Open-Source Chandler Takes New Task Tack, but Can Be Confusing - Flexible Solution (
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These days, e-mails and tasks are often one and the same.
Chandler helps users create what essentially amounts to a centralized to-do
list that can be broken down into more specific to-do lists.
To do this, I configured Chandler to work with both my
corporate Microsoft Outlook account and my personal Gmail account. Once I set
this up, three Chandler folders—for tasks, events and e-mail—appeared in both
of these accounts. I could then go through my in-boxes and put appropriate
e-mails into these folders.
I then opened the Chandler desktop application and clicked
the Sync button from the tool bar, which allowed my selected e-mails to funnel
into Chandler. In addition, anything I designated as an event was immediately
integrated into the application’s calendar feature.
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I also had the option of configuring outgoing e-mail
accounts so I could take action on e-mails I had funneled into the
application’s mail folder.
One innovative feature is Chandler’s
ability to let users turn an e-mail into something other than an e-mail. For
example, I could make an e-mail a task or an event. If I did the latter, the
e-mail/event then appeared in the Chandler’s calendar feature, which meant it
could also be sent to other invitees via my Outlook or Gmail accounts.
I was able to further prioritize tasks, e-mail and events by
using Chandler’s triage function, which sorts items as “now,” “later” and
“done.” This feature is handy, but I thought it could be expanded on to give
users more options for prioritizing when things get done. For example, it would
be nice to have more variations in the “later” category—something that would
help light a fire under users when needed.
The product’s developers say there will be less emphasis on
using Chandler as an e-mail client in the 1.0 release.
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