Microsoft To-Do comes to Mac
Apple makes great hardware and operating systems, but when it comes to applications, the company has plenty of room for improvement. For productivity, Microsoft still reigns supreme. Apple's iWork, for instance, is passable, but it is largely garbage compared to Microsoft Office. Pages, Numbers, and Keynote may look great, but smart professionals will invest in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint -- they are far more powerful. Even the totally free LibreOffice bests Apple's iWork.
With all of that said, macOS users should be very happy that Microsoft supports Apple's operating system. Quite frankly, without Microsoft's excellent productivity software -- such as Office and OneNote -- Mac computers would be far less attractive to power users and professionals. Today, Microsoft brings another fine app to the macOS platform -- To-Do. It is chock-full of useful features, including the ability to add tags/hashtags by simply typing a #.
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"Today, we'd like to announce the arrival of a new family member -- that’s right, the moment many of you have been waiting for is here -- say hello to the Mac app. If you've already been using our app on Android, iOS, Windows, or web, then the Mac app will feel very familiar. Sign in and all your tasks will be waiting for you, ready to be checked off. You can work offline, add tasks to My Day, see your flagged email in your Flagged email list, and share your lists with colleagues or friends and family. The Planner integration isn’t available yet, but we’re already working on bringing the Assigned to Me list to you," says Polly Davidson, Social Media Strategist, Microsoft.
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Davidson further says, "Let's get to the fun bits. Press ⌘2 and To-Do will move into the minimized view so that all you see is the list view. Keep it on My Day to always have your tasks for the day on view. With To-Do on the side of the screen you can work on that budget in Excel or that essay in Word while checking off each step you complete. Turn the sound up loud, because of course that oh-so-satisfying ding is also in our Mac app. Want to go back to seeing all your lists? ⌘1 will get you there. Want to edit a task? You don't need to go into the detail view to do that in the Mac app -- you can do it straight from your list view. Select the task you want to edit and then click on the text in order to edit the task name."
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Microsoft shares a list of features below.
- Stay focused with My Day, a personalized daily planner with suggested tasks
- Get your lists anywhere, on any device
- Share lists and tasks with your friends, family, colleagues and classmates
- Create color-coded lists
- Set one-time or recurring due dates and reminders
- Break your tasks into manageable steps
- Add notes to any task
- Attach files up to 25 MB to any task
- Sync your tasks between Outlook and To-Do
- Keep track of your tasks alongside any app with minimized view
If you own a Mac and want to try Microsoft's To-Do app, you can download it from the App Store here. It is compatible with OS X/macOS version 10.13 and above. The app and associated service are entirely free, and your tasks will sync across all your devices.