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lite1 |
Posted Oct 21, 2009 in: Your thoughts/exp using dual displays for text oriented tasks
Score: 0
I expect to re-think my computer and work environment after 4 years and have read a few of the "papers" on productivity and dual displays. These tend to be anecdotal and ?aire type soft research, yet the idea intrigues me as the cost of LCDs has dropped considerably. My inclination is toward 2 19" LCDs as opposed to a single wide panel.
For work and personally I do some similar tasks: 1) Web research with cut/paste of relevant information into a word.doc file 2) Comparison of the entry of product titles across several application files where the entry typically had been done independently and not by cut/paste e.g. comparing spreadsheet with both word doc and Indesign file. 3) Comparing content and/or pricing/features of a product on several web pages etc I am familiar with but would NOT be using this potential setup for working in Photoshop and having the palettes on one screen and the actual work on another screen; OR having two edited versions of the same photo on two identically calibrated side by side screens. So I wonder about your experience: 1) What kinds of things do you do and does it seem to improve your productivity? Is it simply a matter of time saving (less keystrokes as you are not moving amongst open windows as frequently), or is there also a boost to productivity as it is simply more energizing to work with more things open simultaneously and in view? 2) Are there drawbacks to this (aside from the extra cost)? 3) Ergonomics: Do you find a difference in eye strain, or neck/shoulder problems as I expect that there is greater head/neck movement to look from one display to the other? I imagine that I will mock up the situation and do some experimentation myself, but knowing what others have experienced will give me additional ideas of how to experiment and what to observe in my own behavior. Given the estimated boosts in productivity of 15 to 35% the additional cost of $200 for a second 19" LCD panel is not much. Even a time savings of 3 minutes per day is 12.5 hours a year so the pay back might be quite quick. FYI: This website (http://www.digitaltigers.com/zenview-manager.asp?caller=products) sells an interesting multi display management software that seems to allow some good optimizing of a multi display approach so that you can repeat the "layout" that you like for certain tasks and apps very easily. |
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lite1 |
I've spent about 5 hours with Active Words and intend to purchase it after the generous 60 day trial. It is a great tool and fabulous time saver. Since I keep urging TD to add more keyboard shortcuts as this is the fastest way for most users to navigate and make entries, AW which is primarily keyboard driven is a worthwhile tool on its own and helps with speeding up TD. It is one of my workarounds for dealing with some of TDs lack of keyboard shortcuts in many areas.
For example, I have modified the standard keyboard shortcut which allows you to get to the add new task entry set of fields regardless of what program I am in by typing "new task" then hit F8 key to my own preference of simply type "tdn" then hit enter key. So I can be in the middle of an email, or in a word doc, or browsing the web, or in excel and I simply have 4 keystrokes and I am ready to start defining a new task in TD. Really nice. TD has shown above my post the standard Active Word(s) for triggering an event (go to a part of the TD website), and while I am new to AW, I think the following advice from an old timer of AW is worthwhile paraphrasing. Like TD which has great flexibility and can be customized, AW also allows easy modification of the Active Word(s) that trigger an event. The old timer suggested this as best practices: 1) If you are likely to use the AW frequently then make it unique and make it short. While some set of letters that might have personal meaning will help, if you use it daily you will know it your sleep in no time. Hence for me I took the long entry AW and modified it to just "tdn". I often refer to Toodledo in my own notes and communication as td and since I don't do football "tdn" is extremely simple for knowing this is how I can trigger entering a new task in TD. And rather than "folder" I use "tdf". But of course you can type the default or change it to whatever you want. 2)If you will want that "event" infrequently then you might have the Active Words be lengthy, descriptive, and naturalistic to your own thinking; e.g. type "IRS tax advice" then F8 key to go to website of your favorite source of information on tax tips. I would add as my own suggestion: Early on establish an Active Word that opens a word doc or excel sheet so that you can keep track of the Active Words that you have created or modified and what they trigger. I have already modified or created about 40 Active Words and while I have a good memory, it is nice to have a list. Seeing them suggests ways of clumping them which for me helps with retention e.g. I have numerous Active Words that start with "w" for website e.g. wtip wpdx take me to the Tips forum of TD, and to weather for Portland Oregon. I'd suggest that you see that you will use AW a lot that it might make sense to establish Active Words but not actually start to use too many of them for the first day or two other to get the feel for how they work. I found that I wanted to shorten a lot of them more and more and saw more ways to clump them. Rather than starting to get motor memory for AWs that would soon be modified and need to be re-learned having them on a list and then scanning across them