Convenient to-do planner. The best desktop reminder program

Management tasks, personal or professional time planning, calendar, reminders and more can handle these tasks conveniently software. Which product is best for you?

A survey was conducted on the topic forum regarding software for personal planning. Several came from the discussion interesting tips for specific programs, as well as proposals for a complete synchronization solution with portable devices. Regarding recommended software, popular and comprehensive program MS Outlook, which is responsible for communication via e-mail and contact management tasks work at the highest level.

Other email clients offering personalized scheduling were noted in the conversation and can be found here. Google Calendar was also often mentioned, which is always available when connected to the Internet. In addition, we offer downloads of a variety of programs.

Small and simple application for Windows, Mac OS X and mobile devices under Android control, as well as for iPhone and iPad. Serves as a diary that synchronizes via the Internet with your other devices, but also with your colleagues or friends. For greater clarity, various filters are available to enter and eliminate unwanted tasks, and only get to those that are necessary.

The big advantage is free license. Calendar and contacts, close to Google services.

Lighting

The main disadvantage of Thunderbird is the lack of an integrated calendar and task scheduler. The lighting of this project partially compensates for this shortcoming. It adds calendar and recording tasks to Thunderbird. Although it still does not reach the same quality as the competitive Outlook, it will certainly be useful to fans.

It is a combination of Lighting with Google Calendar and other tools like a good option to manage personal plans.

Another email client has already been noted in the discussion. This is a universal communicator that also works with mail and messaging. instant messages, work with social networks, like Facebook or Twitter, also includes a calendar, contact manager and notepad.

As for the latter activity, eM Client allows you to share contacts and calendars with friends, synchronize with Google Calendar, schedule meetings and send invitations via POCM/ITIP.
The program is compatible with Windows, Mac OS X and Android.

Rainlendar

A small calendar that can be placed directly on your desktop operating system for an instant overview of completed and pending tasks. Rainlendar has minimum requirements to the system, easily customizable using skins. Views of entries can be synchronized with various programs (both locally and remotely), as in Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook.

Another advantage is that it can benefit not only Windows owners, but also Mac OS X and Linux.

Google Calendar Client

Finally, we have a simple client for Google Calendar in case you want to access data on your computer without an Internet connection. The program must be connected to the Internet only during the update. It will also be able to recall events or export them to MS Outlook. Its good feature is that it can be used without the need for installation.

TickTick allows you to create multiple task lists. This basic function, which is available in all such applications. I have created three lists: work tasks, life tasks (household) and just notes. This is the simplest use case.

The second approach is a three-level system:

The first level - lists are considered as a set of projects. There can be an unlimited number of them, since archived projects do not count towards the limit of both free and paid version. Archives of tasks and lists are stored on TickTick servers and they can be reactivated as needed, and completed or irrelevant ones this moment archive.
The second level is tasks in a list (central column). They are flexibly sorted by importance (priority), by dates, by name, and filtered by tags.
The third level is checklists within the task. These could simply be shopping lists, checklists, and so on. Or you can perceive them as two-minute tasks in the GTD ideology. Just remember to do it at a time.

The third approach is to treat each list as a goal. While the tasks on the list are not completed, the goal remains current. Achieved goals are removed from the general list and archived. Lists (and tasks assigned to them) in TickTick are color-coded (a stripe to the left of the task description), which for me, for example, is not very familiar after other to-do managers. But this is a matter of habit, and color marking can be used for memorization and mnemonic associations. Or link to label colors in Gmail or Inbox.

Sync tasks between all devices

Web version

TickTick syncs tasks across the web, Android, iOS apps, Chrome and Firefox extensions—no matter where I am, my tasks are at my fingertips.

There is even an application for wearable devices (watches, etc.):

Conclusion

The iOS version is currently less functional than the Android version, but the creators of the application are working on it and promise to finish it within a few months.

Thus, TickTick is the most functional solution at the moment, which can be used at home and in business. Now you have all your tasks written down and scheduled, and you need to complete them. But that is another story.

Write in the comments which planner for business and household tasks do you use and why?

