Microsoft released an update to it’s To-Do app on October 3rd
Microsoft purchased Wunderlist, a beloved personal productivity app, a few years ago. Since then, the development of Wunderlist has halted and To-Do is the focus.
Microsoft To-Do is functionally identical to Wunderlist. It’s a cross-platform tool that makes it easy to plan and manage everything from small tasks like putting together a shopping list to huge projects with multiple goals to meet. Everything’s linked to your Microsoft account and syncs automatically across your devices.
Everything can be organized into a three-level hierarchy: lists, tasks and to-do items (within each task). You can assign due dates or reminders, make them repeat at set intervals, and add file attachments and notes. These can then be quickly assigned to the My Day planner to help you work your way through them.
It’s also possible to share lists with other users, who can then both view and make changes to the shared list. One feature missing from To-Do that was in Wunderlist is the ability to assign specific tasks to others – this may appear in a future update.
Other features added since Microsoft’s acquisition include machine-learning to help it better anticipate your needs by prioritizing tasks and suggesting what to add to your day planner. There’s also integration with Office 365 in the form of the Outlook desktop client as well as online at Outlook.com.
You can drag a task from To Do to your Outlook calendar to add the To-Do as an event. Hopefully, Microsoft will add the ability for a To-Do to show on your calendar once a due date & time have been added. A quick review of the User Voice account for To-Do reveals this and other Outlook calendar integrations to be very popular amongst early adopters of this app.
Another feature I like is the ability to show emails that are Flagged in Outlook in a folder in the To-Do app. In To Do, you can move these flagged email tasks to other projects or lists, set due dates and reminders, and add notes without impacting the email in Outlook.
Those switching from Wunderlist can sign into their old account and import across lists and tasks, but sadly folders, attachments, and task assignments are all lost during the import.
I will be using To-Do as my personal task manager at work for the remainder of the year. Stay tuned for more detailed reviews of the app. Will it make me more productive? We will see…