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Free to-do list application: The benefits of using a task manager for your personal and professional

  • margekekurvi
  • Aug 19, 2023
  • 7 min read


The intuitive and simple user interface is always a dealbreaker for anyone who comes across a new to-do list app. Quire developer team has spent years of effort to strive for a delicate balance between simplicity and the powerful features. The elegant and intuitive interface is one of the aspects that Quire users appreciate the most.


A lot of the productivity tools adopt to-do list as one of the key features. However, Quire brought the flat to-do list to another level and introduced an infinite nested task list - unlimited tasks and subtasks that help you break down big ideas into smaller and doable tasks.




Free to-do list application



Things has always been one of the top Wunderlist alternatives or best to-do apps up to date. However, Things is only available for iOS users. If you own a Macbook and iPhone, Things might be worth a try.


Things has most of the features that are required for a complicated, heavy features to-do list application. The core value of Things is its task management ability and how it can help you shape your to-do list in a very effective way.


Notion is a direct competitor to Evernote when it comes to a handy and simple to do list app. It is an all-in-one platform that you can use to manage your daily chores or use as a file cabinet. This best to-do list app lets you take notes, create a to-do list, manage and track your data.


You can get your whole team onboard and replace all of the existing apps with Notion. You can write, plan, collaborate and get organized with this simple to-do list app. One of the core features of Notion is its clean space for you to jot down your ideas and build your own task list.


Workflowy is a cloud-based tool that enables users to manage their to-do lists. The minimalist interface perfectly mimics a notepad which users can jot down ideas and break them into different nodes. Workflowy works best to organize scattered ideas into a to do list format.


Though Workflowy aims to target personal use as a simple to-do list, they still allow users to share the list for team collaboration. Users can also hide and archive items that are not important or already completed. The one drawback of Workflowy is its lack of color formatting for the list.


Going beyond a simple to-do list and note-taking app, Evernote allows users enjoy the hi-tech features such as optical character recognition (OCR) to search your text across the written notes. You can also add tags, cross-linking, checklists, tables to your notes.


ProofHub is a task management and team collaboration software that allows you to keep track of all of your thoughts and ideas in one location. You can create tasks, to-do lists, and notes to help you recall crucial information.


nTask is an incredible task management and project management tool that you and your team can use as a to-do list tool in your professional and personal lives. The application has a clean and minimalistic interface, causing it to be quite intuitive whenever new users want to experience this incredible tool.


The key to keeping your work organized is having your to-dos listed out neatly. You have to commit to your list to actually get things done. A good to-do list app can help you manage what to do and schedule when to do your tasks. You can use your to-do list app for personal use or small teams that do not require comprehensive management features.


There are a few qualities that you should be aware of a good to-do list software, such as the interface of the task list, the range of tools for organizing and tracking your progress and the collaborative options of your list.


If you're looking for a more structured checklist layout, open the app and tap the little box with a checkmark at the bottom of your screen. This will start a more traditional to-do list style note. When you've finished a task, tap the box next to the item and it'll appear in a collapsable list of finished tasks. Tapping the reminder bell in the top right corner of the screen lets you set specific alarms. And if you have to set an alarm to remember to open the app and check your to-do list, I'm certainly not judging. Either way, you can get these notifications on your phone, PC or both.


Google Tasks is an easy-to-use, minimalist to-do list app. You can download the mobile app, add a Chrome browser extension, or use it directly through Gmail. When I'm working, Google Tasks is just a click away in my Gmail.


If you need an extra boost, Apple's Reminders app is a helpful to-do list option. In Reminders, you can build and organize multiple to-do lists, as well as map out your schedule for the day, week, year or further out. Reminders on iPad works with the Apple Pencil Scribble for easy transitioning between other projects.


The Microsoft To Do app works similarly to Google Tasks and makes it easy to view your to-do list next to your email and calendar. If you're using Outlook on PC, you can find To Do in the calendar pane. If you're using the desktop app, you can open it in a separate pane to take advantage of more features.