Most of our life is spent on mistakes and bad deeds; a significant part passes in inaction, and almost always the whole life is that we do the wrong thing.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Do you regularly make a lot of efforts to have time to do everything you need, but, nevertheless, you do not have time to do anything, you stop finding your bearings and are gradually drowning in an increasing flow of information, while you have been experiencing stress for a long time and suffering from constant overload? Agree, this state is typical for a modern business person. And many consider it normal; yes, indeed, you have to pay for progress, and sometimes a lot. But is everything so pessimistic? After all, there are other examples - people manage to fulfill all their responsibilities, and sometimes more, and at the same time they still have energy and time for their personal lives. Maybe it's all about the ability to properly organize your work? We will proceed from this and try to understand what opportunities there are in in this case can provide a computer, especially since today the market offers great amount planning programs.

In the world of schedulers

Currently, the problem of planning in the business world has become so urgent that the corresponding software is being developed by many companies. Microsoft is no exception, offering the already well-known Outlook package, and recently it was supplemented by the OneNote 2003 application. The Outlook package is the standard for corporate information exchange, storing contacts, scheduling tasks, coordinating meetings, etc., and OneNote allows you to record, organize and reuse electronic notes on laptops, desktops and tablets. Both applications have a lot of advantages, but for a considerable number of users the functions they provide are redundant, and the packages themselves are too cumbersome; this often leads to users being unwilling to use the capabilities provided by the programs in their practical activities. As a result, things are still overwhelming and there can be no talk of any reasonable planning. At the same time, among computer organizers there are programs that can satisfy the needs of a wide variety of users.

Computer organizers refer to various programs ranging from ordinary note managers and notebooks to respectable planners, including corporate level. Accordingly, their capabilities are very diverse. If a banal reminder just monitors you so that you don’t forget something, and the address book stores regular contacts in in electronic format, then a serious planner will help you plan your entire business (and, if desired, personal) life for the long term. At the same time, organizers belong to that group of programs where it is difficult to clearly name the best: one user is more comfortable working with a simple and quick reminder, while another will prefer a solid personal information manager that allows you to manage contacts, create personal and group schedules, schedule meetings, manage notes, etc. .; Some people need to make long-term plans, while others are satisfied with weekly planning.

In addition, in programs of this class, ease of use and the ability to customize the application in accordance with the characteristics of a particular type of activity and your personal preferences are of great importance. Many organizers have a nice interface and provide many functions, but turn out to be inconvenient because they cannot be customized. As a result, the user spends more time on planning than he would like, and he loses the desire to use this program, as well as the confidence that the computer can help in this matter.

Therefore, in this article we will focus on the main planning problems and consider applications that will help in solving them. Let us immediately note that our classification of organizers will differ from their traditional division into programs for working with notes, address books and full-featured information managers, since we will consider applications in the light of specific planning problems facing users.

How not to forget about meetings and tasks

You, only a few are able to remember all the things planned for the day, especially since you regularly have to be distracted by phone calls, communicate with colleagues, and solve new problems. As a result, you forget to make an important call, you may remember about an important meeting too late and will not have time to prepare for it, you may not remember a specific task at a favorable moment for its completion, etc. The result is a chronic lack of time and a state of constant stress.

The simplest solution in this situation is to use a suitable notes manager, which allows you to create notes in the form of “sticky notes” that are placed directly on the Windows desktop. With their help, it is easy to manage a small number of events, meetings and tasks, since the program will alert the user about an upcoming meeting or an important call, remind the user of an event or scheduled task, etc. An important advantage of note managers is the extreme simplicity of operation, as well as their low price (there are also free options), which makes them attractive to large number users.

However, the planning capabilities in these programs are limited to entering time-bound events, meetings and tasks, and there is no talk of any ranking of tasks by priority or building a holistic picture of employment. In addition, using note managers is not very convenient when there are a large number of tasks, since even ten “sticky notes” on the desktop can interfere with work by closing another necessary information, and such a desktop looks completely unaesthetic. True, the latter can be corrected many note managers allow you to hide “sticky notes” and display them on the screen only in user specified time and only for a specified period of time. Therefore, applications of this class will be convenient for those users whose list of tasks, events and meetings is small, and tasks do not need to be ranked.

For note managers, we'll look at the StickyNote and Power Notes apps. The former is supported by its enormous popularity at the global level, ample opportunities and the effectiveness of the “sticky leaves” created with its help. In favor of the second, the Russian interface coupled with a very modest size, symbolic price and capabilities that are quite sufficient for most users.

Developer: Tenebril, Inc.

