@jessegrosjean I hear ya. Every time I have to spend half-a-minute in iOS to select some text, copy it, switch app, paste it and edit it – which would take me a third of the time on a Mac – I wonder at the people who use it on their main device.
I am thinking of trying to revise text in Taskpaper format on a phone (and not even the Plus). So the joke’s on me, probably
@Paul Thanks for pitching in about Taskmator. It does look more suited for those who need a task manager/reminder app. Editorial looks more substantial for working with text.
I tweeted the Editorial dev about the lack of recent development. I am sympathetic to slow development. It comes up a lot with Sublime Text, which is my favorite text editor. Its development has slowed a lot. But it’s a solid app that’s been around for nearly a decade. I don’t know how mature Editorial is, but maybe it has reached that stage and needs only occasional maintenance. If I hear back from him, I’ll let you know. Might be worth trying out anyway. I don’t see any other option.
Unless you need screen size for iPad pro, there’s nothing in Editorial that is in urgent need of a fix, and there are a ton of scripts out there for working with TP. This was my take, written well before Editorial supported TP syntax natively:
After you’ve worked with it a bit, I would love to hear your experience: is adding and editing entries in a TP file in Editorial relatively hassle-free?
##TaskMator
Some historical context first. TaskMator is probably 90% TaskPaper for iOS that Jesse shelved and made the source free for others to carry on a couple(?) years ago. I just reinstalled TP on my iPad from purchased apps to have another comparison. While the TaskMator developers have made some respectable enhancements here and there I agree, it’s finicky as all heck to manage. If someone was to take on building a new iOS app you’d want to scrap that UI and look to the recent Mac codebase for excellent inspiration.
##Editorial
I’ve used Editorial on and off for over 3 years now and it’s a malleable beast that can be as simple or complex as you wish. The foundational TP support is there, but the enhancements by user Workflows take it even further. You would be looking for one such as this to achieve Project Focusing. Browse around that repository to see all else that is possible, besides writing Workflows yourself! And you can add your own custom keyboard shortcuts as well: I have CMD+D assigned to @done and CMD+SHIFT+A to Archive.
Of course the historical lack of updates, in a sort of binge and purge fashion, is the most troubling. The last official update was 1.5 years ago, and the only one before that was after 1 year!! And for free. I would have gladly paid the measly $5 he charged for it again to keep it alive. I have the utmost respect for Ole’s talents—both Pythonista and Editorial continue to be groundbreaking iOS-limit defying apps. But this lack of updates (or even forthcoming communication about it) has left many begrudgingly running to other options. (I’ve long since moved my Markdown writing to 1Writer and now predominantly Ulysses since it’s solid Dropbox folder support).
Ole has freely admitted that Pythonista is his predominant focus and source of income. Editorial shares some of that codebase then goes off in the text editor tangent that it is. The only usable way to currently run it on iOS10 and an iPad Pro is to ask Ole for a TestFlight access to the more recent beta. But if you find it intriguing like I still do, please both buy it and express your concerns about it getting an update soon.
I have a main taskpaper file split into projects on dropbox and add my to do’s to that
On iOS I use Fantastical to save things (into iCloud reminders) while I am out and about and when those things just pop into your head
Once back at Mac I Import all (shift select) reminders using the command pallet.
I also use an Alfred script to add stuff on Mac to TP using keyword do
I sometimes have to open my main list on iOS and I still use Taskmator, good as read only for the list and although it can be fiddly, its ok for crossing stuff off and moving things about when on the move but creating new items iOS reminders is the easiest way for me.
If i have to assign tasks to other people I take the item out of TP and add it to Trello via Slack team.
I have only just gotten into this workflow as I use to use an app called Flow for to dos and team work but it become too expensive for what it was…
My ideal App would be Later (http://laterapp.co/) into a TP doc or even just to iCloud reminds… with perhaps a basic list view as well - not sure I have the time to make it… is there a good dropbox swift API yet ?
A quick note that the author of Editorial mentioned on Twitter today, that he’s submitted an update for review to Apple, which contains Split View and iPad Pro support, among other things.
He’s also reduced the app price from $9.99 to 4.99, so if you were on the fence about getting Editorial, now’s an extra good time to, though I would have been willing to pay another $9.99 for an IAP to get Split View
Update from my side: I like Editorial very much, it works very nicely and smooth. I am happy with the purchase and glad that I now have a more friendly tool to connect with my Task Paper projects/actions list.
How are you handling capture on iOS since Editorial is your iOS app?
Are you using the Reminders integration on macOS? Do you also try to do Reminders stuff on iOS via an Editorial workflow?
I’ve been experimenting with using https://workflow.is/ for the capture, as it even allows for dictation based capture on watchOS, but I’m not at a point where I’m ready to share my stuff as a usable thing for others.
No, so far I haven’t tried these possibilities. For now, I am happy to have a straightforward editor to access my todo list on my phone while on the move.
I am not yet familiar with workflows and ways of adapting Editorial (I do not have a background in coding so my learning curve to try out such possibilities is a bit steep unfortunately).
you don’t need to be a scripting guru to use editorial, trust me. i know very little about python, and when i need to use it there are tons of examples out there to copy and hack on. there are a ton of community actions for Taskpaper that do all kinds of stuff in Editorial.
Thank you for the encouragement and offer to help. I will take a closer look at the workflows (at this moment I do not have specific ideas what I would like to do with Editorial besides having access to my todo list).
it’s really easy. Zorn has developed Editorial to be super user friendly without having to compromise on “power user” features. you’ll be amazed once your toes get dipped in the pool. hell, i stopped playing games on my iOS devices just to come up with workflows for fun for awhile. after got my mac though my iOS devices went back to gaming.
I see many people finding it hard to use TaskMator on iOS, but that’s not been my experience. I like using TaskMator very much, and have been using TaskPaper on iOS (it’s predecessor) from the beginning. I love it.
FT user here, but FWIW I’d also vote up Editorial. The workflow repository needs a bit of an overhaul; it’s difficult to see which version of a workflow is most recent, and there are a few broken/updated workflows around, but Editorial is mostly straightforward to use. Actually, you’ll get basic Taskpaper support out of the box— tag formatting, folding and checkboxes for tasks…
Personally, I use a mix of Editorial (heavy lifting), Drafts (quick capture and ad hoc lists) and Workflow (easier capture tasks from other apps via share sheet direct to taskpaper file in Dropbox).
