How to Add Tasks to Toodledo Using Google Now

In the last post, iPhone owners who use Toodledo learned how they can use Siri's "remind me" command to enter tasks into Toodledo. This post is for Android owners. We examine how to use Google Now, in conjunction with IFTTT to enter tasks into Toodledo. For those new to Google Now (also known as "Google Search"), this video shows over 40 examples of what Google Now can do:



You will notice a "remind me" command is also available in Google Now, but that's not the valuable one for me. I generally don't want audible notification at a particular time. Instead, what I want is a vehicle to simply get a task onto my to-do list as quickly as possible. For that, I use the command "Note to self."

Note to Self
"Note to self" allows me to talk, and Google Now sends an email to my Gmail account with everything I have said neatly typed into the body of the email. The subject of that email will be "Note to self," and that point will become important later. The capability to get a voice message converted to text, waiting for me in my email, is huge. The to-do is off my mind and into my system. When I handle email, I will also see everything I have entered through Google Now. But I want something more.

Update
Before reading further, this update is based on my finding out about a capability in the "official" Toodledo app. I say "official," because many to-do apps will sync with Toodledo. When I began using an Android device some 18 months ago, there was no such app for Android, and so I download an app called "The Ultimate To-Do List," which works beautifully with Toodledo. 

At that time, Toodledo has developed its own app. In the Google Play Store, you will find a free app named "Toodledo." If you have a Toodledo account, download the official app on your Android phone.

The first time you use the "note to self" command, you will probably be presenting with several options of where the note can be sent. Choose Gmail. (Update: If you have installed the official Toodledo app, it will appear as one of your options. Choose it rather than Gmail..) If asked whether you want to select this option once or always, select that you want to use this options always.

Update: If you are using the official Toodledo app with your Android phone, you can stop reading at this point. Using Google's "Note to self" feature will send you voice input straight to your Toodledo list. If you are using another app to sync with Toodledo, read on. Also, if you are using another web-based to-do list, the better ones also have the ability send an email directly to the to-do list. The same instructions you see below will work with any of those lists as well.


Email into Toodledo
One of the nice features of Toodledo is that I am provided with a special email address. Anything sent to that email address goes into Toodledo. The subject of the email becomes the to-do. The body of the email populates the note section of the to-do. If you are a Toodledo user, this post tells you where to find that email address.

So, I speak a "note to self" into Google Now. When I examine email, I can forward that email to my Toodledo address. Now, the to-do is in Toodledo. I am now closer to what I want, but I still have a problem. The to-do is going to read "Note to self," and my voice message is going to be in the note section of the task. That's not what I want. If my message was, "Note to self...Buy dog food," then I want the to-do to read "Buy dog food." I can get it, but it's going to take some ingenuity.

Furthermore, I want to simplify the procedure, so that once I speak a "note to self," what I say winds up in Toodledo without my having to do anything else. I figured out a way to it, and the process has worked beautifully.

IFTTT Eliminates the Middleman
To accomplish my goal, I use "If This Then That", a web-based service which allows different services to work together. I have written about using IFTTT to automate routine tasks in this post, and how to escape a bad meeting in this post. My use of IFTTT to post to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ was discussed in this article.

Remember earlier in this post, I said that when I compose a "note to self," the subject of the email which shows up has "Note to self" as the subject? I want to instruct IFTTT as follows:

• If I receive an email with "Note to self" as the subject,
• Then forward that email to my Toodledo email address. Also remember, I somehow have to get the body of the "note to self" message flipped up into the subject line before it reaches Toodledo.

To create an account, go to http://ifttt.com and sign up a free account. You can now create your first "recipe."

On the dashboard, click on "Create."

On the next screen, click on the "this" link. You are creating the "trigger."

You will now see a list of "channels." In this case, we are going to choose "Gmail."

You may get a message to "Activate" the channel. When you use a channel for the first time, you will generally be asked to activate it. The process takes only a couple of mouse clicks.

On the "Choose a Trigger" screen, select "New mail from search."

On the next screen, we will complete the "search for" blank:

Now click "Create Trigger."

