Tag Archives: TaskPaper

Essential software for academic work on Mac: 2021 update

It’s been seven years since I listed 25 apps essential for academic work on Mac. This list has proven to be very popular and relatively stable, but over the years I dropped or significantly reduced using 13 of these applications and … Continue reading

Posted in Automation, Bibliographies, Collaboration, Files, Graphics, Notes, Presentations, Projects, Tasks, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

TaskPaper 3

I have recently completed a large grant proposal and several research manuscripts. Such sticky projects involve hundreds of details that need to be remembered: “reformat table 3”, “find the page number in reference 76”, “ask someone to rework figure 5”, “read an article … Continue reading

Posted in Projects, Tasks, Workflows | Tagged | 13 Comments

Daily planning with TaskPaper and TextExpander

Have you ever tried to take your days one by one when they kept coming to you all at once? I have many times. To keep my days under control I use simple daily plans generated by a combination of … Continue reading

Posted in Automation, Tasks | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Responding to reviewer’s comments with Ulysses and TaskPaper

There is plenty of serious and humorous advice on how to deal with reviewers’ comments to your manuscripts submitted to peer review journals. This post is about two apps: Ulysses and TaskPaper that make this job less tedious and frustrating … Continue reading

Posted in Collaboration, Tasks, Workflows, Writing | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Update on the Macademic Ninja kit

The Macademic Ninja kit posted a while ago  included TextExpander, LaunchBar, Hazel, 1Password and Dropbox. I still love and constantly use all of these small apps. But in the last 1.5 years five other apps have also become critical for freeing … Continue reading

Posted in Automation, Workflows | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

When there is no time for OmniFocus: TaskPaper

If you have ever worked on finalizing a paper you’re familiar with a long list of little (and not-so-little) things to do (e.g. ‘convert Figure 2 to black-and-white’ or ‘cite a particular individual more extensively’). Instead, of keeping such lists … Continue reading

Posted in Tasks | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Three stages of the academic workflow and Mac software

The’academic workflow’ is a representation of scholarship as a series of stages or steps connected to each other without gaps or duplication. Although simplified, the idea of the workflow helps to structure, develop, and communicate tools, knowledge and experience across … Continue reading

Posted in Workflows | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Academic writing, task management, and OmniFocus

Task management systems, invented to increase focus and productivity, may become a source of distraction and procrastination. I certainly learned that when I tried to integrate my academic writing with OmniFocus. OmniFocus provides reminders, information, and space to decide what should … Continue reading

Posted in Tasks, Workflows, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

5 things to keep out of OmniFocus

OmniFocus makes it deceptively easy to quickly add and organize tasks and projects. But there is a trap in trying to keep all your stuff in one place. First, no software is fit for all purposes; and second no software … Continue reading

Posted in Tasks | Tagged , , , | 37 Comments

To remember it later and to remember it now: from to-do lists to a task management system

If you are a knowledge worker, then deciding what to do (and what not to do) is a key part of your job. It is not the easy part either: in fact, deciding what to do is often  more difficult than … Continue reading

Posted in Tasks | Tagged , | 4 Comments