{"id":8028,"date":"2020-04-20T14:13:52","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T14:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fhug.org.uk\/kb\/?post_type=kb_article&#038;p=8028"},"modified":"2024-03-18T08:52:31","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T08:52:31","slug":"todo-txt","status":"publish","type":"kb_article","link":"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/kb-article\/todo-txt\/","title":{"rendered":"Todo.txt"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"introduction\">Introduction<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\r\n<p>The todo.txt format is a simple set of rules that make todo.txt both human and machine-readable. The format supports priorities, creation and completion dates, projects and contexts. That&#8217;s all you need to be productive.<\/p>\r\n<cite><a href=\"http:\/\/todotxt.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/todotxt.org\/<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The advantage this offers to genealogists is that a list that conforms to the &#8220;rules&#8221; is in a plain text file and can therefore be easily moved between PC and Smartphone\/Tablet etc. It is probably the nearest you will get to an &#8220;application independent&#8221; to-do list. Any application (such as MS Notepad) that can handle a text file will do.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the_rules\"><a id=\"todorules\"><\/a>The &#8220;rules&#8221;<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/todotxt\/todo.txt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rules<\/a>\u00a0are best illustrated by an example of a file that conforms to those rules. Note that it is &#8220;one line per task&#8221;.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\r\n<pre><code>(A) 2019-02-28 Review +BeaumontParishRecords  CarlisleRecordOffice due:2019-03-13<\/code><br \/><code>(B) Review +AustralianMilitaryRecords @Ancestry due:2019-04-25<\/code><br \/><code>x (A) 2018-12-28 2018-11-30 Renew @FMP subscription due:2018-12-31<\/code><\/pre>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The syntax is straight forward:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n<li>(A), (B), etc at the start of the line &#8211; Priority and the primary sort<\/li>\r\n<li>x at the start of the line indicates the task is done &#8211; so will sort to the end<\/li>\r\n<li>The Date following the Priority is the Date the task was entered and is optional, unless<\/li>\r\n<li>A Done Date is entered in which case there are two dates after the priority: Done, then Entered &#8211; this means done tasks get sorted by date done<\/li>\r\n<li>Anywhere within the task description +Label indicates a &#8220;Project&#8221;<\/li>\r\n<li>Anywhere within the task description @Label indicates a &#8220;Context&#8221; (where it is to be done)<\/li>\r\n<li>You can have multiple projects and contexts<\/li>\r\n<li>Additional data can be handled through Key:Value pairs (such as the due dates above)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"applications\">Applications<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Any application capable of handling plain text will work:\u00a0<strong>Windows Notepad<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>Ubuntu Leafpad<\/strong>, even a <span class=\"fh\" style=\"font-size: 17px !important; line-height: 21.4286px !important;\">\u0192<span style=\"color:#73B262; font-weight: bold;\">h<\/span><\/span> Note! <br \/><br \/>There is actually no reason not to keep your list in a <span class=\"fh\" style=\"font-size: 17px !important; line-height: 21.4286px !important;\">\u0192<span style=\"color:#73B262; font-weight: bold;\">h<\/span><\/span> Note. However the Note cannot (at the moment) be read by another Todo.txt compatible application &#8211; and <span class=\"fh\" style=\"font-size: 17px !important; line-height: 21.4286px !important;\">\u0192<span style=\"color:#73B262; font-weight: bold;\">h<\/span><\/span> Notes can&#8217;t line sort.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>It is helpful if the text editor can &#8220;sort by line&#8221; (the above examples can&#8217;t). Any &#8220;program editor&#8221; is likely to be able to do this. For instance\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.notepad-plus-plus.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Notepad++<\/a>\u00a0can do this. Notepad++ is primarily a Windows program, but works on Linux under Wine (like <span class=\"fh\" style=\"font-size: 17px !important; line-height: 21.4286px !important;\">\u0192<span style=\"color:#73B262; font-weight: bold;\">h<\/span><\/span>. Note that through\u00a0<strong>Settings &gt; Shortcut Mapper<\/strong>\u00a0a short cut key combination can be set up to do\u00a0<strong>Edit &gt; Line Operations &gt; Sort Lines Lexiographically Ascending<\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\r\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"172\" class=\"wp-image-8040 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screenshot_from_2019-05-13_19-22-09.png\" alt=\"\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screenshot_from_2019-05-13_19-22-09.png 600w, https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screenshot_from_2019-05-13_19-22-09-300x86.png 300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 600px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 600\/172;\" \/>\r\n<figcaption>Using Notepad++<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>On the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.todotxt.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">todotxt.org<\/a>\u00a0home page there are a number of applications listed that give enhanced functionality for todo.txt files. This may include input forms, filters, and advanced search and advanced sort. These work on a wide variety of platforms either as stand alone programs or as add-ins to other programs (mainly email\/calendaring programs, not <span class=\"fh\" style=\"font-size: 17px !important; line-height: 21.4286px !important;\">\u0192<span style=\"color:#73B262; font-weight: bold;\">h<\/span><\/span>). Some will work with cloud based storage such as Dropbox.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Example Screenshots:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\r\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"319\" class=\"wp-image-8041 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/qtodotxt_main_view-1.png\" alt=\"\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/qtodotxt_main_view-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/qtodotxt_main_view-1-300x160.png 300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 600px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 600\/319;\" \/>\r\n<figcaption>Using <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/QTodoTxt\/QTodoTxt\">QTodoTxt<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\r\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"654\" class=\"wp-image-8042 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/tasklist.png\" alt=\"\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/tasklist.png 600w, https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/tasklist-275x300.png 275w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 600px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 600\/654;\" \/>\r\n<figcaption>Using <a href=\"https:\/\/burnsoftware.wordpress.com\/daytasks\/\">DayTasks<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"alternative\">Alternative<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>If a one line per task approach is too restrictive, an alternative is to use <a href=\"https:\/\/fhug.org.uk\/kb\/kb-article\/simplenote-2\/\">SimpleNote\u00a0<\/a>which can be used to hold a narrative against each task.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"template":"","fh_version":[13,14,15,739],"skill_level":[18,17],"topic":[673],"class_list":["post-8028","kb_article","type-kb_article","status-publish","hentry","fh_version-v4","fh_version-v5","fh_version-v6","fh_version-v7","skill_level-advanced","skill_level-intermediate","topic-other-programmes-for-planning-and-tracking-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kb_article\/8028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kb_article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/kb_article"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"fh_version","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fh_version?post=8028"},{"taxonomy":"skill_level","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/skill_level?post=8028"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=8028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}