On your Mac, open Things. In the menu bar at the top of your screen, click File Import From Import From Todoist. Import from Outlook for Mac When you run the script, you’ll be provided with some options for including projects, completed to-dos, categories, and priorities. I've used Todoist to organize/motivate my personal life for a few months now and I'd like to consolidate my work organization into it. At work, I currently use Outlook tasks/categories and find that it does well to keep me on track. I've installed the plugin for Outlook and have a few questions I hope you guys can help me with.
If you haven’t done so I would recommend installing Todoist (or another productivity app) on every device you have: On your phone — iOS or Android On your desktop — Mac or Windows As a plugin for Gmail or Outlook (for adding emails as tasks). Todoist has an inbox that I send things to that I later will complete or file to do another day. I use Outlook for Mac 2016 for my emails. What I'm looking for is: When I'm going thru my emails in Outlook for Mac 2016 I would like an Alfred workflow that I can use to send a link of the Outlook for Mac email to my Todoist inbox for processing later. Hi everyone, I just moved from mac/gmail to pc/outlook for work. I’ve installed the todoist outlook app locally, but was wondering if anyone is aware of a way to run todoist on the outlook web app in 365 (trying to replicate how it works in gmail).
Here’s how you can import your to-dos from other apps into Things.
This page is about importing to-dos on the Mac. To import to-dos on your iPhone or iPad directly from Todoist, open Things and tap Settings >Import.
In this article:
- Import from OmniFocus 2 or 3 (Pro)
How to Use the AppleScripts
Some of the import options below require you to download an AppleScript. Here’s how to use it:
- Download the AppleScript you’d like to use via the Download AppleScript link.
- Locate the downloaded file and double-click it. This will launch the AppleScript Editor.
- In the toolbar, click the ▶ Run button.
Import from Apple Reminders
This option requires macOS 10.15, iOS 13, or iPadOS 13.
Your lists are imported as projects in Things, but some of them might be better off as areas. Consider creating a new area and moving your to-dos over. Repeating to-dos are imported, but are not set to repeat, please re-create them inside Things. Apple doesn’t expose all Reminders data to us, so the following data are not imported: attachments, list groups, sub-task indentation, flagged status, priority, location-based reminders.
Mac
- On your Mac, open Things.
- In the menu bar at the top of your screen, click File >Import >Import From Reminders.
- In the new window, click Import Now to start the migration.
If you’re looking for ways to quickly add individual to-dos to Things via Reminders check out this page instead. (requires macOS 10.14 and better)
iPad
- On your iPad, open Things.
- In the sidebar, tap > Reminders Inbox.
- Tap Open Reminders Importer.
- In the new pop-up window, tap Import Now to start the migration.
If you’re looking for ways to quickly add individual to-dos to Things via Reminders, for example by speaking them to Siri, check out this page instead (requires iOS 12.1 or later).
iPhone
- On your iPhone, open Things.
- In the main view, scroll to the bottom and tap Settings > Reminders Inbox.
- Tap Open Reminders Importer.
- In the new pop-up window, tap Import Now to start the migration.
If you’re looking for ways to quickly add individual to-dos to Things via Reminders, for example by speaking them to Siri, check out this page instead. (requires iOS 12.1 and better)
Watch
You can use Siri to speak Reminders on your Apple Watch, which will then be created in the Reminders app on your iPhone. To add individual Reminders to Things, please check out this page.
Import from OmniFocus 2 or 3 (Pro)
Imports projects and to-dos with due dates and notes, converts top-level folders to areas, and contexts to tags. Once downloaded, unzip the file and double-click the app to run it. Please note that only the Pro version of OmniFocus provides AppleScript support, so it will only work if you have that version installed.
Import from Wunderlist
As of May 6, 2020, Wunderlist has shut down and no longer offers any export option for your data. In turn, it’s no longer possible to import your data to Things. As of now, we do not offer import options for Microsoft To Do.
Import from Todoist
Imports to-dos and projects. Projects with children will become projects in Things; projects without children will become Areas in Things. Repeating to-dos are converted to normal to-dos and you have to make them repeat manually. Labels become tags.
Mac
- On your Mac, open Things.
- In the menu bar at the top of your screen, click File >Import From >Import From Todoist.
iPad
- On your iPad, open Things.
- Go to >Import >Import from Todoist.
iPhone
- On your iPhone, open Things.
- Go to Settings >Import >Import from Todoist.
Import from Outlook for Mac
When you run the script, you’ll be provided with some options for including projects, completed to-dos, categories, and priorities. Notes will be imported as HTML markup.
Import from Toodledo
Uses a Toodledo XML export file. Imports to-dos with due dates, notes, and contexts as tags. Creates projects from your project folders. To-dos without a project go into the Next list.
Import from a plaintext file
Creates a to-do for each line in a plaintext file. If you hit ⇥ Tab after a title, the text that follows will be imported as a note: title⇥ Tabnote
Copy and paste text
If you quickly want to convert a simple list from an app like Apple Notes, Apple Mail or any other text app into to-dos in Things, here’s how:
Download Todoist For Outlook
Mac
- Copy a plain text list and hit ⌘ Cmd + V inside Things. Each line of text will be converted into a separate to-do.
- Copy a plain text list and hit ⌘ Cmd + V inside an open to-do. The first line of text will be converted into the title of your to-do, the rest of the text will be added to the notes of the to-do.
iPad
- Copy a plain text list and hit in the top right corner in Things. Each line of text will be converted into a separate to-do.
- Copy a plain text list, tap into the title of a new to-do in Things, and hit in the top right corner. The first line of text will be converted into the title of your to-do, the rest of the text will be added to the notes of the to-do.
iPhone
- Copy a plain text list and hit in the top right corner in Things. Each line of text will be converted into a separate to-do.