can show where there might be conflicts (you want the same 3 letters or 4 for two different triggers), or combinations that are just too hard to type rapidly (if possible use home key row combinations for AWs where it makes sense and where you are going to use them a lot). If you try Active Words and I highly suggest that you do so (even though unlike TD there does not seem to be any referral program) I think the above suggestions will make sense to you quickly. The basic program is installed first and then there are perhaps 25 free add ons that you can then download from the website. One of these is the Toodledo add on, and there are others for Outlook (which I do not use)GTD for Outlook, Google and etc. These add ons have already mapped many useful AWs that you can then modify e.g. I can open the Google advanced search URL with a couple of keystrokes. User forum has good advice and users indicate that developer/customer support is excellent. To me, it seems like a prog like TD which I wish I had found months or years ago. I am downright enthusiastic. One final thing: AW has a built in productivity calculator which based on assumptions that you can modify (your typing speed; hourly fee; etc) it tracks your use of AW and how much time and money you have saved. It is a nice piece of marketing but supports some of my other posts that more native keyboard shortcuts for TD would be a huge collective time saver ( a second or two here and there across thousands of users adds up very quickly.) As I get more familiar with AW and perhaps with a particular focus on using it with TD, I will possibly try to start a thread in the Third Party Forum where most of this post really should probably be. Anders, as a keyboard shortcut junkie like myself, I expect that you are loving AW. To all ... Enjoy your experimentation with AW. Edward |
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lite1 |
Posted Sep 07, 2009 in: Feature Request User Ranking System
Score: 0
Posted by Proximo:
... I was wondering if we could somehow have a User Ranking System for all Feature Request that Toodledo is currently working on.... A "User Ranking System" will at least let us know how many others wish a particular feature was added. The benefits would be: 1. Prevent useless post on feature request that have been made by many other users. 2. Have a clear understanding of where a feature request is on the que, based on it's ranking. 3. Allow users to see the direction Toodledo is going with feature enhancements. Proximo ... I'd like the idea but to remove part of it and add parts. Remove that it is in the Cue and has some level of commitment from TD - Jake explained why. What I'd like to see is more than a voting system for feature requests so that the user community would have more threads that are collaborative and evolve (or "kill") an idea. There was a thread http://www.toodledo.com/forums/2/1412/-11422/editing-multiple-tasks-without-a-search.html about started in Feb (with posts still added in July) that in my memory is a good example of dialogue and evolution. It regarded feature request for selecting multiple tasks/subtasks so that they all could be edited, or a command could be applied to all of them. As a user group any feature request could/probably should be viewed through several filters: The general purpose of this would be to help users and perhaps TD determine how much of an impact would this have with perhaps some weighting toward the greatest good for the greatest number. Something that is likely to be used by virtually all users one or more times every time that they use TD and which say saves one second per use collectively saves many many hours of user time. It might not be particularly sexy, but it is a huge collective time saver. Recent changes to adding Folders for those who uses lots of Folders (I don't)is a partial example. Adding a keyboard shortcut for adding a Subtask would be a much better example if it were implemented. 1) Is the request unique to one part of TD (website; iPhone; Blackberry; FFgadget)? 2) What is the benefit of the feature? {Many features are requested and sometimes I have no idea of how one might use it and benefit from it. Nice if OP gives a clear example or two of the benefit and/or what perceived problem it is solving/addressing.) 3) Are there work-arounds? (Often TD allows addressing an issue in a simple manner, and the OP simply needs to learn more, experiment, or get a good suggestion from the community of how to work with the issue. Certainly, there are many features that only have cumbersome, or no reasonably satisfactory work-around. The community can really address this and often does.) 4) In what circumstances, how frequently, and what kind of TD user and style of TD use are going to benefit from the feature? (I must admit to feeling some impatience with someone who has used TD for an hour or a day,who clearly has not read much or any of the Help area, and who is a free user listing one or many feature requests that can already be handled. Other knowledgeable users champion a request and have others support but rarely acknowledge that it has a very limited scope of use.) For the most part, I find the user community and the discussion of feature requests to be at a high level of civlity, respect, and collaborative evolvement toward either a solution or the best statement of what is being requested/why/ and some suggested ideas for implementation. I'd expect that those threads of the greatest value (and time savings) to TD and their development choices. Final note: While I have focused on time savings and I believe it deserves a significant weighting, there are also feature requests that instead or in addition relieve a lot of frustration. The recent request which only applies to Pro Plus subscribers that there be a way to delete multiple file attachments is both a time saver and given that most users have vast experience with deleting in other progs from Windows Explorer to Email that the lack of this feature in TD is probably quite frustrating. Other feature requests take TD would take TD into new territory and perhaps add very appealing functionality that would open doorways for many TD users e.g. better integration with say MindMapping apps. Sorry for such a long post. Edward |
