RELEASE: Actiontastic 0.9
Download Actiontastic 0.9
(Mac OS X 10.4 Required)
This release kicks off the 0.9 series of updates, and with it comes a new set of wings. Now you can sync Actiontastic with iCal. And, if your PDA or smartphone plays nice with iCal, then your system can now officially leave your chair. Your inbox is everywhere. Your contexts and actions are everywhere. Heck, I even ditched my RAZR and returned to the old BlackBerry 7250 just to enjoy this new found mobility.
Let’s walk through the details…
First of all, the details mentioned here are based on my experience with the aforementioned 7250, syncing via (the newly free) PocketMac for BlackBerry. I updated the OS to 4.1, downloaded the latest version of PocketMac, enabled iCal syncing, and everything else clicked right along.
Previously, we discussed a mismatch between iCal ToDos and hot GTD action on a stick. Actiontastic attempts to get around this mismatch by beating iCal with said stick. The pieces break down like this:
Contexts
Contexts in Actiontastic become calendars in iCal. If you’re using a BlackBerry, these are mapped to categories on your device. Actiontastic recognizes the calendars that it creates in iCal on future syncs, so you don’t have to worry about your existing calendars polluting your clean system. They will be ignored. Calendars (contexts) can be renamed in iCal, but new ones must be created in Actiontastic in order for them to be recognized. This small trade off was made because designing new contexts should be rare whereas auto-recognizing your context/calendars is handy during every sync.
(Note: if you want to keep everything grouped together like the screenshot above, create a “group” in iCal. Then, drag your Actiontastic contexts inside.)
Actions
Actions added to your existing contexts in iCal or on your PDA will show up in Actiontastic on your next sync. Changes that you make on the go, like checking off items, changing their contexts (just in case) will also sync both ways.
Inbox
This is probably my favorite feature of this release. I tend to collect a large amount of ideas each day and those pocket Moleskines fill up fast. A version of Patrick Rhone’s dash/plus system was used for inbox items on paper for a while, transferring them to Actiontastic each day when I got home. Now this is all automated. Actiontastic creates a calendar called “@inbox” that it treats differently than the other calendars. When you add an item to the inbox on your PDA or in iCal, it is copied to your Actiontastic inbox on the next sync, followed by a clearing of the iCal and PDA inbox during the following sync. This keeps the inbox flowing one way and free of clutter on your device.
(A special note for BlackBerry users: I had to create this context with a matching “@inbox” name on the BlackBerry before it would work with PocketMac and iCal.)
Projects
Projects don’t play into the sync at all. They are a step in planning and review within Actiontastic, but when you’re on the go with a PDA, actions in context are king. It came down to a choice between slapping the project name inside the action name or just leaving it out and keeping it light.
Notes
Because iCal doesn’t support rich text in its notes, note syncing is one way — to iCal. Actiontastic will attempt to gracefully downgrade any rich formatting that you may have into a plain text version for iCal. Any changes in iCal notes are not moved back to Actiontastic as there isn’t a nice way to upgrade the formatting again on the way back in. Future versions of Actiontastic may no longer support rich text notes, replacing them with a different form of reference filing in addition to smart text that knows how to handle links to other things (URLs, files, etc.). This would then allow two-way note syncing which I think is a good compromise given some of the other items that are ahead for this area.
That should cover it for now. Thanks again for all of the stellar input that made this software what it is. I hope you enjoy using the new bits and bytes as much as I enjoyed creating them. This was a purely user-driven release, as many of you requested this even though I sort of pulled in the other direction originally. And please do write or comment with issues or ideas for making the system smoother. If you are using a different PDA or smartphone and find that there are things that could be better, I would love to hear from you in the comments or via email.
Oh, and here is the old school bullet list again:
New In This Release:
- iCal integration via Sync Services
- Pausing a project or context no longer limits your choices during Inbox processing
- Minor bug fixes
Things That Could Be Better:
- Filtering on “current” or “all” still only applies to projects and contexts and does not filter down to the action level. This will change before 1.0.
- iCal syncing could be improved with a preference setting to automatically sync on start up, shut down, or at other times. Right now, syncing is manually triggered with the button at the bottom of the window.
