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I’ve long used Evernote for my resource and reference materials. all of my research is stored there, along with notebooks that contain living documents that I want to share with those who are helping build Productivityist and my virtual assistant. Pretty much everything that is any source of reference material is kept there, and even ideas for blog posts and other content spend some time in Evernote before making their way to Scrivener for bigger projects or Desk.pm for blog posts.
Todoist has been my task app for nearly a year, although it seems much longer. The majority of my tasks live in Todoist, with the exception of those being the ones in Asana (which I use for some of the projects I’m working on with others, including the Do Better With Asana project I’m part of with Jeremy Roberts of Cloud Productivity). All of my personal, professional, and Productivityist tasks otherwise live in Todoist.
- The Evernote Integration for Confluence allows you to connect your Evernote and Atlassian Confluence accounts, and copy your Evernote notes to.
- The following topics describe each of the components required to create an end-to-end integration. Each integration includes connections and mappings. You can also include lookups, which are reusable mappings for the different codes and terms used in your applications to describe the same item. You can also group integrations into packages.
So how do I use Todoist and Evernote together to create a workflow that is as frictionless as possible? I mean, they don’t speak to each other very well out of the box. And while there are some automation tools you can use to link them up – IFTTT and Zapier immediately come to mind – I tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to build automation before developing the best approach to the apps I’m using.
My way of getting Todoist and Evernote together isn’t all that difficult to assemble. It just involves working with the two apps with similar triggers and identifiers, as well as developing a routine that I get to know and follow every day.
1. I Build Common Threads
I break down Todoist in the following way:
- Top tier projects are Areas of Responsibility.
- Tiers below those top levels are projects of varying sizes.
- Tasks are…well, tasks.
- Labels are the equivalent of contexts to me (or modes).
I break down Evernote in the following way in order to create an easy shift from my task app to my reference app:
- Notebook stacks are categorized by Areas of Responsibility.
- Notebooks found in those stacks are projects of varying sizes.
- Notes are…well, notes.
- Tags are the equivalent of contexts to me (or modes).
See how I’ve created some common threads between the two apps? Now when I switch back and forth I spend less time getting used to the change of environment and more time making progress. (Note that I do keep Productivityist Coaching as a notebook stack because it contains notebooks that are local notebooks and not synced…for privacy reasons.)
Let me give you an example.
I’m currently working on my next book. I have a project called “My Next Book” in Todoist that lives under the top tier Area of Responsibility called “Professional.” When I look at the same project in Evernote, I’ll find “My Next Book” as a notebook inside the notebook stack called “Professional.” The difference is that tasks related to the project live in Todoist, while reference notes related to the project live in Evernote. I can also copy the URLs from either a Todoist task and put it into an Evernote note related to said task or copy the URL from the note from Evernote and place into a Todoist task if I want. I may do the former when I want to work on finalizing some research in Evernote so I can simply click on the Todoist task and mark it as complete without having to look for it in Todoist. I may do the latter when I’m in Todoist and want to access a related note found in a task quickly rather than wade through my Evernote notebook. The URLs simply speed up the process enough to keep me moving along at a faster clip.
Label and tags are treated a bit differently, however. In Todoist I limit the amount of labels I use so that I can easily remember them and attach them to tasks. I’ve written about labels before and I strongly believe that “less is more” when it comes to labels in Todoist as long as they are clearly defined and refined as needed. In Evernote, I’m not as strict with that rule. After all, tags are effective search terms and I have far more notes to search in Evernote than I have tasks in Todoist. Why? Because notes don’t get completed – tasks do. So while I don’t go crazy with tags in Evernote, I do try to be mindful of them.
2. I Use Reminders In Both Apps Differently
First off, I rarely use reminders in any app, unless it’s for a specific appointment or a date-specific agreement. I actually use an app called Due for things like reminding me to pick up my son from daycare (that way I don’t get stuck in flow and fail to give myself enough time to get him) and things of that nature. But I do occasionally use reminders in Todoist and Evernote for very different use cases.
Todoist’s location-based reminders are great. I know other apps (most notably OmniFocus and Checkmark 2) have this feature, but I like the fact that once a location is entered in Todoist from a mobile device that it can be used regularly from all platforms in the future. Very helpful stuff. I don’t use the time-based reminders in Todoist very often because I’m generally proactive enough to not need such reminders. In the case that I do use them, they are usually for things like reminding me to send Productivityist Coaching Recap and/or Accountability Emails to clients in the Eastern Time Zone before they end their day (for example, “Send Client X Recap Email” today at 1 pm – which is actually 4 pm their time).
