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I get a lot of searches coming in related to iGTD. So, inspired by a recent article on 43 Folders, I decided to offer a few of my own tricks for working with what I consider to be one of the best GTD apps for the mac.
As much as I love quicksilver, I use the Quick Add window more than anything to enter my tasks in iGTD, which is F6 from anywhere by default. It gives me features like quicksilver-style completion of contexts and projects, priority levels, a place to enter tags and contacts, etc., and I don’t have to remember the syntax for quicksilver. I’m usually good at crazy syntaxes, but when I just want to quickly enter tasks, I don’t want to think. I just want to get it right and trust that it will go to the right place. If I’m in a real hurry, or unsure what to do with a task, I do one of two things. I’ll either use the quicksilver shortcut with very few options (just the title of the task and possibly a note) or use the Quick Add dialog, enter a title and press return. The Quick Add window leads to the task in iGTD, which is usually what I want because it gives me a chance to further examine the task, manually order it within a project, set flags and effort levels, etc.
I also use the MailTags integration, almost more than the Quick Add. Pressing F5 (default key) while viewing a mail message will create a task with the body of the message in the notes, a link to the message, the senders name in the title, and quite a few other options based on MailTags great features. Since most of my jobs come to me by email, this works extremely well.
One thing I’ve learned is that if a task sticks around too long, it probably needs to be a project. iGTD makes this simple with the ability to promote a task to a project. Pressing ⌥-⌘-p will get you there, which also brings up the wonderful fact that Bartlomiej has created keyboard shortcuts for just about every possible action in iGTD, including an amazing new “type-ahead” feature that lets you skip around projects and contexts by typing the first few letters of the project or context’s name. Anyway, if a task has become a thorn in my side, it’s time to break it down by promoting it to a project and creating a more actionable list of tasks within the project. These are usually dependent tasks, but on occasion they all need to be done simultaneously (or in no particular order), in which case you can press the info button at the bottom of the project list in the Projects view and set dependent or single tasks for the project. You can also make projects inactive, which can help with sorting and project management.
When I’m in “To Complete” view, I love the ability to sort by multiple columns. I usually sort first by priority. Then by holding down the command key and clicking the due date column I can bring tasks that are due immediately to the top of the list. Then by command clicking the flagged column I can sort those tasks by their flagged status. And lastly, I’ll sort by the effort column if necessary to quickly pick out what I can accomplish at any given time.
Besides multi-column sorting, I use a couple of other tricks to see my “To Complete” view in different ways depending on my available time and the state of my action list. I use flagging as a secondary “due date” column. I try to avoid setting arbitrary due dates on projects when there isn’t a hard deadline. I used to just set a due date to encourage myself to get it done. Now during my daily and weekly reviews, I flag tasks that are duly important but not due at a specific date. Then in the “To Complete” view, I can sort by flags or even view “Flagged Only” to narrow my list down to the most important of the important tasks. By carefully ordering my tasks within their projects during my reviews, I can make good use of the “Next Actions Only” option as well. With those two checkboxes checked, and priority sorting on, I can easily see what’s up next and of the utmost importance. But I don’t live with those options on. If I have a more relaxed day, I usually keep “Next actions only” on, but view all of my tasks, current and future, flagged and non-flagged, to get an idea of what’s really on my list.
Delegation, as far as I know, is not fully implemented yet. It’s started, but not there. I use tagging to delegate projects. I create a tag, “delegated”, add a contact for the person responsible, and then put the task on hold. Using a smart folder, I view all tasks with the tag “delegated”. It’s a multi-step process, but it works fine for me.
I’m getting used to the recently-added archiving feature. It’s not going to replace Yojimbo for me, but it does give me an option to store tasks with important information in an organized manner, and to catalog bookmarks and file links in a way that serves as a great point of reference.
So that’s an overview of some of my favorite features of this program. iGTD is growing up so fast it’s hard to keep up with everything it can do these days. I’m hoping it doesn’t get too bloated along the way, but for now it’s only getting sweeter. And the updates just keep coming. 
