ForumsQuestionsManual Reorder by drag and drop


Manual Reorder by drag and drop
Author Message
eric.bromey

Posted: Dec 11, 2015
Score: 1 Reference
Hello,

I use toodledo for many years. I recently give a try to Wrike and notice the functionlity of giving priority to tasks by drag and drop. This functionality is very easy to use and look to me much more easy then all suggestions I read in the toodledo forum in the many topics in past years like setting a Tag to sort or setting a Nr at the beginning of the Text or similar options.

This is even more useful when on the way with a smartphone or a tablet.

Thank you to consider this request when proritizing your development

Best Regards
Eric
Purveyor

Posted: Dec 11, 2015
Score: 1 Reference
Hi Eric.

Take a look at this topic from almost seven years ago: Reordering tasks.

It's clear that this has not been a high priority ... ;-)

FWIW, you can reorder subtasks within a task by using drag and drop, but you probably know that.
Jake

Toodledo Founder
Posted: Dec 11, 2015
Score: 0 Reference
Toodledo's Task section does not currently support manual reordering. This is for a variety of reasons, but the main one is that we provide a bunch of powerful ways to automatically sort your tasks and if you could also sort them manually, it isn't really clear and intuitive how these two things would interact. If your list is sorted alphabetically, but then you drag and drop a task higher in the list, what happens when you refresh the page? Does it go back to alphabetical, or does it remember that you want it alphabetical except for this one task that you moved. It gets really complicated and unintuitive pretty quick. We may figure out a way to do this in the future, probably with some sort of "manual sort mode" where all other sorting is disabled.

You may want to check out the Outlines section which provides for manual reordering via drag and drop and also unlimited levels of subtasks.
eric.bromey

Posted: Dec 12, 2015
Score: 1 Reference
Hello Jake,

Thank you for your feedback.

In the actual situation, when I sort based on existing criteria, I can choose up to 3 level of sorting (for instance by folder then by date and then by priority).

The manual sorting would be just an additional sorting critéria. If I put manual sorting as first critéria then indeed, it will be the first one; If I put folder as first criteria and manual sorting as second one, then the manual sorting would be within each folder.

it would be particular helpful to organize the tasks of the day; in particular with portable devices.

Manual sorting like suggest in the following YouTube video maybe fine when you work on a desktop with a full screen and a full keyboard. But on a smartphone or a tablet, it can be very cumbersome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=525PavGMEro

I recommend that you look to a YouTube video on how Wrike handle this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaWWLLFKljY

best regards
Eric Bromey
coolexplorer

Posted: Dec 13, 2015
Score: 0 Reference
Posted by Jake:
Toodledo's Task section does not currently support manual reordering. This is for a variety of reasons, but the main one is that we provide a bunch of powerful ways to automatically sort your tasks and if you could also sort them manually, it isn't really clear and intuitive how these two things would interact. If your list is sorted alphabetically, but then you drag and drop a task higher in the list, what happens when you refresh the page? Does it go back to alphabetical, or does it remember that you want it alphabetical except for this one task that you moved. It gets really complicated and unintuitive pretty quick. We may figure out a way to do this in the future, probably with some sort of "manual sort mode" where all other sorting is disabled.

You may want to check out the Outlines section which provides for manual reordering via drag and drop and also unlimited levels of subtasks.

I fully understand Jake's problem with allowing manual sorting, because TD's structure has been built for generating automatic priorities.
However from a user angle I consider is one of the few drawbacks of TD impinging on my workflow. I am quite happy with TD surfacing important tasks based on priority / start / due dates / stars, etc. from the entire data base of tasks into my Hotlist.

However within my custom Hotlist (Custom Saved Search View) most of the tasks are naturally Starred or with a priority of 3Top. There is no way I can conveniently put them in an order/sequence of doing as per my motivation or convenience. I use a workaround of tagging them with "Morning", "Evening" or 1,2,3,4, etc. but the sorting is a problem because I cannot use multiple tags for a task, otherwise the sort order gets broken.

Possible Solution is to allow another user defined field for sorting. My requirement for manual sorting is actually only for the final Hotlist not the other lists. Maybe some innovative solution can be worked out considering that so much work is being done to upgrade both the design and function of TD.
Purveyor

Posted: Dec 13, 2015
Score: 1 Reference
Posted by eric.bromey:
The manual sorting would be just an additional sorting critéria. If I put manual sorting as first critéria then indeed, it will be the first one; If I put folder as first criteria and manual sorting as second one, then the manual sorting would be within each folder.
Seems to me that this would be difficult to do and awkward to use. Better to have a "manual mode" where there's no sorting, and then move the tasks to create the right order. When you choose a sort order based on one or more of the fields, then the manual order is gone.
didymus74

Posted: Dec 14, 2015
Score: 1 Reference
The lack of a manual drag and drop sort is the major weakness of Toodledo for me. It's way more efficient for me to drag and drop tasks to get my list in the preferred order of execution. Many other task managers offer this feature. I'm hoping Jake will decide to implement it soon, so that I can fully commit to Toodledo as my number one task app.
Jake

Toodledo Founder
Posted: Dec 15, 2015
Score: 0 Reference
I can understand how drag and drop reordering would make sense if you have a few dozen tasks, but when you have thousands of tasks like me and many other users, manual drag and drop ordering becomes inefficient. This is why we built Toodledo with smart sorting and automatic features like importance and hotlist. We recognize that lots of people want manual ordering, and it is something that we often try to think about working in somehow. We have some ideas that are on our todo list and we haven't abandoned the idea.
boydston01

Posted: Dec 17, 2015
Score: 3 Reference
Jake, you might look at how Appigo implements auto sorting criteria and manual ordering at the same (it's one thing they did really well). It's like a task was placed in the correct sort order when it was created but the list itself can then be manually reordered. I imagine it might be a fundamental change in programming, but my point is the mix worked well.