Brab wrote:
Great, congratulations on this release. I’ve been using GTDAlt for a while now, but this motivates me to use Actiontastic again.
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 3:59 am | Permalink
Brab wrote:
Oh, and by the way: I would really like two way synchronization of notes with iCal, even if it means only using simple text.
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 4:03 am | Permalink
Chris wrote:
Magnificent stuff.
The application is lovely, lean and clean. The integration with iCal is very nicely done. Everything is simple, minimal and totally focused on doing the job, not showing the app off. In the spirit of GTD though less is more and your app does everything superbly. Please don’t get lulled by sirens singing songs of “more functionality, more functionality!”.
It’s a gorgeous app. Don’t stray off the straight and narrow - keep it lean, simple and focused. Full marks.
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 5:49 am | Permalink
Joel wrote:
With this release, I can finally sync my Treo with Actiontastic! Thank you!
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 6:18 am | Permalink
Switchblog » Blog Archive » Sync things to be done wrote:
[…] […]
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 6:24 am | Permalink
Mike Hales wrote:
Great work! One suggestion that would make Actiontastic even better would be to have better control from the keyboard. For example we can add projects or actions by using Command-N but it would be nice to Command-N, type the action, the tab to the context, use the arrow keys to select the context, the optionally open the info drawer with a shortcut and tab into the start and due dates. Being able to completely set up actions without the mouse at all would be stellar. Other than that, I am thrilled with the app. I like the feature levels right where they are. I think simpler is better for sure. Thanks!
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 8:32 am | Permalink
Actiontastic v0.9 available « Kaylow wrote:
[…] Actiontastic is an electronic implementation of GTD that’s been gathering attention and momentum. With this release, you can sync your context-based next actions with iCal, and if you’ve got a smartphone that can sync to iCal, you can easily take your stuff with you. Check it out. Actiontastic requires Mac OS X and is free. […]
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 8:42 am | Permalink
Erik wrote:
Hi,
Thanks for a well thought out GTD application.
Unfortunately I runned in to a problem with the iCal synchronization. I started the synchronization from Actiontastic and got a message (from iCal or some synchronization procedure?) asking wether I wanted to synchronize with Actiontastic or not. Since I wasn’t sure I wanted to start the syncronization right then, I answered no (or something else to that effect).
Now it seems like I’m permanently blocked from syncronization with Actiontastic.
When I try to synchronize again, the waiting symbol to the left of the synchronization button runs forever and nothing more happen. Other functions in Actiontastic works, like adding a new Inbox item.
I’ve restarted all programs involved, with the same result.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 9:04 am | Permalink
Jon wrote:
@Erik:
Open the preferences (under the Actiontastic menu), click the update symbol, then click “Unregister iCal Sync Client.” Then, when the iCal popup arrives again, don’t check any boxes and simply click the “Allow” button. That should do it.
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 9:34 am | Permalink
Uno wrote:
Erik: “Unregister iCal sync client” in Actiontastic preferences, perhaps?
Jon: Good release, good progress. :-)
I still miss TAB-ing between the “Action” and “Project” column to minimize mouse use and thus Getting Things Done.
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 9:35 am | Permalink
Uno wrote:
…damn, too slow. :-P
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 9:36 am | Permalink
Erik wrote:
Solved my problem.
Thanks a lot - both of you!
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 10:13 am | Permalink
Bushford wrote:
@erik,
I had a similar problem.
The eternal spinning wheel, after I had been able to sync successfully below.
In the Actiontastic preferences, I pressed the Unregister iCal Sync Client, and then synced again. That seems to have done the trick…
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 11:19 am | Permalink
Dominik wrote:
Sorry for repost:
I really LOVE your app. After quite some experience (with other apps) I think I’ll stick to yours as it solves this one seemingly nontrivial organization problem.
Going with recent iCal sync I’d like to request priority support. Some actions simply are more important than others.
And search. search. search. I’m not sure if your datastructure allows for easy spotlight (very file based nature) integration but that would be a killer.
