Help
I've been using Bonsai for some time, now... and I still don't think I'm maximizing Bonsai's effectiveness as a to do list manager. Here are some issues I can't resolve. Can anyone help?
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*** I've improvised in setting up a to do list like I think I need it. But I'd love to see solutions from other more experienced users. Can anyone point me to a good resource so I can observe a real-world Bonsai to do list application?
*** I'd love to get "future" to do items (those that don't need to start until a particular date) out of my view... [We all want to feel like our to do list is shorter, don't we? :-) ] I've created a filter named "active". When I create a to do item and assign it a "start date" at some point in the future... like... "Pay Insurance premium", I might assign it a start date of Feb. 27th. Trouble is, I can't figure out a filter criterion that uses "today or earlier" as the criterion. I literally have to edit the definition of the filter every day then manually click on the "today" button. It's "hard-coded" each time... as that literal date. Is there any way to tell it to just show the items with a start date = today or earlier?
*** When I search the file for items in the text of the note associated with the item, it never finds them. Is there any feature I can turn on to make it search notes too?
*** I can't figure out the whole page-up/page-down thing with my five-way nav. button. Is there some explanation of how to make it behave like a page-up/page-down button on a PC?
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If I could answer those 3 questions, I'd be lots farther along in maximizing the program. Can anyone help?
Thanks!
Doug
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Best practices for "to do list"
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#1
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Posted 11 February 2006 - 02:41 PM
#2
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Posted 12 February 2006 - 12:47 AM
Doug.
First, welcome to the Natara forums! There are lots of great people hear with lots of help and suggestions, as I'm sure you'll find out.
I can't help with #1, but perhaps someone else can... That's one reason I moved your original post into the community forums. Those answering, keep in mind that Doug posted in the "Bonsai Palm" section, so he may be working with handheld only.
#2) Filter => "Dates, Start Date, Start With 0 days" That will show you all items that should start today or earlier, but filter out anything in the future. Same works with Due.
#3) The Bonsai handheld app doesn't search within the notes text. If you had the desktop app you could do this there, or even use Google Desktop Search to search your Bonsai outlines. I can't remember the real reason why this is a limitation at the moment and will have to defer to George when he returns from vacation in about 10 days. On the desktop, you can at least see the notes at the same time you see the item it belongs to, so maybe this is one reason. On the handheld, we would either have to switch context or select items with matches in the notes with no real indication as to "why" we selected an item. Keep in mind, you CAN do a global find on your handheld and search both item text and notes. If you do this while in Bonsai, Bonsai is the first app that gets searched so it saves some time.
#4) What type of device? Did you go into "Global Settings->Navigation" and set the behavior of the 5 way? On my Treo 650 I have it set to do a page up/dn via an Option->Up/Dn. Works fine. Different devices behave differently though due to Palms insistence on mucking with the behavior of the 5 way for almost every new device they put out.
First, welcome to the Natara forums! There are lots of great people hear with lots of help and suggestions, as I'm sure you'll find out.
I can't help with #1, but perhaps someone else can... That's one reason I moved your original post into the community forums. Those answering, keep in mind that Doug posted in the "Bonsai Palm" section, so he may be working with handheld only.
#2) Filter => "Dates, Start Date, Start With 0 days" That will show you all items that should start today or earlier, but filter out anything in the future. Same works with Due.
#3) The Bonsai handheld app doesn't search within the notes text. If you had the desktop app you could do this there, or even use Google Desktop Search to search your Bonsai outlines. I can't remember the real reason why this is a limitation at the moment and will have to defer to George when he returns from vacation in about 10 days. On the desktop, you can at least see the notes at the same time you see the item it belongs to, so maybe this is one reason. On the handheld, we would either have to switch context or select items with matches in the notes with no real indication as to "why" we selected an item. Keep in mind, you CAN do a global find on your handheld and search both item text and notes. If you do this while in Bonsai, Bonsai is the first app that gets searched so it saves some time.
#4) What type of device? Did you go into "Global Settings->Navigation" and set the behavior of the 5 way? On my Treo 650 I have it set to do a page up/dn via an Option->Up/Dn. Works fine. Different devices behave differently though due to Palms insistence on mucking with the behavior of the 5 way for almost every new device they put out.
#3
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Posted 12 February 2006 - 01:30 AM
Bryan, I'm on a Treo 650 too... and I have my global-nav options set exactly the same. Just seems like sometimes the cursor doesn't page-up/page-down. Maybe I have an earlier version of the firmware. I'll check that.
The global find approach was a great tip. That'll help a *lot*!
I've got the desktop version too . . . so I'll try "find" there as well.
And I'll try the filter language too. Thanks again!
Doug
The global find approach was a great tip. That'll help a *lot*!
I've got the desktop version too . . . so I'll try "find" there as well.
And I'll try the filter language too. Thanks again!
Doug
#4
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Posted 12 February 2006 - 11:21 AM
Hi Doug,
Bonsai v4 is a great tool for keeping track of your tasks, but I'd recommend learning some sort of time management methodology and then adapting Bonsai to that. There's lots out there, but the current 'hot' method is GTD (Getting Things Done). There's a LOT of information out there, and some discussion in the Bonsai Community Discussions forum, and I've described my system there (though there's some more complicated bits than just basic GTD).
What I tend to do is make a list of all the features Bonsai gives you (e.g. priorities, next action filters, catgories, keywords, due date, contacts, outline level etc etc) and a second list of the things that are important to your todo list (e.g. client, deadline, who to talk to, where to do the action, importance, urgency) and then experiment with mapping items of one list to another (e.g. using the category field to track where to do the action). You've already started doing that by deciding to use start date field to determine future actions. GTD calls these 'ticklers' and I use a separate 'tickler' category to separate future actions from active actions.
You'll then probably go through about 20 different ways of using Bonsai using different mappings between the two lists, and the filter options available to limit and sort the view of your tasks, as you discover how using Bonsai best meets your needs (e.g. you may find using keywords for something that has to be set on every item slows you down, and whether you're primarily desktop or handheld based). It's fun experimenting though!
Stuart
Bonsai v4 is a great tool for keeping track of your tasks, but I'd recommend learning some sort of time management methodology and then adapting Bonsai to that. There's lots out there, but the current 'hot' method is GTD (Getting Things Done). There's a LOT of information out there, and some discussion in the Bonsai Community Discussions forum, and I've described my system there (though there's some more complicated bits than just basic GTD).
What I tend to do is make a list of all the features Bonsai gives you (e.g. priorities, next action filters, catgories, keywords, due date, contacts, outline level etc etc) and a second list of the things that are important to your todo list (e.g. client, deadline, who to talk to, where to do the action, importance, urgency) and then experiment with mapping items of one list to another (e.g. using the category field to track where to do the action). You've already started doing that by deciding to use start date field to determine future actions. GTD calls these 'ticklers' and I use a separate 'tickler' category to separate future actions from active actions.
You'll then probably go through about 20 different ways of using Bonsai using different mappings between the two lists, and the filter options available to limit and sort the view of your tasks, as you discover how using Bonsai best meets your needs (e.g. you may find using keywords for something that has to be set on every item slows you down, and whether you're primarily desktop or handheld based). It's fun experimenting though!
Stuart
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