There are many ways you can organize your tasks, be it on your own or with a group of people. From simple to-do apps like Wunderlist to full-featured ones like Flow and Producteev, there’s always something for any sort of task or project. If you haven’t found one that works for you, then Do.com is one that you should be sure to check out.
Do.com is a web app for managing multiple tasks and projects using a simple and intuitive interface, from the Salesforce team. While it can be great for collaborating with a team, I found that it’s just as good when you’re working on your own.
Keeping it simple
The app’s interface employs a three-column layout, with the main viewing pane to the left, content in the middle and details that slide to the right when a task or project is clicked.
A simple design for managing any task
This setup is great for quickly editing tasks without having to open another page or window. Most elements can easily be edited with a simple click for entering text, or drop downs for choosing dates and other information. The left pane divides the viewing mode by Group, Tasks, Projects, Notes, Contacts and Deals.
Clicking on any of these will change the content in the middle accordingly. A lone Create Task button is on the upper right hand corner. To edit other task details, click on a task and a third column appears to the right. From here you can assign tasks, add it to a Project, pick a due date and share it with others.
View and edit tasks quickly
More than just tasks
To further view tasks a certain way, you can apply filters by section, due date, those shared with you, completed tasks, and those sent to others. If you want to be more specific, there is a Custom option at the end of the list. This allows you to choose from three conditions as shown in the screen shot below:
Task filters are highly customizable
Projects can be anything you’re working on – professionally or personally – that involves carrying out a series of tasks. In this app, you can create projects and assign them to tasks. They can have a deadline, but you can leave that blank for projects that aren’t time-bound.
Create projects with or without deadlines
If your project involves a long list of tasks, you can break them up in sections. You can create multiple sections for a project and drag existing tasks under the appropriate one. This also works for reordering any lists, be it under Tasks or Projects.
Organize tasks by adding sections
More details about a project can be viewed in different tabs, and these include activity logs, an About tab for describing the project, attachments, and a dedicated tab for Wufoo forms.
Sharing, Deals and other features
One of the things I like with this app is the sharing approach. All data (tasks, projects and deals) are bunched into groups. Only members which you invite to a group can view and edit items within that group.
All data are kept private within groups
Adding a group is done by clicking on the people icon on the bottom of the left menu. You can switch between groups by clicking on the group name that appears on the left panel once it is created.
Additionally, the app is designed to work with other web services sch as Google Drive, Dropbox and Harvest.
Sharing and integration with Dropbox and Google
Another unique feature is Deals, which lets you track deals made with clients. Creating deals is much like creating tasks, but it has certain features that focus more on the sales aspect of the task, with a progress bar that you can “fill” as the deal progresses until it’s closed.
Track your business goals with Deals
The Notes area is my personal favorite. This may not be a very important feature, but it’s mighty useful. For my Writing Gigs project, I used Notes to jot down article drafts, ideas and research links. The text is saved as you go, so you can be sure nothing gets lost along the way.
Lots of room for extensive note-taking
For projects that are similar or repetitive, you can create a project template. Templates can be configured to a specific number of tasks and team members.
Link more than one email to your Do.com account
You can log in Do.com using more than one email address. To do this, click on the gear icon on the left menu and go to Settings, then click on Account. Add a new email address under My Email Addresses.
If you’re going to use this app collaboratively, then it’s probably best to head on over to Contacts to add your team’s pertinent contact information. This also makes assigning tasks and projects streamlined, as their record is already saved within the app. Contacts can be imported from Facebook, Google or Contactually.
Do.com’s free account allows for unlimited tasks, notes and projects, a limit of 1,000 contacts and 10 deals. The paid version starts at $15 a month, which allows three users and unlimited deals and contacts.
Conclusion
Do.com’s service and features are worthy of anyone’s time. It works well even for individual tasks, although most of its features apply more to working with a team. I like the overall modern, minimalist design, but most of all I like how it gives me the freedom to organize projects and tasks into sections and filter them according to my own rules. Whether you work solo or with a team, Do.com is a great way to accomplish tasks of any size.