I'm Moving my tasks out of Evernote & back into Todoist

Before any drama starts I'm only moving my tasks and not my notes, in fact I'm doubling down on what I store in Evernote, its only tasks I'm moving but that's for another article.

I'm very much a task person. My tasks are also to-do's and I work directly from my task list every single day. Without it I don't stand a chance.

My work involves training & consulting, actual design and development work, hosting two podcasts and running this newsletter. Then there's the personal stuff.

I hate being bored!

This means I need to be able to forget everything in my head, concentrate on the task I'm doing right now and be reminded about everything.

My task list is built upon a lot of recurring tasks, things like invoicing clients, writing reports, booking hotels & train tickets, updating software and servers for clients. There's all sorts going on.

I used Todoist for all my tasks since around 2014 and I was always happy but when Evernote introduced recurring tasks just over a year ago I shifted everything into the elephant and it worked well.

What I love about tasks in Evernote

The idea that tasks make a note actionable resonates with me and I used notes as task lists.

Every client had their own task list, I had a personal list and there were a few others. These notes would contain all the tasks for me or my clients. I'd also set up specific notes for small projects.

I loved the way I could create a task using keyboard shortcuts when typing.

() followed by a space will give you a task and (x) will give you a completed task. So easy when you're hands are on on the keyboard.

I loved the task widget on the home screen (when it worked!).

I loved having task and calendar AND notes all in one dashboard screen.

I think Evernote tasks work really well for 90+% of folk.

What I don't like about Evernote tasks

I have a few small issues with inconsistent performance. Sometimes a task doesn't complete straight away so I have to re-complete it. A very small niggle.

The task widget on one of my PCs has tasks listed in a very random order and not by due date. I think I need to reinstall but I don't have time right now.

The sync from mobile to desktop is sometimes a little slow. Notes are great, almost instant but tasks can sometimes take a while. Not a huge issue though.

The biggest reason I'm shifting back to Todoist is because its much easier to get tasks in.

The process of creating a task in Evernote takes a few clicks and when I'm adding three or four tasks at a time it can become tedious especially when creating recurring tasks.

Not being able to email tasks into Evernote is an issue as my CRM and Invoicing software set tasks for me, things like remembering to invoice a client. What I've been doing is having the CRM create a note with a tag ‘Flow’ and then a filtered note widget lets be see the task on my home screen and I can manually create this task. A bit of a process.

Another reason, right now there is no API for Evernote tasks so I can't integrate other software or my email. I'd love to be able to just create tasks quickly.

Whilst getting notes into Evernote is a breeze, getting tasks in is not.

In Todoist I can do all of this and a bit more. Its much quicker to add tasks.

What Evernote has to do to get my tasks back

The biggie for me would using natural language to create tasks.

In Todoist I can write:

Write report for client every Monday, Wednesday and Friday @report #Work

This creates a recurring task with a tag called report and sticks it in my Work project or task list.

Send invoice to Jen tom at 9am #Work

This will create a task for tomorrow at 9am in my Work task list.

Evernote is not a million miles away from this when you look at Ai Search. You can ask the Ai to sort your notes in natural language so it would be a nice natural progression to use this for tasks.

I'd love Evernote at some point to update the public API so tools like Zapier can connect and add tasks. This would open up a huge number of integrations. This is possible for notes but not tasks.

I'd like to not see completed tasks! My Work Tasks note has 516 completed tasks, takes 20 seconds to load and is a mess of completed and uncompleted. No structure to it.

Maybe a toggle to hide/show completed tasks and also list tasks by due date in the note itself. Maybe some other sorting options within the note just for tasks.

I want to see the right tasks at the right time.

I think tasks are great in Evernote. I've used them for the last 18 months but I really need to be able to get my tasks into the app a lot quicker and from different sources.

If things change I'll move them back in a shot because I'm really going to miss my tasks on my home screen next to my calendar and notes.

Do you use tasks in Evernote? Need something more? Happy with how things are?

Have a great weekend

All the best

Jon