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Posted by Anders:
Maybe this is a bit far-fetched, but wouldn't it be awesome if Toodledo added an arrow to the end of the Title field when creating/editing a task, so you could select from a (possibly user-defined) set of action words? I think that would be a fantastic feature, and pretty unique (I know a couple of apps do this, but no web apps I am aware of, and nothing at all like Toodledo). I feel like it's the kind of thing that people would really take to as well. I haven't tried it yet but I think this work-around might do it. Create a Project and call it ++VERBS TO USE At least the way I have things set for TD sorting the Project with ++ will sort this to the top. In the Note area for this Project create your list of verb possibilities. Toggle this Note open. At least if one is entering a lot of tasks in same folder but NOT using the multi-task method, then this should have those verbs in view when you do entry. Certainly not as slick as what Anders suggests/wants, but work-arounds are never as good as the real thing! |
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lite1 |
Steve ... I'd suggest doing some entry of your 250 items (which I assume GTD would consider each to be a project) by for example creating a folder labeled Self Management (or some abbreviation) and one say for F/O (Focused/Organized). Then enter 2 or 3 of your items that would fall into each of those areas of life focus including any subtasks for each. Then perhaps create folders for each of the other areas.
Now imagine/practice doing various things in TD e.g. entering a new project; doing a weekly review. Click open each folder and imagine/guess how many projects you would have under each one - how many would have subtasks; would all have tags. Then ask yourself some ?s: Would I like it that when I am in a given folder I know that that structure is supporting me in knowing that anything that I look at here is relevant to X area of my life? Would I use each folder 1 or more times daily? If you only imagine going into a given folder a couple of times a week, then perhaps having fewer folders would make more sense (as you could "see" just that area of your life by having a saved search based on a tag that simple gives that to you as hits). Whatever way you start to setup TD for your GTD, you will be able (and perhaps will be likely) to change it after having 3 to 6 weeks of experience with "your system". Hence I'd say choose an approach at first that is easiest to enter all of your 250 items and which intuitively you feel good about. If you choose too many folders/areas of life then you can "collapse" things later on by "reassigning" these to another folder. If you choose too few Folders, then you can split a given folder into two or more later on e.g. initially Personal might include "Health" items but with the tag (health) and similarly include Self Management and Focused/Organized with their own unique tag. If you find that when you look at and use Personal folder that you feel that there is just too much there and you feel overwhelmed rather than organized and on top of managing that area of your life, then split it out later on. By mocking up parts of two folders and imaging the implementation of your entire initial system you will be able to get started and then from experience modify things based on your own use. My further advice would be to know that: Simpler is probably better which often translates to fewer folders are better. Use abbreviations or acronyms for folders so that they don't take up too much room (you can modify name at anytime so fine to start with full name and shorten later). The keyboard shortcuts allow you to move to any folder (in a particular view) by typing a number between 1 and 9. If you have more folders than that you have to mouse click. Since I believe that keyboard shortcuts are one of the best time savers, I personally considered this in my system. All of my comments are based on ONLY using TD in a computer and not from iPhone or other mobile device. I believe but do not know from experience that most if not all of what I suggest would also apply if you are using mobile device for some or a great deal of your viewing and/or entry. FWIW I have 9 Folders that I created (plus the standard TD "No Folder"). For someone into GTD, and depending on your life/work situation you might want these Folders which I use and find of value Rcv(Receivables) Maybe Lists Ref(erence) Have fun, TD is a wonderful tool and has alot of options for customizing it to suit your own current and evolving needs. I started with it and GTD this past May and it has made a meaningful difference in my life ... good luck. Edward P.S. I do not have any shared folders (sharing with other team members or family members who have accounts is possible) and it does not sound like you need or want to use TD in that way. I don't think it would change my advice to you. P.S.2 While my folder structure has been stable for months, I do sometimes add a temporary folder for a major personal or work porject that will be short lived and which will utilize 70% of my energy/time for a week or so and which has lots of moving parts that I have to be totally on top of. And then it is deleted, history. By analogy unlike your physical home where unless you move to a new residence it is difficult to remodel rooms, or add new ones, or combine rooms - TD makes it easy to do minor to major renovation fairly quickly. This message was edited Aug 23, 2009. |
