How would you sort by tags? Considering you could have 10 tags, which one would it sort by and how useful would that really be?

I think I suggested this a long time back, but how about showing the tags directly in the list? Something like the way gmail displays labels from the list view. In my opinion, the hover properties thing is flashy but not so functional. I'd rather have more information available on my tasks all the time and not just when I have selected a single task.

Perhaps you could specify the tags that mattered for the sort? So that of my 300 tags, I only cared about my six context tags?

Much more on sorting over here: http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/3145/#12497

Erik, Gmail's labels are a great model for how tags could be exposed within the list - this would be very helpful in smart lists where the context of a task may be lost.

I agree - I would love it. I would set my next actions smartlist to sort by tag. I would probably keep the rest of my lists sorted by task name and/or priority.

Sort by tags would be helpful because it would group tags together. It would be fine if it sorted the tags alphabetically. I would really appreciate this added functionality.

Lowell

My vote is this option

+1
I organize my projects per tag and I am not going to create 10 smart lists for each project

+1, for exactly the same reason as garnierjm

This is a great idea. I would love to be able to print one list that had all my @phone tasks listed together, all my @phone tasks together, and so on.

I use a list for my grocery shopping - and I think it would be really great to sort a list by the tag -- so that my "grocery shopping list" could be sorted by items tagged produce, dairy, meats, bakery etc. I can think of lots of good uses for this, this is just an example.

YES! I'm eager to be able to sort by tags and, as osmaneralp says, be able to print groups of tasks relative to the context/location of what I have to do

I figured it out: use smartlists! Check out "Tips & Tricks" forum for Tuesday, June 23, 2009 by Emily Boyd about how to make smart lists. I made one for each of my 6 tags and now they show up right along with my folder tabs at the top of the main tasks window.

Smart lists are wonderful, but the desire of sorting by tag is to permit one to have one list where the tasks are logically grouped within it, rather than having to refer to multiple lists. This is useful for export, for Gcal, for printing, and for assessing relative effort across multiple areas.

Per-list, multi-variate, customizable sorting remains in my mind one of the areas RTM could really easily improve their task management without having to revamp the UI drastically.

I'd like to see sorting by tags too.

To answer lwallach's question using sarah.whitfield's example, let's say you have the following tags: groceries, produce, dairy, meats, bakery. All of your groceries are tagged with groceries and one of the others.

Your smart list would filter on tags:groceries. RTM would then sort on tags by first removing any tags from the sort that appear in all items in the view--groceries, in this case. It would then sort the remaining tags and then sort the tasks with those tags in that order. Within each tag, it would sort by priority, due date, and alphabetical order (as it does now by default). If a task has more than one tag (not counting the primary tag such as groceries), the task is sorted by the smallest tag.

In addition to groceries, my use cases include packing lists.

Thanks!

I'd much prefer to just click the Sort by box and select Tags.

Yes, that's precisely what the user would do!

I was describing what the user would expect to see after he or she selected "tags" in the sort by list.

+1 for what mdfloyd1 said. "Sort by tag" as an option in the "sort by" box, that is definitely the feature I miss most in the entire RTM universe.

This is a tough situation. Since we all have different tagging schemas, we all want different tag sorting schemas. The systems suggested above would work for the individuals suggesting them, but not for most of us. And it seems like the only use for them is for a secondary use of RTM - keeping shopping lists. And there have been some excellent suggestions in other threads on this subject to get a grocery list sorted by aisle without having to add a major feature to RTM that would suit but a few.

I'd much prefer that the developers devote their time to something like incorporating weekdays into the duration and repeating schemas that are more directly in concert with RTM's primary purpose, task management, and more likely to benefit the majority of users. I very much doubt there's a tag sorting methodology that would suit more than a small fraction of RTM's users.

@cdhsman: Your view is in the minority, at least in this thread. The workarounds in other threads (creating additional lists) are really unacceptable; my list tabs already fill the page! I have absolutely no need of duration, and I can say as easily as you that this is the same view as the majority of users (since you didn't cite a reference).

Note that a shopping lists is not the only use case. I would use the sort by tag feature for a half-dozen packing and standing todo lists that I have. Others can certainly cite additional use cases.

Note that your post was not constructive in any way and was too full of subjective opinion. It is up to the developers to determine which feature is the most popular, and negative posts such as yours do not help. It occurs to me that you've probably added this note to all feature requests which don't suit your personal fancy.

Definitely not cool.

Thanks for you're highly objective, totally constructive and utterly cool reply! :)

I guess if no negative opinions are allowed, that would explain why mine is the only one. Someone please point me to the guidelines saying one can't post against a suggestion, if done politely and in a constructive way.

+1 for Sort by Tag ... surely this would be quite easy to implement ? pleeeeeease RTM :)

+1 this would be great, for organizing shopping lists. I currently have to pre-pend all my shopping items with a code to sort them for easy access at the grocery store.

+1 totally... please please please... ;)
i was quite surprised that this does not already exist along with all the other cool functionality you already have ;)

I just came on to post about this and see that I already did back in January of 2008. I really hope we can add this - even just a simple alpha sort by tags of a list (just like priority, due date or task name). Would be so helpful!

