If you do not add due items to the scheduled list, do you realize how much work that will make for people?
We will have to add a start date to everything that has a due date just so we can see it in the scheduled list.
If you don’t want to see due items in the scheduled list then just add it to the options but right now there is no way to see a list of due items with started items unless I add start dates to all of my due items.
Please don’t make me do that.
I agree, maybe it would be useful to have a way of specifying both dates at the same time, because the case that you want to do tackle a task at the day when it is due is very frequent. However, note that this is not always the case. Often you need to start working on a task earlier than the day when it is due. And often, you don’t really have a due date, but you still want to schedule it for a certain date.
Some advice for using Everdo “the way as it is”:
When you are in “Doing” mode, only look at the Focus list. Only when you are in “Review/Planning” mode, look at the other lists. Make such regular reviews at the start/end of a day and more systematically once a week.
For review/planning, There is a filter “due date” that allows filtering all next/scheduled items with a due date, or only those with due in < 7 days.
Don’t add the “due date” as your default date, but use the “scheduled/start date” as your default date. Only add the due date as an additional reminder when there is a hard due date that must not be exceeded when postponing your scheduled date in a review. Note that the due and overdue tasks automatically appear in the Focus list together with those that have been schedule for that day.
Right, basically just don’t use the due date for anything and just use start dates for everything.
That seems at least to me the only work around.
We need to be able to see start dates and due dates TOGETHER!
I am currently implementing this by removing every due date and replacing them with start dates and then just writing the due date in the name of the task.
I switched my items that have due dates but not start date to start dates only and now everything sorts by date 
What a headache.
A start date should be for an item that needs to be started before it is due.
The way everdo is set up creates MORE WORK FOR THE USER because we have to set start dates for EVERYTHING including tasks which start on their due date.
If you are going to keep EVERDO like this then why not just automatically add start date to everything that is due!?!?!?!?
If this is the case then EVERDO “due dates” are really only actually “reminders” for the sole purpose of bringing that task into the focus view / (“everdo notifications view” since there are no notifications) at that time.
Why not change their name to reminders?
If the due date function had been called “reminders” I would never have been confused. I would have used scheduling function for setting due dates and start dates while (tasks without start dates start on their due dates). And continue as I always have to write the actual due dates in the task name.
everdo due dates are “reminders”
Please change the name of “due dates” to “reminders” and just add the function in there to input time.
Also allow to attache several reminders to the same task.
The focus view could be amazing
The focus view could allow to sort / group by time .
This would be amazing.
Reminders are different in that they will actively remind you, even if you don’t open the app window, e.g. by a Windows notification or sending an email.
I understand some of your frustration, but I think much of this is caused by not using the app as it is intended. Note that I’m not saying “you’re doing it wrong”, but I’m saying that the app assumes a certain way of using it, that is based on the GTD methodology, and if you use it differently, you will have a hard time.
For instance you say that you want to sort the Focus view. But actually the Focus view should only contain very few items so that you normally don’t need to sort them. I only sort them manually at the start of the day, in the order I want to tackle them.
As a rule of thumb, the Focus view should have 7-10 icons, e.g. chosen using the “1-3-5 rule” (1 big, 3 medium, 5 small) or the “2-8 rule” (2 that contribute directly to your goals, 8 other).
If there are too many items in your Focus view, reschedule them for a later day (you can postpone by one day simply by dragging to the “Scheduled” folder, and removing the star).
Note that not all of your tasks must have dates from the beginning. You set the scheduled dates often only during the daily/monthly reviews. The “due date” is only for those tasks that have a real deadline, so that they don’t slip through when you do the daily/monthly review.
During a review, you will go through all your projects and take care that they make progress. You will also go through your “Next” actions an check if any of them should get focus or be scheduled for the coming week/month. You go through your “Waiting” list and check that all of these make progress. And if you’re not overloaded already, you look into your Someday/Maybe list (no task in this list should have a date) for tasks that should be promoted to “Next”. During a review, you can also filter for tasks with due date < 7 days and “Prio A” tags (I made a tag for these) or other tags that are important for your goals, so that you don’t miss these.
Another thing: Use the “Areas”. By filtering on one area, you will automatically reduce the number of tasks and see only those which are relevant to the area you’re currently in (like “Private” or “Work” or “Learning”). After filtering through the areas, contexts and other tags, your lists will be usually so small that you don’t need sorting.
I hope this eplains a little bit why the author and many users of Everdo don’t feel that sorting by due date (or sorting in general) is important for them, even though I agree that it can be useful sometimes and it would be nice to have it.
Of course, it all also depends on the type of tasks you’re doing. Some people have tasks which need to be done at a certain date and time, and other people are more free in when they execute their tasks, as long as in the end everything gets done. The latter have often troubles prioritizing and this is where Everdo really helps. For the former, maybe Everdo is not the ideal choice.
I solved the problem by realizing that due dates are just technically reminders and not actually due dates. Now I write all my due dates into the tag names and just use start dates for everything.
I cannot see the use case for the named due-date function in everdo. It just seems like it doesn’t do anything at all. Started items end up in focus list anyways. A due item doesn’t even rise to the top , it just gets a red label that it is due 0_o …
@joshuarobison Due items not only get that red label and are filterable (e.g. due in < 7 days), but they also appear automatically in the Focus list. Contrary to scheduled items, you cannot “unfocus” these by removing the star.
The difference is simple:
The scheduled date is the start date. You plan to do the job on that date but you don’t have to.
The due date is the date before which you have to finish your task. If the due date arrives you have to finish your task. That is why you can’t unstar it.
@Mateusz Essentially, I agree. But there is still a difference between scheduled date and start date. The start date is the first day where a task would be possible or reasonable to do (e.g. changing your tires for winter would not reasonable to do right now in summer). The scheduled date however is the day where you actually plan to tackle the task. You make these plans in your weekly reviews. Of course, it’s always possible to defer tasks by shifting the scheduled date when you see you have put too much on your plate (i.e. your Focus list gets too large).
Theoretically, since tasks can take longer than 1 day to finish, you could also distinguish between due date (when it needs to be done) and end date (the last day you can start doing it, which may be earlier). In these cases I use the end date as due date and maybe note the due date in the text. You can also employ the rule that all tasks in Everdo are expected to take less than 1 day, i.e. split longer tasks so that this is always the case. In that case you don’t need a distinction between end date and due date.
So theoretically, you have at least 4 important dates for a task. The start, end and due dates are all fixed for a task. The scheduled date is flexible and can be shifted back and forth during reviews, between the start and end (due) date. If no start or end (due) dates are set, this means there is no limit in this regard, you can start whenever you want. Some task managers also offer a review date (e.g. for reviewing whether “someday/maybe” tasks are still interesting or valid) or a reminder/notification date (when you will be actively reminded e.g. by a notification popping up and/or a sound).
Everdo’s way of implenting this with just 2 dates instead of 4 or 6 is a pragmatic solution and works pretty well for me. Most “todo list” apps do not support dates, or only one date. That’s too simplicistic for real task management. On the other hand, if you have to enter too many attributes, it can become cumbersome, because once you start using a certain attribute you are forced ot enter it for all tasks because otherwise filtering and sorting will not work reliably.
So do scheduled tasks.
Bumping this back up.