Can't leave, won't upgrade

[Bob Jones]

Wondering if there's any other's out there like me.

I've been using MLO for probably 6 years now as the core of my workflow. I've evaluated countless alternatives that just fall short in some key areas that MLO handles better.  For me the 3 key things that MLO get's better than anything else is the concept of a flexible hierarchy and the clear distinction between projects and contexts.  Nothing i've looked and can handle these 3 areas the way I like in MLO and I really don't have anywhere else to go at this point.  I could list all of the other products i've looked at, but i'm sure everyone here has glanced at them too.  My latest adventure was into OneNote which I absolutely loved for content capture and note taking but which failed miserably in the limitations of how Tags were implemented.

So I love MLO, but i'm still running a 3.x version and have no plans to upgrade simply because basic functionality that should have been added long ago never seems to get addressed. I've tried many dozen work arounds, macros, etc to try and get things the way I need them, but they all fall short.  I'm just tired of having to try and do this myself.  MLO's a pretty mature product, it's not open-source and we're expected to pay for every version upgrade but adding tabs to the interface just isn't enough to entice me.

Anyone else in the same boat as me?  What is it MLO has that you can't live without, and what is that would make you upgrade?

For me:

Love:

Flexible hierarchy

Project/Context separation

Rapid task entry w/ input parsing

Need:

HTML or at least RTF notes

Attachment support in notes

Better integration w/ Outlook

[Stéph]

Please excuse all the deleted posts - for some reason I got stuck in a loop in the mobile version of Google Groups.

Hello Bob,

You've got a good, functional product in MLO v3. However, those of us who have upgraded haven't looked back. The lockable tabs really are useful, as I flick between projects and areas of focus. The F3 window is getting more and more functionality. There's a raft of other tweaks and ongoing improvements which add to efficiency of use - such as the new text filter (like search, but works in the outline, as you type, and preserves the hierarchy).

I have to add, the new iPhone version, MLO2, is developing into an amazing counterpart (or stand alone product). Hopefully, after the new features just about to go into beta test, the new functionality will be rolled out on Android and iPad, too - or maybe it could become a universal app on iOS.

Funnily enough, the things you're asking for are ones I don't want to see, as I like to keep the files small and manageable. I like text-only notes. I prefer links instead of attachments. I'm intrigued about the request for better integration with Outlook, though - what features are you looking for?

Top of my wish list for the desktop version are (taken from the good things that Bonsai used to do):
Scripted / custom formatted export to Word documents - for sharing tasks, minutes and progress updates with colleagues.
More control over inheritance of properties from parent (eg choose to inherit start or due dates, or set one of them to today's date)
Inheritance of some filter properties when entering a new item in a filtered view.

For the iOS version, I'd really love to see import (Open In) of OPML, or at least text, from mind mapping apps like iThoughts HD. I use mind mapping to capture meeting notes and thoughts. It would be so powerful to map out an outline of a project and then send it straight to MLO's in box.

None of the above have stopped me benefiting from the upgrade.

[Dwight]

Interesting discussion.

The current features that are the most compelling to me are:
- custom views, especially as they become more powerful and move toward cross platform availability
- powerful dependencies and recurrence scheduling
- ability to manage tasks without (for the most part) having to assign made-up dates

What I really need:
- effortless sync of custom view definitions across platforms.
- snapshots

Explaining snapshots:
I want to be able to see something that needs to be taken care of, and in two or three taps without having to stop walking, get a snapshot attached to a task in my mlo inbox. I dont much care if the snapshot is embedded, attached or linked, but I want it to be effortlessly visible on any platform to which the task gets synched. I currently have a lot of tasks in Evernote because it's good at snapshots. MLO snapshot handling would let me consolidate all of my tasks into MLO.
-Dwight
MLO Betazoid & Moderator
Via k@mail on sgn2

On Oct 12, 2013, "Stéph" <St...@senglish.plus.com> wrote:

Hello Bob,

You've got a good, functional product in MLO3.  However, those of us who have upgraded haven't looked back. The lockable tabs really are useful, as I flick between projects and areas of focus. The F3 window is getting more and more functionality. There's a raft of other tweaks and ongoing improvements which add to efficiency of use - such as the new text filter (like search, but works in the outline, as you type, and preserves the hierarchy).

[Richard C]

I also love One Note and use it for all my structured note recording.    For me using the two products works perfectly.  I can link OK from a MLO to a One Note page (drag and drop would be good).   Not quite sure why you want to have it all in MLO - most of my notes are not about tasks.

 

Richard