How to Manage Your Tasks With iCal

As far as productivity applications are concerned, you can go the super-complicated "Getting Things Done" or GTD route (and there are plenty of GTD-focused applications out there) or you can get super-simple with a pad of paper and a pen. If you want something a little more sophisticated than paper, but don't want a new system to dictate how you work, iCal has a simple To Do List feature that allows you to add items, prioritize them and even add due dates to the calendar. Here are ways to work with this feature.

Things You'll Need

• Apple Macintosh Computer
• Mac OS 10.5 (aka Leopard)
• iCal
• Stuff to do

Instructions

1. 

   Open up iCal on your Apple Macintosh Computer running Mac OS X Leopard by clicking the iCal icon on the dock.

2. 

   Click the push pin on the bottom right corner of iCal's window. This will open up the To Do List tab on the right of the iCal window.

3. 

   Double-click an empty spot on the To Do pane and a new item with the title "New To Do" will appear in iCal.

4. 

   Type in a title for your new task to replace the default "New To Do" text.

5. 

   Right or Control-Click the task. Select "Calendar" and click on the calendar that's appropriate for this task. If it's a home-related task, click the Home calendar; if it's related to work, click the Work calendar (or you can use whatever calendars you have set up in iCal).

6. 

   Right or Control-Click the task and select "Priority" to set the priority of this item. You can also click the three lines to the right of the task to set the priority. The three lines will darken depending on the priority level you set.

7. 

   Right or Control-Click the new task and select "Get Info" to open up iCal's detail window for that task. You can also double-click the task to open this window.

8. 

   Click the check box to the right of "due date" and select the due date of this item. This step is optional. Here you can also set an alarm to remind you of the task, add a URL or notes.

9. 

   Click on the "To Do List By Priority" to set how you wish to sort the list. You can sort by Priority, Title, Due Date, Calendar or you can sort them Manually.

10. 

    Repeat the above steps to build up your To Do List in iCal.

Tips & Warnings

• As you complete each item, double-click to open up the detail window and check the "completed" check box. You can also click the check box next to the task in the To Do List pane in iCal.

• To alter the way iCal handles old To Do List items, open up the preferences for iCal (top menu-select iCal then Preferences or Command-comma (,). Here you can set when to hide or delete your To Do items after they're completed.

Resources

• Lifehacker - productivity blog
• 43 Folders - personal productivity site