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Posted by cj:
I discovered something interesting - on my cellphone there is an app that apparently inteferes with Dial2do ...(Google Voice). It makes some sense, since google voice 'monitors' my call in case I need to tell it a command (mute, record) so it makes sense that it might screw up dial2do ... Try using dial2do from a landline ... (you can program in 3 numbers from which Dial2do will recognize you) CJ thx for your continued efforts. I have a Blackberry and no apps on it other than what it came with. I do not have a SMS text plan nor an internet plan and so just use it as a simple phone. Hence it seems unlikely that there is another app on it that is interfering. Since this area is neither urgent nor extremely important to me it will be a while b4 I try cust support at Dial2Do to try and figure things out. WIll try to post back here if I discover anything so that our forum can con't to be a useful source of accurate info. I expect that "my problem" with DIal2Do is a bit of an anomaly and it seems that others are quite happy with it. I can neither endorse it nor pan it at this point in time. Edward |
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Posted by cj:
You've got me stumped. The only things I can think of right now are 1. You have a more limited version of Dial2do than me (being an early user) ... doubtful 2. Phone problems. Frankly bluetooth is a big problem ... Did you try to go to Dial2do support? Thx for your continued help. I called from home on cell but without bluetooth. For one of my tests amongst others, I started counting off seconds 1,2,3, ... 35 to see a) if the recording would cut me off (yes it did); and whether there was a discrepancy between what was actually recorded as available on Dial2do website and how much of that was transcribed. Will make time to contact there support. I thought tha Dial2Do or Jott or whatever would be a neat add-on to work with TD, but generally I'd rather listen to an audio book while driving, or actually think, or focus on my driving and the scenery - so I have not been gung-ho about trying this out even though it made it onto my TD list several weeks ago. Again thanks, Edward |
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lite1 |
Posted Aug 17, 2009 in: wow, amazing service. how many users so far?
Score: 0
Posted by Tyler:
Posted by Proximo: Glad you love the service. Let's keep getting the word out and grow the user base. It will help everyone in the end as Toodledo continues to add improvements. Yes -- writing reviews of the software for your blog, mentioning in Lifehacker forums/comments (when relevant), thumbing it up on StumbleUpon -- those would all be good ways of increasing the user base, and (hopefully) the budget/manpower of the development. (Obviously, I'm *not* endorsing spamming of any kind. But if you participate in other forums or sites, or use various social networking sites, it would be good for TD users to offer their assessment of TD when appropriate.) I am happy to see TD grow - it deserves it, and the suggestions for helping it do so are worthwhile. My own approach has to let people I know about it. This is not entirely unselfish as one gets some free time added to ones own subscription. However my primary motivation/strategy is to set up a shared folder with a new person so that they get launched easily and do not clutter up the forum with simple questions. This allows Anders and TD staff to focus on improving the product. I trust TD to handle any potential surge in growth well; nonetheless, growth at the right pace is always less stessful and I believe ultimately more satisfying. While TD is fairly intuitive, haven't experimented with my own approach and read the forum for far too many hours, I believe that there are some suggested best practices that are worthwhile to teach newbies so that they get the most benefit early on. One of these is to strongly recommend a Pro subscription unless what they are tracking in their life is very simple. Edward |
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Posted by cj:
... I never noticed any time limit on Dial2do messages, it's always been more than enough for me -- and I use it a lot -- but it's not supposed to be used for dictation, at least not yet. If Dial2do is timing out on you, my guess is that it might have something to do with your cell phone or Bluetooth connection, where Dial2do interprets static or silence as the end of your message.... CJ Thanks CJ ... static might be a problem in Dial2do thinking that my message has come to an end; but since it was consistently happening at about 30 seconds I am not sure that that is the best hypothesis for my problem I listed above. And there is no seeming explanation that the recording that Dial2do has for my message on their website is not completely transcribed and that the last 8 to 12 words are not transcribed at all. This is puzzling. |
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Welcome; TD is a great tool, however I do not know it for the iPhone. The unique ID that I am aware of is accessed from Acount Settings which is on the blue left side of screen navigation bar. The Edit function for this generates a new one that you do not control. I expect that the long string is fairly complex for security reasons.
