A Lot of New User Best Practice Questions....

[DCC]

I thought about breaking down the post into several smaller, more focused posts, but decided to just blast them all at one time and hope that some positive discussion is generated.

1. - What is the upgrade policy for Windows versions od MLO?  I am a registered used of the Version 1 from 2008, but never really adopted use because I was a heavy Palm User (and still am). I am migrating from Bonsai to MLO as I slowly transition to BlackBerry Q10 as my primary phone and would like to eventually use MLO on my PCs and on the BB Q10 to manage all my Roles, Focus Areas, Goals, Projects, Actions and Someday/Maybe Actions.  

2. - I have a few questions below reference using MLO in portable mode to run from HDD on work PCs that I do not have admin rights for and that are behind firewalls that prevent cloud syncing:

a. - Is there a limit to the number of times I can register MLO portable on a PC HDD?  I often have to move locations and would need to be able to copy MLO to the new machine at off site locations and be able to run while I am away from my normal workstation. I would be using the data only on one work station at a time, and when I depart each area I could delete the program off the HDD if required.

b. - What would be a recommended work around to not having access to sync on my work PCs that I switch?  Should I keep a copy of my MLO data file saved on my exchange server and copy it to my MLO folder on the machine I am working on at the time.  Is there a way to set up a reminder on MLO so that I don't forget to save the file to my exchange folder when I exit the program?

c. - What would be a recommended work around to not having access to sync on my PERSONAL PCs that I DO NOT switch?  I was thinking that I could email myself a copy of the file from my work PC, then open it on my home PC/Laptop then initiate a cloud sync of the file??? Would cloud sync initiate automatically? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

3. - Can you explain best practice use for folders on MLO?  The user manual only mentions in passing that they will not show up in standard view, but I was not sure of the best way to use them in a set up.

4. - Is it possible to see what filter attributes are active without having to open/close/scroll through the sections of the filter control panel?

5. - Is it possible to see the individual item attributes, e.g. dates, importance, contexts, etc..., without having to open/close/scroll through the various sections on the properties tabs?

6. What are the default color codes meanings and how do I set them?  I am testing MLO using template files and I cannot determine what is causing some items to be in green font and some in blue font and some in black font and some greyed out...

7. - Is there a quick way to associate a new task to an existing project?  I am trying to streamline processing items out of an in-box folder and having a drop down list of projects to assign new tasks to would be great.  Maybe there is another quick way that I am missing. The only way I can see now is to physically drag or cut/paste the item to the project in the outline as required. Any other tips on how to quickly process new items in an in-box folder would be appreciated.

Bottom Line: Looks like MLO continues to be a great product that is on a great path for improved features (e.g. the calendar view which I hope will move to PC and Android soon) and I am hoping to upgrade to newest Windows version soon.

[Dwight Arthur]

On Sunday, April 26, 2015 at 10:06:36 AM UTC-4, DCC wrote:

I thought about breaking down the post into several smaller, more focused posts, but decided to just blast them all at one time and hope that some positive discussion is generated.

Hi, DCC. I think you should reconsider the idea of making smaller posts. This post is pretty intimidating and you might scare away people who would otherwise be helpful. Andrey, the originator of MLO, posted some time ago that any enhancement requests have to be sent in each in its own message because otherwise it's to difficult to track them. Something like that applies here.

<. . .>

 

3. - Can you explain best practice use for folders on MLO?  The user manual only mentions in passing that they will not show up in standard view, but I was not sure of the best way to use them in a set up.

I can't tell you about best practice. I can tell you what I do. It might be best or maybe there are a lot of people with better ideas. If so, maybe some of them will come onto the forum and share their ideas with you.

If you just make a single long list of your tasks it might work well at the beginning but as time goes on it gets disorganized and hard to manage. When you reach that point, you should think about making an outline.

A frequently asked question is, what should the categories in the outline be. Again, there's no straight answer because it depends on your tasks and how you think about them. The best outline is one which closely resembles how your stuff looks when it's in your brain. I use what could be called "areas of focus". Personal areas include money, health, housekeeping, shopping. Professional areas include designs, production, marketing, supplies, billing. Some of these categories have a few tasks under them while others have one or two additional levels, like shopping, which breaks into groceries, hardware, gifts, etc.

Once you have an outline that you are comfortable with, every level above the lowest (leaf) level becomes either a folder or a project. It's a project if it has a beginning, an end, and a series of steps that have to be followed more-or-less in order. With a project you can ask questions like what percent complete is this project and what is the net action I should take. For tasks that can be done in any order and that don't have an ending, then a folder would be better.

 

4. - Is it possible to see what filter attributes are active without having to open/close/scroll through the sections of the filter control panel?

5. - Is it possible to see the individual item attributes, e.g. dates, importance, contexts, etc..., without having to open/close/scroll through the various sections on the properties tabs?

<. . .>

 

7. - Is there a quick way to associate a new task to an existing project?  I am trying to streamline processing items out of an in-box folder and having a drop down list of projects to assign new tasks to would be great.  Maybe there is another quick way that I am missing. The only way I can see now is to physically drag or cut/paste the item to the project in the outline as required. Any other tips on how to quickly process new items in an in-box folder would be appreciated.

Questions 4, 5, and 7 feel to me as though they are about MLO for windows version 3. Version 4 made a lot of these things a lot better, you should take version 4 on a free trial. 

 

Bottom Line: Looks like MLO continues to be a great product that is on a great path for improved features (e.g. the calendar view which I hope will move to PC and Android soon) and I am hoping to upgrade to newest Windows version soon.

Best of luck,

-Dwight