I see "John Smith" is due today, I can expand the sub-tasks and see exactly what needs to be done. Appigo's ToDo app for the iPhone (which works exactly like this) is the current workaround for me, but that doesn't work for the web, or for my collaborator who tracks work via the web. Like I said, everyone uses Toodledo differently, and however it works best for them. I'd really like to see the option to have parent tasks show up in the due today (or whenever) section based on the date of the earliest due sub-task. And, in a perfect world and barely related to this, I'd like to see relative due dates for sub-tasks. For example, set a due date (or start date) for a parent task, and have each sub-task automatically set a due date based on a field such as "parent task start date plus 3 days" or "parent task due date minus 14 days". And then have have everything recalculate when changing a due date for a parent task. |
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Jake Toodledo Founder |
Thanks for feedback. We do plan to continue to improve the way that subtasks works.
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