Distribution size: 4.51 MB

Distribution method: shareware (15-day demo http://download.tenebril.com/pub/bin/snsetup.exe)

Price:$19.95

Work under control: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP

StickyNote the world's most popular application for creating electronic sticky notes, a reliable reminder of all planned events, meetings and tasks. “Sticky notes” appear on the screen only at a specified time and can disappear on their own after a period specified by the user, and their appearance can be accompanied by the launch necessary programs, documents or web pages.

Any note can be easily edited, printed, and emailed. All notes are automatically saved when you close the program. Categories support allows you to intelligently divide notes in accordance with their purpose: separate work tasks from personal ones, store them separately contact information, useful ideas etc. The advanced search mode allows you to instantly find any note from the database; you can search for text both in the title and in the body of the note, and you can search either by sorting through all the notes in the database, or by limiting yourself to notes of a specific category. The program has clipboard support, so you can drag and drop the desired text directly from a note, for example, into a Word document.

The user can design “sticky leaves” according to his own taste; they can be either ordinary two-dimensional or three-dimensional, can have different borders and cast a shadow. In addition, if desired, it is easy to change the color and texture of each note.

Developer: Power Soft

Distribution size: 1.27 MB

Distribution method: shareware (16-day demo version http://www.sticky.ru/download/power-notes-rus.zip)

Price:$9.95

Work under control: Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003

Power Notes is a convenient reminder that promptly warns the user about planned events, meetings and tasks, including periodic ones. The program allows you to create electronic sticky notes that can be saved to disk, edited many times and printed. Stickers appear on the screen strictly according to a schedule, including at a certain frequency; they can disappear automatically, and their appearance can be accompanied by the launch of programs and the opening of corresponding web pages. The program is located in the tray and does not interfere with work, and the parameters of the notes themselves are configured according to the user’s wishes.

There are simplified versions of the Power Notes program: the cheaper Dynamic Notes (http://www.sticky.ru/download/dynamic-notes-rus.zip; $6.95) and the free Freebie Notes (http://www.sticky .ru/download/freebie-notes-rus.zip). The capabilities of the Freebie Notes utility are limited to creating stickers and displaying them at a user-specified time, and Dynamic Notes, unlike Power Notes, cannot launch programs or open web pages.

How to effectively plan your time

Sometimes it seems that it is impossible to deal with all the problems that have piled up. You have planned your day to get things done, but you are regularly distracted by phone calls, colleagues and subordinates asking questions, and towards the evening you realize that you have not fulfilled your plan and the amount of work has not decreased, but even increased. You lose control of the situation and don’t know how to solve all the tasks. How to proceed in this case? First you need to learn a few important rules planning, and then take advantage of the capabilities of a suitable scheduler program.

Five important planning rules

Create a task overview. Before you start assigning tasks to a specific time, try to see the whole picture: tasks, deadlines and relationships between individual tasks; in the future, this will allow you to more correctly plan them in time and in relation to each other.
Set your priorities. Having compiled a list of all tasks, arrange them in descending order of importance from the point of view of the goal and include them in the plan taking into account this position then even if you do not have time to do everything, then at least do the most important thing.
Follow the principles of flexible planning, remembering that a plan is not a dogma and can be changed depending on circumstances. Therefore, it is important to keep such a plan before your eyes in order to always be able to complete the task for which the right moment presented itself.
Group similar cases. Human nature is such that you have to tune in to any type of activity, and constantly switching from one activity to another takes time. Therefore, when drawing up plans, experts recommend combining similar tasks into groups, for example, immediately making all the necessary phone calls or preparing a number of documents, etc.
Establish temporary reserves, since rigid plans, when tasks go right next to each other, are never fulfilled. Experts recommend planning only 60% of your working time, and leaving the remaining 40% as a reserve: 20% for unplanned force majeure matters and another 20% for spontaneously arising opportunities for creativity or initiative.

What are the types of scheduler programs?

All scheduler programs can be divided into two large groups. The first group includes electronic calendars and diaries designed for daily time planning; as a rule, they are convenient for planning events, meetings and tasks for a short period: a day, a week, or a maximum of a month. Programs this direction there are a lot on the market, and an example can be considered the “Calendar” module of an integrated Microsoft package Outlook. As an example of applications with classic calendar-diary capabilities, we will consider the Calendarscope program, which has the status of the most convenient and multifunctional diary in the world, and the WinOrganizer package, considered the best Russian application of this class.

