Nice Update to Things 3 CORRECTED-includes Markdown

Just received a very nice update for Things 3:

For some reason I did not capture the main feature updates. Here they are.

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This is a great update!

My muscle memory for some of the keyboard shortcuts is going to take awhile to change, particularly Command+L for logging completed items.

Cultured Codeā€™s blog posting on the update is back (at a different URL):
https://culturedcode.com/things/blog/2021/08/remarkable-notes/

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Thanks for the link to the blog. I was not aware of the blog. I could have spared the forum the screenshots had I known. :blush:

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Wow, this latest update, with Markdown support in notes, has caused me to reconsider trying out Things. Iā€™ve been a longtime OmniFocus user, and before that a Kinkless GTD user. But given the direction Omni is taking OF in version 4, I think this might be a good opportunity to try out Things. Moreover, the nature of my work has changed considerably since I started using OF :thinking:

Iā€™d love to see these features:

  • File attachment support, particularly images.
  • Headings in areas, the Today view, and the inbox, not just projects.
  • At one time, I would have liked notes in addition to tasksā€“not just notes attached to tasksā€“so I could use Things as a ā€œhave doneā€ list and journal, as well as a to-do list. But Iā€™m increasingly finding other apps for that purpose.

These have been on my wishlist for a long time.

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EDIT: I realize that I donā€™t have insight into all data from all users. So this is an overly harsh assessment from me. :blush:

As beautiful as ā€œThingsā€ is, the developers really donā€™t seem to care at all about what users actually request. :stuck_out_tongue: When this beta came out, I wrote them a lengthy explanation about how Markdown support needs to look more like Day One. Having Markdown but not obfuscating much of the syntax is just sloppy for an app like Things. No response from my feedback, and then I see they released it today as is. :confused: Ah wellā€¦ Not like I have to use the feature. I was just hoping for at least prettier URLs.

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I agree that file attachment support would be great. I honestly probably wouldnā€™t use it unless they added end to end encryption, though.

I created a folder (creatively) named ā€˜Thingsā€™, and I put files in that folder that I want to reference in a task. I then drag that file from the Finder into the notes field of the Things task. Itā€™s better than nothing and at least my data is kept locally.

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Iā€™m jealous - I wish I were a Things beta tester!

You actually donā€™t get much of a heads up on any features. Itā€™s usually about a week advance at best.

@kennonb @cdeck ā€¦ and a couple of the betas have been buggy enough that I donā€™t look at them unless theyā€™re compelling. Which they have not been recently, for me. But I am not Cultured Codeā€™s only customer.

@kennonb I must strongly disagree with you about Cultured Code listening to users. Many Markdown usersā€“including myselfā€“do NOT want the Markdown code hidden. We like to both see the code and see the result, which is exactly how Things seems to implement it, along with Byword, Obsidian, and probably many others Iā€™m not thinking of at the moment.

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:+1:t2::+1:t2: That was an overly harsh assertion on my part. Iā€™ll make note of that. :blush:

However most of those apps have a ā€œpreviewā€ mode that hides that syntax for readability. I find seeing the syntax when Iā€™m not writing it to be quite hard to parse. Especially links.

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True about preview mode.

And you could make a ā€œnot listening to usersā€ argument about Cultured Code prioritizing markdown formatting at all. Iā€™m not seeing a lot of demand for thatā€“but there is seemingly strong demand for completing recurring tasks early, third-party APIs, collaboration, Windows/Web version, etc.

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Love this! Now, I can really use the Task in Things action in Drafts!

In Obsidian, I thought the standard for highlight is using ==highlight== but, Things said that it is using ::highlight:: I am wondering which is the standard.

On a side note, I am wary that one day, Things might just go subscription model :frowning:

Highlight isnā€™t formally a part of markdown. But I believe youā€™re right that ==mark== is a more common unofficial syntax.

I hope not but if they do, Iā€™ll get creative and figure out how to make Reminders suffice. Iā€™m growing wearing of subscriptions. :slight_smile:

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This looks like a great update. Iā€™m a bit jealous of you Things users!

I write notes in many of my actions and projects using OFā€™s plain text with hyphens for dashes. Itā€™s certainly functional enough to read, but these touches would make review and viewing completed/dropped actions much nicer.

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