Notion gained a lot of attention at the height of the pandemic within TikTok communities. The free app gave users a fast way to create a digital workspace for taking notes, creating moodboards, journaling, organizing school and work, as well as making to-do lists. Notion offers personal-use accounts for free as well as various paid packages for teams and companies.


There's nothing wrong with a paper to-do list, but going digital has its benefits. Paper is fine if you enjoy writing by hand, crossing off tasks in ink or pencil, and drawing arrows to show when priorities and deadlines change. The best to-do list apps, however, let you write, organize, and reprioritize your tasks more efficiently. They also let you attach notes, links, and files to a task, and the very best ones also let you see when someone else has completed a task. In many ways, a good to-do program is the ultimate productivity app.


To find the best to-do list apps, we look for ones that are easy to use, offered on all major platforms, and have the tools you need to work productively. After considering dozens of apps in this category, these are the best we've tested, followed by what to look for when choosing the right app for your needs.


Todoist is a rare five-star Editors' Choice winner because it is simply the best to-do list app on the market. It's designed superbly with all the features anyone could need, such as custom views, natural language input, collaboration options, and more.


Whenever PCMag readers ask for advice about managing work, our reply always includes the following: "Have you tried Asana yet?" It is hands-down one of the best apps for managing the to-do list of any team or business. It borders on being a full project management app but works equally well if not better for groups of people who need to get work done together. If your team passes along work tasks from one person to another, you should 100% look at using Asana to manage it.


OmniFocus is an excellent to-do list app with a long features list. It's powerful and it works well. You can add a tremendous amount of detail to tasks. We also like that you buy OmniFocus either as a standalone product for a one-time fee or as a subscription, depending on what works best for your wallet.


TickTick is a powerful to-do list app with a reasonable price tag, and you can use it just about anywhere. It's available as a desktop app for macOS and Windows, as well as a mobile apps for iOS and Android that are compatible with Apple Watch and Android Wear. TickTick also has a web app, Chrome app, and browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox.


Toodledo is a fantastic to-do list app that goes the extra mile. This app wants to help you not only cross all your to-dos off your list, but also adopt new habits and organize your thoughts. It has an exhaustive features list, though it also throws at you an excess of information at every turn.


One of the major points of consideration when testing and scoring is how well these apps help you organize and stay on top of your tasks. We also consider collaboration, meaning the ability to share a to-do list with other people, though we see it as a bonus feature and not a requirement to be included.


One of the most popular to-do list apps, Wunderlist, was acquired by Microsoft in 2015 and taken out of commission five years later. Microsoft's stated ambition was to build a replacement app for Wunderlist from the ground up, cloning all its best features in the process. The new app, Microsoft To Do, frankly took too long to come to market and arrived half baked, which is why it isn't included here. It scored too low.


Design is extra important in this category of apps because you end up looking at your to-do list app often. How will you get anything done if you can't stand looking at your ugly app? A good design also allows the app to feel intuitive, so you can write down things that come to mind quickly.


Every to-do list app comes with tools and features for organizing your tasks and lists, and in an ideal world, these features match up with the way you think. For example, if you are a highly visual person, you might find that color-coding your lists or tasks to show priority is important. If you are a deadline-oriented person, you'll want an app that sorts your tasks by due date and or shows them in a calendar view. If you're forgetful, you might want an app that sends you reminders on different devices.


As for collaboration, it's always handy to have the option to share a to-do list. For home use, a collaborative to-do list means you can assign chores to other people or track when someone has purchased items off a shared shopping list. In business settings, collaborative task management makes working together easier and more transparent.


Our overall top winner is Todoist. Todoist is the best to-do list app you'll find. It works on every platform. You can use it for free or pay a reasonably fee to get all the features. It's designed in a way that makes it productive to use. You get plenty of customization options. It does everything you could want. 2ff7e9595c


 
 
 

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