The second group of scheduler programs consists of applications focused on long-term long-term planning, in which an overview of tasks, events and meetings is presented in the context of several months. Such calendars are indispensable when planning complex and/or lengthy tasks, since the former involve the preliminary execution of auxiliary tasks of a lower level, and the latter are extended over time. Long-term planning using appropriate programs allows you to build a hierarchy of tasks, dividing large and long-term tasks into smaller and medium- and short-term ones, and at the same time see the whole picture of tasks, meetings and events, which allows you to realistically assess the situation, rank and set priorities. One of best apps long-term planning, designed for a wide range of users, is the YearPlanner package, which we will also consider.

Developer: Duality Software

Distribution size: 2.15 MB

Distribution method: http://www.dualitysoft.com/download/cs250r.exe)

Price:$29.95

Work under control: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003

Calendarscope is a very convenient electronic diary that allows you to plan any events both work and personal. Events in the program mean not only events in the literal sense of the word, but also meetings, tasks, as well as travel, calls, payments, etc. In accordance with their purpose, all events are divided into categories, the list of which can be expanded indefinitely. One type of event is holidays, which can be easily imported from the Holiday database; Russian holidays are in the russia.vrh file. Events can be searched, sorted by various parameters, set up various filters to display them more clearly, change the graphic design of events, etc. For any event, you can provide reminders, each with customizable color, font, and sound, and can also include URLs and email addresses.

The program has an intuitive interface, traditional for diaries, can be optimally configured for any user and is very easy to use, primarily due to the fact that many actions in it can be performed very quickly. For example, to move an event by time, copy it, change the duration or category, convert it into a task, etc., it is not at all necessary to open it; it is enough to drag the event with the mouse to another time, resize the corresponding window, or use the context menu. Compared to similar programs, you can create events faster here, since they are saved automatically and you do not need to additionally click on the corresponding button. All events, depending on the category, are marked in different colors, which makes orientation easier.

Events interpreted by the user as tasks can be additionally presented in the TaskPad all scheduled tasks are displayed here (including active, overdue and already completed) with an indication of their category, priority, degree of completion and date, which allows you to track certain tasks and control their implementation.

You can choose to view scheduled events: day, week, month, or set any desired number of days. A window with any event viewing option can be easily printed at the desired scale or saved in HTML format. Don't think that printing out a list of events for the day or week will be unnecessary. It is convenient to always have it with you - then some of the planned tasks can be completed at a more suitable time. For example, talk to Ivanov 5 minutes before the start of the meeting (as a result, you won’t have to specifically catch him on the phone) or go to the savings bank to pay the bill immediately after meeting with the client, if you happen to be nearby (you won’t have to get to the savings bank after work). Of course, the schedule can also be viewed on Palm or Pocket PC family of pocket computers, especially since Calendarscope supports synchronization with them, but it will take much more time, and it is not always convenient.

Calendarscope has built-in support for data archiving and backup, supports advanced import and export of information (for example, a list of events can be imported from text file), allows you to save calendar data with a password to protect against unauthorized access.

Developer: The Golden Section labs

Distribution size: 6 MB

Distribution method: shareware (30-day demo version http://www.tgslabs.com/download/WinOrgRu.exe)

Price: For individuals 750 rub., for legal entities And commercial use 1500 rub.

Work under control: Windows 95/98/Me/NT 4.0/2000/XP

WinOrganizer electronic diary designed for daily planning of events and tasks, complemented by the ability to store contacts, passwords and notes.

Events are designed to store data about recurring events: birthdays, holidays (including Russian ones), etc. Tasks have all the capabilities of events and differ from them by the presence of additional fields: percentage of task completion, executor, priority, task status and date of its completion. Early alerts can be set for events and tasks. Contacts allow you to store addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and web pages and search the contact database by the first letters of the name. If desired, you can call the selected contact, send a letter to his e-mail via the established mail client or go to its web page.

Notes are designed to store a variety of text and graphic information, including tables, these can be notes, recipes, quotes, web addresses, pictures, fragments of web pages, etc. Any information in notes can be formatted using basic text formatting functions: editing font size and typeface, highlighting, underlining, etc. You can drag and drop text and hyperlinks from other applications into notes using the mouse. The password storage module allows you to store passwords serial numbers, bills, etc.

