Features
This page introduces the time management features of TaskAngel, one by one. They give you power over your workload and help you master your use of time.
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There's a lot here. Don't feel you have to use every feature. Nobody does. It's too much.
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For now, look through the full list to fire your imagination. Then get started with just a few tasks with due dates.
1. Tasks
A task is anything you have to do. It might be big and complicated, like 'Arrange Summer Vacation', or it might be quick and easy but important, like 'Daily exercise.'
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Give your tasks properties like Due Date, Priority, Star etc, so you can keep them in order and find the task you should do next.
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Your tasks are also instantly avaiable on all your connected devices, so it's easy to keep your smart phone in sync with your work computer.
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To add a task, go to the Home Page and tap Add Task. Or when you are looking at your TaskList, tap the big blue '+' button.
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The Task Editor opens. Type in a title saying what you are going to do. Select a due date if you want to set a deadline. Than tap 'Save' to add the new task to the task list.
2. Status
When you create a task, its status is 'Active' because you are working on it. When you have finished, mark it as 'Completed' by tapping on the completed button. Then hide it with your Filters (see later).
3. Star
If you are browsing through your tasks, looking for your next action, highlight candidates with a star so that you can come back to them easily. Use Power Filters to make a list of starred tasks when are ready to follow them up.
4. Due
If you have promised someone that your task will be done by a given date, set that as its due date in the Task Editor.
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If it doesn't really matter when the task is done, set its due date to 'None'.
5. Repeat
You can set any task to repeat daily, or weekly, or monthly, or yearly. Or every weekday, or biweekly, or bimonthly, quarterly, or semiannually.
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When you complete a task that is set to repeat, it makes a copy of itself with the due date changed to match the repeat pattern you have set.
6. Sort
Go to the settings page to specify how your tasks are to be sorted. You can have up to 3 levels of sort, but for now, just choose 'Sort By Due'. Tap the little blue arrow until it points upwards. That gives you an 'ascending' sort, so that the most overdue tasks are listed first.
Tap the back button to take you back to the task list.
7. Start
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What if you want to get a task higher up on the list, but it doesn't have a due date? Give it a start date, which says when you are going to start working on that task.
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Back on the Settings Page, there's a setting 'New tasks start today'. When you create a task, its start date automatically goes to today's date.
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Still in Settings, change the sort settings to 'Sort by Start Date Descending (little blue arrow down), then by Due Date Ascending (little blue arrow up).
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Tap the back button to take you back to the task list. Now, when you add a task, it appears at the top of the list.
8. Priority
Some tasks need your attention right now, irrespective of their due date, or start date. While you are creating a new task, or editing it later with the TaskEditor, you can give it a priority. Choose from Top, High, Medium, and Low. Back in Settings, change your Sort settings to 'Sort Tasks By Priority Descending'. Then the top priority tasks go to the top.
9. Urgency
TaskAngel supports a popular Time Management System called 'Master Your Workday Now' devised by Michael Linenberger. It's known as MYN for short. Michael recommends TaskAngel for use with MYN.
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In MYN, we use Urgency instead of Priority. To make that change, go to Settings and turn on 'Set Up For MYN'. Then TaskAngel will switch to using Urgency instead of Priority. Choose urgencies from 'Significant Outcome', 'Critical Now', 'Opportunity Now' and 'Over The Horizon'.
10. Subtasks
In a perfect world, each task would be easy to do, and only take an hour or so. But some tasks can be quite time consuming. Arranging a family vacation is hard, when everyone wants something different 😂
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We have to do complicated things step by step. TaskAngel lets us break down a task into several subtasks, each of which can take place at a different date and time.
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When things are extra tough, you can break a subtask into several subtasks of its own. TaskAngel make it easy to navigate between subtasks and their parent tasks, to keep you on topic.
11. Power Filters
After a while, you build up a long list of tasks. It's getting a bit overwhelming. How are you going to choose one, and do it?
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TaskAngel comes to the rescue with its Power Filters. To the left of the Task List, there's a Filter Panel. I'm guessing don't want to look at completed tasks, so change the Status filter to 'Active'. Then only active tasks appear on the list.
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Use the Priority filter to see your high priority tasks. How about tasks that are due today? Change the Due filter to Today.
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All the filters are applied at the same time. So you see all the active tasks that are due today, with high priority.
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Tap on 'Clear Filters' to get back to your full task list.
12. Folders
Organise your tasks into folders. Call the folders whatever you like. If you are doing a project like 'Decorate Tom's Bedroom', make a folder for that.
13. Goals
There is a lot to do, but what will it all add up to? Will your tasks make you happier? Richer? Healthier?
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Define your goals in TaskAngel, and make sure you have tasks assigned to all of them. Create goals for 'Have fun', 'Be healthy', 'Lose weight', or whatever. Then use the goal filters to catch up on how you are doing, and decide what to do next.
14. Contexts
In his famous book Getting Things Done, David Allen recommends we assign 'contexts' to our tasks, to reflect where we have to be, to get them done. He uses contexts like @home, @work, @errands and so on. With TaskAngel you can give the contexts whatever names you like.
15. Notes
Each of your tasks can have a note emdedded into it. Perhaps someone has sent you an email that requires you to take action. Paste it into your task to make it easy to refer to.
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You can also use stand-alone notes that aren't tied to particular tasks, and organise them by folder.
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Notes can be formatted with headings, and bold or italic text, and numbered or bulleted lists.
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When you need to remember a web page or online document, paste its web address into a note and it is there for you whenever you need it.
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Put Notes into the same folders as your tasks, when they are there to help you work on a project. Filter your notes by folder, for easy access.
Give TaskAngel a try
For help and advice, please contact us, or read our Blog.