Quickly putting a task in a specific folder

[Ram Rachum]

Hello,

I want to have a keyboard shortcut for putting the currently-selected task in a specific folder.

For example, every time I press Ctrl-Alt-W I want MLO to put the selected task in my Work folder.

Can that be accomplished with MLO?

Thanks,

Ram.

[Eberhard]

Dear Ram,

 

I'm using AutoHotKey in combination with a script that was "published" here.

 

http://www.jonrumens.com/MLO-Hotkeys.zip

 

Check it out if you like. For me it was a boost in productivity for my MLO system.

 

Eberhard

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[Ram Rachum]

Hi Eberhard,

I'm a big fan of both MLO and AHK, but I think that this add-on is overkill for me, given that I want only one feature out of it.

Thanks,

Ram.

[bird...@gmail.com]

Hi Eberhard:

Thanks for posting the AutoHotKey Guidlines. Given the power of MLO, I find myself having to memorize a lot of hotkey commands. In fact, I printed out a cheat sheet and refer to it often.

I am hoping that your approach will help me streamline things a bit. 

Birdvibe

[Carl C]

The quick capture in MLO is great, but clearing the Inbox can be a
laborious task. I've tried to simplify my folder structure but filing
still takes a while. Since I often am filing tasks all over the place
to a variety of projects and folders, it would be great to streamline
this.

Just to point out, some level of functionality already exists in
MLO... Today (with the task selected) you can hit CTRL+M to open the
"Move task" dialog and then press a key to jump to the first
destination beginning with that letter. If you press the letter
multiple times, it will cycle through destination items in the dialog
box beginning with that letter. Furthermore, if you type multiple
letters quickly, MLO will select the first destination it finds
beginning with those letters. Cycling, however, does not seem to work
in the multiple-letter search - it just stops on the first match.
Also note that F6/F7 can be used to collapse & expand the list in this
dialog.

Having said all that, it is still painful to file items from the
Inbox. Since tasks can be filed under other tasks (not just folders &
projects), the list of potential matches is huge. I would suggest the
following enhancements for a future MLO release:

(1) Add a check box to the "Move task" dialog that toggles between
showing all items and only showing folders & projects. The check box
would stick with the last used setting.

(2) Also add smart filtering so that as the user types letters, the
list is cut down (filtered) based on remaining matches. The matches
should be allowed to occur anywhere in the task/project/folder name.
This would likely require a small text input field at the top of the
"Move task" dialog.

There are many examples where suggestion (2) has been implemented in
other software. Here are a few:

ClearContext (filing of emails to project folders within Outlook):
http://www.clearcontext.com/user_guide/topics.html
http://www.clearcontext.com/tutorials/filing_demo_640.swf

SpeedFiler (another example of filing emails to folders in Outlook):
http://www.claritude.com/products/sf/speedfiler-addin.htm

The "Everything" search tool (not filing, but extremely fast search)
http://www.voidtools.com/

I know I should probably post this to User Voice. I have a task for
that somewhere in my Inbox ;-)

Regards,
Carl

[pottster]

I think you are right. The flexibility and ease of use of the search functionality needs some work. The power is certainly there, it just isn't implemented in the best way. One other thing, I would challenge your filing policy. It's a bit like email where speed and ease of search now means that filing is largely redundant. In MLO, I would say that, when creating one-off adhoc tasks, using a detailed filing structure is a waste of time. I just put mine in a folder called "one off tasks" and reserve the outline hierarchy for lists of related tasks and projects.

[Eberhard]

Sorry, in case my repeated link to AHK feels annoying to you. That's not my intention!

 

One of the most powerful "features" of Jon Rumens' AHK Macro (for me) is a hotkey called MoveToFavSelect.

 

You simply define a list of your most favourite "targets" (projects, folders, inboxes, ...).

Then you can use this list in the following way...

 

You just hit mentioned hotkey (MoveToFavSelect -- in my case it's Shift Ctrl M) and a popup will appear showing your list of your most favourite "targets".

 

You just click on one of those "targets", and MLO will move all selected task towards the "target" you've clicked on.

 

Using this functionality allows me to move and sort all the content of my inbox within a snap.

 

By the way ... you can also use the same list in combination with RTE.

 

There's a hotkey that lets the same list of favourite "targets" appear. You just choose one entry and it will become the parent task within RTE. Then you just add your new entries within RTE and voila it will be moved to the right destination.

 

If the above doesn't make sense to you (sorry, I'm not a native English speaker), I could probably post a screenshot.

