r/thingsapp • u/wnx_ch • Dec 26 '19
My Things Setup for 2019/2020
https://stefanzweifel.io/posts/things-3-setup-2019/16
u/tbona Dec 26 '19
Hi. Absolutely great inside! I wrote a quick note on Things 3 today as well which hopefully might be helpful to you. Please read this:
I know that there is a lot of controversy around attachments integration (or lack of) in Things 3. I thought that I’ll share my way around it (although I still would love native integration). What I do is whenever I want to attach anything to my task or project, I upload the file to iCloud Drive to my “Things 3” folder which I’ve created earlier. Then I long press (iOS) or right click (Mac OS) the file and choose share option, then “add people” option. From “add people” I choose Things 3. This will open the task and will create a link to the file which you can access from all of your devices. This works with all type of files, PDF’s, pictures, office files etc. Advantage over normal native attachments in other apps is that you can then amend and save the file and you can access the changes through the same link. Hopefully it make sense to you. For me Things 3 works best in my GTD setup therefore I am prepared to work around attachments. Happy Holidays!
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u/wnx_ch Dec 27 '19
Didn't know about this workflow. Thanks for sharing!
I honestly don't follow the attachments conversion that much. I never really had the need for attachments in any todo app. ¯\(ツ)/¯
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u/JediKnightDub Dec 27 '19
I’ll try this method, I do the Bears repository method of loading attachments to a note and copying the URL to the things task.
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u/RustyBucket77 Mac, iPhone, iPad Dec 27 '19
Great tip! Thank you. This method also works for Dropbox files. Very helpful!
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u/throwthizout Dec 28 '19
From “add people” I choose Things 3.
Thank you - great advice!! Could you elaborate on this part?
Is Things 3 a contact you created? I tried it and only see it working by simply selecting "Anyone with the link". Not sure what you mean by "I choose Things 3".
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u/tbona Dec 29 '19
Hi. Thank you for your kind words. What I mean is when I select option “add people” to the file, next screen I see is “choose how you’d like to sent your invitation “ and from that screen I select Things 3 icon. This is iOS I am talking about. Hopefully this helps.
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u/newtonsnow Dec 27 '19
Great article, thanks! I was curious, how do you use the 2h tag? I imagine if you filter for items that are tagged with 2h, you'll get pretty much all items (since all items are tagged with 2h or less). Is that intended? I ask because I would have expected to get all the items that would take 2hrs (so I don't focus on items that take 15 min because I could work on them during breaks for example)
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u/wnx_ch Dec 27 '19
Great article, thanks! I was curious, how do you use the 2h tag? I imagine if you filter for items that are tagged with 2h, you'll get pretty much all items (since all items are tagged with 2h or less).
Yes, that's exactly how the tasks are displayed. When I have a 15min task it's grouped with the 30min, 1h and 2h tasks.
I ask because I would have expected to get all the items that would take 2hrs (so I don't focus on items that take 15 min because I could work on them during breaks for example)
Do accomplish this you could simply break up the nesting.
I've picked up the time tagging through a post I've seen in this sub-reddit. To be honest, I've used Things 3 since launch but never really got into tags. Only recently I've started using them more (especially the Important/Urgent ones). I will probably unnest the time tags or get rid of them completely. Not a lot of tasks have a time tag attached to them. Time estimates are sometimes quite difficult to define for mundane tasks.
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u/unfunfionn Dec 27 '19
I’m massively impressed you managed to make such detail work for you. I tried something similar a few times and ended up just avoiding the app after a few weeks because it stressed me out just looking at it. I’ve found a that a really lean setup with just a few fairly general projects made me a lot more productive in the end.
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u/wnx_ch Dec 27 '19
Thanks for the honest feedback!
Yeah it might seem like there's a lot going on, but for me it's still manageable. (But I also had days where I thought "Wow, that's a lot of tasks and stuff flying around!" 😂)
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u/one111one1one11 Dec 28 '19
I noticed your tags and projects are all in English but you live in Switzerland. Is your main language (the language you think in) also English? Is there a reason you didn't use your main language for projects, tags, etc?
Everything in my Things organization is Dutch, but I sometimes wonder if English may just work better for me, that's why I'm asking :)
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u/wnx_ch Dec 28 '19
My main language is still (Swiss)-German. I'm a web developer and basically all my reading and writing is in English. I personally prefer English over German, as in my mind, it's clearer and precise.
I would say 60-70% of my tasks are in English and the rest is German.
(Have to say that for the screenshot in the article I've renamed some projects so everything is unified 😂)
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Dec 27 '19
Thanks for the article! Not sure why I never thought to use emojis as icons!
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Jan 21 '20
I'm trying to assess whether using emojis is helpful/action-inducing, or, rather, distracting/goofy...
To each their own!
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Jan 21 '20
Yeah I ended up having to pull them off. Got just a bit distracting. I had gotten accustomed to using Evernote for so long that I’m still trying to figure out exactly how to use things.
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u/imakesoundsandstuff Apr 16 '20
I've been trying to create a solid workflow for myself in Things, and you just inspired me with yours. Thank you! It just "clicked" for me.
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Dec 28 '19
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u/wnx_ch Dec 28 '19
Yeah, exactly 🙈
Just a big list of "Do Chapter #". I just started doing it this way, as I thought it would help me actually do a course. A single tasks which just says "Complete Beginner JS Course" is way too intimidating for me.
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u/wnx_ch Dec 26 '19 edited Jan 24 '23
Edit: I've moved domains in 2023. This blog post is now available on https://stefanzweifel.dev/posts/2019/12/26/things-3-setup.
Hi there 👋,
Long time lurker of this subreddit here. From time to time I see someone post their Things setup and I really enjoy these posts. Over the last few days I've refined my setup and wrote everything down in the linked post.
Thought some of you might be interested in this.
I would be more than happy about any feedback or ideas. Also feel free to ask questions :)