LeaderTask is 50% off until Jan1

Posted by PIMfan
Dec 30, 2014 at 08:28 PM

LeaderTask is 50% off until January 1st (http://www.leadertask.com/en/discount). With the discount, it is $29.98 for a year of synchronization to the cloud along with program updates. Once the year is over, you can still use the application without the synch features.

I have been using LeaderTask for the past couple of months and had planned on posting something in the near future, but wanted to get something up here quickly before the discount expires. There have only been a few short references to it here, but no detail description. The app has been around for several years and has evolved since it’s original implementation as an “Outlook-looking” EssentialPIM-type app.

What is LeaderTask?
- It is a task, contact and note taking system that allows for individual or group task management and tracking. A 12 minutes YouTube overview can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eUYXikPe7Q. Ignore the spelling errors and bad/slow typing when watching the video :-)

Features
- Extensive platform support, with both desktop and mobile clients. The desktop client is Windows, and the mobile clients support iPad, iPhone, Android tablets, and Android phones. No Mac or Linux client at this time.
- Ability to synchronize data via their cloud-hosting service, which is based on Microsoft Azure Cloud Services.
- Ability to run from a flash drive or from a dropbox share.

My Personal Feedback
I obtained a copy several months ago via a bitsdujour. I am working on my Master’s degree and wanted something to keep track of all my assignments along with the papers and in-process things I was working on. I was actually somewhat surprised that it has become my go-to app for managing my graduate work. I really didn’t expect this, as I am a Zoot user, and also use RightNote and EverNote. So what sets this app apart for me?

- Intuitive Interface. An earlier implementation looked a lot like Outlook, but I really like the current UI implementation.
- Ability to color code tasks/notes for quick visual association (required paid version).
- You can create Projects and then assign tasks/notes to the projects. In addition, the paid version lets you also establish Categories, which can be used for further organize items within a project. In my utilization, I create a project for each class I am taking, and I then set the context to that project (done by selecting it in the left window pane), and can quickly create notes and tasks that are then assigned to the project.
- Contacts. The application provide support for creation of contacts that can be used to assign tasks to and to collaborate/share project data. In my case, I create a contact for each of my professors, with their contact information (phone and email). If I have a question or issue I need to bring up with the professor, I create a note for the project (the specific class), and then assign it to the professor contact I created. This then shows as a note associated with the contact record and serves as a reminder.
- Alarms/reminders for tasks and notes.
- Ability to upload/embed attachments or simply create a link to external files. This flexibility is something I find valuable. In my case, I created a folder on my dropbox that I use to upload all of the class syllabus documents, required reading articles, paper outlines, etc. I then create note items in my LeaderTask with a properly descriptive title and a link to the files on the dropbox share. I need to do this because I can’t run the software on my work computer, but this allows me to access my schoolwork from anywhere. If you are able to run LeaderTask on all platforms you work on, embedding the documents inside LeaderTask would be another option.
- Notes and tasks are the primary objects for getting work done. Notes can have tasks and vice-versa. Again, this provides a lot of flexibility. I use it to create one task for each week of class I take. I then create subtasks for each homework assignment that is due that week of class. As I complete tasks for the week of class, I mark the items as done and they show with a strikethrough so I can keep track of my progress. There is a view setting that lets you quickly switch between showing or not showing completed tasks, and I’ll bounce between these as needed to alternate between looking at what I’ve done and what I need to do.
- Note taking is simple and uses RTF. When you double-click a task/note, it opens in the bottom window and there is an Action menu in the right hand corner of the window. From there, you can create a note, and it will open an RTF window that includes the ability to generate bulleted lists (but not a formal outline). This bulleted list is where I take notes using outline mode for all classes and also notes from the class readings I am assigned.
- Using Notes and creating child notes effectively allows for creation of an outline for organizing thoughts and work to do. The system is flexible and easy to rearrange items within the hierarchy.
- Task/subtask support.
- View filtering is customizable and efficient. Options to add/remove fields from the views. No custom field support, however. But I haven’t found this to be a significant limitation in my use cases.

Miscellaneous
- The application uses the word “Term” to identify dates/times associated with an item or note. The terminology is a bit odd and takes a little getting used to.
- Tasks can have time-blocks associated for them to be worked on. I don’t use this feature, but for some that want to plan when they execute work, this can be useful.
- Note that I am using LeaderTask as a standalone desktop app (albeit running it from a local dropbox share), and so don’t have any experience with the cloud synch features.
- You can create notes with links to web sites, etc. But LeaderTask is not intended to be a replacement for Surfulator or other web content collection points. It sticks to doing well what it is designed to do.

The LeaderTask Killer Feature For Me:
- The build-in ability to consolidate notes from multiple items into a single document. I’m not aware of this feature being this well implemented in any other Task-Note PIM. I use this feature EXTENSIVELY for creating a document with my notes (in outline format using RTF) for each chapter of reading. When it’s time to study/review, I create a consolidated document with all the notes I need to study (e.g. Chapter 1 Reading Notes, Chapter 2 Reading Notes, etc) and then print the consolidated notes outline to take with me (a sort of portable note-cards system). While copy/paste chapter notes into a single document can manually be done via most any PIM, having this feature built-in to LeaderTask is something I have not otherwise encountered in my PIM experiences.

Summary
This really is a super nice and flexible application for note taking and task tracking with a number of really well implemented features. The broad mobile platform support is nice. The documentation could be a bit better, but I found I was able to learn a lot of the features in a short period of time just by using the application. The normal price is $59.95 for a year of upgrades and 1GB of cloud synch of data. I think this is a bit much, but knowing that the application functions just fine without the cloud synch makes this a case of a free app I got from bitsdujour that I actually will end up licensing (with this discount). As a desktop-based app, I have really come to like the features it provides without trying to be a kitchen-sink tool. There’s some really nice capability here, and the fact that it has been around a while and updated/improved gives it a feel of being solid.