Looking for a simple lists app
I've been using Google Keep (check boxes mode) for my work and personal to-do lists for a while now, and it's almost perfect for my use case. I love the simplicity and lack of options gumming up my process, and specifically I like the UI of having nested subtasks that all move with their head task when you reorder the top level tasks. That is to say, when you drag a headline task, all of its subtasks "roll up" inside it and "unfurl" when you drop the task into its new location. The fact that it syncs across devices is also really great, but not necessarily a deal breaker.
What is becoming a deal breaker is that you can only have 2 levels: top level or nested. I want more nesting levels, but with the simple touch-and-drag UI to which I've become accustomed.
Have any of you heard of/used an app such as I've described? I have issues using bigger, more fleshed-out apps because all the features distract my goblin brain, and the friction of having to use various touch menus or the keyboard on my phone to adjust indent levels keeps me from getting crap done.
Thanks in advance!
Edit: for now, I have settled on Workflowy. It seems to offer the most similar functionality with an acceptable number of interactions to do the things I want to do. Thank you to everyone who offered their experience!
I use a combination of markdown and YAML in text files... but I'm also a heathen I suppose.
Obviously I don't care much whether it's perfectly formatted, because I'm not driving any system/application with it. I'm looking at it as a human. The crutch of the basic indentation/formatting/typing of the underlying language helps me organize things super easily.
Plus side? I don't rely on any third party. Just a text file on my device(s).
But again, I'm a heathen.
Let's mock up your additional layers:
It's kinda whatever. I'm done now ... I can't imagine you want my YAML nonsense anyways :D
I'm always a fan of nonsense!
I mean, there's plenty of value in fully human-readable simpler formats, and YAML is pretty much designed for that. As another example, Org-mode is an all-purpose organization scheme that can be used for among other things taking notes, and it's entirely implemented through plaintext markup. You can see it in action in this video, in this case in Emacs (which is the
operating systemeditor it was originally designed for). OP would need to discard their existing workflow entirely to adopt it so that's probably not applicable in this specific case (also Emacs might be the furthest away possible from a simple note-taking application, although that's not the only editor that implements Org-mode), but it's definitely a valid approach.I have two suggestions, both of which fit the bill. First, and most simply is Magic Todo - https://goblin.tools. It's a super-simple todo list but I think it does exactly what you ask.
edit - if you're ND, it can also help you to break down tasks into more achievable tasks if that's something you struggle with, but you don't need to use it for that. It's available on web completely free, as well as both Android and iOS for a small fee
Second is more complex, but works really well for my particular brain. https://dynalist.io - This one is free to use but there is a premium option. If you're anything like me, the premium option is a downgrade as it allows you to have unlimited bookmarks as well as a bunch of integration guff that I just don't need.
It's an outliner, rather than a todo list, but it's by far and a way the most intuitive one I've found. I use it for notes, tasks, projects, meeting minutes, in fact, everything I write down goes in there so long as it's not sensitive - it's a cloud service, after all.
You can focus in on a very specific section, and then zoom out as far as you want in a second. There are apps for all platforms (well, at least for web, win, lin, mac, iOS, Android) and there are chromium & Firefox extensions too.
Thanks! I'll try them out!
Dynalist is good and the free tier makes more sense than Workflowy. Workflowy limits the amount of items which I think is super weird. You're unlikely to need more than the Dynalist free tier.
I use Org Mode on my laptop for things that are supposed to be on a computer. I tried syncing Org on multiple devices and it was awful. Emacs and Org-Mode were not designed for this. I suggest just using an app that does that for you. Also, don't get addicted to Emacs. It will take ages for you to construct your "perfect" Emacs. It is very hard for me to use anything else now, and that is not necessarily a good thing. For good or for worse, there is no going back.
Emacs is a memetic hazard to the point I'm scared of trying it out and get sucked into yet another endless loop of spending 10x more time tinkering with my setup than actually using my computer to perform tasks. I've already got enough of that with Arch Linux as a whole, so I stick to (neo)vim whenever I edit files in the terminal. That being said, fun fact: there is a clone of Org mode for neovim. I do not know how it compares to the original Emacs implementation (presumably more limited if only by the lack of the ecosystem to extend it on Emacs) but it exists. There's also Neorg that I'm currently trying out, which, while not designed as an outright clone of Emacs' Org Mode, has similarities and shares the overall scope.
Regarding syncing files, is there anything specific that makes an external approach unworkable? I'm thinking something like a given combination of rsync/rclone, git, network storage of some description, stuff like that.
If you're an IT person go for it. I'm just a writer who likes to use weird programs. I tried using Dropbox, which at the time was my only option which didn't involve stringing things together in bash. There were neverending conflicted files. Nothing fixed it.
Every Org for Vim or Neovim that I tested was a travesty compared to Emacs. I haven't tried Neorg though.
Org was the main reason I started using Emacs.
...So, I originally launched into several paragraphs of exploring a potential file syncing solution to suggest, but after stopping mid-way through to address something else and after coming back to this I'm realizing I was operating on the completely unfounded assumption that you haven't found a solution for it on your computers, and re-reading your original comment the sentence "I suggest just using an app that does that for you." implies, if anything, that you have. And now I feel silly. Instead of throwing a bunch of paragraphs at you based on what's probably a wrong assumption, I'll just mention that Git is a plausible candidate for that purpose. It might sound silly to use a VCS just to sync plaintext notes (...and it probably is, on the same level as using a Swiss army knife just for its screwdriver) but it could be appropriate, although with some important caveats that I can elaborate on if you (or someone else reading this) are interested.
(and of course, Emacs itself, befitting its reputation as a software black hole, does have an entire ecosystem around Git integration, though that's probably one of the less surprising of its not-actually-text-editor features)
Obsidian is a pretty cool app that works across devices. The format is in markdown files, that way you can make it easily accessible and portable instead of locking down to specific file types.
They also have some near features to graphically connect different documents together to allow you to find your notes. I know it's actually sitting on top of other frameworks, but depends on how easy you want to make it for yourself.
I like Colornote. though idk if it will fulfill your nesting request.
Thank you, I'll give it a go.
I use Workflowy and can highly recommend it. It’s extremely minimalistic (speaking as a fellow easily distractable and annoyable goblin brain), it has infinite nesting, a drag and drop UI (or easy keyboard controls if you prefer that), the lists can look like a simple list or kanban board (including nested inside each other), and it has other features like tags and such that I never need but which I’m sure are useful. It works great on mobile and desktop (including in-browser if you find yourself on a foreign computer) and syncs across everything. I used to use the apple notes app but Workflowy is my life now.
I second workflowy! Been a happy user for ages now. Super simple but a good set of smart features making it quite powerful while not doing too much.
Tried it and I gotta say, I think it's the one. Does just what I need, and the slight differences in muscle memory seem like they'll be easy to adjust to. Thanks!
Nice! Glad to hear it.
Joplin is my notetaking app of choice. It can be self-hosted, is open source and multi-platform. Big fan!
No drag&drop possibility tho I'm afraid.
Thanks! I'll keep it in mind.
It looks like you want a complicated lists app :)
Well, yes. But only a little complicated. As a treat.
I've seen you've settled on workflowy, but maybe have a quick look at checkvist. It really is like a fancy version of google keep and I've used it before to manage personal coding projects. I'm gonna have a look at workflowy, since I haven't heard of that before :)
I tried it out (very) briefly just now, and the mobile version seems to lack gesture-based tier-changing. I'll keep it in mind for when I'm using a keyboard at work, though. Thanks!
I like and pay for Tick Tick.