For planning in WinOrganizer, the “Today” module is designed, which allows you to see all tasks and events for a specific day, week or month. Any option for displaying the calendar plan is easy to print; there is support for the mode preview.

Unfortunately, in the calendar plan, all tasks are displayed in the same way, and the ability to edit events and tasks when calendar planning extremely limited. For any change, you need to open a particular task, make the necessary changes and save it - all this requires separate operations, so the planning process is very slow. New tasks and events in the “Today” window cannot be implemented in principle; you have to return to the main program window, and the process of creating new elements is long and inconvenient, for example, the date and time must be set manually, and this takes a lot of time. Therefore, the program is not suitable for planning a large number of tasks. However, WinOrganizer may be suitable as a comprehensive solution for working with tasks, contacts and notes for those users whose number of tasks is small and does not need to be ranked.

YearPlanner 2.4

Developer: C Software Ltd

Distribution size: 2.73 MB

Distribution method: shareware (30-day demo version http://www.c-software.net/year_planner_install.exe)

Price:$29.95

Work under control: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server

YearPlanner package a good solution for long-term strategic planning, which allows you to perform two tasks. On initial stage planning with this application you can quickly form an approximate time schedule for all tasks of a particular project and evaluate the whole picture (tasks and deadlines) as a whole. Having presented the tasks more clearly in this way, you can then move on to solving the main problem - try to distribute tasks over time so that all the conditions necessary for the project are met. This process in the YearPlanner environment is simple and convenient: tasks can be easily moved from date to date, change their due dates, supplement them with alerts, etc. As a result, the tedious process of long-term planning resembles a children's puzzle game, in which multi-colored tasks appear instead of multi-colored cubes .

The package is small in size, inexpensive and has an intuitive, pleasant and easily customizable interface.

YearPlanner is an excellent choice for a wide range of organizations: companies can use it to plan project deadlines and create vacation schedules; schools, colleges and other educational structures create schedules; sports clubs plan competitions and training, etc.

Support for a user-configurable list of categories greatly simplifies the planning process. Firstly, tasks belonging to different categories are displayed in different colors and are equipped with distinctive icons - this helps to quickly navigate and assess the situation. Secondly, separate categories can be turned on and off, which allows planning to take into account not only the requirements for the project, but also other factors: corporate events, holidays (including Russian ones), birthdays, personal events and meetings, etc. All this makes it possible to get a complete picture of the proposed work and assess the reality and reasonableness of a particular planning option from different angles.

Fundamental difference YearPlanner from classic planners is that it allows you to create and analyze plans for a long period - from a month to a year.

Plans can be printed on a printer, and for stand design in on a large scale on the plotter. Preview mode allows you to see the document before printing. In addition, calendar plans can be saved as a project for further adjustment or as a PDF file, which allows you to post calendars on the organization's website. The appearance of the created calendars is fully customizable thanks to a variety of themes, design styles and adjustments of individual calendar elements.

How to manage valuable ideas

As practice shows, interesting thoughts and valuable ideas come to mind at a variety of moments: while working on an article, while searching on the Internet, while walking, etc. But if they are not recorded, they will soon be forgotten, since an unwritten thought is a lost thought. And the point here is not sclerosis; this is a feature of our memory (try, as an experiment, one or two days to write down all the interesting thoughts and you will see how many valuable ideas could be lost forever). In addition, recording thoughts stimulates creative activity; for example, in the process of writing, you may come up with an idea to realize your plan. Therefore, it is not surprising that many creative people keep filing cabinets. For example, Gogol wrote down old Russian names and recipes for delicious dishes on cards, so that he could later insert their descriptions into his brilliant works. Today, of course, there is no need to have a paper file cabinet, since a computer provides much more opportunities for managing thoughts, for example, in terms of simplifying searches and ease of modernization.

To record and catalog thoughts, you can use Notepad, having previously organized a series of specialized folders on disk for recording ideas, or you can use the “Notes” folder in any of the personal information managers (for example, in Microsoft program Outlook), having previously created a tree of subfolders in it in accordance with a specific topic. In the form of notes, it is convenient to save quotes, excerpts from articles and thoughts that come to mind, and the first and second ones can simply be dragged and dropped into the desired “Notes” subfolder.