Nice write-up. I also use iGTD (and Quicksilver, of course) extensively and enjoy its functionality and the pace of development. I initially tried to wait for OmniFocus, but iGTD has everything I need.
The promotion from a task to a project is a good way to handle those task descriptions which are just too general. Seems like I should use this feature more.
Nice addition to the discussion about iGTD. Thanks
Minor typo: “… Bartlomiej has created keyboard shortcuts …” Probably meant Bartek Bargiel?
iGTD is getting huge attention lately and I made a filter in Endo (News reader) to look for blog titles with iGTD. iGTD has an F-key intergration between Endo and iGTD, so if I bump into and article I need to read later I go: F6 and it’s a new task in iGTD under @Reading.
One thing that I have not seen anyone mention yet is that besides making webpages, emails and more to new tasks in iGTD, you can also use Services to make selected text from many application to a task.
If you run an “About iGTD” Bartek is listed as Bartlomiej, so that’s the name I went with. I’m never sure exactly what to go with, so I often just call him “the author”. Either way, he’s been a busy guy doing some excellent work!
Ok, you are right. About iGTD, forgot to look there. It is the only place I have seen the name like this.
Yes, and I agree about iGTD: Excellent. A Pro/Commercial version is in the pipes too.
Personally, somewhere along the line, iGTD got too many features for me. I just got my invite to test Omnifocus, and so far, it’s perfect for me, alpha and all. I’m really looking forward to using it a bit more, and really getting to know all of it’s capabilities, but like I said, so far, it’s exactly what I’ve wanted in GTD app.
I’m looking forward to testing out OmniFocus. I haven’t quite reached the breaking point with features yet, but if things keep expanding the way they are, I’m afraid I might. I’ve been tracking the OmniFocus news thus far and it looks like it will be a great app. Can’t wait to review it ;).
I have been reading a lot about iGTD and GTD in general lately. It seems to me that many welcome iGTD because they are not GTD’ers literally by the book and love the flexibility it offers.
OmniFocus looks very nice and to me kind of kGTD on steroids. I think the programs are heading in different directions and it will be hard to choose between them.
I don’t understand these comments about too many features or that users are not GTD’ers by the book. If you want to do GTD “by the book” but on a computer interface, then iGTD lets you do it with minimum fuss and muss and almost zero learning curve (assuming you read the book). When an app gets more features than I need, they become “unused features”. If these features intrude - i.e. confuse the user interface, they become “nuissance features”. If these features slow down startup or operations, then I am unhappy.
So far, some of the features are unused, none are nuisances. Some are actually helpful. I have not seen any problem with speed.
The “archive” feature is one example. I seems directly analogous to a set of 4 A-Z file drawers behind my desk to drop things from my inbox that are “reference”, not “actions” nor “trash”.
Something about the name (I was born in Poland, so I know the facts ;)
The official name is Bartlomiej (in Poland: Bart?omiej) Bargiel. Bartek is rather the name friends use. I think it’s the same thing like with Michael and Mike. You can say Mike, but the official name is Michael.
[…] The design, naturally is extremely user friendly with the user able to view the different context of a given action e.g. is it complete, waiting for etc. A detailed description of iGTD’s functionality is available from Circle Six Design […]
I too think that iGTD features are awesome. Bartek has created a ton of features to allow your GTD system work the way you want it to. The unused features do not get in the way. Everyone has a different flavor of how they implement the GTD methodology and the flexible features of iGTD pretty much fit any GTD style.
[…] for anyone feeling overwhelmed by the program, the documentation is very useful and some other users have shared the ways they leverage iGTD’s power in their day-to-day […]
[…] One of the keys was to get going with iGTD. I cruised through the tutorials, read some other articles, created some contexts and projects. I use Quicksilver to quickly add a task and get it out of my head. My favourite articles about iGTD were Michael Buffington’s “How I use iGTD” and My Personal iGTD. […]
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