Switching To Mac

Mac productivity tip – To Do Widget

I’m always on the lookout for a good todo list manager for my Mac. I need something simple, clean, and well-integrated with iCal, my calendering system. I think I found just what I was looking for in the To Do Widget. This is a widget for the MacOS Dashboard. Like other widgets it sits in your Dashboard and waits to be summoned. It has a slick interface that looks like a notepad and it’s packed with a lot of very useful features.

To install the Todo Widget download the application installer from here. After the download completes the widget installer will pop up a window asking you if you want to go ahead with the installation. Click Install to to so.

Then you will be taken to the Dashboard and asked if you want to install or delete the new widget. Place the To Do widget where you want it on your Dashboard and click Install to complete the installation process.

To begin using the To Do widget let’s add a new item in the list. Click on the + sign at the bottom center of the widget. A list of calendars will drop down. This is the list configured in iCal. Pick which calendar you want to add the new todo item in by clicking on it.

A new item will appear in your todo list. Enter the title of the task. There’s a check box next to the item which you need to check after the task is complete. Tasks belonging to each calendar have a different color which makes it easy to distinguish between them.

To add further details to a task such as notes, a url, and a due date select the task and click on the pencil sign at the bottom of the To Do widget. This will pop up a window like the one below where you can enter this information.

To delete a task select it and click on the - sign at the bottom of the widget.

When you have multiple tasks listed in multiple calendars it can be quite helpful to be able to filter the tasks by calendar. If you click on the calendar sign at the bottom right side of the widget you will get a drop down list of all the calendars that have been configured. Select one to have the To Do widget show you only the tasks from that calendar.

There is also a great deal of customization that the To Do widget supports. If you click on the isign on the bottom left side of the widget you will see the configuration pane for it. You can change the font used in the list, or decide how you want to filter the list, among other things.

Overall I really like the To do widget. It’s been really well integrated with iCal and Mail.app, looks appealing, pretty configurable, and it’s free. The author of this application requests you to donate something to his Paypal account if you really like this application. Good luck with improving your productivity with the To Do widget.