@ehart

Hi,

It is in our developing plan,but we can not make it soon.

We are going to release a new version on 2013/12/22.
New Features and Preview : http://enblog.doit.im/post/65797419924/new-features-and-preview

From October 10th to the day when the new version is released,we have a promotion.The purchase of 1 year Pro account will bring you 1 Gift Month of Pro service. Know more: http://enblog.doit.im/post/63629542675/thanks-for-four-great-years

Thank you for your support!

Best regards,
Doit.im Team

Personally I have no wish to separate work and personal on a "permanent" basis, but I know it is a popular feature.

Perhaps a very easy way to implement this would be to have the capability to inactivate Goals. This would allow users to organize the projects and tasks under a few "Home Goals" and "Work Goals" and simply activate/inactivate these a couple of times a day. Maybe not a perfect solution, but probably very simple.

For the more distant future, if you plan to implement a nice "master switch" somewhere at the top, I would suggest that you consider letting the user define these "areas" using regular Tags, or combinations of Tags. This is more flexible than using a whole new "parameter" for it. For example, it would allow users to set up a temporary hard switch.to be used only during a vacation trip, or to have a "working weekend at home" setting,

Using Tags this conveniently for the "main switch" would require either inheritable Tagging to be implemented for Goals, Projects and Contexts (useful for other purposes too) or would require some more complex definitions similar to those used in the advanced saved filters.

I am one of the users that would like to have "Nirvana-style" Areas implemented in Doit. When I say "Nirvana-style", I mean that when I switch to my "home" Area, I don't see ANYTHING, ANYWHERE that's associated with "work". This includes the left pane. In Nirvana, when I select the "home" Area, I don't see "work" Projects in the left pane - they're filtered out. And likewise, when I select the "work" area, I don't see "home" Projects in the left pane. Additionally, when I look at the other views, they're already filtered to only show items associated with the selected Area.

This is a feature I liked a lot when I used Nirvana because I could completely turn off "work" and focus on "home" and viceversa. I realize this might be a lot of feature overhead for such a simple use, but it's huge for me to be able to leave "work" at work and switch back and forth at will without having to constantly adjust the filters.

Could this be done with Tags?
Yes, no, ... it depends. I'm currently "getting by" with the use of "home" and "work" tags, but they don't work in the "Nirvana-style" I mentioned above. I have no way to leave "work" at work as long as the "work" projects show in the left pane. Furthermore, the tag filters reset each time I change views. This is unfortunate since my focus on "home" or "work" is lost each time I select different views - Today, Scheduled, Project, etc. I'm assuming that @Folke is addressing this when he says:
"Using Tags this conveniently for the "main switch" would require either inheritable Tagging to be implemented for Goals, Projects and Contexts (useful for other purposes too) or would require some more complex definitions similar to those used in the advanced saved filters."

Based on my experience with Nirvana Areas, I think it would be best to implement them "Nirvana-style" in Doit. If tags were used for this, it would be more complicated to switch back and forth. If I have a large number of tags, it will be more difficult to select "home" and "work" from a drop down list of all tags. Would I have to scroll the list? Would I be asking for sticky, manual sorting for my tag list so that "home" and "work" are at the top of the drop down list? Also in the "Nirvana-style", I like to see at a glance that I'm either in the "home" or "work" area. If this were done with tags & filters, would I be able to see this? I'm sure it's possible, but it just seems like it would be getting more and more complicated in the implementation since tag filters could be complex and more difficult to display what filter was in effect. Maybe a filter name showing? Yes - and if it's "sticky" so that it applies to all views until the filter is changed.

This is the single, most important, missing feature *for me* with Doit. I'd be thrilled to see it implemented and I wish it was on Doit's short term plan.

@rbclark

I think we are on the same page, but maybe I was too long-winded and lost you halfway. Sorry.

- In Nirvana, the "Areas" ARE tags.

- In Nirvana, ALL tags, including Area tags, can be inherited from a project to a task, which means you can also temporarily quick filter by Area if you like, using the regular tag buttons.

- In Nirvana, only the Area tags can be used to define the positions of the "main switch". What I am suggesting for Doit is that ANY tag could be associated with the "main switch", for example a "Work" tag and a "Home" tag. There is absolutely no need to have "special KINDS" of tags just for "area". Among all the tags you have already defined, just decide for yourself (set up permanently) which ones are to be associated with the different positions of the "main switch". Being able to use any pre-existing tags makes it easier to customize the positions of the switch later on, using whatever tags you happen to already have.

(Also, it opens the door for further future sophistication by allowing you to set up specially combined "main switch" positions suitable for weekends, trips etc.)

@Folke - Thanks & yes, I think we're on the same page. But it takes some long-winded discussion to get around the subtle differences between what we write, what we mean and what others interpret - especially for me!

