!!!!!!!! Pagico for Desktop 6 A QUICK OVERVIEW

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1 Pagico for Desktop 6 A QUICK OVERVIEW April 2014

2 Table of Contents Introduction 3 System Requirements 3 Highlights 4 1. Integrating Personal Info Management with Task Management 4 2. Powerful and flexible cross-link capability 5 3. Tag items anywhere and use Smart Collections to synthesize 5 4. Elegant solutions for archiving old stuff 6 Detailed Feature Walkthrough 6 1. Managing Projects 6 2. Managing Contacts 7 3. Using the Inbox 7 4. Managing Files 8 5. Keeping Track of Tasks (and other time-sensitive items) 9 6. Creating Cross-Links Among Everything Use Smart Collections to Automatically Collect Items By Tags Syncing Data for Personal Uses Using 3rd Party Apps (such as Dropbox) to Sync Data 14 Closing Words 14 2 of 14

3 INTRODUCTION Pagico for Desktop is a personal information organizer with integrated task management features. It is designed to be a productivity app for professionals to manage projects & contacts, store all kinds of data, and manage schedule (todos and appointments) along with the data context. This combined design allows users to keep track of tasks and take care of info management all in one seamless package. Its many task management features are designed to be compliant with the GTD system (Getting Things Done methodology by David Allen). As a result, it is a very flexible and user-friendly platform to implement task management for both GTD and non-gtd users. Cloud sync is available to sync data with multiple computers and/or ios devices. Screenshots in this document were taken in Pagico for Desktop 6.6 on OS X Screenshots in this documents are cropped for the interest of layout. You can find full-sized images in the press kit. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS The latest version of Pagico for Desktop is v6.6, which is available for the following operating systems: Intel Mac with OS X 10.5 or higher Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7/8 Ubuntu , 32-bit and 64-bit Pagico Plus for ios, sold separately, is a universal app and available for both the iphone and ipad (requires ios 6+). 3 of 14

4 HIGHLIGHTS There are many task planners on the market. Here are a few highlights that set Pagico apart from the competition. 1. Integrating Personal Info Management with Task Management The biggest advantage of Pagico is that users can manage tasks right next to notes, files and other resources. This allows users to connect the dots between todos and documents, action items and meeting notes, tasks and projects, etc. This makes the users more productive by not having to deal with information scattered in different places. We at Pagico Software strongly believe that a productivity platform should not only deal with tasks and appointments (things with dates), but also handle everyday resources, such as meeting notes, proposals, documents, design drafts, web links, etc. So we set out and built Pagico to implement our ideas. 4 of 14

5 2. Powerful and flexible cross-link capability In most cases, tasks are not just simple things. They may be related to certain notes, other projects, persons, or files. So we paid special attention on this aspect, and made it very easy to link up those things together in Pagico. Users can easily link up documents with tasks, and they can view the linked documents right next to the task with just a single click. Even better, projects and contacts have a footnote section showing all the inbound links. This makes it easy to keep track of all the incoming references. 3. Tag items anywhere and use Smart Collections to synthesize Users can write tags (keywords) on literally everything in Pagico (using syntax), and synthesize everything using Smart Collections. For example, a user can attach tag to all phone call actions in various projects. Then he can create a Smart Collection for By doing so, all the phone call actions across all projects and contacts will be displayed in one view, making it easy to track and complete all similar tasks. This feature is very similar to the Context concept in GTD. 5 of 14

6 4. Elegant solutions for archiving old stuff Most todo apps don t provide a nice way to store old stuff. While some apps do store old items, they simply store and present a huge list of items that cannot be practically used by users. Pagico, built on a solid personal organizer foundation, encourages users to archive old projects by providing a powerful tag browser and other features to make it realistic to maintain, manage and browse a growing database in the long run. DETAILED FEATURE WALKTHROUGH Below is a slightly more detailed introduction on the major features in Pagico. 1. Managing Projects The Projects section can host unlimited number of projects, which are data containers that could store things like notes, lists, tasks, and files, etc. Once projects are properly tagged for categorization purposes, users can easily browse their projects using the unique tag browser, which turns their flat project library into a hierarchical structure. Here s a screenshot: This tag browser is a very unique design and can be very functional when dealing with large number of projects as the database grows. Projects can also be set to inactive for archiving purposes. This makes it easy to archive 6 of 14