I agree with tobias.voigt, mdfloyd1 and others to "Sort by tag" as an option in the "sort by" box. Not just for grocery lists: I tag my work tasks by project, and would like to sort by project without having to go through multiple smartlists. This is a huge big deal in my world and is making me look at exporting my lists to another program in January when my pro membership runs out.

This was a good suggestion two years ago, and it is still a good idea. I know that sorting by tag can present a range of UI difficulties, but I think it would be very powerful for a wide range of users and use cases.

Are we still waiting for sort by tag functionality? I'd like to use tags to group my grocery list, and a sort by tag is the only way I can think to do it.

Yes, we are still waiting.

I've found yet another need for sort-by-tags at work. I'm working around the problem by creating a single task and adding the sub-tasks to the task's note (rather than create separate tasks with additional tags). I make the sub-tasks active by cut and pasting them from the note into tasks. But it would be much better to make them all tasks and just give them additional tags.

I'd suggest that a RTM representative add a note here to give us the status on this request. If we don't hear in a week. we can only assume they have not seen this thread at all. In that case, the Pro members should probably all submit a support request and reference this thread (forums/ideas/3158).

wohler, we read every post in these forums (and take everything into consideration as we further develop RTM!), but we can't comment on individual feature requests -- please see our FAQ for more info. Thanks! :)

Also need this badly.

+1 ditto on sorting grocery lists by aisle, which sorting by tags would help implement

+1 - would largely make up for my desire for nested tasks/subtasks

+1 here for tag sorting as well! This is an awesome product. If there was a Palm app for my Centro, it would be well worth the Pro membership...

+1 here for sorting by tags!
It would be nice to just click the Sort by box and select Tags.

I'd also like sorting by tags within a list... like others have said, it would partially compensate for not having subtasks...

Just started using this program on my MotoDroid - LOVE it and will be showing my husband how to use it tomorrow so that he can add things quickly from his Blackberry instead of trying to call or e-mail while it is on his mind (and before he forgets it again).

Honestly, I was confused when I tried to do a "sort by tags" within a task tab. I simply *assumed* (yes, horrible I know) that with all the other functionality RTM has, that this was a "given". I really thought that I had stayed up WAY too late and was missing it. But now I see after searching and searching, that it is not a part of the current program.

PLEASE add this function!

Subtasks would be great as well, since there are so many things that have many parts to be completed before they actually are *complete*. But I respect that you want to keep the function simple. Adding one more sort field would be GREAT.

+1 I was wondering how to do this as well, my shopping list is all over the place and sorting by tags would put it all in nice neat groups

+1 for the same reason as lowelltindell.

+1 I just changed over from using ThinkingRock and was really surprised that RTM does not have a more powerful sort feature. Like darcey.denton above, I just assumed that this feature would be available given the pleathora of other excellent features RTM offers. Please add this feature! I'd even pay extra for it.

I didnt read the whole conversation here but for me it would be really useful to print out a check list that is sorted by tags or lists then priority and due date....
Eg
I have 10 key accounts to work with
Company X
Company Y
Company Z

When I print out a checklist I'd like to have everything on one sheet
Company X
task1
task2
task3

Company Y
task1
task2
task3

Company Z
task1
task2
task3

Cheers,
Meli

I also understand this is an individual request but it looks like it's not only me who's missing this feature.

For the list I am looking at, sort by tag (tag name a-z or z-a) then by the regular priority and date

Please do this. More sorting options don't seem that difficult...just sort tags alphabetically as if they were prepended to the start of the task's name.

For the record I also want sorting by date added...why not do both at the same time? :-)

+1 for Sort by Tag!
It will be obviously Good Interface about default pageview!

+1
I agree with the others.

YES!!!

+1
Could be a useful also to have a sort of "subtasking" (main task = tag).

+1

why don't you do it by colour coding the task groups?

Sort/group by tags (like melinda.balazs said) and color code. Outlook has done it for years.

@ olivetre But there are only 3 colors available and I'm sure many of us have more task groups than that

+ more

+1

It sounds like a similar issue that google is against in gmail. The claim is that the search functionality provides a more robust method for finding items with a given tag/label while maintaining a simple interface. Given the many variations of possible tags, the UI for sorting tagswould never satisfy the majority of users without becoming overly cumbersome. If 20 task have the tag "office" the they still need to be 'sorted'. If a task has multiple tags how do you place it in the grouping. Sorting is best left to the three main segregations: priority, due date, name.

However, there is a compromise. Custom sorting. Simply put, if each task in a list (not a smart list) could have a 'csort' number this would allow anyone to arrange their list as they see fit. It would also give RTM checklist functionality. The only programing needed would be to add a feature to the general task class called 'csort', which is a simple integer. You don't even need to provide error checking, because task could have the same 'csort' number and simply show up together similar to the priority sorting functionality.

