Gina Trapani, founding father of the web site you are studying proper now, popularized a plaintext format for to-do lists approach again in 2006 (please excuse any bizarre formatting on that just about 20-year-old article). Referred to as Todo.txt, it’s utilized by many individuals to today, partly because of an ecosystem of purposes constructed across the format.
I just lately chanced on Calendar.txt, by writer and trainer Tero Karvinen. It is a textual content doc primarily based on an identical philosophy—a stripped down, just-the-basics take in your overloaded calendar app. It is a idea price contemplating. We’re at the very least a decade into the “utilizing a separate app for every thing” period, and certain, a whole lot of these apps are fairly nice. I’ve spent years recommending software-based instruments for every thing from managing duties to making drinks, and I do not plan to cease anytime quickly.
However not everybody wants a bespoke app for every thing they do. Productiveness is private, and everybody has completely different wants. I’ve recognized a number of extremely technically competent individuals who nonetheless use paper day planners to trace their appointments and duties—a easy pocket book is versatile in a approach that no app can match.
One line of textual content per day
I view plaintext instruments like Calendar.txt in an identical gentle. This particular instrument is about so simple as it will get: It makes use of one line of textual content for daily. You’ll be able to obtain a pre-made file with strains for dates that stretches via the yr 2033, or you’ll be able to simply make your personal.
Each line begins with the date, adopted by the week quantity, adopted by a three-letter week identify. The concept is that you simply write your appointments after that, by merely writing the time, adopted by the identify of the occasion. Occasions are merely added, so as, to the road.
So, for instance, a line for in the present day, with one appointment/process (me cleansing the home this afternoon) would seem like this:
2025-03-06 w10 Thu 14 cleansing the home
There are numerous shortcomings to this method. There isn’t any built-in instrument for reminding you of occasions, for one factor, and there is no technique to invite others to your appointment. However this easy method may be just right for you.
And, as todo.txt demonstrated twenty years in the past, there are advantages to utilizing plaintext recordsdata. Plaintext is flexible, could be opened on any machine, and your recordsdata will not disappear as a result of some software program firm decides it needed to alter its priorities. If you happen to’re conversant in the command line, you should use present instruments in every kind of attention-grabbing methods. For instance, the calendar.txt documentation exhibits how you should use grep, a instrument for looking out textual content paperwork, to drag up in the present day’s appointments:
grep 2025-03-06 calendar.txt
You might use the identical command to seek for occasions by the day.
Credit score: Justin Pot
Once more, this method will not appear helpful to everybody—particularly in case you by no means open the command immediate—however not each instrument must be for each person. Solely you’ll be able to determine which instruments work greatest for you.
