Microsoft Corp. announced it is acquiring Berlin-based Wunderlist, a cloud-based task management service that is accessible from iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows devices. With more than 13 million users that have created more than 1 billion to-do items with the app, it’s no wonder Microsoft was interested. While the software team is staying in tact and continuing to offer its free service plus premium and business versions, it’s a good bet we’ll eventually see these features integrated into the Office family. Here’s a look at what to expect.
One of the big draws to Wunderlist is the ability to have shared lists that you can use to coordinate a team of people around a set of tasks. When you dig into a detailed view of those tasks, you can see comments left by other team members on each item. The comments are similar to social media, in that you can @ mention users to notify them.
Setting reminders for any to-do list item in Wunderlist means you can offload some work from your brain. Instead of trying to remember everything, just arrange to be reminded when the task becomes relevant. Because Wunderlist is based in the cloud, you can be certain a notification or reminder will reach you on any connected device you’re carrying with you.
A detailed view in Wunderlist means you can get more context into your to-do items than just the one line of text next to a tick box. You can keep notes on each item in the detailed view, complete with active web links.
You already use hashtags on Twitter to sift through conversations, so why not use them on your own to-do lists? Hashtags act as ways to filter your tasks into different projects or topics so you can focus in on what’s important to you. The hashtags are hyperlinked so you can view all of the items on the list with a click.
A browser extension means you can add web pages for later reference.
