Tasks.txt

Name: Tasks.txt
Author: Yevhenii Mykhailichenko

Plain text task manager

Only for Mac

Free

Age Rating

4+
Years
Category

Productivity
Developer

Yevhenii Mykhailichenko
Language

EN
English
Size

1.2
MB

Mac

Tasks.txt is not another task manager. It's a plain text file with one rule: no planning ahead. You can't schedule tasks for tomorrow. You choose what's next, and everything else waits. Most task apps fail because they let you endlessly defer and reschedule - the illusion of productivity while the real work piles up. Tasks.txt refuses this. Three zones, nothing else: DONE - what you finished today, on top where you can see it. Tomorrow it clears to the archive and the slate is fresh. NEXT - what you're focused on right now BACKLOG - everything else, captured but out of your way Pick a task, move it to Next. Work it. Mark it done. That's the whole system. YOUR FILE, YOUR DATA Everything lives in a plain text file on your Mac. Open it in any editor. Sync it with Dropbox or iCloud. Version-control it in Git. Grep it from Terminal. No proprietary database, no vendor lock-in. SCRATCHPAD A plain text space for everything that isn't a task - notes, half-formed ideas, the thing you'd otherwise jot in a text editor. Stored on your Mac, always a keystroke away. KEYBOARD-DRIVEN ⌘↑ / ⌘↓ move tasks between sections ⌘↩ mark done ⌘F search No mouse required. FAST BY DEFAULT Native Swift. No Electron, no web wrapper. Opens instantly and never lags on a keystroke. macOS 13+. Free. For everyone who tried every productivity app and kept going back to a .txt file. This is that file - with the one thing it was missing.

Ratings & Reviews

This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.

Good idea, bad interface
Sep 19
Asdfghjklgfdsfgjjkytwe
The text is just too faint and too small for me to use on Mac, and there’s nothing in the UI to change it.

Developer Response
Thanks for the feedback, you were right! The latest version improves text contrast to meet WCAG AA accessibility standards and adds a font size setting that goes up to 200%, which you’ll find in Settings. Please update and give it a try.
Good idea, bad interface
Sep 19
Asdfghjklgfdsfgjjkytwe

The text is just too faint and too small for me to use on Mac, and there’s nothing in the UI to change it.
Developer Response Oct 19
Thanks for the feedback, you were right! The latest version improves text contrast to meet WCAG AA accessibility standards and adds a font size setting that goes up to 200%, which you’ll find in Settings. Please update and give it a try.
Great Update
Oct 20
netnode
The author was very responsive to feedback about text contrast and size. New version fixes those issues and adds repeating tasks. App does exactly what it says which is exactly what I was looking for.
Great Update
Oct 20
netnode

The author was very responsive to feedback about text contrast and size. New version fixes those issues and adds repeating tasks. App does exactly what it says which is exactly what I was looking for.
Can’t recommend
Sep 25
4Thumbs
Read about it and gave it a try. Nothing it can do isn’t already being done better by my other apps. And it doesn’t sync, which makes it completely useless for me.
Can’t recommend
Sep 25
4Thumbs

Read about it and gave it a try. Nothing it can do isn’t already being done better by my other apps. And it doesn’t sync, which makes it completely useless for me.
Simple and Effective
3d ago
nh geek
I’m a long-time seeker of tools to increase my productivity, beginning with the paper DayTimer, then Franklin Covey, Kanban Flow, Checkvist, and OmniFocus as tools to implement either David Allen’s or Mark Forster’s processes. My downfall has always been managing my backlog, from scheduling too much in a day to reviewing, parsing, and rescheduling my backlog. As I’ve implemented various tools, I’ve found complexity is not helpful. While OmniFocus nicely implements reviews, I was getting buried in organizing my projects and perspectives, trying to set up just the right view. Tasks.txt is elegantly simpler. When I first tried it, I found the text size too small for my aging eyes, with no way to adjust the size or contrast. Yevhen, the developer, responded to my query by adding that feature. I then asked about jumping a task deep in Backlog to Next, without having to drag it up the list. Yevhen responded and implemented that request. I’ve now migrated most of my OmniFocus tasks over and am enjoying the functionality of Tasks.txt. Backlog, Next, and Done on one tab, Done tasks rolling over to the Archive tab with a new day, and a Scratchpad tab for notes. Projects or similar tasks can be grouped using a +name tag, and the program supports repeating tasks. The minimalist appearance suits my psyche. I like that the underlying file is text and stored locally, which makes it straightforward to use AI to analyze completed tasks and backlog. I appreciate Yevhen’s responsiveness to inquiries and expect the features of Tasks.txt will continue to expand without losing the simplicity.
Simple and Effective
3d ago
nh geek

I’m a long-time seeker of tools to increase my productivity, beginning with the paper DayTimer, then Franklin Covey, Kanban Flow, Checkvist, and OmniFocus as tools to implement either David Allen’s or Mark Forster’s processes. My downfall has always been managing my backlog, from scheduling too much in a day to reviewing, parsing, and rescheduling my backlog. As I’ve implemented various tools, I’ve found complexity is not helpful. While OmniFocus nicely implements reviews, I was getting buried in organizing my projects and perspectives, trying to set up just the right view. Tasks.txt is elegantly simpler. When I first tried it, I found the text size too small for my aging eyes, with no way to adjust the size or contrast. Yevhen, the developer, responded to my query by adding that feature. I then asked about jumping a task deep in Backlog to Next, without having to drag it up the list. Yevhen responded and implemented that request. I’ve now migrated most of my OmniFocus tasks over and am enjoying the functionality of Tasks.txt. Backlog, Next, and Done on one tab, Done tasks rolling over to the Archive tab with a new day, and a Scratchpad tab for notes. Projects or similar tasks can be grouped using a +name tag, and the program supports repeating tasks. The minimalist appearance suits my psyche. I like that the underlying file is text and stored locally, which makes it straightforward to use AI to analyze completed tasks and backlog. I appreciate Yevhen’s responsiveness to inquiries and expect the features of Tasks.txt will continue to expand without losing the simplicity.

- Add to top or bottom: new tasks can go to the top or bottom of next, or the top or bottom of backlog (cycle with ⌘T) - Multi-select: ⌘+click selects several tasks - ⌘⇧↑: moves a task to the bottom of next. If it's already in next, moves it to the top - ⌘⇧↓: moves a task to the top of backlog. If it's already in backlog, moves it to the bottom - Setting: "Highlight task on creation": selects a new task right after you add it, so you can move it with the keyboard right away

Version 1.1.1 5d ago

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The developer does not collect any data from this app.

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Information

Seller: Yevhenii Mykhailichenko
Size: 1.2 MB
Category: Productivity
Compatibility: Requires macOS 14.0 or later.

Mac
Requires macOS 14.0 or later.
Languages: English
Age Rating: 4+

4+

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Developer Website

Privacy Policy

Tasks.txt

Ratings & Reviews

Good idea, bad interface

Great Update

Can’t recommend

Simple and Effective

What’s New

App Privacy

Data Not Collected

Accessibility

Information