- Copy a plain text list, tap into the title of a new to-do in Things, and hit in the top right corner. The first line of text will be converted into the title of your to-do, the rest of the text will be added to the notes of the to-do.
Related Articles
In recent weeks I’ve made a shift in my Productivity Path. While I still love what The Omni Group is doing with OmniFocus, I am using another application for my task management these days.
Actually, I’m using two.
For the past six weeks, I’ve been using Asana for my larger team-oriented tasks and projects and Todoist for my individual and smaller team task management.
Why the switch, specifically from OmniFocus to Todoist? There are several reasons behind the move:
1. Ubiquity
Ultimately, most people want a task management solution that they can use anytime, anywhere. Unfortunately OmniFocus doesn’t provide that unless you are using iOS or Mac devices. But the fact of the matter is more people are using Android these days, and the only real solution that Android users have to get their stuff to OmniFocus are third party apps like Send-2-OmniFocus and OmniFocus Mailer. They can’t actually work with OmniFocus on the go, unless they’re also carrying an iPad or even a Mac notebook with them. That limits the accessibility of the app, and that is less than ideal.
Todoist, on the other hand, has a slew of platforms it is developed for:
- Android
- Chrome
- Windows
- iOS
- Mac
Todoist even integrates with Gmail, Outlook, and Postbox. No matter what device you’re using, you can access Todoist (as long as you are able to connect with the Internet upon launch). With integration for three major email clients, you have the ability to have your task manager at the ready while processing your email inbox. Very nice. And with the Todoist chrome extension, you can access your Todoist setup on any site.
Now that’s ubiquity.
2. Pricing
Longtime readers know that I don’t have a problem paying for products and services. I’ve dropped lots of cash on different applications that I’ve abandoned long ago. But I know that I am in the minority when it comes to paying for applications that many consider to be simply a “to do list” and nothing more. There are hundreds of free applications like this out there, but you get what you pay for in many cases.
I’d suggest that Todoist strikes a nice balance in this space, offering a limited free version that will work for many people, and a more robust premium version that scales up exceptionally well.
The free version of Todoist will suffice for people who are looking to add a task management component to their digital workflow for the first time, or for those who don’t need a lot of bells and whistles and yet still want a pleasing user experience. Todoist Premium is only $29 per year and you get a lot for your money. If you’ve been using a task management solution for a while and need to be able to customize things to better suit your approach to productivity, then you’ll definitely want to “go premium” with Todoist.
Todoist Premium offers a ton of features (productivity tracking, enhanced label system, project templates, file attachments, etc.) for what amounts to less than $2.50 per month. That kind of pricing is a lot easier to swallow than what other applications cost – OmniFocus included.
3. Flexibility
There are a few areas where I find Todoist’s flexibility to be another major selling point.
For one, Todoist also offers something that OmniFocus doesn’t: team task management. For the purposes of my virtual assistant experiment, I know I can create a project in Todoist and share items in there with my VA. I can’t do that with OmniFocus.
Todoist Outlook Mac
Now I know I can do this with Asana as well, but I actually prefer the ability to keep my own stuff separate from larger team stuff…and Asana is where I keep my larger team stuff. So I have a project that I use for things I work with my VA and as things come in I can actually drag them to that project from other projects that I’m not sharing. This process will help me offload some tasks I’ve got in my Inbox to my VA seamlessly. (Note: I’ll be sharing how I use Todoist with my virtual assistant more extensively in a future blog post.)
Todoist’s labelling is also helpful, in that I can decide whether I want to use “labels” as contexts or not. I can actually use them in a number of ways, and because I can apply multiple labels to a task I can really hone in on what I want to do at any given time.
I can also flag tasks with “priority levels,” allowing me to mark off my Three Big Rocks for the next day if I want. Todoist allows users to mesh their own approaches to productivity with well-known methodologies like GTD, The Agile Way, and even Kanban to a certain degree (largely through the use of colour). It’s incredibly flexible and versatile…which is what I need in a task management application.
Roadblocks Along The Way
There are a few things that I’m going to have to trudge through as I get used to using Todoist:
- No direct path from Drafts. Here’s hoping they get some URL schemes happening here. In the meantime, I simply email tasks to my Inbox and then process from there.
- No direct path from Dispatch. See above.
- No Weekly Review function…sort of. Todoist has Todoist Karma, which allows you to track your productivity, but I do miss the reviewing capabilities of OmniFocus (specifically on the iPad). I hope Todoist looks at adding this functionality in the future.
The more time I spend in Todoist, the more comfortable I’m getting. I’ll be writing more about my experience with it as the weeks and months progress.
I’ll still be keeping my eyes on what other options are out there, including OmniFocus, because that is part of my job. But Android is on the rise (again, OmniFocus is Mac and iOS only) and I want to help people get comfortable using task management solutions. The pricing of something like OmniFocus can be a deal-breaker for those who don’t even think they need a tool like it in the first place. I’ll still be writing about OmniFocus from time to time, but there are a lot of great folks out there who write abut it regularly and focus specifically on it. Sven Fechner of SimplicityBliss, Tim Stringer of Technically Simple and Learn OmniFocus, Shawn Blanc, David Sparks, Kourosh Dini (who wrote the great Creating Flow with OmniFocus), and Asian Efficiency (who offer OmniFocus Premium Posts to help you get the most out of the app in its various iterations).
I can say unequivocally that I’m a Todoist user now. I like what they’ve put together and I like where they’re headed. Asana is great for larger teams and I’ll continue to use it (and recommend it) for that purpose, but Todoist is now my personal task management application of choice.
Thoughts on Todoist? Have another task management application of choice? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
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