You can go even further and install a thought-storage-oriented software such as an electronic diary or a suitable note manager. There is no clear definition of a note manager, and quite often note managers mean sticker managers, which in this case would be inconvenient. “Sticky notes” are more suitable for recording reminders and for temporarily recording short text information(telephone numbers, addresses), etc., which must subsequently be transferred to its destination. As examples of ideas-writing apps, we'll look at the Secure Notes Organizer note manager and DiaryOne. With their help, you can save any useful thoughts and ideas and, if necessary, instantly find any of them, saving a lot of time and fully using your creative potential.

Developer: SecureAction Research

Distribution size: 1.25 MB

Distribution method: shareware (30-day demo http://secureaction.com/notes/download/notes_setup.exe)

Price:$29.95

Work under control: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP

Secure Notes Organizer convenient manager Notes, which allows you to store any information in a hierarchical tree form. In this case, notes can mean anything: plans and ideas, comments about a project, draft reports, as well as personal contacts, lists of bookmarks, etc. If desired, you can store passwords, bank account numbers, etc. credit cards and other secret information, since the program implements data encryption using the DES (Data Encryption Standard) algorithm with a key length of 128 bits.

The Secure Notes Organizer program has an Explorer-like interface with support for the Russian language, is convenient to use and easy to learn. It will help you organize all your notes in hierarchical structure of any complexity, and can be used to place elements as command menu, and a mouse, which is much faster and more convenient. Inserting notes in required section programs are usually carried out via the clipboard, but it is also possible to drag and drop text fragments from other applications, although text can only be inserted in this way into an open note. Notes can be moved between tree folders, formatted randomly, adding images, text, inserting dates, symbols and hyperlinks, formatting text, etc. Any changes are saved automatically; the program, after inserting another note by pressing the Esc key, can be immediately hidden in the system tray and, if necessary, reactivated double click click on its icon. It is possible to compress all information with the built-in archiver, which allows you to reduce the size of files with notes several times.

Instant Search allows you to quickly find any note by folder title or by any fragment of text, and you can search both in all folders at once, and in specific folder or in all folders, starting with the current one. The found note can be copied as usual into a text document, printed, exported to an HTML file, or sent by email.

Developer: PIMOne Computing

Distribution size: 6 MB

Distribution method: shareware (30-day demo version http://www.pimone.net/download/diaryone_setup.exe)

Price:$29.95

Work under control: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/2003 Server

DiaryOne is a personal electronic diary that allows you to store not only text, but also a variety of multimedia information, including images, sound and video files, in the form of notes. The program has a convenient, intuitive and elegant interface and requires virtually no time to learn.

You can create notes in several ways: by entering text manually, copying data via the clipboard from other applications, or dragging the selected text with the mouse. The mode for quickly copying web pages via context menu, thanks to which you can quickly copy both entire pages and individual fragments, although this function only works in Internet Explorer. If you wish, you can even create voice notes by speaking the desired text into the microphone. All notes can be classified according to two criteria: date and category-group, while a link to a specific date is created automatically, and in addition to a group - at the user’s request. Groups are created on a thematic basis and can have an unlimited number of nesting levels. Managing notes is extremely simple and convenient: it’s easy to move them between groups, copy and delete them. Acceptable various options formatting the text of notes, you can supplement them with arbitrary images, additional text, emoticons, and even attach a file. You can easily find a note using the built-in search mode or using the built-in calendar or group names. Any note can be printed, emailed, and exported to TXT, RTF, and HTM files.

DiaryOne provides complete safety information thanks to password access to data and automatic backup of information when closing the program, which allows you to restore it if necessary. Therefore, in addition to notes, it is quite possible to store secret information in an electronic diary: passwords, account numbers, etc.

Life active modern man involves a fast rhythm, a large number of planned activities and set goals. You simply cannot do without a diary here. Fortunately, the 21st century has its advantages: the electronic market offers a huge selection to-do list apps, organizers and to-do-lists. Today I will talk about two to-do list apps.

In fact, there are so many of them that the eyes run wild, and a beginner will get completely confused in these things that are unusual for him. In this article I will outline the main options for maintaining electronic organizers and will dwell in more detail on two of them: ToDoist and Wunderlist.

But before moving on to the electronic options, I want to draw your attention to other, more classic ones. First of all, what translated from English means “bringing things to completion” or “how to put things in order.” GTD is not easy organizer, but a whole huge, structured planning system up to a lifelong perspective. It’s worth starting such a thing when you are no longer new to maintaining this kind of organizer.