7 old projects without deleting them. For active projects that are constantly needed, users can add those to the Favorites section (in the sidebar) for quicker access. 2. Managing Contacts The Contacts section allows users to create contacts profiles, and maintain contact-specific resources, including notes, tasks, lists and files. Contact profiles are also data containers, so they behave in a similar way as projects. One of the unique designs here is that the contact info area is very flexible, and users can put in any data fields as they need wether it s phone numbers, or the department a person works in. And users can choose to sort and group contacts based on these data fields. Here s an example: To use certain data field for sorting purposes, you need to switch to the Preferences section and configure the desired data fields. Similar to projects, contact profiles can also be added to the Favorites section for easier access. 3. Using the Inbox The Inbox section is a standalone data container to host everything (notes, tasks, lists, and files) that doesn t (yet) belong to any projects or contacts. Small things can be created in Inbox quickly and they can be moved to projects or contacts later if need be. One of the advantages of storing things in Inbox is that the Inbox storage is separate from databases. This means you can store something here and access it no matter which database you re 7 of 14

8 using. A perfect bridge for users with multiple databases (one for work, another for personal, etc). If configured, Inbox data will also get synchronized over the cloud. This allows users to access the same Inbox no matter what device they re using --- Office laptop, home computer, or even ios devices. All these features make Inbox a perfect location for quick notes, ideas and random tasks. 4. Managing Files Storing and managing files is very important. All the data containers mentioned above can store files. Files can be imported by simply dragging and dropping into Pagico. By default, files are copied into the Pagico database. This way all the files are properly stored and organized in Pagico, and there will be no duplicated files on users computer. Users can open and edit the files by double-clicking on the icons. Even though files are stored in a Pagico database, all the changes the users make will still be saved back to the file object. For example, doubleclicking on a.psd file in Pagico will bring up Photoshop to open the document. Make all the changes as you would, and press Cmd+S to save. The changes will be saved into the file object in the database automatically. Alternatively, the users can link (aliases) to those files by pressing and holding the Option key when dropping the files. 8 of 14

9 As you can see, Pagico provides a strong foundation for managing daily resources, including elegant solutions for managing and archiving projects. On top of this, Pagico also have built-in task management capabilities. 5. Keeping Track of Tasks (and other time-sensitive items) Tasks can be created and stored in all the data containers mentioned above. Inside any data container, simply click on the + button and choose Task/ List option to start a new list, which can host one or more list items. Each list item can be assigned with starting and due dates (and times, optional). Once a due date/time is set, a list item will be considered as a task, and it will appear in a number of places throughout the application, to keep the users informed. More on this will be covered below. Notes can also be assigned with timestamps, making it a perfect tool to manage meeting notes (note with a date in the past), and appointments (note with a date in the future). It s easy to have tasks and appointments buried in projects or contacts and forget about them. As such, Pagico has a number of features designed to help users stay on-track. One important screen for task management is the Dashboard that offers the schedule flowchart and the Daily Planning section. 9 of 14

10 The flowchart shows everything time-sensitive centered on the current day. There are four different view modes, and the default view shows 6 weeks with the ability to scroll horizontally to reveal the additional range. Everything timesensitive, including tasks and notes with dates, will be shown in this chart to give users a bird s eye view of their schedule. The highlight here is that 1) only recent and upcoming schedule is shown --- users will not be burdened with something that s way in the future; and 2) items are color coded based on their urgency (due dates) to properly attract users attention; and 3) users can still opt to see things far away if they want to, by switching different view modes and moving forward and backward using the arrow buttons. The Daily Planning section hosts the Today and Might-Do lists. This is another unique design that helps users to focus on what s due on the current day. Only today, tomorrow and overdue items will be shown here. It s a very simple prioritizing mechanism that s easy to learn and use. Simply drag the tasks up or down to prioritize the items. For things that can wait, drag them to the Might-Do list. For things that have to be done today, drag them to the Today list. The tasks will be automatically re-scheduled according to these cross-list actions. This also helps eliminating forgotten tasks, which are items that are so long overdue that they dropped off of the flowchart and became invisible. 10 of 14

