I’ve decided a few things about Org Mode.

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Org mode is an amazing tool - probably the best planner/organizer/todo list/outiner/editor system there ever was and is. In fact, I know of non-coders who have learned Emacs just to be able to use org-mode. And learning Emacs is not for the faint of heart. But org-mode is that powerful that it entices people towards it who would never normally touch code with a ten foot pole.

However, I’ve found that it has one failing: It has limited mobile capabilities.

Now, I know that people will point to Beorg and other apps (I use the excellent Plain Org myself), but you can’t really edit things so easily on the fly, and you can’t build your org-mode agenda from those files in any way that I can see. It’s just a bit of a hassle.

Enter Apple Reminders. Better than Apple Calender for many things, I use Apple Reminders for everything non-computer/project related. Meaning: Chores, shopping lists, repeating tasks around the house or in the real world. I save org for anything that requires me to be at the computer. That way, I can carry my tasks around with me related to the real world, and save the excellent project management system of org-mode for my computer when it’s fully available.

I find myself saving links to Plain Org all the time (I have an inbox.org and a refile system which works wonders) and I can open those files up on my phone or iPad with no problems whatsoever. But for the tasks themselves, I use Apple Reminders.

Apple Reminders is getting better and better every year. They now have smart tags which work in conjunction with Apple Notes (which I also use for a few non-computer things). This way, you can build smart lists, such as Weekly Chores, Daily Chores, Bi-Monthly Chores, etc…all related to the real world for me and not the computer one. You can set geotag location things to pop up when you’re in an area (if you bother to set that up, which I have) so that you won’t forget to do or buy something when you’re there. It also looks very… “Apple”. Meaning: Minimalist, colourful, simple and easy. In fact I’ve taken out many of my repeating tasks and reminders from Apple’s Calendar (also very good), and put them into Reminders in my smart lists.

This way, I’m starting an entirely easy to manage set of two systems which could not be easier to decide upon: Is it related to my computer and something online? Then it goes into org-mode. If not, it goes into Apple Reminders.

It also allows me to minimalise the amounts of data I have in org-mode at any given time and concentrate fairly large plans and writing just in that system alone, so that I don’t clutter up my nicely managed Reminders system.