In addition, please note that it serves approximately the same purposes, but is much easier to use. In principle, the systems complement each other, but it is logical to choose one – the one that turns out to be the most convenient and effective for you specifically.

What are the benefits of electronic apps?

But Getting Things Done and Bullet Journal are paper systems, and we are so used to using mobile phones. There are also online stores on iPhone (App Store) , and for the platform android (Play Market) . All applications for keeping a to-do list, organizers and diaries can be downloaded there.

Here the best What the stores offer:

Wunderlist;
ToDoist;
AnyDo;
Tick-Tick;
Remember the Milk;
Trello;
MyLifeOrganized;
GTasks;
Do it;
LeaderTask.

And these are just the most famous; in fact, there are dozens, hundreds of similar applications! But today we will focus on the first two, analyze their advantages and disadvantages, find out how they differ and which one is the most convenient and functional?

ToDoist and Wunderlist: what do they have in common?

First of all, the main features of both applications should be noted:

they are equally comfortable to use on mobile phone(both on iPhone and Android), tablet, laptop or personal computer, in the presence of personal account all changes are automatically saved in cloud storage, are synchronized and displayed on all devices at once, so you can easily switch between them;
they have a fairly simple, intuitive interface, not overloaded unnecessary functions and features;
available anywhere and anytime, on mobile, tablet, PC. You create one account that works everywhere;
Meanwhile, the main functionality is quite diverse, practical and convenient.

What can you use these applications for:

for maintaining a to-do list for the day (meetings, events, work and everyday life);
to make a shopping list (no matter in a grocery or hardware store);
for compiling “watch”, “read”, “listen” lists;
for checklists, for example, “what to take on a trip”;
to set sound reminders that will tell you when it’s time to take a pill, turn off the pan on the stove, or start getting ready for a meeting.

Wunderlist: how to use?

Wunderlist– one of the most convenient electronic organizers? Simple, convenient, with an uncomplicated design and an intuitive interface, Wunderlist usually does not cause problems even for an inexperienced novice user.

What nice features does this application offer its fans?

the presence of a personal user e-mail to which you can send any lists, tasks, etc.;
possibility of registration in common system large quantity people and, in fact, communication with them, sending your lists to other people, delegating tasks, which is very convenient, for example, for a team of employees;
creating projects, folders, thematic lists;
tags by which you can find your posts;
You can write descriptions for tasks, create subheadings and subtasks;
You can also attach files – text documents, photographs, etc.

ToDoist- analogue previous application, meanwhile, it has its own characteristics:

modern, fashionable design;
there is a so-called “migration function”: by switching to this application, you can import information from others so as not to manually enter all the lists again;
on basic version Countless additional functions are superimposed, which are unlocked in the extended paid version, whether this is a plus or a minus is up to everyone to decide for themselves;
productivity visualization, that is, the application, as it were, evaluates your productivity and efficiency, thus encouraging activity.

As you can see, both applications are quite functional and extensive in their capabilities. Which one is better is difficult to say. Some will prefer the proven, reliable Wunderlist, while others will prefer the new, fashionable ToDoist with its numerous paid features, especially since the fee is not that high - about 2,000 rubles per year.

What are these chips? Paid account holders can add comments to their tasks, view completed tasks, send tasks by email, receive reminders by email or SMS, export tasks to Google calendar, Outlook or iCal, use search and view your productivity statistics by day and project.

Which to choose?

Check both, test, compare - and choose the one that will be convenient for you. I chose Wunderlist a long time ago and did not dare to switch to a new one.

For me, Wunderlist has only one drawback - the lack of gamification, which I liked so much in ToDoist. Gamification is great tool motivation, therefore, in my opinion, this should definitely be used in task managers.

The second disadvantage of Wunderlist, which other users note in reviews, is the lack of a calendar. And in the paid version of Todoist, you can use a calendar that automatically makes notes and scheduled events: synchronization works with iCal, Outlook and Google Calendar. That is, in a convenient graphic format, you can follow important events within the framework of your project together with clients, colleagues, members of your family.

There can be many questions about why a reminder is needed, starting from the birthday of an important person right up to technical needs aimed at comfortable work and organizing time in a separate place without clogging your brain. However, ideally, the program itself should be portable and not too large in size in order to quickly configure and launch the necessary tasks.

