Built-In Applications
To Do List
The concept of a “to do” list is a simple one: you make a list naming the activities you want to perform over some short time period (typically a day), and cross the descriptions off the list as you accomplish the tasks. The To Do List application helps in this process.
To Do List maintains a list of items. Each item has a description, a priority, a note, a category, a due date, and is checked or unchecked. Item can be displayed filtered on category, and the display can be limited to unchecked items or to “due” items. The display of items can be sorted in several ways: by due date within priority, priority within due date, by priority or due date within category. The display can include or exclude the items’ priorities, due dates, and categories.
An item is considered “due” when it has no due date, or when the due date is the current day or earlier.
The To Do List can obviously be used for a to do list. It can also be used for a shopping list by putting shopping list items into a separate category; for a process checklist; for a packing checklist; and for almost any other type of list. When used as a to do list, To Do List provides what is known as a progressive task list: unchecked items stay in the list from day to day. This is what most users generally want.
You may prefer to keep lists in memos. Although this does not provide the automation of To Do List, it allows ordering items with finer control than To Do List, and makes carrying items forward a deliberate action. This can be important if, for example, you use the “prioritized daily task list” popularized by what is now Franklin-Covey.
If you would like to use checklists for other purposes than keeping a to do list, you may want to investigate the Projects freeware program. If a simple list of items does not meet your needs—if you have several concurrent projects, for example, or you have a project with multiple components—you may want to check out the Progect freeware program.
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Copyright © 2002 Brian Hetrick
Page last updated 15 July 2003.