I think it would be a bad idea to do everything in Actiontastic — so I would love to stick to some kind of Links/Ressources (Journler 2.1 beta does that very well). It would be great to link individual actions/projects to Mails, files, folders, whatever by dragging into a dropzone (below notes…). This approach would be non-invasive and still extremely powerful.
Combined with spotlight tagging (think @errands and Quicksilver file attributes plugin) for referenced files you can find absolutely EVERYTHING…
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 11:29 am | Permalink
Bushford wrote:
The iCal sync seems to be doing funny stuff with the completion status. If I make a new todo in iCal, and then sync, it ends up nicely in Actiontastic, in the context where I created it in iCal (i.e. the corresponding Calendar).
I then edit the action in Actiontastic, and sync again. The ToDo item in iCal is now completed. If I uncheck it in Ical, and sync again, it’s OK.
Looks like whatever I change in the action, the sync also marks it as complete in iCal…
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 11:49 am | Permalink
Obyor wrote:
Fist of all: I’m not a GTD newbee and practicing GTD for years now. I’ve switched from kGTD to Actiontastic as my primary and hourly used GTD-tool about one week ago. And what should i say… Actiontastic is so useful and clean… it’s a noticable boost to my system.
The daily hardcore use revealed a few glitches and possible improvement to me. Things that did not attract my attention in my preliminary tests.
* iPod sync
- there should be a noticable difference between next actions and the other tasks. Maybe a prefix or simply a dot instead of a space between the task number an the name.
- it would be very, very useful to see the project names in the tasks. Just like in Actiontastic itself.
- i’m using the notes field for telephone numbers and the like. So viewing converted plain text notes on the iPod would be very nice too but not essential
- there’s a bug in the numbering of tasks. Tasks number ‘010′ is stored as ‘10′ and so sorted at the bottom of the list
* functionality
- tasks sould not appear under “ToDo” and “Next Action” until their start date is reached. I think that’s what the start date is for. But wait… that’s done in 0.9. Geat!
- Actiontastic should use the system date format for its start and due dates
- recuring tasks would be a very useful idea for a future version. Just like in kGTD. That’s nice for chores e.g.
* usability
- that’s a very important one for the daily use and was mentioned a few times here: Please make Actiontastic useable completely by keyboard. Especially the assignment of a context of a new task and the switch between the project list and the task list are needing keyboard handling urgently. The last one is now (0.9) possible though tab, but you have to tab thru All/NextAction/ToDo/Done first. That’s a bit circuitous for such a heavy used feature.
- when using cmd-2 and cmd-3 it would be very nice to end up on the context/project of the selected tasks instead of the last selected context/project.
- that one is a matter of taste and will not improve the workflow: IMHO the ‘i’-button has to be place at the bottom where the sync buttons are. That’s how the button is placed in iCal.
- a search functionality for tasks and projects would be so damn useful!
- when quitting and restarting Actiontastic, some of the settings are lost. Actiontastic sould remember the state of the tasks filter (All/NextAction/ToDo/Done) and the size of the columns in the task list.
- a sophisticated use of color for tasks would be great. e.g. overdued items in red. tasks with a due date of today in green and due dates within the next few days comming from black to royal blue.
- an indicator of a used notes field should be displayed in the task list
- when checking off an item in the task list of a project, the item is moved down. Clearing the checkbox again will not move the item to its original position and the list is messed up. My vote for simply not sorting the task list of a project automatically. I want to decide witch tasks should be on which position and whether it’s done or not.
Overall i have to mentioned that even this beta version of Actiontastic is downright matured enough to use it for productive work. I don’t want to switch back to kGTD!
I’d love to support you in your development of Actiontastic. I’m trying that with contructive comments like this one and - for shure - i will be one of the first registering this gorgeous app as soon as you accept payments. Please let us know if there’s more we could do.
Thanks again Jon for that outstanding work.
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 1:16 pm | Permalink
Ksenia wrote:
I see in the “Next Action” list actions from paused projects. Shouldn’t the actions from the paused projects be hidden in this view?
