Google Tasks: Anybody Else Had Their Data Scrambled?

[PeteCress]

Google Tasks Organizer v3.2.8.1 on my N7000 and 3.2.8.2 on my 10.1" Note.

I've got over a dozen different Task Lists in my Google account.

Today, one of them (just one.... not all or some... just ONE) turned up
empty.

The name of the list was "Dates" and had all the dates that matter to
me... peoples birthdays, life events, and so forth. Beeeeeg list... so
there is no chance that I accidentally deleted the data.

I use Tasks as a heirarchical list manager - not as a list of things to do.

But it's entire contents seem to not be there anymore. Instead, some of them have appeared in another list. Others are just gone altogether.

Also, on all lists, the ability to collapse-expand heirarchies has disappeared.

And when viewing those lists through the web-based interface on my PC, the heirarchies/indentations have disappeared altogether... just a straight list.

Am I the only one?

 

[electricpete]

I am a heavy user of Google Tasks on PC and also accessing the same Tasks via the Android App named "Tasks" by Team Tasks (not a google product...I don't think google has any android app for this but they publsih an API which developers use to create android apps which access google tasks).

I haven't had any scrambling, but it's scary to think that could happen.

I've seen the indents but I've never seen an ability to collapse the hierarchy.

What App are you using to access Tasks on your Android phone?

 

[PeteCress]

I haven't had any scrambling, but it's scary to think that could happen.
What App are you using to access Tasks on your Android phone?

Google Tasks Organizer v3.2.8.1 on a Samsung Note 1 (N7000).

viz: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tinjasoft.tasks

What bothers me about Google Tasks is that there is no way to back things up: the user is totally dependent on what's there at the moment.

I've done the eMail thing - and it's close because it generates plain text instead of .PDFs, but there really should be some sort of proper backup.

Been waiting for CarbonFin to port their most excellant heirarchical list app from IOS, but somehow I don't think it's going to happen.

The lack of a usable heirarchical list app is, to me, the main downside of moving to Android.

 

[electricpete]

I’m on my 2nd smartphone and both have been Androids, so I’m not in a position to compare to other platforms. But I can easily believe it could be done better.

My take fwiw: Google is a master of syncing things accessed from multiple devices and platforms. They’ve done it flawlessly on my gmail, calendar, contacts, Google Tasks, Google Keep etc for a long time and I can’t say I have heard of GOOGLE scrambling any data on my account or anyone else’s (reading the forums).

So if I had to guess I’d say it was GTO that scrambled the data during interaction with Google. GTO is I’m sure made by a much smaller and newer company.

But I still share some complaints with you. First: why doesn’t Google provide their own Android app for Tasks? It’s obviously a very popular need. It leaves us to sort through tens of very similar but not identical 3rd party programs…haven’t found one I’d call great. And Tasks has no provisions to attach voice or photos… for that you need Google Keep which is also a passable personal organization program with alarms, manual sorting, date sorting etc. And Google does make it’s own Android App for Keep (unlike for Tasks). BUT Keep is not quite great for personal organization tool either: doesn’t have categories (unless you count color-coding), doesn’t have indenting for hierarchy.

 

[PeteCress]

So if I had to guess I’d say it was GTO that scrambled the data during interaction with Google.

That's what my gut says.

GTO on one device or another hoses the data. Data gets synched to the cloud. Other devices synch to the cloud...



My impression is that Tasks remains something of an unwanted child. Google haven't even seen fit to give it it's own web page. Instead, the user has to open a pop-up and then tell it to expand into a separate window.

Plus nobody's picked up on the obvious fact that "Tasks" isn't really just tasks - it's a heirarchical list manager and a few extra features would greatly expand it's utility.

What used to surprise me is that CarbonFin has not seen fit to port from IOS to Android.

But upon reflection, I suspect they may feel they would get squashed like a bug once Google catches on to the potential of Tasks.

But, even having said that, I would think there is a growing market out there for basic functionality that synchs between devices but does not ask the user to trust Google - especially in light of recent assertions about the depth of penetration by NAS (not that they bother me that much - believing in the safety of the herd... but it's got to bug a substantial portion of the populace). mSecure for passwords does this: it synchs to my PC leaving it up to me to back up my PC.

 

[electricpete]

They haven't even seen fit to give it it's own web page. Instead, the user has to open a pop-up and then tell it to expand into a separate window.

If you go here it opens directly into full-page Task access:
https://mail.google.com/tasks/canvas
(at least that works on my pc running chrome and signed in as google user... not sure about other browsers).

My impression is that Tasks remains something of an unwanted child

Agreed. Google doesn't seem to have been updating the features of Tasks as many had hoped. I haven't really found anything similar for Android syncing with cloud that does better although I also haven't looked very far. So far I tended to like to stick close to Google-centric products (chrome, gmail, Android system, Tasks) in the hope that they work well together, which they usually do. (example - chrome bookmarks from pc automatically show up as chrome bookmarks on Android). But the Google options in this task/organizer area are admittedly bare-bones.

 

[electricpete]

https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/gtasks-by-dato/LWLwGP7Uu6U
Above link has discusion of a third party backup tool for Google Tasks. I think due DATES would be backed up but the reminder TIMES from programs like gto would not be backed up.