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How are you using Folders?

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Author	Message
Qrystal	Posted: Jun 02, 2008 Posted by patrick: You can totally do this - just make each of the subtasks repeating items. Marking off the main task as complete makes all the subtasks go bye-bye I think, so just don't mark the main task off. If you need to mark it as complete for tracking purposes, as a workaround you can just create a new task with the same name and mark it as complete. This is what I do - minus the workaround because I only care about the recurring subtasks. Hope this helps. You can make the main task recurring as well, and it will contain the recurring subtasks! This is what I do for my monthy bills: * "pay bills - first batch" is due on the first friday of every month, and contains a bunch of bills that are usually due in the first half of the month. * "pay bills - second batch" is due on the third friday of every month, and contains the rest. The bill subtasks are due when the bills themselves is due, repeating monthly (but since the actual bill due dates shift around a bit, I'll tweak it once I see the bill). Just another thing that makes Toodledo so awesome~!!!
jwelshjr	Posted: Jun 02, 2008 Posted by Qrystal: You can make the main task recurring as well, and it will contain the recurring subtasks! Just another thing that makes Toodledo so awesome~!!! Sweet! I haven't gone through a full 'cycle' with this setup yet, so I didn't realize that. Thanks for the replies. This message was edited Jun 02, 2008.
patrick	Posted: Jun 02, 2008 Posted by Qrystal: You can make the main task recurring as well, and it will contain the recurring subtasks! Thanks for pointing this out! I thought I read otherwise somewhere and never bothered to test that out... maybe it's time to start completing recurring projects. ;)
User	Posted: Jul 02, 2008 Great ideas everyone, thanks for sharing. Everyone finds the methods that work for them. GTD "Projects" are outcomes you want to achieve, with more than one action, completed within a year. I already have 16 folders--ok a couple should probably be goals--and more I need to add. I've struggled with Toodledo folders because I find them hard to work with in this volume. I need to add folders/projects quickly and on the fly (almost at the same time as tasks). I need to be able to list folders/projects for review and to print them to take with me. Still, Toodledo gives me access from home or work which helps solve my Mac at home, Windows at work challenge, and seems more complete in other ways than other tools I've looked at. Hoping for more development and flexibility added to folders over time. Appreciate suggestions and thoughts. This message was edited Jul 02, 2008.
Ian	Posted: Jul 19, 2008 I own a number of businesses and each business has its own folder containing tasks and subtasks. I only wish the Hotlist would group subtasks into their primary task by default.
jwelshjr	Posted: Jul 21, 2008 Posted by Toodledo.vs: Great ideas everyone, thanks for sharing. Everyone finds the methods that work for them. GTD "Projects" are outcomes you want to achieve, with more than one action, completed within a year. I already have 16 folders--ok a couple should probably be goals--and more I need to add. I've struggled with Toodledo folders because I find them hard to work with in this volume. I need to add folders/projects quickly and on the fly (almost at the same time as tasks). I need to be able to list folders/projects for review and to print them to take with me. Initially, it seemed obvious to me that a folder would equate to a GTD Project. However, over time I realized that they simply do not work well for me in that capacity within Toodledo (partly why I started this thread!). Like you mentioned, quick, on-the-fly folder creation is not easy. And toggling the different views on my Blackberry was also cumbersome. But for me, Folder management was probably the biggest reason for abandoning the Folder-as-Project method. So, I have consolidated my folders down to a bare minimum for quickly sorting between Work, Personal, Maybe, Leisure and Inbox (No Folder). From there, I simply use subtasks when I have a Project. Another bonus to this method was that I didn't have to turn a Task that I had created into a Folder later when I determined that it was really a Project - I could just add the Subtasks. My main issue is that I haven't figured out a fast/simple way to get a list of my Projects. I created a special Context named .project, but I generally forget to use it so it just languishes there in my list. Maybe I need to get back to doing that. Secondarily, I'd love to have some means of seeing the current progress or % complete of an entire Project based on the total number of subtasks (and/or estimated time). But, maybe I will make a feature request: can the search page provide the option to see all Tasks that have Subtasks? And is it somehow possible to show progress (or % complete) on the top-level Task (especially if it has Subtasks) as I mentioned?
Qrystal	Posted: Jul 21, 2008 What a great idea!!! Both parts of it!! - If the search page could show all tasks that have subtasks, that would be AWESOME for a GTD Weekly Review!!! And it would be much less clunky than using a context or tag to mark such projects (and what if you forget to set a task as a project? eek!) - If the top-level task with subtasks could say something even as simple as "5/12 subtasks complete" on hovering over the subtask icon, that would be really awesome.