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 1:17 pm | Permalink
Lori M Oson wrote:
I have a question, giving the Sync Services addition in this release. Would it be possible to have Actiontastic installed on 2 different Macs, and have them kept in sync via the Sync Services + .Mac sync?
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 1:40 pm | Permalink
Neil wrote:
I second putting the project name in the synchronized task - I may have a bunch of different projects where I “call Bob to setup meeting” and it’s cumbersome to put the project name in each action.
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 2:09 pm | Permalink
Ksenia wrote:
I have (more or less) the same problem as Bushford, syncing to iCal makes some actions completed. All actions were entered in Actiontastic.
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 2:17 pm | Permalink
Jake wrote:
I have problem with completed items too.
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 2:53 pm | Permalink
Gilbert wrote:
I’ve only been using Actiontastic for a little while now but I already know I can’t get by without it. Good stuff.
I wanted to post some feedback, some of which is covered already in post #16 by Obyor:
1. Provide better keyboard support. Like others have mentioned, it would be nice not to have to reach for a pointing device to get around.
2. Drop the “drawer” interface and use a pane instead. something like the split view in mail.app or the info pane in iPhoto. I also just dislike how drawers move around. :P
3. I’d like to see a count badge next to the items in the left column. For example, I’d like to see i have 3 actions to complete for a project.
4. I second not resorting my list when I’ve marked an item complete.
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 3:21 pm | Permalink
Eric wrote:
iCal sync, yay! How much will 1.0 be and when can I buy it?
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 4:06 pm | Permalink
Tom wrote:
Bug report: on first sync, all actions were copied over to iCal fine. However, all actions were marked as “incomplete”, resulting in a calendar full of tasks I completed ages ago. Worse, these settings were replicated in Actiontastic. All of my actions are now marked as “To Do”…
I’ve now got to sit down and go through EVERY single item I’ve ever entered into Actiontastic and mark 99% of them as “completed”. Beware!
Actiontastic upgraded from 0.83b to 0.9
iCal 2.03
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 4:48 pm | Permalink
Michael wrote:
First, congrats on all the buzz, I’m sure the slow load was due to the /. effect today.
I too have the undone items in ical.
My question is this, I dusted off an old Visor Deluxe to sync with ical, and when doing so, all the calendars todo items are merged together, without any context. This is probably an ical issue, but anyone know a work around?
I’ve read missing sync handles ical categories, but until I scrape some $$ together for a newer palm, I was wondering if there was another hack.
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 6:42 pm | Permalink
Elizabeth wrote:
First of all, I LOVE Actiontastic.
I use iCal 2.04 and when I synced back to Actiontastic from iCal, I had the same problem as Tom above - all my checked items came unchecked. Have only been using the system for a couple of weeks, so I used the re-checking process as a occasion for a review of all projects and actions… but I’ll probably wait before trying to build iCal into my Actiontastic work flow.
Will there be a way to archive completed projects? For now, I just preface the name with z- and it kicks the project to the end of the list…
Looking forward to each new iteration and to buying 1.0. Your application plus Quicksilver makes GTD work for me. Many thanks.
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 7:01 pm | Permalink
Scott McReynolds wrote:
I want this thing so bad, but it won’t work for me.
I tried adding items to projects, contexts, & inbox, but after it appears I’m adding the item, nothing shows up.
I tried from drop down menu, clicking the “+” widget in the bottom left and with the QS module.
I then tried syncing with iCal to see if that would get things started, but no avail.
When I quit it can’t save, but of course, there’s nothing there.
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 8:26 pm | Permalink
Bob Sloan wrote:
A wonderful product overall, but:
a. I too am a victim of all my actions showing up, all unchecked with the first iCal sync.
b. In context view, I really want to be able to make multiple selections of context. My understanding of GTD is that I want to see the next actions for each context that I am currently in or could get to in 15 seconds. E.g., I might want to see next actions for Computer, Office, and Anywhere when I’m in my office working on the computer.
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 8:48 pm | Permalink
Jon wrote:
@Scott McReynolds:
If you don’t have any older data in the app that you want to preserve, try running through the steps at the bottom of the FAQ. Let me know if things are still quirky for you after that.
