Organizer – ToDo List, Notes, Appointments…Organizing Application

Available In: App Store       Price: $6.99  

Organizer First off, let me preface this review by saying that I am an organization freak. I spend more than enough of my day clearing my email inbox, keeping my calendar straight, and creating and checking off my list of to-do items. I feel like I have a pretty tight system in place: Outlook for personal information management (PIM) at home, and Gmail for on the road. Google Calendar on the road and a nice OTA sync with the iPhone (thanks Google!). I just switched from Remember the Milk to Toodledo and recently purchased ToDo to keep things in sync on the iPhone. However, when Organizer came up on the review docket, I decided to give it a try.

Overview
Organizer’s screen looks something straight out of a desk planner that I used to have prior to using electronic PIM devices (ah, memories of my first Palm Pilot, or better yet, my Casio clamshell). A long tap on the iPhone’s screen allows you to input text that you can then manipulate (font, size, color) and place wherever you want on the screen. Changing the bullet point to a checkbox alters the item to a task, and options include a nice cut/paste feature, searchable entries, use of emoji, and inclusion of a landscape view upon rotation of the iPhone.

Keeping a Diary
The look of Organizer is appealing, at least to this reviewer. I like the idea of having one app where I can see my schedule, to-do list, random notes, and other drawings all on one screen. With a recent update, the application’s badge shows the number of to-do tasks remaining for the day, and I found this to be a nice touch. Being able to cut/paste and move items around made it very easy to change appointments instead of having to open, edit, and re-save them as you would in a traditional calendar app. The novelty of Organizer is refreshing, and had me considering whether I could use this app on a daily basis.

Getting Things Done, a lot of them.
I was quite frustrated with Organizer at times, and reading the app store reviews, it appears that I was not alone. First, I knew that there were options to change the background color and include holidays, but I could not figure out how to do this for the longest time. It then occurred to me to check the settings from the home screen, and sure enough, there were the missing options. Of course, this makes sense, and I believe it is what developers are supposed to do, but still, it seems that apps find a way around this and I guess I’m just used to being able to access an options menu directly from the application. Next, I had a hard time figuring out how to make a to-do item. After trial and error, I learned that tapping on the bullet point cycles through several options, one of them being a checkbox. Tedious? Absolutely. Lastly, it just seems a bit cumbersome to use this app. This is probably because I’ve grown so accustomed to using my apps of choice for my organization, but still, this app seems to make me more frustrated at times rather than more organized.

Conclusion
Again, I will freely admit that I am definitely on the side of supreme organization and it is because of this that I cannot recommend this app for me at this time. I want my calendar and to-do list to be constantly up to date, and for this, I use Google Calendar, Toodledo, and iPhone apps that will easily sync with these programs. Perhaps, a simpler system could use Organizer as its sole application, and who knows, my life might even benefit from a shift to a simpler method. Unfortunately, I found that while Organizer offered a bit more simplicity, and it certainly offered an aesthetically pleasing appearance, I did not find it any easier to use, and when ease of use decreases, my ease of living also goes down. At $6.99, I’d recommend Organizer for those who don’t already have a calendar/to-do list system in place and will use their iPhone/iPod as the only method. For others, I’d suggest staying with your current method, at least until future updates bring Organizer more functionality.

Organizer App Store Link

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Comments

  1. Hi there feeling really desperate and urs seems like the only good review I can find. Organizer is annoying me because I can’t even find settings! Can you help me by telling me how I even go to home? Thanks.

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  3. An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto
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Trackbacks

  1. […] iPhone App review: Organizer Jump to Comments A new and unique way of keeping track of appointments, to-dos, etc. More like a diary than a PIM solution. Review here. […]

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    Organizer – ToDo List, Notes, Appointments…Organizing Application | Apple iPhone School