This would allow me to have three task:
Read
Write
Publish

Show up in my list like:
1) Read
2) Write
3) Publish

If I added the task 'Think' with csort=2 then it would appear as:
1) Read
2) Think
2) Write
3) Publish

And a task 'No Sort' with csort=null as:
1) Read
2) Think
2) Write
3) Publish
No Sort

To make it more robust there could be a function in the drop down menu to increase/decrease csort value for task, allowing easay multi task editing of the csort index.

That's my 2 cents. Feedback is appreciated.

I use the GTD system whereby tasks are sorted by context. Therefor I use lists to group Projects/Areas of responsibility and tags to define context. I would LOVE a sort by tags feature. I just want the list to group items of like tags together, so simple and so frustratingly absent.

+1 .. showing tags and being able to sort by them is OBVIOUSLY needed as an option

Yes please! An alpha sort on tag name would be fantastic.

+1 PLEASE!!!

yes, please !

+1 badly needed

Shocked this feature isn't there... please add this!!!

+1

I would also love to be able to sort by tags, I'm trying to set up a GTD system, and would like to be able to sort my next actions by project

yepp, same as tobbesjufem.

tagged "na" on top, tagged "waiting" at the bottom. as easy as that :)

A definite need!

amazing that after 6 years still talking about sorting by tags...I am a consultant and have work tasks for multiple clients. I use the tags by client. Would love it if they grouped together...I'd settle for alpha sort.

Agree with sentiments here - crazy you cannot sort by tags. Competitors can, but not RTM.

I agree sorting by tags will be very helpful!

Also agree and would love to be able to sort by tags. Even better would be a multi level sort - for example sort by tags then by priority.

Yes, a custom "multi-level" sort function would be one of my primary requests.
Thank you.

Sorting by tags (contexts) when using RTM for GTD is mandatory!

I think this sorting request should be merged with this one here (http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/11914/), which is (as far as I can tell) the mother of all "More sorting options, please!" thread.

this is the same as idea 6479.

please merge these so we can get the voting weight correct!

Please add this feature. Thank you

I am also interested in being able to sort by tags. I have a "Shopping" list, where I tag each item by the store I could buy it from (grocery, Home Depot, Target, etc). I would love to be able to see the list organized by the store. I have no due dates for these or priority, and alphabetical order doesn't particularly help.

Tag sorting would be an amazing feature. It would really make RTM a powerful tool for task-management. But at what cost? Sorting in RTM is limited to single value fields. Many of the examples given by users in favor of tag sorting also reflect this limitation.

How would you sort a list were tags are used to track the status, context, and category of a task? Would a task be grouped "not started" or "at_computer" or "work"? RTM cannot make this decision for you so in effect the new functionality becomes a restriction in using tags. Does this make sense from a developer's standpoint?

Simplicity is the key to RTM's success. There is a reason we don't like the competitors. Tag sorting has too many variables. That's the beauty of tags, they can be anything you want. Any field that you find RTM lacking, tags can be. But with everyone using it as their own unique fields, there is no way to implement a system wide tag sorting protocol without 1) complicating RTM or 2) being so simple it is useless.

Don't like having too many list? Use A Bit Better RTM - It solves the tab issue by putting all your list in a list on the left side, nice and neat.

I'm tossing my pebble on the "please add sorting by tag" pile. In the event of multiple tags on a task, sort by the first.

Ditto for me to have a sort tag option. This is a feature that is important to me and a showstopper for continuing to use RTM.

For those of us who try to use RTM for a grocery list, this would be so helpful. I have a tag for each area of the grocery store, but I can't sort the list so that each category (or tag list) shows up together.

just must have

+1!

sarah.whitfield's use case is perfect. I have an errands list, tagged with different stores. I'd love to have them grouped by the tags. mdfloyd1's suggestion of having it in the Sort drop-down is perfect since it is simple and can be used in conjunction with smart lists to accomplish much of what is suggested on this thread. Besides, that is where I looked to find if RTM has this feature in the first place.

cdhsman's suggestion that it wouldn't work because we all have different tagging schemes misses the point that such a sort option wouldn't be intended for everyone, but it would be useful for many. Adding a sort option isn't developmentally a huge deal, and it would not be a waste of time at all.

bonnieshull's thought that it'd be useful within the GTD system is relevant to me as I'm just now learning it, and I can see that I'd want this feature again later! haha

Here's hoping! :o)

Please add the sorting by tag feature. I was surprised just now that it is not currently available. Thanks for making an awesome product!

+1

+1!

YES PLEASE

+1

+1

Yes, sort by tags would be great addition!

+1

+1 ... how many +1 is needed to implement this. As I have voted the count is 326 ;)

+1

+1

+1

Sort by tags would be very useful for ensuring projects with more than one task are on track.

+1 Sort by tag feature. Simple use case. I have a list for shopping and I want to view them by the Area the items are in, such as Produce, Meats, and Beverages. Today to do this I have to add a prefix to each item like. 00. A Produce (Header), then 00. Apples, 00. Bananas, etc. Sorting by tag would fix this, I could pre-tag my list using multiple select and then its be much easier to use on my tablet.

+1

+1 Sort by tag feature!