11 6. Creating Cross-Links Among Everything In the real world, most things are inter-related. Pagico allows users to easily connect the dots in their database. As one of the highlights of Pagico, literally everything in the database can be linked together. For example, to link up a task with a file, simply click the Link button, select the target (or type in a few keywords to filter through a large database), and click Done. You can link to literally everything in your database: notes, tasks, files. Even an item in a list can be directed linked. And the best part is, clicking on the link will bring up a preview panel, showing you what s on the other end of the link, wether it s a task, or a file. This allows users to quickly see what s linked without leaving the current view. 7. Use Smart Collections to Automatically Collect Items By Tags Tagging items in Pagico has been easy. Simply use syntax anywhere (notes, tasks, etc) and the tags will be recognized and displayed as keywords. In Pagico 6, we developed a new feature to help tracking those tagged items. It s called Smart Collections, and it can automatically collect matching items based on given keywords from the currently active database (including everything from Inbox, projects and contacts). In a way, this feature is very similar to the Context concept in the GTD method, where all tasks matching the same keyword (@tag) can be collected and displayed in one view. In Pagico, we re extending this feature to not only tasks, but also text 11 of 14

12 notes and containers. Here s an example of a Smart Collection based on which is a collection that we use to track software issues across all our projects. In the screenshot, you can see all matching items being listed under their group title, as well as projects that match the same keyword. Similarly, users can use this feature to track all types of tasks, such or use location-based keywords such etc. In addition to those Smart Collections, users can also create Static Collections that are just like folders --- users can manually choose what items go into the collection. Static Collections can only host projects and contacts. 8. Syncing Data for Personal Uses To sync data for personal uses, users need to first create a Pagico ID account ( With this account, users can enjoy the free InboxSync feature as well as the ability to create individual workspaces. Once you have the account, simply switch to the Preferences section, sign in with your login, and enable the InboxSync feature. 12 of 14

13 To sync projects and contacts across your devices, you need a workspace. For personal sharing, the ideal scenario involves a total of no more than 4 devices (a combination of computers & ios devices). For example, you can own up to 2 computers running OS X, Windows or Linux, and two ios devices (iphone and ipad). With a Personal Workspace, you can sync projects and contacts on all the four devices synchronized via the cloud. The Workspaces cloud sync works a little different than things like Dropbox. We believe that not everything is needed to be sync ed over the cloud, so we designed the Workspaces functionality to be selective users get to choose what gets sync ed, instead of syncing everything. Here s how to get started: 1. Switch to the Workspaces section. 2. Click on the + button, then choose Create a new Workspace, if you don t have one yet. 3. Select and create a Personal Workspace. Once the workspace is created, you can go in and share projects and/or contacts as you need. To get your other computers in the same workspace, please follow these steps: 1. Install Pagico for Desktop Create a new database or open an existing database 3. Switch to the Preferences section, and log in with your Pagico ID account. 4. Click the Auto-Join button to join all workspaces created using the same account Of course, you can create (or join) multiple workspaces to share data with different groups of people or colleagues. This will fall into the teamwork scenario, which isn t covered in this article. 13 of 14

14 9. Using 3rd Party Apps (such as Dropbox) to Sync Data Alternatively, if you do not wish to use our workspaces cloud service, you can also use things like Dropbox to sync your database across computers. Here s an article on how to do just that. Please avoid using Dropbox (or similar sync apps) and Workspaces at the same time. 3rd party sync apps do not solve conflicts nicely, and they tend to confuse the workspaces server a lot, causing syncing issues. Therefore, it is advised to disable the Workspace Sync feature when you use 3rd party data sync applications. CLOSING WORDS This concludes this brief introduction to Pagico for Desktop 6. Even though it is already too long, it still only covers a small portion of what Pagico offers. Feel free to visit our online materials at to learn more about it, as well as our other offerings. If you have any questions, please do contact us at support@pagico.com. Thank you Pagico Team 2014 April 14 of 14