I agree that there are benefits of pulling off the "Areas" feature with tags.

+1 for Folke and rblclark's request. Areas, along with inheritable tags/contexts, and the ability to select them at the top and have everything (projects, goals and tasks) filter appropriately is the only feature that is holding me back from moving all my data over from the very functional but poorly supported tool that begins with an "N". However, based on the responsiveness I've seen on these forums in the last couple of days, I may be better off just biting the bullet and moving now. Feedback, and new releases seem to come very regularly at Doit.im.

+1 for areas of responsibility

+1 for areas! I'm juggling 2 businesses (sometimes 3) and personal/home tasks. It is crucial that I can separate them to stay focused. I have thought about separate accounts or apps for each realm, but I do need to be able to see everything at times to get a holistic view on how well I'm staying on top of things. My current work around is starting to feel limited and cumbersome. Thanks.

+1 for areas! My Pro subscription ends soon and I and contemplating jumping ship and trying GetItDone, since they have areas. I like Doit, but this feature is critical to me and I have been struggling with Doit in the current set up. Please add! Alternatively, give us an idea of when we might get this feature. If its a couple months off, i would resubscribe. If its 6 months out, I may switch services.

Thanks!

+1 here too for nirvana style areas. I'm currently evaluating doit and it seems pretty much spot on. This feature is a big one though and would hold me back from going Pro. Any feedback on timescales would be great.

Areas is something I'd like too. How are people dealing with that now? Tags?

If I had a penny for each time..

Doug, like Folke, I've never really cared about delineating areas of focus, though I know this is a very important feature for some people. I actually found when I started using a web-based system from my office (previously I only tracked my tasks on a mobile device) that I didn't really want co-workers seeing the non-work tasks on my list. I often have Doit open while I'm using a projector and don't really want people reading that I still need to put the Christmas ornaments boxed in our garage into the attic. It's April, for God's sake.

Anyway, so I started using tags to simulate focus areas. I have three, all prefixed with "Focus:", such as Focus:Home, Focus:Personal, Focus:Work, Focus:SideBusiness. When I'm in the office, only those tagged as Focus:Work are displayed.

As pointed out above, the nuisance part of this approach is that the tags have to be applied to all tasks in a project. Like I said, I use them to hide personal tasks. They don't actually add any value for me from a productivity perspective.

Hope that helps.

+1 for Areas

I would love to see Areas in Doit. Work / Family / Hobby. Tags aren't enough for me.

I'm using Nirvana now. Doit has a few more features than Nirvana, like Google Calander. But since Doit lacks Areas, unfortunately I don't think I will be going Pro. It's a deal breaker for me.

ex-Nirvana users want Areas
ex-Omnifocus users want Folders

Doit actually has it - at an embryonic level - and it is called Goals. And it does work; I use it; you can place your projects and tasks into these Goal "buckets"; and you can then access them via the left menu and drill down, but that's just about it.

I agree that these buckets (call them what you will - Goals, Areas, Folders, Superprojects ...) are a very high-potential arena for further development. For example, you'd like to filter tasks by them; you'd like to group lists by them; you'd like to be able to view all tasks in them regardless of exactly which project each task belongs to, and so on and so forth. It needs to be taken beyond the current "alpha" level.

+1 for Areas

Not being able to focus on one area at a time when running several businesses is driving me mad

@dixonsdesigns123
Hi,

Thank you for your feedback.

We have the plan to make it. But it will not be completed in the near future. :( You'd better try Goal feature which Folke suggested: http://help.doit.im/topics/2394#comment-15


Best regards,
Doit.im Team

I'm looking for a way to filter by goal but I'm guessing it's not possible? This would essentially provide area functionality.

@bobwal
Hi,

We will improve the feature Filter and add the feature Area in the future.

Shall you need any help or have additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact me back.

Thank you for your support!

Best regards,
Doit.im Team

+1 for areas.
i like how it made in MonkeyGTD (MGSD).
You can switch on any combination of areas - e.g. home+, work+, business- or home-, work+, business- and so on and so forth.

thank you for doit

+1000 for areas

@joaquinmari @aleksandrsazhin
Hi,

Thank you for your feedback and your support. We will work harder.

Is there any evolution on this item?

@eddyheist we will release a new version on January,there will some improvements about this feature..
Would you please give us more time?

Any update on this? Such "Area" feature is extremely important for me, and using Goals for this purpose doesn't seem very handy. Please let me know if you're going to implement this in near future.

@cypiszzz Hi there, we are still working on improving Doit.im. This feature is planned to be added in the future. Thanks for your patience.

Can someone give me an update on this item?

Thanks

Yes, please update.

A useful feature, are you working on it in the new version?

Yes, please update as this would be very benefical as Goals in its current form is not useful.