Entering tasks with date/time included?

[foru...@zoho.com]

Hi, 

Is there a feature to enter a task with date and/or time included like this:- 

"Buy Milk @ 6:30 PM on 12/12/2015"  

and get the task to show up as "Buy Milk"  with a due date of 12/12/2015 at 6:30 PM ? 

Basically a way to avoid having to manually select/enter the due date and time. Same thing for start date/time also. Some kind of macro setting?

Thanks!

[Dwight Arthur]

Hi, in the Users Guide review section 9.3 "input parsing" (several pages, read it all). Pay particular attention to the use of the Rapid Text Entry window. Note that this is only available on Windows. The best you can do on Android is to enter a ready-to-parse task, then later, on Windows, use "parsing task caption in the outliner" as described near the end of section 9.3

-Dwight
MLO Betazoid on Windows, Cloud and Android SGN2

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[foru...@zoho.com]

Thanks for this. I figure it out last night.

Was missing the key phrase "input parsing" on my searches regarding this. Then I googled "add date and time" in Todoist.and found the "input parsing" write up. Googled input parsing for Mylifeorganized and finally saw the entry in the help file. Wish it could be done outside of Rapid Entry box but I learned that Alt+D takes me to Date entry field which is big deal. I try to avoid using Mouse as much as I can and the robust Keyboard shortcut support is one of the key reasons I like MLO.

[TotheMoonAlice]

The MLO help files says task parsing can be done in the Outliner as well:

Parsing task caption in the Outliner

 

You can benefit from input parsing in the Task Outliner as well. To parse the task caption entered in the Outliner, press Alt+Enter while you are in in-place editor mode. The task caption will be parsed according to the rules described above.

 

Tip: If MLO fails to parse your input press Ctrl+Z several times to return to the initial caption of the task.

I find this confusing. The Outliner is simply "outline view" right? So, you can use text parsing? I've tried Alt+Enter to enter a new task or to edit an existing task and it never seems to work.  Was this feature eliminated?

Amber Pollard

[pottster]

Works for me in any view; editing an existing task or adding a new task. You don't get a parsing confirmation dialog though, so, are you sure you're parsing correctly? (user guide has details)

[george]

Thanks for bringing this up. Thought only worked in Rapid entry box. It works in Outline mode/view and it is awesome

Here is what i did:

Hit insert key> type "test water on 3/31/16 > then hit ALT+ENTER (instead of ENTER or TAB). Due date of 3/31/16 is displayed in the Due date column.

"Test water tomorrow 3pm remind 10 min in advance">ALT+ENTER adds Due Date tomorrow 3:00 PM with reminder filled out for 1/13/16 2:50 PM

[pottster]

You can abbreviate a lot of the parsing commands to make them quicker to type e.g. "Test water tomorrow 3p remind 10m" works. The "in advance" is superfluous - not much demand for reminders after the event ;-)

[althegr...@gmail.com]

Here is my markup of the MLO Help (OneNote)

I just was reading up on this subject yesterday! Here are my notes directly from the Help screen. I like to highlight areas and make paragraphs into bullet points so I can scan the materials quicker (for me).

Hope this helps,

-Al

You can find the original in your MLO help screen under:

More Advanced Features

Automatic Formatting

Synchronization

Input parsing

MLO can parse -or interpret- the text you enter in some text input fields.

 

For example you can enter

"in 30 min" or

"next Friday at 2pm"

in date and time pickers.

 

In the Rapid Task Entry dialog, you can type

"Call Bob about the party tomorrow at 3pm remind 10 min in advance".

The task "Call Bob about the party" will be added to the outline with corresponding parameters parsed from the rest of the input.

 

You can also parse the task caption entered to the task list if you press Alt+Enter instead of Enter.

 

 

Parsing input - in date or time pickers

Date time pickers like Start, Due and Reminder can parse user's input and convert it to valid date and time.

Days of the week and months can be used in English and your current locale.

 

Here are the examples of valid input which can be converted to date and time:

tomorrow 3pm

in 5 days

Friday        (nearest Friday in future)

next Friday        (next Friday after nearest Friday in future)

Tue 11:20

Jan26

August 26th

Nov 26 08

in 3 weeks 2pm

in 3 weeks Fri

in 30 min

in 2 months

today in 1h 25 min

next year

3-26-2008

26-3-2008

 

 

 

Parsing input in Rapid Task Entry dialog and Outline

 

If you want MLO to parse date and time from your input you should enter your tasks using the following pattern:

<What?> <When?>

 

Examples:

Organize party with my friends 5/22

Call Jim tomorrow 4pm

Prepare report for Bob 15:10 22/5

 

Note: Parsing is deactivated in Rapid Task Entry dialog by default.

 

Note: Date and time is parsed according to the rules applied for date time pickers described above.

 

Tip: use –s or –start to put the date only in the start date field when parsing in RTE or the Outline:

 

Tip: use –d or –due to put the date only in the due date field when parsing in RTE or the Outline:

 

Tip: If MLO fails to parse your input correctly press Ctrl+Z in the main window to return the original text to RTE change the text and try again.