I use Evernote reminders to bring items related to my monthly themes back to the forefront at the start of each month. For example, I received an Evernote reminder on the first of this month to start working on my next book. It wasn’t a task so much as it was a note that displayed some content I’d written that was meant to jumpstart the book writing process.
Other things I have started doing is copy the link of a Todoist task into Evernote related to starting of a certain big task or project, as shown below.
Since Todoist doesn’t have start date capabilities (or at least not start dates that seem easy to set up), the Evernote reminder would serve to remind me that I wanted to start working on that task on a specific date. I simply click on the link in the Evernote note (which would also contain pertinent information related to that task) and it takes me to the task.
At that time I’ll assign a due date (usually a repeating date until I finish it) and I’m good to go. It’s not the most automated of solutions, but I know it works every time and it appears to be unbreakable (which is exactly what I need in order to trust it).
3. I Use Both Email Accounts For The Apps Constantly
While both of my email clients allow for me to send tasks directly to Todoist and reference items to Evernote (I use Airmail on my Mac and Dispatch on iOS), the most reliable way to process email for me is to simply use the email addresses associated with Evernote’s default notebook and Todoist’s email addresses per project.
To be clear, I don’t use all of the email addresses Todoist allows. Instead, I use the following ones:
- Inbox: This is where most of my tasks that arrive via email go. I simply go into Todoist and put them in the right projects later.
- Team Inbox: These are where I put tasks that arrive via email that either myself or my wife need to work on. (I’ve contemplated adding my assistant to the mix here, but I’ve got another project that’s just for her right now.)
- VA Tasks: Any tasks that arrive via email that I want to assign to my assistant go in here.
Why don’t I use all of the email addresses my various projects in Todoist allows? Because those project above will last while other projects won’t. I also only have to think of three email addresses that tasks need to wind up in – which is helpful when simply trying to process email quickly.
In order to best align Evernote with Todoist, I renamed my default notebook “*Inbox” so that I am triggered to process it regularly. On some occasions, emails end up going to both Todoist and Evernote if they contain both a task and reference item. I’ll also make a habit of BCCing these apps when replying to people so that I can get tasks and/or reference items into the right apps and respond all in one fell swoop.
I’ve been a big fan of Evernote for a long time (having been a user since June 2008) and my fondness for Todoist continues to grow. With the recent addition of being able to link to tasks in Todoist, my productivity when working with both of these apps in tandem is further enhanced. If you’re looking to get more out of the productivity tag team of Todoist and Evernote, then pick any one of the ways I use them and start building that better workflow today.
If you want to wring as much productivity goodness out of Evernote as possible then I highly recommend you pick up Brett Kelly’s Evernote Essentials. Brett is my go-to guy for all things Evernote and he’s levelled up this product in a big way. You can check out all of the tiers of Evernote Essentials (appropriately aligned with how Evernote named its tiers) over at the Evernote Essentials website. There’s no better Evernote resource available so go and check out Evernote Essentials now!
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Pleexy creates tasks in your To Do from notes and to-do items in your Evernote and Evernote Business notes. Pleexy can group all the to-dos from one note under parent tasks, synchronize due dates, and automatically complete to-dos when you complete tasks in your To Do.
After you connect Evernote as a source service, you can customize your Evernote and To Do integration exactly the way you want. First, navigate to the page where you can change settings:
From the Pleexy dashboard, inside the Evernote card, click Details.
Click Edit settings.
On this page, you can customize the connection's name. You can also adjust the settings for Source, Destination, Tasks, and Actions. Let’s walk through your options for each.
Source settings
Source settings let you configure how Pleexy searches for notes and to-dos in Evernote. You have two options: Select notes with tag and from notebooks or Select notes by Evernote's advanced search condition.
Select notes with tag and from notebooks allows you to filter notes by tags, notebooks, and last update.
Tags: Enter the tags Pleexy should use. Pleexy will create tasks from all Evernote notes with the tags you specify.Note: You can enter as many tags as you need, but start each tag with # (for example, #project) and separate tags with one space (for example, #project #july).
Notebooks: Click the drop-down menu to select which Evernote notebooks Pleexy should search for to-dos. If you don’t select specific notebooks, Pleexy will search all notebooks.
