Tasks and Calendar together - why so hard???!!!

[windowstomac]

I've been trying to break away from the last couple of things that have kept me running my Windows 7 VM.

Although I use Mail for my email (hosted Exchange), I've always ended up flipping back to Windows Outlook for tasks and calendar management, for the simple reason that it allows me to see my appointments and tasks on a single screen list view (see image).

I've tried Outlook for Mac, which doesn't offer the same view. Mavericks has split the Calendar and Reminder functionality, and it's not ideal anyway as I want to see the whole week laid out. This helps with scheduling and those moments when you have to quickly work out for a client whether you can shuffle things around to fit another assignment in.

I want (and need) something that handles this like Windows Outlook and I can't believe it's so difficult to achieve.

I've also tried Fantastical, but that doesn't do it quite right either - it's more like a list view.

I will be eternally grateful to the person who finds the solution!

 

[BrianBaughn]

Apple has separated Reminders and Calendars for some reason. I've never heard a decent explanation.

Microsoft's Mac version of Outlook has many flaws. That's one of them. You can see a single day like you're describing, sort of, in the "My Day" window but that has it's own set of issues.

There's not even a decent alternative to Exchange that will do this. At the Gmail web interface, you can see a day's tasks at the top of a day. That's the closest I've seen. Trouble is...Google Tasks doesn't sync with Mac/iOS Reminders, even when you're paying for ActiveSync hosting there. There is a free iOS app you can get for Google Tasks, GoTasks, that works pretty well. Looks better than the horrible new iPhone reminders app.

I've got Mac user clients who've gone Google (hosted) and they never use the Mac Calendar. They just keep a Chrome browser window on Google Calendar. I've got a Google-hosted domain and I do the same with that, really.

The only reason that I can see to have a hosted Exchange account is to use Outlook for Windows. I also have an Office 365 account (because of another user on Windows) but rarely crank up Outlook on my Windows machine.

 

[windowstomac]

Hi Brian,

Thank you for you input.

I went with BusyCal in the end, in the early hours of this morning. I now have it running in a separate fullscreen space, and with the exception of the loss of my coloured categories for tasks , I have my preferred workflow back.

http://www.busymac.com/busycal/

I just turned off my Windows VM!

B

 

[Oakbridge]

I am biased (see my signature) but I have also been a user of Daylite for 10 years now. The thing that attracted me in the very beginning was the ability to handle both tasks and my calendar AND link them to my contacts. It's difficult to even think about looking at a task and not have it linked to someone or something. It integrates with Apple Mail so I can read an email and create tasks and appointments right from within Mail.

 

[wtwine]

This is why I use Thunderbird email client on my Mac. The Lightning calendar plugin in Thunderbird can handle Google calendar events AND tasks. The fact the Mac's Cal can't sync Google tasks is the only reason I don't use it as my main calendar app.

 

[tryingmac@work]

I am biased (see my signature) but I have also been a user of Daylite for 10 years now. The thing that attracted me in the very beginning was the ability to handle both tasks and my calendar AND link them to my contacts. It's difficult to even think about looking at a task and not have it linked to someone or something. It integrates with Apple Mail so I can read an email and create tasks and appointments right from within Mail.

Hello Oakbridge, i realize it has been a while since this post was written however i wanted more information on Daylite.

I use my mac at work and miss the functionality of Outlook Tasks and Calendars integrated into Mail, but also appreciate the notifications and functions associated with the apple ecosystem.

I noticed your response and was wondering if you had more information.

Thanks