Zettelkasten Forum


org-mode vs taskpaper

I reviewed taskpaper and I have a weak moment. Should I go back to task paper? It looks nicer. It has a better feel. But, as every app -- perhaps even any entity -- on this planet, it cannot do as much as emacs can.

If you are using taskpaper, can you share your workflow with us?

I am a Zettler

Comments

  • Well, you may also use the taskpaper function in emacs.
    Taskpaper Mode

    Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Greetings
    Maria

    Ich bin ein Westfale, und zwar ein Stockwestfale, nämlich ein Münsterländer – Gott sei Dank! füge ich hinzu...

  • I think he was lured by the superficial qualities of graphical user interfaces. *hissss*

    Author at Zettelkasten.de • https://christiantietze.de/

  • @msel said:
    Well, you may also use the taskpaper function in emacs.
    Taskpaper Mode

    Thanks, I considered it but I think the truth is that I want to reduce complexity. :smile:

    I am a Zettler

  • I think the truth is that you're afraid.

    Author at Zettelkasten.de • https://christiantietze.de/

  • edited June 2020

    I think it is time for you to start to sleep with an open eye, baby. Egregious!

    I am a Zettler

  • Have you tried TaskWarrior? It is an interesting terminal application. Very geeky, but powerful. It is like OmniFocus without GUI. :)

  • edited June 2020

    Ironic I admit Mr Fast, some of your posts have sorely tempted me into the emacs learning curve. I avoid going all-in with org-mode because I already have tools that do what I need them to do and they work just fine. One of these tools is Taskpaper. I use it like a swiss army knife, but oddly enough not for daily todo management. The power of taskpaper for me lies in the format and that it's open source. That said, I'm not a particularly powerful power-user, as it were.

    A few ideas:

    Mostly, I use it as a central hub for writing projects – to track story ideas, questions, stuff to fix, changes to track, edit, whatever needs attention. (I'm a screenwriter by trade). I have clickable links at the top of the file that open the different software I use for a given project (usually Curio, Scrivener, Devonthink, and Sublime Text). It's also a fine outliner. I have a different taskpaper file for each project. If I have an idea for a different project than what I'm working on, I use Alfred to launch into the file for the project, dump the idea and return to work. I then ruminate on these ideas away from my computer by reading the taskpaper file using 'Editorial' on the iPhone. Though I just remembered reading somewhere on here that you don't use a mobile phone, perhaps? Can't recall, but if so that last bit is moot.

    I also edit and brainstorm in taskpaper files in Sublime using the 'PlainTasks' plugin. If ideas start coming too fast and I need to write more expansively in straight up Markdown, I use the Command Palette to temporarily switch the syntax highlighting.

    I track my time - work and some other stuff - from the command line using Mr Terpstra's 'doing' script: https://github.com/ttscoff/doing/

    While the cli editing and reporting options are excellent, I also edit, add notes and tags, change start and stop times etc by opening the file in Taskpaper.

    Anyway, that's a few rudimentary ideas. I'm sure others are leveraging the power and scriptability of Taskpaper much more thoroughly than I. All the same, I do hope these reflections prove useful.

  • Oh I don't believe @Sascha will adopt a CLI script now that he was introduced to clickable buttons and non-monospaced fonts ... ... ...

    Author at Zettelkasten.de • https://christiantietze.de/

  • Aha! Too funny!

    Despite my better judgement, I find myself going the other direction, caught within the accretion disk of the black hole that is org-mode and emacs. Just lost a day trying to get my config just right to work with Fountain syntax for screenwriting. The single best implementation for plaintext screenwriting I've found is without a doubt... emacs.

    The allure of the possibility one program to rule them all is too much to refuse.

    As Mr Vonnegut writes... So it goes.

  • edited June 2020

    @Sascha I'm very happy with TaskPaper. After having tried OmniFocus, Things and 2Do I really appreciate its flexibility and simplicity. What makes you doubt it's the right choice for you? What features do you miss compared to emacs?

    The only thing I miss is a decent way to work with TaskPaper files on iOS, but I guess with emacs you'd have the same problem...

  • Regarding iOS: https://beorgapp.com/ is an excellent org-mode app for iOS. Writing outlines is less useful in there, but it's great at managing tasks and displaying notifications.

    Author at Zettelkasten.de • https://christiantietze.de/

  • @ctietze Oh no – that might be a really good reason for me to switch apps then. Not really keen on learning how to use emacs, though... The user interface always put me off quite quickly when I started to try...

  • @Vinho said:
    @Sascha I'm very happy with TaskPaper. After having tried OmniFocus, Things and 2Do I really appreciate its flexibility and simplicity. What makes you doubt it's the right choice for you? What features do you miss compared to emacs?

    1. Emacs has a biiiig margin of safety when it comes to functionality. In fact, I trust Emacs 100% that I can make a feature happen if I want it.
    2. org-agenda.
    3. The ability to store and manage information. I use org-table a lot for example for investing but also other things.
    4. The keyboard-centricism

    I am the kind of person who just works a lot and trusts his work ethic to get things done. Often, I digress to non-urgent tasks. Part of my personal motivation to use a Zettelkasten stems from this (bad) habit: I can't read and research more broadly and still manage a high output of text. But I am slowly working to a more focussed working style and then org-agenda (or something like that) will be more crucial.

    I am a Zettler

  • Update: I am switching to TaskPaper with a super simple setup. A little blogpost is in preparation (but not very urgent)

    I am a Zettler

  • On iOS, I have found Taskmator 5.46 to be a worthy companion to TaskPaper.

  • @Sascha said:
    Update: I am switching to TaskPaper with a super simple setup. A little blogpost is in preparation (but not very urgent)

    Congratulations and welcome back ;)

  • In case anyone is, like me, using SetApp - Taskpaper is one of the included apps.

  • @Sukhovskii said:
    Have you tried TaskWarrior? It is an interesting terminal application. Very geeky, but powerful. It is like OmniFocus without GUI. :)

    Know your post is from quite some time ago....but it caught my eye as I used TaskWarrior some years ago. It is a great little program. Actually, pretty easy to use, especially after watching the help video.

    I should check it out again.....

    :)

  • @ArchiMark said:
    Know your post is from quite some time ago....but it caught my eye as I used TaskWarrior some years ago. It is a great little program. Actually, pretty easy to use, especially after watching the help video.

    I should check it out again.....

    Team of developers updated this app recently (2021-10-19). So it is the right time to check :)

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