Sorted3 looks like an interesting task manager, and I’ve not seen it mentioned on here much during our task manager discussions. There are a couple of threads, but they’re pre-2020. Is anyone using it?
It seems quite novel in that its focus is primarily on time management. To that end, it has the following functions that seem brilliant to me:
it integrates calendar items as tasks you tick off (excellent idea, I’ve done this manually for a long time and it’s great to see it built into a task manager)
Each task has a notes field with rich text formatting, and you can add “sub-tasks” or checklists, which is also a great function that I wish more task managers had.
Add to this that it has an auto-scheduling function, where it arranges the day’s tasks into a timeline around your meetings, and adds buffer time! One downside though is that if you have more tasks in your day list than there is physically time for, it doesn’t warn you. Instead it tries to schedule them at overlapping times. That seems a problem.
The other thing that I’m not keen on is that the export function doesn’t seem interoperable (as in, I can’t export tasks to markdown or something, for storage elsewhere).
Its intuitive interface on iPad is really good as well. I think if you worked primarily on an iPad and liked time-blocking, this app would be a delight as a daily driver.
And even more excitingly, NO SUBSCRIPTION! It’s a one off purchase for Pro features, and has a free tier (14 day trial for Pro).
I came across the app because the App Store recommended it to me, and I’m interested to know what others in here think about it.
The “calendar ticking” capability is also present in GoodTask, although it does not propagate across devices.
Sorted3 is really good, and the interface polish reminds of Things, but for my taste is too focused on the daily grind, I missed a weekly view in Sorted3 when I tried it. And yes, the licensing model is very good as well.
I haven’t tried this app in a couple years, but I ran into so many bugs when trying it before that I just gave up. The bugs were mainly around recurring tasks.
But I agree with @pantulis if you work one day at a time, then it’s a fine tool, but it’s not great at future planning.
I used it for a while and liked a lot of things about it, but after awhile missed a lot of the features of Things, which I’ve used for a long time now. I’d recommend giving it a try, if it works for you it is a good approach to task management.
To be honest though, I’ve found that I’m often unhappy with how task managers handle recurring tasks. I think many of them don’t do it well. For example:
Reminders doesn’t let you postpone a task
NotePlan asks you how many times you want to schedule the task and counts it (I can see why this is useful, and also a limitation of task management in Markdown, but it does annoy me)
Luna shows future recurring tasks on your incomplete task list, which is horrible
I think probably in an ideal world I’d want recurring tasks on a separate list called recurring tasks, for them to only be visible on the day they’re scheduled, and for postponing functions to be available. To that end, I’ve actually been experimenting with moving recurring tasks out of my curent task manager (NotePlan), and scheduling them as blocks in my calendar instead. I then just add the task to my to-do list for the day when I copy over my calendar items. It’s not an elegant solution, but I think I will probably stick with it.
Having said all of that, I used Sorted3 for my workday yesterday and was pleased with it. I agree with @pantulis about its focus being on daily management, and like them I really prefer a week view (which I don’t find any app does satisfactorily for me at present, to the point that I am juggling a digital and paper calendar alongside my task manager in order to get the visual spread of my week that I need).
I already use Llama Life for managing my day when I am in the day, and they’re releasing their mobile app in Dec, so perhaps I will just wait for that. I haven’t felt a particular need for a mobile app (it’s web-based currently, but does work on iPad), but I am intrigued to see what they deliver, and I was wondering yesterday how Sorted3 is different to my use of Llama (it’s different because it automatically adds calendar events, and because it’s more sophisticated at holding unscheduled tasks, which I don’t do in Llama at all).
I believe recurring tasks is one of these deceivingly simple features that get complicated very quick very soon, hence different task managers have opinionated approaches depending on their own visions for what’s the best workflow.
If you have time for a couple of rabbit holes, perhaps it’s worth taking a look at Opus One or Amazing Marvin. Both lack of a good UI in my opinion, but are in the other extreme when compared with Sorted3: they have task planning capabilities beyond the day to day task managing.
I’ve not heard of Opus One so I will check it out. Amazing Marvin I have tried twice for a period of a week and a month, and there is a lot I like, but the complexity is overwhelming, and in any case they no longer support Intel Macs (the app is only available for silicon Macs now) so I can’t use it.
- P.S. I noticed Todoist have FINALLY implemented this)