The interface

When you run TodoPaper for the first time you will be presented with an interface very similar to that above. The first thing you will notice is how simple it looks. For those who like to tweak things you may be disappointed but trust me its the simplicity that makes it work so well.

Your task list

This is what it looks like when you enter a few tasks.

1. This is a project. To create a project just write the name on a new line and end it with a :

2. This is a task which has a tag associated with it. To create a task you just need to start a new line with a - .

3. Sub-tasks are created by pressing the tab key.

4. To create a note just delete the starting - .

Preferences: General

Most of the options are self-explanatory. The only thing I change is to add some extra default tags.

Preferences: Default Styles

It’s here that you can change how you task list looks. Tweak colours, fonts etc. I like to go with the default Dark theme. To change themes select one from the drop down menu and click ok.

Dark Theme

Now I have loaded the Dark theme you can see that the look of my task list has changed. Play around with the default themes until you get something you like.

Tagging

Anyone familiar with GTD understands the concept of contexts, tags allow you to set one or multiple contexts for your task. You start a tag by using the @ key, this will then load a drop menu displaying the default tags and any others currently being used in your list.

Searching

This is where the power of tags comes into play. Lets say you want to see what phone calls you need to make. You can click on the @call tag or enter @call in the search area. You can string the tags together, in the above example I am searching for tasks that are tagged with @call and @email.

Views

Views can be used to allow easy access to multiple searches. What I have above is the master view showing everything and another view just showing my call list.

Quick entry

If you have quick logging enbled pressing ctrl+space will bring up a quick entry dialog. By using the quick log function you can easily enter new tasks without having to switch applications. The new entry will be placed by default into a project called Inbox.

Completing Tasks

There are two ways to mark a task as complete, either tick the small check box or add the @done tag. As you can see marking a task as complete adds a satisfying strikethrough.

Archiving completed tasks

You can easily archive completed tasks. This will move them into a project called Archive.

Archived tasks

The todopaper format

Now this is one of the most important aspects of TodoPaper, it uses a plain text format. This means you can easily transfer your task list on pretty much any system even if TodoPaper isn’t installed. I personally use a mix of Windows and Mac systems and the todopaper format is the same as that used by TaskPaper on the Mac. You can also use the same format with web applications such as Tasko.