 

Again ... don't get me wrong! I do respect everyone that doesn't want to use AHK in combination with MLO! I just wanted to share some experience.

 

Eberhard

On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 12:51 PM, pottster <kenwar...@gmail.com> wrote:

I think you are right. The flexibility and ease of use of the search functionality needs some work. The power is certainly there, it just isn't implemented in the best way. One other thing, I would challenge your filing policy. It's a bit like email where speed and ease of search now means that filing is largely redundant. In MLO, I would say that, when creating one-off adhoc tasks, using a detailed filing structure is a waste of time. I just put mine in a folder called "one off tasks" and reserve the outline hierarchy for lists of related tasks and projects.

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[Lisa Stroyan]

I agree on the suggestions. As a workaround, I have two things that I do to help me. First, I have all of my major areas of focus preceded by a number in the title. "1 - Life Maintenance" "4 Family" etc. So I can easily jump to a life area (the only granularity I use for one-off tasks) in the move dialog.

Second, I combine the search dialog with cut and paste for moving tasks to obscure locations. I use F6 to collapse all, then open the Inbox (I would really like a shortcut for this), then if I don't want to drag and drop tasks, I type my destination name in the search box and cut/paste the task there.

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[Lisa Stroyan]

Very cool!!  I'll have to look that up when I get a chance.  Please keep posting the suggestions for AHK :)

[Eberhard]

Lisa, it was exactly the same for me ... I've read about AHK in this forum, I downloaded the zip file and I tossed it back and

 

Due This Week

Due Next Week

Due This Weekend

 

and so on.

 

There's a shortcut called SnippetToTask that lets you mark for instance text on a webpage and by only one hotkey it generates a new task having the marked text within the notes field.

 

And so on and so on.

 

I as well have defined some major areas of focus (business, private, etc.). By just clicking one key AHK collapses my whole tree, jumps on the selected "area of focus", and zooms in. By doing that I'm jumping even visually from business to private (for example).

 

Jon Rumens even defined a right click menu. You left-click on a task followed by a right click. Then a sub menu appears that you can easily customize. I for instance have "the different" project status and goals listed there.

 

Left-click, right-click and one selection -> changed project status, or changed goal.

 

And there's a lot more. Jon Rumens really did an amazing job. 

 

Eberhard

[Eberhard]

sorry, my message go somehow corrupted ... wanted to say at the beginning

 

Lisa, it was exactly the same for me ... I've read about AHK in this forum,

I downloaded the zip file and I tossed it back and forth and finally I gave it a try. And I really have to say, it changed completely my MLO experience.

I'm having now for example shortcuts for ...

Due This Week
Due Next Week
Due This Weekend

and so on.

[Riaan Eloff]

Folks, I still have a gripe with the Inbox functionality for sure!

It's great for getting stuff IN, but it is ridiculous for processing.  It is one massive huge schlep to get stuff OUT of the inbox, and stop the clutter.  I do not use folders.  I simply use contexts.  Projects with sub-tasks/sub-projects are a simple way to group them too.

So, two major issues I experience:  After entering tasks into inbox (fast entry during the day as they pop into my head), when it comes to processing...I cannot simply assign/activate them.  Nope, after assiging to a context, creating a start/due date etc etc etc, I now have to go to the outline view, and physically move each and every task OUT of Inbox.  This is a HUGE hassle!  My feeling is that there should be a simple "activate" checkbox, or even simpler:  once a date/context or any change other than the simple text of the task has changed, it should AUTOMATICALLY move OUT of Inbox, as processing has taken place.

Issue 2

So...I have (in the bloody inbox), now made some tasks projects, made them subtasks, have a big fat tree of tasks with dependencies etc.  I now go to the outline view, and lo-and-behold:  I cannot MOVE them OUT of inbox unless I use ALT+SHIFT+leftarrowkey!!!!  This destroys the entire tree!  It flattens the tree.  How ridiculous!?

So, if anyone could advise where I am going wrong, please do.  This is extremely frustrating!

[Nick Clark]

If you don't use folders(?) why move them out of the Inbox. I don't know what you mean by "activate" a task, it should be active unless something like dates prevent this. You can complete them in HD Inbox.

If you are using folders and want to move a task or even a whole tree of tasks out of the Inbox to another folder, there are several ways to do this, but I find the easiest is often Cut (ctrl-X) and Paste (ctrl-V).