Maybe there can be certain views (or saved searched, or whatever) that are for manually reordering. E.g. my 20 tasks with a start and/or due date of today appear in a special list that I can manually reorder them. That order is saved in that view alone.

To the point of this example, I am guessing that "today's" tasks are the real pain point where manually reordering is super helpful.

And charge for it!


This message was edited Dec 17, 2015.
coolexplorer

Posted: Dec 18, 2015
Score: 2 Reference
The Android App 'Ultimate ToDo List' has just introduced (due to massive popular demand) 'Manual sorting' on their app which does not interfere with the TD web tasks data. Users can use that for their Hotlist daily tasks without interfering with the integrity of TD data.
Just for info. for android users who would like to try it out. It requires an investment of 3$.
Lise46

Posted: Dec 30, 2015
Score: 0 Reference
Thinking this through - right now I use tags (1, 2, 3...) but can only do 9 items like that- otherwise 10 appears right after 1. That may be a better thought than having more than 9 immediate items, but given that some of my items are actually for my staff or kids, I often have 20 or more immediate items. And the priority on them does change often enough and with different enough variables that the tagging becomes cumbersome.

I also understand the underlying problem. If I use the fabulous priority system in place and then manually reorder, what happens to the overall priority?

My thought is this - and I maybe way off base, but I also know sometimes I get great ideas from folks who really know nothing about my business, so I am hoping this helps. If there is a field for manual editing, it (like all other fields) can be hidden. If it is in use, it takes priority to everything else. Those who want to use is could do so without messing up the priorities as set by the system. An upgrade to that would be to allow manual numbering within another field (within a folder for example). I know this is tough to balance in with what you have, but thought maybe if it functioned outside of the existing priority system, it might be easier.

Thanks for everything, love my TD.
n4simpson

Posted: Dec 30, 2015
Score: 1 Reference
Not an answer to the real question, but if you add a leading "0" (or "00") before "1", "2" etc you can order up to 99 (or 999) with your tag method.
jabor

Posted: Jan 15, 2016
Score: 3 Reference
Hi Jake and TD people!

I originally became a TD subscirber a few years ago not only because of many of it's features, but because of TD's connectivity to mobile apps on Iphone and Android. I was usually away from my computer and I wanted something with me that allowed me access to my daily tasks. As long as TD could hold the data i wanted and had the fields I wanted, I was ok with TD...as long as I could find a suitable mobile app.

I left TD last year after being a subscriber for a few years, primarily because of the following 4 reasons:
(1)There was no mobile app with manual sorting. For planning purposes, autosorts are great, especially when there are large number of tasks. However, once you get down to a smaller number of tasks that have to be done in a day, the lack of manual sorting can really become a stressor...enough so for me that I left TD because I could not find a mobile app that manually sorted. (Coolexplorer hit the nail on the head, that this becomes critical when dealing with lots of daily activities). When I begin my morning, I try to have a closed list of tasks for that day. I often want to do my tasks in a specific order based on how I believe my day will go, not necessarily based on a sort or filter. By putting tasks in the order that will best match my day, I can start at the top and go right down my list, without continually scanning it. As things change, it's easy to move tasks in a different order of my choosing. This is important when I am being stressed by requests, problems, and time-constraints.
(2) Tag handling was lacking (why aren't they handled like other data items such folders and contexts, drop-down boxes...maybe autofill?). (I think 2D for Iphone handles tags well).
(3)The inability to nest folders, contexts, or tags (which would make it easier to view structure, review similarly grouped info, and move tasks).
(4) Only one level of subtasks.

Coolexplorer mentioned that Ultimate Todo (Android) now has manual sort, so I will likely try TD again. I would still love to see the other 3 issues I mentioned addressed. I would gladly pay more for a solutions that completely met my needs :)

As an aside, last year I used GQueues, which some interesting functionality, but lacks in several areas, at least from a single-user perspective. I had considered Todoist as it has nested folders and manual sorting, but I don't like the idea of not being able to export my data.

Anyway, that's one users perspective.
Thank you.
Jeff
boydston01

Posted: Jan 25, 2016
Score: 4 Reference
Maybe a special "view" that supports manual reorder. I think I have seen a few people say that manually sorting is primarily important for "today's tasks." So, similar to the hotlist, this view has selectable criteria for which tasks show up in the list. The manual sorting is then saved in this view only. Might be a way to feasibly integrate the functionality?
You cannot reply yet

U Back to topic home

R Post a reply

To participate in these forums, you must be signed in.