Reader Tip on Sorting Palm Task List Alphabetically

During my sabbatical, Paul Garth emailed me with a question about how to alphabetize Palm’s task list. I knew a way and described it to him, but it was an ugly brute force method. And, as soon as you modified a task, you would have to go through the process again.

Paul did not give up, though, and researched ways to do this. He sent me an email detailing how to do it, and I got his permission to reprint it here. I appreciate Paul doing this, and believe many Palm users will find it to be of interest. I know I always thought the Palm task list was the best task list design of any PDA, except for the annoyance of not being able to sort the tasks alphabetically. So, I think it is great that Paul found a way to do this.

Note that a key reason I set this blog up is for us to share ideas and tips, so I love it when you share your ideas and tips. That’s why I decided to start the week off with a tip from a reader. If you have a tip you would like to share, send it in to me and let me know you would like to share it.

Here is the information Paul provided to me:

I think I found a possible solution for alpha-sorting items within a GTD Category. I installed it and it works fine. Here’s the info …

Desired outcome:

• Continue using Vanilla Palm O/S built-in Task and Calendar applications (to manage GTD Projects and Actions)
• Avoiding using more in-depth apps like Agendus (overly complex; costs money)
• Sort alphabetically the items within each Category

By default, Palm does not sort items within categories. I find it easier to locate items when sorted — especially Agendas & Waiting-Fors (leading characters are the person’s initials). Projects being worked on behalf of another are easier to find with the leading characters being their initials (eg. MD/ Bluetooth synching resolved) … This will group all projects focused on MD/ together.

Note: I find consistently using a “/” after the initials makes it easier to do an accurate high-level search for all references to someone

Possible Solution: Two free applications are called KsToDo and KsDatebook

• KsToDo (replaces Tasks) - KsToDo is a replacement for built-in ToDo of Palm OS . While keeping basic appearance and operation of built-in ToDo, it has some advantages if you use it with KsDatebook. Since KsToDo uses the same database as built-in ToDo, you can still use the data that already exists, while the data inputted through KsToDo can be shown/editable in Palm Desktop on your PC by HotSync.
• KsDatebook (replaces Calendar) - KsDatebook is a replacement for built-in Datebook of Palm OS . While keeping basic appearance and operation of built-in Datebook, it is more convenient as it has additional features such as Weekly view with text (WeekList view) as well as text display in Monthly view. Since KsDatebook uses the same database as built-in Datebook, you can still use the data that already exists, while the data inputted through KsDatebook can be shown/editable in Palm Desktop on your PC by HotSync.

Installation Notes:

• Make a backup of data — always recommended
• Download the .PRC files for both and load into Palm
• The installation was remarkably simple and I redefined my buttons (Tasks, Calendar) for each respectively
• Within KsToDo I sorted alpha by going to: Show, Sort by: Description, Priority