Nick

[Dwight Arthur]

Hi, Riann. I agree with Nick's point but I would like to take it a little further. Just getting your tasks out of the inbox will not end the clutter. You will just be moving the clutter to a different place. If you are not using folders then you will be moving the clotter to the root level, which is not a very good place for clutter.

I have heard several people say that they do not use folders; usually that means that they have not yet figured out how they want to organize their tasks; later on it occurs to them that they could find and manage tasks more effectively if they were organized by some or other principle, and then they discover folders.

But if it's not time for you to reach that point, there's no benefit in rushing to it. So for now, let's agree that you want you pending tasks to be stored as an undifferentiated tangle. Why not, as Nick said, just keep them in the inbox? About a third to a half of my tasks are in the inbox. I'm guessing that the issue is that you want to be able to look at just the new stuff and you are looking at the inbox to see the new stuff but that it/x difficult because all the old stuff is mixed in. The answer to this is to ask yourself, how could MLO know which stuff is new? and then build a view that applies that rule, whatever you figured out.

The point (for me) of using MLO is to get stuff done and to spend as little time as possible arranging and maintaining tasks. So any sort of regular routine where I am going in and moving stuff around is a drag on my productivity and something to be avoided. I try to touch each task twice, once when I set it up and once when I finish it. A lot of the time I am faced with your fast entry scenario and I dont have time to set the tasks up when I capture them, and then I go to three touches per task: capture, setup, and completion. For me, the issue you are facing comes down to getting a clean look at tasks that have been captured but not set up. Here's how I handle this (there are many other equally valid approaches, maybe you will invent a new one, and you should do whatever makes you the most productive)

When I do the setup for a task, I always add a context, based on what event or condition is going to mean that this task is ready to be completed. I may at that time also add dates, dependencies, importance, goals and stars. A task that has been captured but not set up has no context. I am careful never to get a task halfway setup - if it has a context assigned that means that any dates, dependencies etc have also been set up. I have a view called "new" that shows tasks with no context. The task is sorted by modification date ascending, which means that the task that has been sitting on this view the longest is at the top. When I get a chance I take the top task, assign any dates, dependencies, etc, move it to a folder or project if appropriate, and finally assign a context. This is my equivalent of your activation. The task instantly vanishes from the new list and appears on one or more other lists when it's ready to get completed.

If I just opened up my inbox and looked into it, it would look cluttered. But my New view and my various To-Do views are pretty much orderly.

Does that help?

-Dwight

[Stephen Jones]

A simple approach I used for a while was to have a folder for each context. Then when I was processing a task, I dragged it out of the inbox to the relevant folder and it automatically inherits the correct context.

I have a more complex folder structure now, but they are set up in such a way that when I move a task it inherits the correct context by default.  

[Steve Gledhill]

Riann, 

First, with regard to moving things out of the inbox. You can right-click (or CTRL-M) to move a task that works quite well. You can also open the inbox in a new tab and drag into MLO where you like (press F3 to open the tab in new window). If you do either of these with just the task in the inbox then there is no outline structure in the inbox at all. Keep it flat and empty and rely on your other tabs for organising.

I assume you like to keep your MLO box empty for the same reason you keep your email inbox and any other inboxes you have empty. I do the same and I have had similar concerns about the processing time. I think that Stephen and Dwight (although they seem not to understand your need for emptiness) have hit on a couple of things that will help us both to achieve what we want in the MLO-way:

I like Dwight's idea of Capture, Setup and Complete fits in quite well with GTD's Capture, Defer, Do. I particularly like the idea of No Context = Not Setup. 

Along with Stephen's point about inheriting contexts from folders I can see a process that would work.

I don't use contexts as much as I should because I never saw how it would fit in with GTD and seemed to be an unnecessary step and I add most tasks directly to the folders they belong to. However, this thread has made me think again and this is how I propose to use it and it should be helpful for you.

• Create your structure outside of the inbox with inherited contexts
• Keep your inbox as an unstructured flat list of new todos
• Set up these todos as and when you have time. You can keep them there until you have all the info you want to capture (dependencies, time, effort, importance, starts etc)
• The last thing you do is add context unless it will be moved to a place where it will get these automatically
• Move it 

Your inbox will then only contain new todos or those that have not been completely setup yet. In true GTD style, if you can't complete the setup process for a particular task then you would still move the task out of the inbox and create a new task that says: Get x info from y and update task z.

I hope that helps but I understand that I could be mis-understanding what you need.

Steve 

[Riaan Eloff]

Hi Nick.

