ForumsTips & TricksImport from Wunderlist


Import from Wunderlist
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stevenyi

Posted: May 01, 2016
Score: 2 Reference
Hi All,

I was a long time Toodledo user that migrated over to Wunderlist for a while and have now returned after missing a number of key features and losing hope that Wunderlist would implement them. I had originally migrated using Todoport, but now that it is a pay service, I figured I could probably write a script to do the conversion back and save a few dollars.

I have created a python script for converting from Wunderlist JSON backups to CSV in a format that is appropriate for Toodledo. I have published it here:

https://github.com/kunstmusik/convert_wunderlist

It's a pretty simple script that filters for non-completed todos, matches them up with Lists and Notes, then writes it out to CSV. It did the job to get me back into Toodledo, and I have made this open source in case there are others moving to Toodledo from Wunderlist who might find this useful.

If you're using this with an existing Toodledo account, please do make a backup before proceeding! :)

All best,
steven
dave.erwin

Posted: May 02, 2016
Score: 0 Reference
Steven, thanks for the tip. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts/criticisms of Wunderlist compared to ToodleDo.

I'm not planning to switch from ToodleDo anytime soon, but each time I do look around to see what else is out there, my eye always goes to Wunderlist. It looks a lot better and I know they've introduced a lot of new features since I last used it several years ago. But you'd probably have more up-to-date thoughts considering your recent switch.

Thanks in advance!
stevenyi

Posted: May 02, 2016
Score: 1 Reference
Hi Dave,

Well, I want to start off with saying that Wunderlist is fine software, but it's feature set and some issues just didn't do it for me. Some things that nagged me:

* Marking a starred, recurring todo as done would retain the star. There was no option to have it remove the star upon completion. I use a number of daily recurring todos (e.g., take my meds, clear out emails, etc.). As part of my workflow, I view my lists and star items that have immediate priority and are things I plan to work on next. With Toodledo, this would work great, I would check off these recurring items and they would leave the starred list. I would then re-star them at end of day to do the next morning.

* The interface for Wunderlist was inconsistent between iOS, Android, Web, and Windows 10. Toodledo differs between the platforms as well, but the Wunderlist one I found a bit more inconsistent. One of the things I do is at the end of day, I like to move whatever todos that just didn't get done to the next day. With Wunderlist, some platforms I could select multiple items and then right-click and set for "due tomorrow." Other platforms, there was no option for this. I found the interaction just okay for this operation. With Toodledo, I use a search for today's tasks, then do a bulk edit to move to the next day. This interaction is a little onerous and it only works on the web, unfortunately. I think having a faster way to bulk-edit would be nice in Toodledo, but I can live with this.

* Wunderlist on the Web: some weird things would happen when synchronizing where there were some kind of "ghost" todos that would pop up as being overdue. The weird thing was that it would happen inconsistently. It happened on my Chromebook once, and happened just yesterday on Chrome on Win 10 for me. The only way to get rid of the ghost todo would be to flush the cache for the site and re-login to have a clean sync. It's something that really nagged me when it happened, and it sort of made me cautious about trusting that Wunderlist would sync my data correctly.

* Wunderlist doesn't have proper tags. I found their #tag system by modifying the todo's title awkward. I stopped using tags altogether when I went to Wunderlist. I didn't use tags often when I used Toodledo before, but at times I did find it useful and I'm glad to have the option again.

* Wunderlist's interface is largely attractive. Toodledo has made many steps forward since it's earlier years and I think now has a nice balance between looks and presentation of meaningful information. After months of use, I found that, on balance, I was probably more productive using Toodledo overall. This is, of course, my own opinion and reflective of my own requirements and workflow in using todo systems.

* One other note, Wunderlist's support system didn't feel very satisfactory. I much prefer the forums here and the regular communications from the team. This is a personal preference, and I understand why Wunderlist would use the systems they do, but it just didn't do it for me.

Well, I hope that's useful. LIke I said, I do think Wunderlist is fine software, and I'm sure it suits a lot of people's needs perfectly well. For myself, I just found that Toodledo does a better job for what I'm looking for out of a todo system and I'm happy to be back using it.

Thanks,
steven
dave.erwin

Posted: May 06, 2016
Score: 0 Reference
Steven,

Great info. Thanks for sharing!
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