We move on to the "that" part of the recipe. Click on the "that" link.

I see another list of channels. Again, I choose "Gmail." 

On the next screen, you have only one option, "Send an email.." Click it. 

The next screen is the one which will take a little work. The screen will look like this:

We are going to have to do some work here:

1. In the line for the "To address," enter your Toodledo email address.
2. In the "Body" block, highlight and copy the field that says "BodyPlain." Notice that when you click inside the box, the shading disappears, and a double set of brackets appears around the words, like this: {{BodyPlain}} When you highlight, be sure to include those doubles brackets.
3. Go to the "Subject" block. Highlight everything in that block. 
4. Use the "Paste" command (Ctrl+V). The subject block should now read BodyPlain.
5. Highlight everything in the "Body" block. Hit "Delete." 

Your screen should now look like this:

Click "Create Action."

IFTTT composes the contents of the "Description" box for you. Click "Create Recipe." You are done!

Give it a try. Pick up your Android, and use the "Note to self" command. Instantly, you will see an email on your phone with a subject of "Note to self" and your voice message in the body. IFTTT fires every 15 minutes. Wait about 15 minutes and go to Toodledo. You should see your task. With mine, the start date and due date will both be today. These dates appear because in my settings, I have today as the default. Unless I specify something else, every task gets a start and due date of today. You may have a different setting.

Creating an IFTTT account just for this one recipe may seem like too much work. Another way to look at it is that you have had an introduction to IFTTT. It's a powerful service. Simply clicking "Browse" and look at recipes others have created. You will gain an idea of what the service has to offer. 

I do things that are easy. You probably do as well. The "note to self" command coupled with the IFTTT recipe gets thoughts from my head to my to-do list, and all I have to do is talk to my phone. It doesn't get any easier than that!

How You can Improve Productivity Through Voice Input

The great things about our phones are portability, large storage capacity, and their ability to put information at our fingertips when we need it, just to name a few. The terrible thing about our smartphones has traditionally been input.

Let's face it, typing with two thumbs on a piece of glass is no picnic. For every example of a 15-year old who is able to compose a text message with one hand on the phone in his pocket while at the same time looking you in the eye and carrying on a conversation, there are dozens of stories of adults frustrated with trying to compose a three-line email.

I have been a participant in this journey since around 2001 when I started using a Palm synced to my computer. I have housed my calendar, to-do list, contacts, and reference information digitally. Our journey took us through a special alphabet (called "Graffiti") with a stylus on the glass screen. That concept was replaced by small QWERTY keyboards. Steve Jobs felt that a finger on glass was the best method for input. As software which recognizes handwriting on our mobile devices is progressing, the stylus is even making a return.

Yet through it all, none of those methods for input have approached the ease of plain 'ole pencil and paper. That dynamic, however, is changing as voice input is becoming surprisingly accurate and built directly into the operating system.

What capabilities does your device already have? 
In our busy lives, we tend to continue with what is familiar. We acknowledge our devices probably have many more capabilities than we are using. At the same time, pressing deadlines and the learning curve involved puts really learning our devices on the back burner.

Getting good with voice recognition is a skill well worth the little bit of time required to master it. Take a look at your device's keyboard and see if you have one of those keys that depicts a microphone.

Is the capability talked about here already present on your mobile phone? How much could your productivity be improved through using voice input? Email 
Open a new email message. Press that little microphone key and begin speaking. Your voice will be transformed into text, and will be placed at whatever point the cursor is blinking. Have another thought you want to insert into the middle of the paragraph? Touch the screen to move the cursor to the desired point. Tap the microphone, and begin speaking.

To-Do List 
I regularly use voice input to add items to the to-do list on my phone. Tap the icon to open the to-do app, tap the icon to add a new task, tap the microphone, and now I am speaking. When I am done, I tap "OK," and the item is on my list with a start date of today and a due date of tomorrow automatically assigned. If detailed notes related to that task exist, before tapping the "OK," I touch a finger to the note section, and instead of typing the details, I touch the microphone icon again and speak the notes.

