There are a host of free task and project management applications on the web as well as for Android and iOS. But, Doit.im is a fully cross-platform application (Windows, Mac, Web, iOS, Android, and mobile web) that seems to fly under everyone’s radar even with its new interface and awesome features.
Here is a Mini Guide to using Doit.im to get things done.
Getting your tasks into Doit.im is pretty easy, mostly becausethere are interfaces for both web and iOS/Android. That means you can add tasks quickly from anywhere.
On the web
To add a task simply tap the Add task icon at the top left of the screen. The Add Task dialogue will appear. From here you can fill in your task details like it’s name, a brief description, whether it’s a next action, a deadline, a project, context, flag, tag, repeats, reminders, and even delegation to a contact.
Of course, when collecting you may want to just do the infamous, “brain dump”, and then add these details later. You can do that by clicking on the Inbox selection on the left under the Collect heading. There, you can add tasks quickly by typing in the text box and hitting enter to add it to the list. You can also us the Smart Add Shortcuts for adding tags, projects, contexts, due dates, etc.
You can simply tap the big ol’ plus button at the bottom of the screen and enter your task information.
You can fill in all of the task details if you want, but if you don’t, the task will go to your inbox for later processing.
Next, you need to process your tasks that you added to the inbox. You can make your tasks into projects, give them due dates, assign them contexts and tags, and even schedule them for next actions, someday/maybe, or waiting for. Before you do that we need to setup some contexts.
On the web
To add a new context click on the ‘+’ button on the bottom of the left sidebar and choose New Context. A dialogue will popup and you can add a new context like Online, Mac, PC, Phone, Office, etc. After you have added contexts, you can process your inbox by dragging them to the left sidebar on the appropriate context that they need to be completed in.
You can also drag your inbox items to a different “focus”, like Today, Next, Tomorrow, Scheduled (which is actually done when you give them a due date), Someday, and Waiting. Once you drag your tasks from your Inbox to a new Focus, they will reside on that list and not be in your Inbox anymore.
On your mobile deviceProcessing tasks on your iPhone or Android is a little less intuitive, but you can still have a go of it when you are on the go.
To process a task that is in your Inbox go to the Inbox from the home screen, tap the task you want to process. You can easily move the task to a different Focus by tapping the Move To button at the top right of the screen and choosing a focus. If you want to change any of the details of the task like contexts, tags, project, etc., tap the Edit Task button at the bottom of the View Task screen.
The only way to add new Contexts on your mobile is to create a next task, scroll down to the context option, tap it, scroll to the bottom of your contexts and tap the New Context button. Once you do that for one task though, the context will be available for all tasks.
One of the best features of Doit.im is the way what it supports grouping tasks by projects.
On the webTo add a new project, click on the ‘+’ button at the bottom of the left sidebar and choose New Project…. From there you can fill in the project details and even give it a default context. After you have created your new project you will see it in the left sidebar under the Projects menu.
To view a project, simply click on the project’s name in the Projects menu on the left sidebar. Here you will see all of the tasks that are related to the project, the ones that are marked as next, scheduled, someday, waiting, and even the completed and archived ones. To add a new task to the project you can drag the task from the inbox (or any other list) to the project in the left sidebar, or you can add a task with the Smart Add box at the top of the Project view screen (the same way you can add them to the inbox).
Another way to add a project is to use the handy Convert to project button at the top of the Inbox. Simply highlight a task in your inbox and click the Convert to project button. The project will be added to the Projects list and you will be taken to the new project’s view.
On your mobile device
To create new projects on your mobile, on the Home screen tap Projects and then tap the ‘+’ button at the top right. From there you can enter the important details of the project.
To view a project you can go to the Projects list and tap the project whose information you want to view. You can see all of the info that you can see on the web version, like you next actions, waiting fors, scheduled tasks etc. To add a new task, simply tap the huge “+” at the bottom of the screen to add a task directly to the current project’s next actions.
Another nice touch to Doit.im is the new Filters feature where you can filter your tasks and create other views (think Toodledo’s search feature and/or OmniFocus’s perspectives). Also, you can group your tasks in any way you see fit on almost any list. As of now Filters are not supported on the native iOS and Android clients.
Filters on the web
To add a new filter, click the Advanced link next to the search box in the header. At the filter dialogue you can put in information like the status of the task, priority, a deadline, the context or project. You can even sort and group the tasks buy a number of attributes. After you have set your properties of the filter you can give it a name and save it. The new filter will show up in the left sidebar under the Filters section.
These filters are very powerful. For example, you can view tasks that are related to only work projects, require a phone and a computer, are due in 2 days, and sort them by due date. You are only limited by what you can think up. To bad we can’t add these to our mobile devices yet.
GroupingYou can easily group tasks in any list by clicking the Group by link at the top of the list and choose which attribute your want to group by. Couldn’t be easier.
I’ve been watching Doit.im for a little over two years now and I have to say that it is finally starting to come into its own. With it’s excellent project handling, easy task input, grouping and filtering, Doit.im seems to be a seriously underrated task management application.
Doit.im does have some issues, sometimes slow syncing and app responsiveness as well as lack of continuity in design and features, but overall, Doit.im is one of the best free GTD/task/project management apps available today.
With the help of this Lifehack mini guide, start using Doit.im to get some stuff done on any platform.
CM Smith is a technologist, writer, and husband. He holds a degree in MIS and CMPSC from Penn State. CM is also interested in personal productivity, creativity and how to use technology to get things done. Check out his writing at devburner.net or follow him on Twitter.
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