I love plain text. But I also love me some checkboxes.
Listary is a very cool app with a simple purpose: Add checkboxes to plain text lists stored in Simplenote.
For me, Listary solved a very specific and very persistent problem. At irregular but recurring moments, I need to create checklists when I’m away from my Mac.
Of course, I would love to do it all in OmniFocus, but I don’t know of a way to paste a text list into OmniFocus on my iPhone and have it become checkbox-atized.
Example: the mobile grocery list
When my wife emails me a grocery list, I copy it into a Simplenote file called ‘groceryx’1. I used to check off items by putting an “x” in front of each item.
This system worked sorta okay for short lists, but longer lists required hair pulling and damning inanimate objects, specifically my iPhone.
I had to position the cursor carefully to type an “x”, words often got overwritten, re-ordering items was tedious, and it didn’t hide checked off items.
All those problems are history now that I sync groceryx with Listary, which makes it look like this:
You can even re-order items by dragging them up and down. (Very useful for putting yogurt next to milk instead of next to broccoli.)
As you check off items, Listary edits the plain text file like so:
Peanut butter
Bread
/ Yogurt
/ Milk
/ Cereal
The beauty of Listary, of course, is that it adds a nice checkbox UI on top of a plain text file. Since everything stays in plain text, you can edit it anywhere—like in nvALT, Simplenote, or any of the other bazillion plain text apps for iOS and OS X.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
TaskPaper adds @done witch is compatible with nvALT (try it).
However, it needs a bit of a workaround to work with a Dropbox folder (for example).
Regarding the Merlin Mann “x” trick, I find it even more effective to put the “x” at the beginning of the word (e.g., “xgrocery”) because then I can find it by just typing the first few letters, instead of typing out all of “groceryx” (since up until “grocery” you potentially find a lot of other files as well).
You can do the same thing with NoteTask on the iPhone and iPad.
You can do that in Simplenote. Open a note, tap the “i” button in the bottom bar and switch on “View as list”.
That feature is only available for premium users.
Alright. I wasn’t aware of that.
Here’s another app that does something similar: http://www.codingrobots.com/notetask/
Notetask would be better if it were more stable, however.
Thought not plain text, some alternatives include: Grocery Gadget which allows adding items at home (by spouse) and having items magically appear seconds later in the app while at the store. The list is already sorted bt store aisle. ReQal has some ability to add items to someone else’s shopping list via a simple phone call. The premium version uses location awareness to serve up the list as you enter the store. Another nice implementation of lists is with ToDo by Appigo. I like how tasks can be co reeves from Normal to Checklist or Project with a simple selection from the Type drop down. I’ve been using Things for a few years but have bee frustrated with lack of cloud synch (finally in beta). I’ve lurked around with OmniFocus a few times but have been unwilling to take the financial plunge I spent once with for all Things iOS and Mac apps. A recent presentation on apps for my business created the need for me to download a half dozen of the “low end” task managers so i’m giving each one a seven day whirl. Finding some nice features in all.
Am I missing the way to copy something like a grocery list that I received in an email or a text and quickly convert it into a list. I guess I could create the note in Simplenote and then pull it into Listary, but that seems clunky.
1. Copy text to groceryx in Simplenote
2. Open groceryx in Listary
3. Wait a few seconds for it to sync
That’s it.
That’s what I figured… Thankfully it looks like they have it coming in the next update! http://blog.byportmanteau.com/post/5221887994/post-launch-feedback-and-roadmap
I have the same problem here: I love OmniFocus and I love my girlfriend.
When it comes to groceries my latest attempt is to let her do some extra typing and use the the build in Mail rules. I added her in the “allow mail from” list and advised her to type in the the list as following:
– Milk ::shopping @grocery
This was obviously to much to type and since OmniFocus understands abbreviations it was no big deal to shorten it down to the following (the default context for my shopping project is ‘grocery store’):
– Milk ::s
– Butter ::s
– Bread ::s
It thinks it’s a good compromise and I have one application less on my iPhone. Granted it doesn’t work with last minute submissions from her if the Mac at home isn’t running all the time. And… when using TextExpander it just gets even less typing.
I wish I was talented enough to write an AppleScript which fills in the necessary stuff after each line break.
Did I say that I was really tempted to switch again when I read your article… (I also love NV and SimpleNote)?
Mhhh… if I’d use plain text files in NV I could share the text file with my girl friend via Dropbox and it would spare me the first point of this list:
1. Copy text to groceryx in Simplenote
2. Open groceryx in Listary
3. Wait a few seconds for it to sync
Or am I missing something? God, so torn right now. I have to sleep over it.
Hi guys, I’m Paulo from Portmanteau (the guys who did Listary). First of all, thanks for the wonderful review, Eddie. I didn’t know this specific ‘x’ tip, but you totally understood our vision for Listary, and I’m glad to know it serves you well :)
We’re working on updates to Listary, and just like Michael Schechter said, we’re going to add a paste multiple lines feature in the “Add Items” screen. So with the next update, you’ll be able to directly paste loads of stuff into Listary without having to open another app. We’ll also have in-app list sharing, but that will take more time.
If you have any questions, just reply to this comment. I’d love to help :)
Love the Listary to Simplenote, thank you for the suggestion! Like Yuji I have an xGrocery file as that is easier to find quickly.
My only beef is that the Listary screen on the iPad comes out sized for the iPhone with no obvious x2 to blow up the screen, grrr >.<. I use my iPad for mobile tasks rather than the iPhone…