Last update: If you want Pleexy to ignore Evernote notes that you consider out-of-date, no problem! For example, if you enter ‘60,’ Pleexy will ignore Evernote notes that haven’t been updated in the last 60 days.
Pleexy combines your settings for these three filters. For example, if you enter the tags #chore and #favor, select the notebooks Family and Neighbors, and enter 30 days, Pleexy will search for notes that meet all three requirements:
Tagged with #chore or #favor
+ Located in notebook Family or Neighbors
+ Updated less than 30 days ago
Select notes by Evernote's advanced search condition is for expert Evernote users who use Evernote’s advanced search syntax. You can use the advanced search syntax you have set up in Evernote to tailor which notes Pleexy creates as tasks in your To Do.
In the Source section, you can also choose to synchronize your to-dos or your notes only. If you select Notes only, Pleexy will create tasks for each matching note in your To Do.
If you choose to synchronize your to-dos, you can also decide whether to group your to-dos. In this case, Pleexy will group all to-dos from one note under a single parent task in your task manager. Specify how parent tasks will be named.
*Note: At this time, creating subtasks is not possible via Microsoft To Do's API. We will implement this feature as soon as the API allows it.
Destination settings
Destination settings define how Pleexy creates tasks in your To Do. You have two destination options:
Create all tasks in one project: Create tasks from all Evernote notes in the same To Do project. Click the drop-down menu to select the To Do project to use.Note: If you want Pleexy to create tasks in a new To Do project, log in to your To Do and create the new project there. Back in your Pleexy settings, in the project drop-down menu, click Refresh to update the list of projects.
Use an individual project for each notebook: Create tasks from each Evernote notebook in a different To Do project. Click the drop-down menu to select the root To Do project to use. Pleexy will create individual projects within the root project you select for the tasks from each Evernote notebook.Note: If a project with the same name already exists in the root project you select, Pleexy will use it instead of creating a new project. This way, Pleexy can combine tasks from different source services in the same project. For example, Pleexy will create tasks from a “Development” notebook in Evernote and a “Development” board in Trello in a single root project.
Task settings
In the Task settings, you can specify how Pleexy creates, names, and synchronizes tasks and task attributes.
Under Task title template, use macros to customize how Pleexy names your tasks. For Evernote integrations, three elements are available for task names: {notebook}, {note}, and {todo}.
As you change your task title template, Pleexy shows how your changes will look in a live example under the template field. You can combine the macro elements however you want, as long as you get the formatting correct. Here are some ideas:
{todo} from {notebook}: {note}
{notebook} - {note}: {todo}
Note: If you manually edit a task title in To Do, Pleexy won’t update or change your edited title.
If you chose to synchronize and group your to-dos in the Source settings, you can use the {notebook} and {note} elements to create a macro for naming parent tasks under Parent task title template. Pleexy will list all todos for each notebook and note under a single parent task. For example:
{notebook}: {note}
To-do
To-do
To-do
You can also toggle-on the Synchronize labels for todos option. If you select this option, Pleexy will add tags from your notes to the task labels.
Finally, you can specify how Pleexy should synchronize labels between your notes in Evernote and your tasks in To Do:
Update To Do labels when you change Evernote labels
Update both To Do labels and Evernote labels when you make a change in either service
Update Evernote labels when you change To Do labels
Do not synchronize: Pleexy will not synchronize labels when you change them in either Evernote or To Do
Action settings
Actions settings let you control what Pleexy will do when you change, complete, or delete tasks in Evernote or To Do — both sides of the integration!
First, tell Pleexy what should happen in To Do when you delete a to-do in Evernote. Click the drop-down to select one option:
Delete corresponding task: Pleexy will delete the corresponding task in To Do
Do not touch task: Pleexy will leave the corresponding task in To Do
Second, specify what should happen in To Do when you complete a to-do in Evernote. Click the drop-down menu to select one option:
Complete corresponding task: Pleexy will mark the corresponding task as complete in To Do
Do not touch task: Pleexy will not mark the corresponding task as complete in To Do
Third, tell Pleexy what should happen in Evernote when you complete a task in To Do. Click the drop-down menu to select one option:
Complete todo: Pleexy will mark the corresponding to-do as complete in Evernote
Do not touch todo: Pleexy will not mark the corresponding to-do as complete in Evernote
Evernote Integration With Outlook
Now you know all about your options for integrating Evernote with your To Do! Don’t forget to scroll down and click Save changes when you’re finished customizing.