Anywhere Else 
Anywhere you could type words on the keyboard, you could touch the microphone key and speak. You will see this key on the iPhone, Android devices, and BlackBerry 10. For those running BlackBerry OS7 or before, you can download apps which will give you some of this capability.

Is the capability talked about here already present on your mobile phone? How much could your productivity be improved through using voice input? I believe you will find the little bit of practice required to get used to it and get good at it will be well worth the long-term benefits.

Google Now

I have been using a mobile device to manage my life since 2001. From the very beginning, input on the device has been the downside. Using two thumbs on a small keyboard does not compare with ten digits on a full-sized keyboard. Typing with two thumbs on a piece of glass presents even more of a challenge.

Voice input has the potential to take that downside and make it irrelevant. Apple's Siri advertisements made millions salivate over the potential voice input could hold.

On my Android, I have experimented with S-Voice, Vlingo, and Dragon Mobile Assistant. What I like much better than any of them is Google Now. I tap the microphone on the home screen of my Android, speak, and get my results quickly.

Voice input has the potential to take that downside and make it irrelevant. My favorite use for Google Now is as a GPS substitute. I do not even have to have an address. Touching the microphone and spreaking the name of the business is all that is needed. Google Now opens Google Maps, displays the street address, and begins giving me verbal driving instructions.

Other common uses I have found include the following:

• Adding calendar events: "Add event...April 25th...9 AM...Hair appointment." (I find I need to keep talking. As soon as you pause, Google Now thinks you are done and processes your results.)
• Adding alarms: "Set alarm for 30 minutes from now." I can also say, "Set alarm for 4:30." If I say, "Set alarm for 4:30. Feed the dogs," the when the alarm sounds, I also see why it was I was setting the alarm.
• Placing phone calls: "Call John Doe."
• Emailing: "Email John Doe...subject...Meeting information...message...Can you meet with me Tuesday morning at 9:00 question mark" Your person, subject, and message will be displayed. Tap to send the message. As you speak your message, you also speak the punctuations. In other words, you say "period" when you want a period in your message.
• Searching the internet: "Tennis racket" returns a Google search for tennis rackets.
• Converting units: "32 degrees Fahrenheit in Celsius." 
• Weather: "What's the weather going to be tomorrow?" "What's the weather going to be tomorrow in Chicago?"

Here is a video which introduces the concept of Google Now:





Here is a side-by-side comparison of Google Now and Siri:




Google Now requires you to be running Jellybean on your Android. Instructions on setup are found here.

For iPhone owners, it looks like Google Now is headed your way also. Here is a short video:



What have I missed? Let me know if you have found another use for Google Now. For iPhone users, is anyone using Google Now at present?

From Jott to reQall

Good things will go away, and when they do, they are replaced with better things. That's a principle I am seeing play out time and time again in the world of technology. It's also a principle that we see demonstrated in many areas of life. In this series of posts, we will examine some of the tools which served me well...until they ceased to exist. The over-arching theme is that what is good gets replaces by something that is better.

In December 2007, I posted "Who Do You Want to Jott?" It was a service that let me call a phone number I had stored my phone's contacts as a speed dial, leave a voice message, and have that message show up in my email with everything I had said transcribed into text. When I handled my email, I would also handle the message.

Like the other posts you will read in this thread, I found myself without Jott. Well...not exactly. Jott was still there, but it was no longer free. I started searching the Internet to see if there was something else that did the same thing. I found the answer in this post.

reQall has been serving as an alternative ever since. This video gives you an idea of some practical applicationsl:





If you visit the reQall site today, you will see that they are now transitioning to be more of a Siri-like service. The site shows them to accepting beta testers for the new service they will unveil:





Voice input is something that began for me with Jott. When the service was no longer free for me and others, it was a disappointment. But the disappointment did not last long. Probably nothing has come further in the last several years than the concept of voice input on our mobile devices. An upcoming post on Google Now will illustrate what I mean. Check back in a couple of weeks for that one

Good things will go away, and when they do, they are replaced with better things.