 

 

Reminder

If you add reserved words "remind" or "reminder", or the abbreviation "rmd" to the phrase, the reminder will be set in MLO.

The pattern:

<What?> [<When?>] remind[er]  | rmd [<When?>]

 

 

Examples:

Organize party with my friends May 22 reminder May 21 3pm

Call Jim in 3 days at 4pm remind 10 min in advance

Send report to Bob in 3 days remind me tomorrow 2pm

Call Jim tomorrow at 4pm remind me

Send report rmd 3pm

 

 

Context

If you add reserved words "context" or "@" to the phrase the contexts will be added to the task.

The contexts should be separated by semicolons (;)

The pattern:

<What?> [<When?>] [remind[er]] [<When?>] [context | @] <context1>; <context2>; <context3>

 

Examples:

Call Jim tomorrow context @office; @calls

Send report in 3 days remind tomorrow 10:00 @ ProjectX

 

Tip: If the context starts with "@" you can skip the reserved words.

Example:

 

 

More complex inputs

You can use short and long week day names and names of months in English or in your current locale.

You can also use phrases like

"today",

"tomorrow",

"next Friday",

"in 3 weeks",  

"in 4 weeks Fri",

"in 3 years",

"in 2 months 1 week  4 days" etc.

 

You can use abbreviation:

d=day(s); w=week(s);

m=month(s) or = minute(s);

min=minute(s);

h, hr, hrs = hour(s).

 

Examples:

Send report next Tue 11am

Send report in 3 weeks Monday 15:30 remind me tomorrow 10am

Send report Jan 10

Send report February 8 2009 context

Send report in 1 month 2 weeks 1 day @ ProjectX; Reports

Send report in 1 m 2 w 1 d

Send report remind me in 3 hrs

 

 

Reserved words

MLO tries to interpret your input and separate reserved words from the task caption.

However it is not always possible.

 

For example

if you use numbers in the task caption, it may be interpreted as a date, or you may want to use reserved words "reminder", "context" etc.  

 

If MLO fails to correctly parse your entry, use quotation marks (") to separate you task caption from parameters that should be parsed.

 

Examples:

"Inform about meeting with Bob tomorrow 16:00" tomorrow at 16:00 remind me 10 m

"Send next reminder to Jim" tomorrow

 

The text inside quotation marks is not parsed and placed in the task caption.

 

Complete list of reserved words:

1) The week day names (short and log) in English and in your current locale (Mon, Monday, .. Sun, Sunday)

2) Names of months (short and log) in English and your current locale (Jan, January... Dec, December)

3) Numbers (0, 1..9)

4) The following words:

 

 

Additional parsing switches

Additional parsing switches can be used in Rapid Task Entry or Outline parsing

 

Additional parsing switches:

-i1 -i2 … -i5 : set Importance for the task 1=min .. 5=max

-u1 -u2 … -u5 : set Urgency  for the task 1=min .. 5=max

-e1 -e2 … -e5 : set Effort for the task 1=min .. 5=max

-t<time> : set time required for the task. Examples –t10; -t2h15min

-tmax<time> : set time required max for the task

-l<time> : set lead time for the task. Example: -l2d; -l3d15m

-s or -start : the date will be placed in the Start field

-d or -due : the date will be placed in the Due field

-h : hide task in todo

-o : complete subtasks in order

-p : set IsProject option for the task

-f : set Folder option for the task

-g : set Goal option for the task

-fl<FlagName>: set flag for the task. Example: "Buy umbrella -flGreen"

-c<Color>: set font color for the task

-toprj<ProjectName> or -toprj=<ProjectName> : move task to a project. Example: "Paint wall -toprjHome"

-tofld<FolderName> or -tofld=<FolderName> : move task to a folder

-to<TaskName> or -to=<TaskName> : move task to make it a subtask of specified task.

+@: add contexts to the task (not replace).  Example: “Call Bob +@ phone”

-star or -* : set starred to the task. Example: "Call Mike tomorrow -star"

 

 

 

Example. Type this in the outline and press Alt+Enter when in-place editor is active:

 

Call Katrin -t10 tomorrow 3p remind me 15 min in advance @calls   -i1 -e4 -cr

 

As a result of the parsing a task with the following parameters will be added to your outline:

Call Katrin	Caption: “Call Katrin”,
tomorrow 3p	Due Date: tomorrow 3:00pm,
Remind me 15 min in advance	Reminder 2:45pm,
@calls	Context: @calls,
-t10	Time Required 10min,
-i1	Importance Max,
-e4	Effort: More,
-cr	Color: Red.

 

 

Parsing task caption in the Outliner

You can benefit from input parsing in the Task Outliner as well.

To parse the task caption entered in the Outliner, press Alt+Enter while you are in in-place editor mode.

The task caption will be parsed according to the rules described above.

 

Tip: If MLO fails to parse your input press Ctrl+Z several times to return to the initial caption of the task.

 

See also

The Rapid Task Entry Dialog

Timing & Reminder