gTodo: A Simple, Easy-to-Use Task Manager for Linux

For many of us, crossing an item off our to-do lists evokes a certain satisfaction that really makes the tasks feel complete. There's just something about keeping that list and getting stuff done that makes feel me on top of things, less stressed and even a little warm and fuzzy inside. But even those that aren't personal productivity obsessives like me can benefit from recording their tasks in a list, even if just as an occasional reminder of what needs to get done.

There are many, many tools to manage your to-do lists out there, but for the average person most are, frankly, overkill. Not everyone needs the massive capabilities of Outlook clone Evolution or it's KDE kounterpart (sorry, couldn't resist the "k!") Korganizer, but they don't just want to record their tasks on a post-it note, either. No, most people need simple, graphical way to track their tasks on their computer. Enter gTodo, a simple but effective task manager for the GNOME desktop.

The first thing you'll notice is the very simple and easy to use interface...just a single pane with your tasks and related information, add and remove buttons, and category filter drop down box. It's simple to get started: just click on "Add" and the task entry dialog pops up.

You'll find several useful features here, including the ability to add a due date and time to your task, assign it a priority and even attach explanatory notes. Entering tasks couldn't be easier. Once your to-do list starts to grow, you'll likely want to be able to sort and search through all your tasks. Luckily, gTodo provides pretty good sorting options for such a simple application, including the ability to sort by multiple criteria ascending or descending. In addition, you hide completed items, items without a due date, or past due items from your list, giving you the ability to zero in on what you need to get done in multiple ways. While there's no search function, the advanced sorting capabilities should allow you to find what you need fairly quickly.

gTodo will also automatically purge old tasks for you, and as well as highlight past due items and tasks that are due in the next few days. It also has a useful tray icon that displays your due tasks on mouse hover, and allows you to quickly update your list.

I like the fact that gTodo allows you to save and open multiple task list files, so even though you can have several different categories within your each list, you can also keep completely separate files if you'd like. Work tasks and personal tasks, for instance. Or, you can save your list and take it to another computer with gTodo installed. The HTML export function is also a handy way to create a nicely formatted version of your list for printing, however I would have liked it if the HTML file included notes. As it stands, the html export includes javascript that displays the note in a dialog box when you click on the task. Very nice if you're slapping your list on a USB drive to access from a computer, but not so cool for printing out to take with you.

Although I'd like to see better export for printing and a real search function, the fact is that gTodo keeps things simple, and that's a feature! Simplicity is what the vast majority of people need in application like this, and I think it's great at what it does. There are enough organizational functions to make this application really useful, but it's far from bloated. If you need a simple, easy to use task manager for the GNOME Linux desktop, give gTodo a whirl.