I want to move them out of the inbox, because the inbox gets cluttered.  Tomorrow, when I review (wanting to process all new tasks that I gathered into the inbox today), I have a hierarchy of many, many, many tasks, which are all already processed and lined up for doing at specific times or under certain contexts etc, and they are mixed in with all the new tasks I just entered on-the-fly.  This makes processing an extremely hairy time.  Very tough.  I want to use inbox ONLY to capture new tasks.  Once I process them (assign to a date/assign to a context/setup the project hierarchy etc), I do not want them showing in the inbox.  The quick once-off-ers (the two-minute stuff), are fine in inbox, cause they get done right there and then, and are checked as done and are gone.  The processed stuff is what gets messy.

I don't really want to use folders.  I use the "root" of the Outline mode in fact to simply place all active tasks that should not be in inbox.  So, I just want the task out of inbox, but still be an active task showing up in Active by...or any other relevant view.

In terms of moving with CTRL+M, yes, one can do this, and it's a great alternative at the moment.  Problem is:  you cannot move all 40/50 items that you just processed out of the inbox in one fluid motion, because that will then destroy (loose/ignore), the hierarchy which was just setup during review time.  Thus, one has to go to every hierarchy tree, and move it one-by-one...another unduly tedious task.

Due to this way of working, I have been forced to use folders.  I have a "Processed" folder, into which I move everything as I process it.

[Riaan Eloff]

Hi Dwight,

Thanks for this response.

I think your suggestion of a "NEW" view is the simplest solution for me.  Then inbox will become an unused folder (or rather an unused view), since I will never "view" it, I will simply do the instant-add via Android's widget.  It still remains an unwieldy "workaround" to me, though...since, often times I have contexts ready to go when entering a task on-the-fly, but, will only really Setup (I used the word "Process" in previous posts) orGTD's "Defer" at a later stage.

I agree also with the two-touch and three-touch system, which +Steve also refers to as you do.  This is pretty much my way of attempting to work.  Again, I then the "new" view is a great workaround, and I'll be using that for sure.

[Riaan Eloff]

Hi Steve, thanks for the reply.  Yes, for sure, I believe we are brothers-in-arms here :-)  Inbox Zero features high in my life, and I keep my email as clean as I can, and I would obviously like to do the same with my tasks in MLO.  Dwight's suggestion above, about the "NEW" view, will be my current workaround, BUT unfortunately, because of my OCD, I will always feel there's something "wrong" with the world if there's stuff in that inbox.  Does anyone know:  could I rename the default MLO inbox and call it something else, so that I may call me "NEW" view "Inbox"?  That would solve my OCD issue.  ;-)

[Riaan Eloff]

Hi Dwight,

Just again, thanks for the step-by-step process you provided in another thread regarding the contexts and the open hours etc..  I applied it, and it seems to work.  Also, thanks for this new-view idea.  Applied it, and it works.  Only pain is:  my "Inbox" still says "Inbox", and MLO will not allow me to change that.  My oCD will keep me up at nights!  :-)

Lastly, this "NEW" View that I now created...how does one get any new views to show up in Android?  I've synced, but, not sure how to find that?

On Tuesday, 3 November 2015 15:28:17 UTC+2, Dwight Arthur wrote:

[Dwight Arthur]

Hi, Riaan. The current market version of MLO Android does not support custom views. The announced version 2 is due for release in November (which suggests, very soon). So Here's the procedure:

1. holding down the CTRL key, click on each view that you want to bring to Android (i.e. multi-select them.)

2. let go of CTRL and right-click on one of the selected views to bring up a menu

3. Select Export

4. select a folder to store the export in and give it a file name ending in .mfv

5. Hold on to that file and wait for MLO/Android v2 to be released, then follow the instructions for importing views.

-Dwight

[Riaan Eloff]

Cool. Ta.

[Dwight Arthur]

Hi Riann. You cannot rename the inbox folder or the inbox view. However, there is nothing to prevent you from creating a new workspace (tab) and naming it "inbox". You can also use the regular inbox icon. You can pick the New view as the default view for the inbox tab and lock it in.

I have a tab set up for each view that I use frequently. As a result, when I want to see the inbox (or any other predefined view) I don't look at the view names or folder names. I click on the appropriate tab. Would this take care of your OCD?

-Dwight

ps full disclosure, although tabs may be a strong part of a solution to this issue, there has not yet been any commitment to implement tabs on the phone version of MLO.