Getting Things Done With “Things 3”
Things 3 is one of many task managers. Things 3 was developed for the Apple ecosystem (iPhone, iPad, and Mac). It is one of the most positively rated software in the app store. The iPhone app is a minimalistic masterpiece. It is clean, and the user interface (IU) is very intuitive. Let’s get into the features:
Things Cloud
Thing cloud is an excellent feature for keeping your tasks synced across all your devices. When you add a task on one of your devices, it will automatically be synced across all your other connected devices. You will need to create an account for this to work. The service is free when you buy the app, and it is secure.
Mail to Things
This is another neat feature to send tasks to Things 3 right from your email client. You can turn this on and send whatever email you would like to turn into a task to Things 3. The only limitation here is that it doesn’t support attachments and the 2000 characters limit for an email.
Inbox
This is the default place for your newly added tasks. You can then go through this list and start assigning them tasks to projects or areas.
Projects
Projects hold multiple tasks, and this can be organized in a way that looks like a to-do list. This is great to make sure that you get things done in one place.
Areas
Areas are where you have multiple projects in one area. Areas can be life, work, health, study, family, business, etc.
Quick Entry (Mac)
This is the reason I started using Things 3. Whenever you are using your Mac and working on something on the browser or whatever app, you can create a new task without switching to Things 3. You have to enable this from the settings under quick entry. The default shortcut is “control+space” — you can change it — then create a task right from the keyboard using the tab key without even having to use your mouse. The default place for these tasks will go into the Inbox.
Calendar
You can add your Apple calendar inside Things 3. This is useful to show you your meetings and events in the Today list so it gives you a preview of the things that you have to do.
Multiple Windows
You can use Things 3 in multiple windows. You can have a window for different projects, areas, and tasks.
Repeating Tasks
You can add a repeating task in Things 3. This is useful if you have a daily or weekly routine that you want to keep getting reminders about. Maybe you have a monthly check or a car inspection due date that is yearly or every other month. Things 3 can handle this for you.
Natural Language
This feature is what makes Things 3 shine from other task manager apps. You can simply type in the task input “jan 23” It will auto-complete to January 23, 2022. This way, you can hit enter, and it will auto-assign the task for this due date. Another one is typing “tom” it will auto-complete it to “tomorrow” and allow you to add this task for tomorrow and many more.
Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed it.
If you did, it would be great to share it.
You can reach me at @alounpro on Twitter.
Have a lovely day!