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 9:46 pm | Permalink
Jon wrote:
@Those with iCal Checkbox Problems:
Thank you for giving this a run and for the bug reports. I am looking into this and trying to reproduce it. Once I get a fix ready, I’ll post it and put up another blog entry.
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 9:48 pm | Permalink
Joel wrote:
I guess I’m one of the lucky ones… all my Actiontastic data (incomplete and completed) synced perfectly with iCal.
Actiontastic upgraded from 0.83b to 0.9
iCal 2.03
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 9:53 pm | Permalink
mike wrote:
how do you add an item to the inbox from a blackberry? in a calender or in the to do or memo pad?
does anyone know where to create this context with a matching “@inbox” name on the BlackBerry? so it works with pocketmac and ical?
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 10:14 pm | Permalink
Scott wrote:
I’m using a Treo 650. All my actions are lumped together. There is no distinction in categories.
Any thoughts?
Posted on 15-Jan-07 at 11:39 pm | Permalink
Jon wrote:
@Those with iCal Checkbox Problems:
I have been able to reproduce the issue and have a fix in place. Much more testing is needed before I can release it, but it will be out as soon as possible.
Posted on 16-Jan-07 at 12:04 am | Permalink
Joel wrote:
@Scott:
I use The Missing Sync and define in Mark/Space Tasks which Calendars I’d like to sync. This lets me sync the categories from Actiontastic.
Posted on 16-Jan-07 at 1:14 am | Permalink
Actiontastic 0.9 hits and sync | eDragonu - the choice of a personal path wrote:
[…] The latest release of Actiontastic 0.9 bring synchronization with iCal and the possibility for virtually work from everywhere. Actiontastic is a GTD application that start to look pretty good. The current version makes the sync with iCal by making your contexts calendars in iCal, and transforming your action in those contexts in iCal To Do’s. […]
Posted on 16-Jan-07 at 2:42 am | Permalink
Brab wrote:
I have a quick question: what is the best way to synchronize Actiontastic between computers, and does it interfere with iCal synchronization ?
I’m constantly switching between my laptop at home/on the road and my desktop at work, and I would like to run Actiontastic on both. I could synchronize Actiontastic files, but as I’m also synchronizing calendars using SyncTogether I’m afraid Actiontastic is going to get confused.
Anybody else using Actiontastic on several computers?
(And should I post this as well on the FAQ page?)
Posted on 16-Jan-07 at 4:31 am | Permalink
BB wrote:
I’m also having the checkbox problems.
Posted on 16-Jan-07 at 7:55 am | Permalink
Jake wrote:
Jon: Actiontastic is awesome and I look forward to purchasing it when you are ready. It is so simple, yet so effective. The new iCal sync is killer. Kudos.
Posted on 16-Jan-07 at 8:06 am | Permalink
Ian wrote:
Uh-oh… looks like a bug with iCal sync. I’m finding that “Start” dates for Actiontastic actions are getting translated into *completion* dates for iCal ToDos. And that means anything with a start date in the past is treated by iCal as completed, which means I don’t see it on my ToDo list… Urp!
I’ve made heavy use of start dates, so now I can’t trust iCal sync much at all. 8-{
Posted on 16-Jan-07 at 8:29 am | Permalink
Sharif wrote:
Obyor mentioned above that in 0.9, tasks won’t appear under ToDo or Next Action until their start date, but I’m not seeing that… do I need to add start dates to the project or the task? (I’ve tried both.)
Also, is there a way to make every task in a project actionable, similar to the “#” in kGTD? For example, I maintain a Personal project, with tasks like “Pick up dry cleaning,” “Go grocery shopping” and “Wash dishes.” They’re independent of each other, and are all actionable at any given time. Is there a way to have them all show up in the Next Actions pane, under their appropriate contexts?
Posted on 16-Jan-07 at 11:04 am | Permalink
danielbu wrote:
Great. Looks amazing, slick and very close to DA’s original GTD idea. Now - can it do windows? can it do PalmOS? When’ll it be cross platform, maybe as a firefox extension? When’ll it take over the world?
Posted on 16-Jan-07 at 1:10 pm | Permalink
Adam Zap wrote:
hey man, great app.