Toodledo	Posted: Jul 21, 2008 Thanks for the suggestions.
gsimonizer	Posted: Jul 22, 2008 I use folders for different areas of focus: Career, Home Life, Social, Life Experience, Interests, Health. Areas of focus do not have a beginning or an end, but represent different areas of my life that I may choose to focus on or that I have some kind of responsibility. This is similar to the GTD "20,000 foot view" which is one level above projects (at 10,000 feet). So folders contain tasks and projects that contribute to that area of focus or responsibility.
vegheadjones	Posted: Jul 22, 2008 I'm a folder = project guy, and would really appreciate the ability to make folders on the fly (in the same way we can now add contexts).
gpl	Posted: Jul 22, 2008 Yes, creating a folder on the fly while adding a task would be a very welcomed addition... At least for me!
dave	Posted: Jul 23, 2008 My method is closest to Snapper's. Since I use my toodledo for one purpose: projects at work, I only have one folder. Projects. I then break things down by where I am in the project (analysis, documentation, programming, estimate, problem, etc), and I use the tags (along with "sort by tags" view") in order to have them organized. Then when I'm about to work on a project, I can decide what kind of work I want to do and go for it. After I finish part of a project in one phase, I move on to the next appropriate phase.
dave	Posted: Jul 23, 2008 I've struggled with Toodledo folders because I find them hard to work with in this volume. I need to add folders/projects quickly and on the fly (almost at the same time as tasks). This is why I stopped using folders for each project. I used to make a new folder for each project I had to do, and then create a list of prioritized tasks that had to be done in order to complete the task, ala GTD methodology. Having to create folders and tasks seperately began to grind on me, so I tried using tasks and subtasks the way I used to use tasks and folders; the problem I had with this is that subtasks end up breaking away from their supertask in the old HTML format and the mobile version, which I use pretty heavily. So now, I just keep my "next action" task listed in the notes of my tasks, and keep all of my projects listed in one folder; that way its just click and type to update with new notes and next actions. It's been working very well so far.
J-Mac	Posted: Jul 25, 2008 Posted by Qrystal: You can make the main task recurring as well, and it will contain the recurring subtasks! This is what I do for my monthy bills: * "pay bills - first batch" is due on the first friday of every month, and contains a bunch of bills that are usually due in the first half of the month. * "pay bills - second batch" is due on the third friday of every month, and contains the rest. The bill subtasks are due when the bills themselves is due, repeating monthly (but since the actual bill due dates shift around a bit, I'll tweak it once I see the bill). Just another thing that makes Toodledo so awesome~!!! Wow - first half and second half monthly bills - sounds like me almost exactly! However I am not using subtasks for individual bills. That sounds like a great idea, though - have to give that a try. I don't use folders for projects at all - too cumbersome for me. I use folders as general categories for my actions: Financial, Medical, House Projects, and for my various hobbies and interests. Then I use Contexts as "Places" or "Resources" generally. Like @Computer, @Home, @Doctor, @Office, etc. So each task is in a Folder based on the category it falls into, and has the Context that indicates where or what I need to be and/or use to do it. Works for me so far. Some seem to fall outside of that of course, but then I improvise as necessary. Jim This message was edited Jul 25, 2008.
bublitzorama	Posted: Aug 22, 2008 Posted by Qrystal: Posted by patrick: You can totally do this - just make each of the subtasks repeating items. You can make the main task recurring as well I do have the same steps to different projects/folders. So they repeat - but not periodically. Any hints how to create some kind of a "task list" to choose from - so I won´t forget each single step? Juergen
mvoort	Posted: Aug 27, 2008 I use three main folders: Inbox (for new ideas and single actions) Someday/Maybe (things I may want to do in the future) Waiting For (Waiting for John to respond to my email) A fourth should be here, but I use evernote for this: Agenda's (things to talk about with people) eg: * Lindsey: plan vacation, present brother * Neighbour: broken fence The rest of my lists are all independend projects (and projects need more than one step to complete) eg: Brother's birthday: * Call brother ask for wishlist (context phone) * decide on present (context agenda) * buy present (context errand) * Write card to go with present (context home) I do not use lists to divide between work / private tasks because David Allen says he sees everything you need to do as 'work' and it doens't really matter who you do it for (and I agree with that). Contexts are equally important to folders: what can you do right now? If you're on a phone you pull up the list of the phone context and see all phonecalls you need to make. If you're at the office you want to know what you can do / should do at the office. This message was edited Aug 27, 2008.

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