If this is NOT accurate I am sure someone else will correct me. Edward P.S. The "Questions" sub-forum is much more active and ?s like yours are often asked there. However I understand that you and anyone might think that "Tips and Tricks" would be the place to do it as one might hope there is a "Trick" to it. |
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?s/your experience with Dial2Do - I just setup acct and am emailing the message to my unique TD email address.
1) It seems that there is slightly less than 30 second limit on anyone message. Is that correct? I did not see any mention of this on Dial2Do, but it'd make some sense that it is limited. Regardless,the Dial2Do cut me off in just under 30 seconds and prompted me What do you want to do? 2)Differences in the amount of information that is available for a single message. A) On Dial2Do website I can listen to the message that they have recorded. B) They send email to me at my registered account with transcription. and C) They send email to TD to my unique email address. For one of my test messages the three "versions" did not match each other. Namely, B & C match each other exactly as I'd expect as they are both emails; yet both have about 5 or 6 seconds of the information at the end of the recording that is in A that has not been transcribed. Do other people have problems with Dial2Do failing to transcribe the latter part of their recorded message? The transcription was quite accurate which is amazing however if it drops text, it can not be trusted as part of a task system except for tasks that are personal and fairly unimportant. Thanks for any advice and your own experience. |
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Haven't been to forum in a while and checked News first; only to be "deceived" that there was some Improvement to Subtasks as is promised by the Topic. While perhaps useful dialogue, it seems to me that the last 5 to 10 posts really should be a different Topic in a different forum.
This is really a choice for Anders and for TD, and my apologies in advance for taking this thread further off topic. Edward |
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I use both and just re-ordered them and things were retained. So sorry I can't offer any advice as it is working for me. Good luck.
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Posted Jul 17, 2009 in: Collapsable Dividers in Notebook
Score: 0
Posted by dirtbagg:
Bump... Appreciate your idea, not a high priority for me personally. A few other comments on your suggestion: 1) I find this to be a helpful and friendly forum, and everyone has suggestions and top priorities for improvements or features for TD. I'd suggest trying free trial of a Pro account now as it has many advantages (especially subtasks) AND it supports developement. 2) I am here often on the forum and do not ever recall seeing someone "bump" a post. I do not know the official "policy" on this but I would love to see it discouraged here. Anders and TD have alot of posts/threads to look out without an unneeded "bump". |
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Posted Jul 16, 2009 in: Controlling Toodledo with the Keyboard
Score: 0
I am a huge keyboard fan so this is very helpful. There are at least 5 Firefox Addons that come up when you search on "mouseless" in the Addons area. I assume you are using the one that is actually called "Mouseless Browsing" which gets the mouse user reviews.