I had 20 at my disposal various programs, which were subjected to various types of testing. Most of the software is free, but there were also paid ones. I didn’t check the paid ones because they all weigh more than they should with such functionality. Loading various skins slows down the launch, etc. Moreover, the functionality in free analogues plenty of it.

Below we will consider which desktop reminder program to download for free in Russian is the best and most convenient. Let's look in detail at how to create several tasks, play around with the settings and create the necessary parameters.

After drawing up the right goals on the right date and time, you will hear a pleasant sound signal with a note about the completion of the task scheduled for the calendar of this time.

Machy - the best reminder program

First of all, you need to download the Macy program itself to home computer via one of the links below:

Download MACHY from the official website or Download MACHY from Yandex.Disk

The program has not been updated for a long time, but still works great for everyone windows platforms(win7, win8, win10, XP, vista) and easy to use. After downloading the archive to your desktop, you need to unpack it into a directory convenient for you on your laptop or desktop PC.

In the root folder of the utility, double-click to open the file Machy.exe. After launching the program, you will be able to see all its functionality and capabilities, after which we will begin setting up the utility. After the first greeting and clicking the "OK" button, this software will automatically minimize to the tray, lower right corner of the screen. To expand it, simply double-click on it, then, when the program window opens, in the lower left corner of the utility, click on “Settings”.

On the first “General” tab, uncheck just one checkbox “Run program\Document” and don’t touch anything else if you definitely don’t need anything from the basic parameters of the program’s tasks there. By default, the desktop reminder calendar in Russian will launch automatically when the Windows operating system starts.

On the second tab “Files”, check the “play sound file” checkbox. Next, select the audio file that you would like to hear when the event occurs.

Pay special attention! The file must be in .wav format. For these purposes there is online converters, with which you can convert any sound or melody to another audio format.

Online conversion of sounds to .wav format

http://audio.online-convert.com/ru/convert-to-wav

Below in the same tab you can launch any program or file, word, for example.

On the next settings tab – Miscellaneous, set everything to zeros because in the future we will ask you the exact date and reminder time.

Activate the checkbox as in the screenshot to display your message, selecting its volume below. We put maximum value 150 characters is enough. Save the settings by clicking OK.

For the test, all that remains is to create a small task to see how it all works in practice.

In the main window of the Machy program, add a new condition.

You will have a number of options to choose from.

For the test, the first option is sufficient, which can be selected in the left column by activating the desired checkbox. For the test, “Remind something” is enough.

We set the time and date, enter the required text, the desired melody in .wav format, having previously activated the checkbox. How to convert an audio file to required format I already wrote above. Click OK.

After such actions, a list of tasks will appear in the main program window, including the conditions we just created.

Different computer reminders in Russian may differ from each other, they all have their own benefits in one way or another. Machy does not require installation, and it starts when the operating system starts, located in any directory.

Such simple program and you no longer need to remember anything in your head. All the work is done by the software we configured - date, time, birthdays, work, to-dos, congratulations. All this reminder occurs at the appointed time, automatically.

Standard reminder in Windows

In later versions starting from Windows 7 It became possible to display notes. The notes themselves are different from the reminder and, after opening, appear on the desktop in the form of small notes, something like notes. A kind of widget. You can add as many such notes as you like with one plus sign.

You can call up Notes in several ways, the most quick way- in the start menu, enter “Notes” in the search box, or go to all programs, in the standard section, selecting the appropriate program.

In the widget that appears before your eyes, you need to fill in the text of the note at your discretion.

For convenience, the notes window can be stretched beyond the lower right corner, and using the “+” button you can add another note to fill. You can create widgets at least whole screen! The color of the note can be changed to select from the list by pressing right click mice.

After filling, a certain amount forms, you can safely restart your computer and tomorrow you will not forget about the unfinished work. All the things that I need to do are always in sight.

Of course, if you plan to postpone an event for a calendar month, it is best to use Machy's reminder. Notes are intended for a short period of time. For example, today you don’t have time to finish your presentation, but you still have several different things on your mind that need to be brought to life.

Today we found out which desktop reminder program is most convenient to download for free in Russian. Also, Notes will be an important discovery for some, because you must admit that you probably didn’t know about them yet. If the review was useful to you, click like and comment on the post.