15
votes
Looking for an app with calendar, timetables, reminders, timers etc
Ideally an all-in-one app with sync to a Windows or browser app. For paid apps, preferably a one-time purchase rather than subscription. I like organizing and customizing, so user freedom is pretty important too. Bonus points if you've found the app useful for ADHD.
Google Calendar worked pretty well, but now I'm looking to build habits for hobbies and studies, while also keeping up with occasional appointments. I think it'd be much simpler to just have everything under one app.
What about Google Calendar isn't meeting your needs?
Check out TickTick. I've tried a bunch of other apps for my ADHD and this one is definitely my favorite. It should have everything you're looking for except it's a yearly subscription, but I think it's pretty cheap at like $20/yr.
+1 for TickTick, doesn't meet all of OP's asks, but is really good, just started using it about two months ago. The main draw of the paid version is the calendar view IMO. Better UI than the other one that is often recommended...Todoist?...IMO. I think it has integrations with other applications, but I haven't had the need to make use of them.
Edit: Another draw is it's simplicity. A lot of planners require too much data to be entered, with TickTick you just click the day, type in a task title, and then click off the task entry dialog and it enters the task. You can optionally add a task to a list which is also pretty quick. You don't have to enter durations, times, rooms, tags, lists, priorities, etc. unless you want to.
Here's another vote for TickTick. I've never been able to get the notifications quite right on my phone (I like adding a lot of tasks and habits, but that doesn't mean I want to get notifications about them constantly), but I think that's more a problem of me not putting in the effort and not a failure in the app. It lets you categorize tasks by priority, tag, and folder, it has a built-in calendar, it syncs between PC and mobile, and is just a great, powerful app.
So I used to use Google calendar and it worked quite well. I found last year that just with all the different things going on in my life, combined with my ADHD everything just had to go into a calendar. It gave the visual layout that I used to use in university with a giant calendar, but had the portability needed. The question more becomes what in particular are you looking for in transitioning away from Google Calendar?
Another option is that back in September I switched over from using Google calendar to carrying a physical notebook instead of my phone. I think with my ADHD, physically carrying around a phone was not beneficial. However, my current usage of my notebook does not currently give the visual layout so I think I need to modify my usage to incorporate that. Plus, I have found for my ADHD that physical to do lists that I can cross stuff out on works well.
Thunderbird! Give it a try, they've got some really great task and time management stuff baked in.
Hmm, no tutorials to look at. I just finally got around to setting it up a few months ago and was happy that it took care of everything in an integrated way.
Your mileage may vary, but I'm pretty sure that you can import/export from Google Calendar and sync with your desktop and phone from there. That, or you can go all-in and self-host a caldav server: https://medevel.com/11-caldav-os-servers/
I use Obsidian for basically everything. With community plugins, everything you've described is possible.
Second this one. I use obsidian to create a task list and ledger of my activity at work. It takes some time to set it up the way you would like.
I have the Tasks plugin to take tasks entered in my daily notes and display them in a dashboard file where I group them into categories based on due dates. I have the Calendar plugin, so I can track my activity at a glance on a calendar. I have the Dataview plugin for the more powerful queries that I need to group nested tasks together on a specific dashboard. I also have a custom calendar dashboard that runs using Dataview that shows my tasks on a Calendar, so I can see future deadlines.
Other than the plugins, being able to include backlinks in different files is very useful for connecting a note to a task that was created in a different file.
I think you're going to have trouble finding an all-in-one app like that. Even though it's an additional app, you might try looking into something like Toggl Track. It's a time tracking software that seems like it checks off the timers and timetables boxes that you're looking for. Additionally, it has a Google Calendar integration, so you could keep your calendar and reminders where they are.
To manage ADHD and keep my brain on track, I have come to really prefer managing tasks and to-do lists with a Kanban-type board. At work/home, I’ve tried several task tracking systems and ultimately think Microsoft Planner has been the cleanest and simplest to fire up. I’ve tried Asana, reminder apps, to-do lists, calendar notifications, planners, wall calendars, daily work journals, etc., and Planner is what has been the best for me. It’s super easy to create a group of tasks, make and tag an item, it supports sub-tasks, and due-date notifications as well. It’s just really easy to use? I feel like it’s just more elegant and simple than Asana has been. Like it just gets out of the way.
Granted, Planner is a tiny part of Office 365’s yearly $60 subscription. So probably NOT worth paying for just the one app. If you want a TB of cloud storage, then maybe it’s a draw.
For iPhone/iPad users, the recent iOS Reminders app update now supports column view (aka a Kanban board), but it isn’t visible on the Web version yet. I would definitely prefer to just use that for free since it’s “good enough” as a built-in app with cloud syncing, but it really needs web support.
Emacs Org Mode for sure. Just a heads up: it's incredibly powerful, infinitely customizable, and it will take over your life.
What exactly is emacs for? I try to find examples of what people have created for themselves and it all just looks like they're running a text based OS.
There is a well known joke that EMacs is a very good operating system in need of a good text editor, which you have unwittingly recreated. It is very much indeed intended to be a text editor.
Emacs is a text editor that is also a platform on top which people can build pretty much anything they want.