======= While this is great and I will try it, as far as I am concerned though TD should still work on making keyboard shortcuts fully integrated into its own app as this is often a much more efficient way to do entry. Unless one guesses correctly about what the true TD shortcut will eventually be, one unfortunately would be faced with getting used to what one had used thru the work around of "FF Mouseless Browsing" and then have to abandon that and use what TD itself programs in. And since many of us hope that there will within a year or two be a stand alone/offline TD option, the mouseless browsing trick would not apply there either. So while I gave a thumbs up vote for the OP and am grateful, I really want to urge TD to make keyboard shortcuts a higher priority. Look at it this way, if each new TD entry took 1 second less because you did not need to move back and forth from keyboard to mouse and there were 5,000 users making as few as 20 new entries a week this would collectively save users a total of nearly 28 hours a week, or more than 60 24-hour days during a year. Enough of my "propaganda"! |
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lite1 |
Posted Jul 15, 2009 in: Tamed my email by Unsubscribing to many emails
Score: 3
I have been diligent the last two weeks in evaluating incoming email. There are many things that I know I will never read based either on the sender and/or subject. I have Unsubscribed from about 40 email notifications and find that my life is a lot saner. I didn't even make a list of things I Unsubscribed, trusting that I made the right choice in the moment. It is really refreshing to have my inbox fairly small, and with most of it actually things of immediate value. I simply asked myself: How do I expect that retaining a subscription to X email will make a positive impact in my life? How specifically is related to one of my goals? Amazed that I did not do this a year ago.
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Perhaps I am missing something, but this thread seems no longer relevant to GTD and seems to have morphed into something else.
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Glad you found a solution. For some Views, I find if I use XXX or ZZZ at the start of the Task name and then use a Sort alphabetical I can get things where I want them. But I think your solution sounds more elegant for what you want.
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Posted Jul 12, 2009 in: Filters, Sort, Toggles - Scope of impact globally/locally?
Score: 0
Posted by Anders:
... I have my particular sorts I like, but it is somewhat hard to recommend that sort of thing because it depends so much on if you are date, priority, or context oriented. Thanks Anders for indicating that what I had written seems accurate. Had not explored impact in Search and look forward to what you post. Good to know that iPhone app differs in at least one significant way from website. For all its simplicity there is really alot of nuance to TD and getting the most of out of it (personalizing it one's particular needs)does require knowledge and experimentation (and learning/borrowing from others' approaches). FYI: I do NOT use Context at all and sorts on date and/or priority are primarily what interest me. (I use time as part of Due Date in a special way; meaning I enter times as 1:11am thru 5:55am as it is clear to me that this is NOT when I'd actually have an appointment or hard landscape and so must mean something else. So this is my own scale of Urgency and allows me to keep Priority as a pure scale of just Importance. So I end up with many things with a Due Date that are NOT hard landscape (in GTD sense) to which I add Due Time. I use this as a way to motivate myself and keep it in my face and then use Next Action to refine that list into what are the most likely next steps to be taking.) |
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Posted Jul 11, 2009 in: Filters, Sort, Toggles - Scope of impact globally/locally?
Score: 0
Will be teaching a friend TD, and both of us use Folders for Areas of Focus rather than Projects. I want to check that my understanding below is accurate.
At the top of TD is a View By set of choices: Choices made for Filters,Sort, Toggles act across all Tabs within a particular View AND are saved for that View only. Meaning my settings for the Folder View do NOT impact what I would see if I Viewed By Due-Date. Within a particular View e.g. Folder View: 1) Filters, and Sort always act globally and affect all tabs within Folder View. 2) Toggle Notes, and Toggle Subtasks also act globally 3) Toggle Dividers acts locally only on the specific Folder/Tab that I am viewing when I clicked that toggle. ================== There is also local control over a Parent and its Subtasks e.g. if filter is set to Flatten Subtasks I can click on the Parent icon for a Subtask to show it and all of the Subtasks just for that one Parent as being nested. The impact is local to just that single Parent. ========== All of what I have written is using things on the website. My friend will be using iPhone and TD app for it, and will have to experiment to make sure that it behaves identically to the website. Any comments on which views/sorts of your data you find most useful (and perhaps when/why you use that)are also appreciated, although perhaps that should be a separate thread. One of the challenges of the flexibility of TD is getting a display that you want/need for one moment and being able to return to it quickly after having moved to some other place within TD. I expect for some favorite "views/slices" of your data that the best approach is a saved search e.g. as aide to weekly review in a GTD or other framework. Wile one can Sort the results and use Toggle Notes and Toggle Dividers; Toggle Subtasks does NOT work, although local control of Parent/Subtask does work. |