I’d like to make a suggestion about the Contexts pane. Can you make the “Project” column header clickable to sort by project alphabetically?
thanks, keep up the good work
Posted on 16-Jan-07 at 1:37 pm | Permalink
Obyor wrote:
@Sharif: Sorry, that was my fault.
Posted on 16-Jan-07 at 2:02 pm | Permalink
jeff wrote:
is anybody using a blackberry with actiontastic? how have you made the sync work from the phone to ical then actiontastic?
Posted on 16-Jan-07 at 4:18 pm | Permalink
Piko wrote:
Great software!!! The best bar none!!
Rather than place the data file in the Application Support, can we have a preference to store it elsewhere (such as in the iDisk/Application Support folder)?
I use the software both at work and at home and am constantly added tasks for myself to do in either place (as well as all my other contexts). For now, I manually copy the sqlite file to my iDisk account when I leave for work/home… :)
Also, are you planning to support the built in ToDo servies that is coming in Leopard?
Piko
Posted on 16-Jan-07 at 6:35 pm | Permalink
Scott McReynolds wrote:
@Jon
I cleared the file from my Library/Application support/Actiontastic as instructed in the FAQ and everything works great now!
I set up contexts, projects and did my first sync to iCal.
Thanks,
Scott
Posted on 16-Jan-07 at 10:11 pm | Permalink
Michael wrote:
To those asking about moving from PDA to ical to actiontastic, I think the solution is in the isync preference for the PDA. You can chose which which calendars to sync, and which calendar to add new items to. Since I plan on using my PDA mostly for @errands, I can eliminate some of the contexts/todos.
Make sure that new items added on the PDA goes to @inbox, which when ical syncs with actiontastic, will go to your actiontastic inbox.
Posted on 16-Jan-07 at 11:36 pm | Permalink
Jon wrote:
@BlackBerry Users:
Everything from Actiontastic and iCal should show up (if you are using PocketMac) under the Tasks app. Contexts are Categories on the device. You can filter on these categories using the “Filter” menu item. When adding a new inbox item, place it under the @inbox category. If this category doesn’t appear on your BlackBerry, choose Filter from the menu, then choose New, and create it. You can also add actions to existing contexts, but you will need to define their project (if they are not single actions) once you have completed a sync back to the app.
Posted on 17-Jan-07 at 2:18 am | Permalink
Phil Marshall wrote:
Bug Report:
I set the start date for an action to ‘6/1/2007′ and it displays in the info as ‘06/01/20′
Posted on 17-Jan-07 at 10:57 am | Permalink
Scott wrote:
Has anyone using a Palm handheld got the contexts to show up as categories?
Posted on 17-Jan-07 at 11:50 pm | Permalink
Patrick Rhone wrote:
Just a quick thanks for the mention and the link. Keep up the great work.
Posted on 21-Feb-07 at 8:49 am | Permalink
JohnB wrote:
Thank you for developing this — great tools and v. nice clean / interface, I have tried kinkless, Ghost and now trying Actiontastic. Couple of issues / comments:
- Would be great if project name’s were added w/ []’s into synch’d to do items
- Organizing context’s into folders (in ical) seems to confuse Actiontastic, the synch stops working (just spins and spins!)
- Changes to notes in ical dont seem tobe synch’d back to Actiontastic, or am i missing something
Posted on 24-Feb-07 at 5:54 pm | Permalink
JohnB wrote:
Another thought: would be great if a “return” in the inbox would jump to next line
Posted on 25-Feb-07 at 11:57 am | Permalink
Davy McDonald wrote:
Great app, looks very promising.
I discovered a problem though, whe I added a to-do in iCal (in a context created from Actiontastic) Actiontastic repeatedly crashed on trying to sync.
Posted on 12-Apr-07 at 4:04 pm | Permalink
Thomas wrote:
Nice clean app, it would be great if the date format in the app matched the date format in the system, i.e. as I’m in Aus I have dd/mm/yy, but the app wants mm/dd/yy
Posted on 22-Apr-07 at 5:47 pm | Permalink