To-Do List Sync

How can I sync the To-Do list to a third party software. Toodle-do is what we use.

To-do lists cannot be synced. If you need an actionable item that can be synced use Tasks. These are more robust entities that can be synced, assigned, alerted on, and much more.

To continue on with this thread, we are finding the to do lists incredibly useful but they would be even better if they synced with outlook tasks and could have a due date assigned to each of the individual 'To Do's' / tasks. Any chance of either/both of these enhancements in the future?

The features you ask for all exist in Tasks - from syncing with Outlook to assigning them to a tech and to set a due date for them. To-do's aren't meant to do all that, or else, they would have become Tasks... :-)

We definitely agree that To-do's are incredibly useful. We find that part of their magic is the fact that they do not support all of the advanced features.

I think the point is that Tasks are pretty useless as they are currently implemented and To-Do Lists have great potential to fill in the missing pieces. I'm guessing that the folks who are trying to use To-Do Lists, like us, gave up on Tasks long ago.

If Commit expects us to use Tasks, we need them to be fixed. Here is what needs to be done:
1) Allow history notes to be attached to Tasks!
2) Add Status and Status Extensions to Tasks!
3) Allow null due dates (clear the date/time).
4) Fix it so that we can "un-complete" a completed Task.
5) Allow us to assign tasks to other employees AND somehow have it show up in their periphery (maybe add a tasks Window similar to Tickets).

To-Do lists do a lot for us BUT they are lacking in a couple of categories:
1) We can't use a carriage return for individual task details... this is a problem as we can't do even basic formatting in the tasks list details.
2) At the very least, each To-Do List should have the ability to enter a due date/time.
3) When closing tickets, the system should check to make sure all To-Do Lists are marked as complete and display a warning if not (like Tasks).

The problem here is that Commit is trying to fix the deficiencies in Tasks by introducing yet another layer of complexity. Honestly, I would love to know what was the intent and what is the difference between Tasks and To-Do Lists? When would we use one over the other and how to spell this out to our techs? Technically speaking, Tasks and To-Do's are the same thing.

The reality is that the functions of these two should be merged. To-Do's should be a sub category of Tasks. What is now termed the "To-Do List" should be the Task and all the "To-do details" should simply be entered under the Task. For instance, if the goal was to build a server under a ticket, then a Task would be created to "Build Server". All the To-do details could then be entered under the Task.

We are going down the wrong path with having separate Tasks and To-Do Lists. Don't get me wrong, To-Do Lists have great potential but the system is getting redundant -- simplify it!!!

//ray

@ray - To-dos are not going in that direction. We feel like that the wish list above will simply kill what's nice about it - its power that comes from its simplicity.

We understand the requirements themselves, however, we do not plan to change To-dos in that direction. We also aren't looking at merging between Tasks and To-dos.

However, we will definitely consider ideas you suggested for enhancing Tasks.

Thanks for posting.

Totally agree with Raymond - both the To-Do Lists and Tasks are lacking. What's more, one of the features we liked about the To-Do List is the note attached to the completed To-Do (done by xxxx on xxxxxx). We have just realised that rather than show the actual name of the person/user who completed the task, it shows the name of the the person/user currently logged in ie Employee 1 views the completed To-Do and it shows "done by Employee 1 on xxxxxx", Employee 2 views exactly the same completed To-Do and it shows "done by Employee 2 on xxxxxx".

@mattp - ye, that's a bug we've just found and it should display the person completed the to-do, it displays that in the Web interface but wrongly displays that in the Windows client (though that audit data is saved correctly). We will offer a fix shortly.

@ray - one more thing - regarding the second #3 on your list - it's already there and implemented. When closing tickets, the system can check to make sure all To-Do Lists are marked as complete and display a warning if not (like Tasks) - check out the Tools > Options > Tickets (Admin) tab to configure it.

That's good to know (that To-Do Lists get checked on ticket close).

The simplicity of the To-Do Lists is great. The problem is two-fold:

1) We have what appears to be two features doing the same thing. Tasks and To-Do's are the same thing (go outside and ask anyone on the street). It's really confusing to people and ends up being just one more place we all have to look for more information concerning the status of a ticket. At this point, information can be entered in the notes field, in a charge, as a history note, as a task and now as a to-do item... and of course, none of this is searchable on a global account or ticket level.

2) Tasks are limited that they are almost useless to us. The five fixes listed above will go a very (very!) long way in getting Tasks back on track and usable for serious work assignment and tracking!

On the side, if "To-dos are not going in that direction", then I would suggest we at least allow To-Do Lists to be added directly to Tasks once those get overhauled -- the power and flexibility we will have from this will be awesome! Imagine being able to create a Ticket, have a couple of To-Do Lists at that level, add a number of Tasks to the Ticket that can then be assigned to separate techs and have them build their own To-Do Lists under the Task... guess what... we have something that resembles a true project system!!

my $0.02.

//ray

Thanks ray.

The more I think about this -- modifying Tasks and allowing the new To-Do Lists to be used inside of Tasks (as well as Tickets) will take this product to the next level... seriously!

It will be easy to differentiate a Task from a To-Do: Tasks are used to track sub-work for a Ticket and can be assigned to different employees while To-Do's are used by the individual employee to make sure processes get completed.

Really give this some thought -- pulling these all together like this would be a brilliant move... (!)

thanks --

//ray

I am definitely with Ray on the confusion of when to use tasks vs to-do's. I like the features of the todo's but also thing they belong directly in a task as opposed to being their own function on another tab.