EPIM ANDROID BUG: Sorting task lists

Discussion of EssentialPIM for Android and synchronization
Jeff K
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Re: EPIM ANDROID BUG: Sorting task lists

Post by Jeff K »

Greetings, all.

Have you been able to make any progress on getting the user's manual sort order to be saved and recalled in the PC version, and transferred between the PC and Android versions?

Thank you!

--Jeff.
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Re: EPIM ANDROID BUG: Sorting task lists

Post by admin »

This feature is in the to do list for implementation in the future versions of EPIM.
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Jeff K
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Re: EPIM ANDROID BUG: Sorting task lists

Post by Jeff K »

Greetings, all.

It's been some months since there has been a comment on this thread. I am eagerly awaiting this to be fixed:

Have you been able to make any progress on getting the user's manual sort order to be saved and recalled in the PC version, and transferred between the PC and Android versions?

Sadly, without this capability, I've had to use a different application, far inferior in most ways, but that allows manual sorting to remain intact between devices.

If this is now working properly, please let me know. If not, please consider moving this up in the to do list!

Thank you!

--Jeff.
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Re: EPIM ANDROID BUG: Sorting task lists

Post by admin »

Will do, thanks for the update!
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Jeff K
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Re: EPIM ANDROID BUG: Sorting task lists

Post by Jeff K »

Greetings!

Thank you for releasing another update (EssentialPIM 8.12.1) today. I eagerly scanned the list of improvements to see if it included the ability to save and recall the user's manually arranged task list sequence on a PC, and preserving that sequence when syncing a PC with an Android device. Sadly, I didn't see that in the list. If that has been included, please respond here. If not, please consider this my encouragement for you to work this critical feature into the next update.

Thank you, and have a merry Christmas!

--Jeff.
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Re: EPIM ANDROID BUG: Sorting task lists

Post by admin »

We plan to include this feature in the next major update with the version number 5.7.
Thanks, happy holidays to you too!
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Georgo2010
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Re: EPIM ANDROID BUG: Sorting task lists

Post by Georgo2010 »

Jeff K wrote: Sat Jan 13, 2018 6:58 pm Thank you for creating, maintaining and improving this program! I have been a pro user for several years.

The main reason I chose this program is the ease with which I can manually drag tasks to rearrange them into the order I need them in, in a hierarchical list. The sequence of these items is nearly as valuable to me as the items themselves.

The main reason I nearly abandoned this program (multiple times) is the difficulty I had getting it to easily and consistently sync with android via USB, in spite of your repeated help. With a new phone, provider and Android OS, the syncing issues seem to be cleared up.

For reference, here are the devices and versions I am currently using:

Essential PIM Pro Portable 7.61
Windows 10 Pro Version 1709 OS Build 16299.192 64 bit
Intel Core i3 3.2 GHz CPU; 4GB RAM

Essential PIM 5.3.5
Android 7.0 build NRD90U on a stock LG-M210 Aristo

Now to the point of this thread:

It appears that George and I would like the same thing. Please speak up, George, if I am wrong.

When I sync between Windows and Android, the sequence of the items in the task list is not the same in Android as in Windows, even with a one-way sync. Why? Please respect that the manually arranged sequence of tasks is a significant representation of VALUABLE, user-created DATA.

(A) At a minimum, please show the lists in the same, user-created order after a sync on both machines. In a two way sync, the latest changes should take precedence over the earlier ones.

(B) Ideally, on the Android device, when the"Manually" option is selected in the "sort by" menu, the list RETURNS to the latest user defined manual sequence. That way, should I want to see the entries using one of the other sorting choices (or as on the Windows version, click a heading and inadvertently sort by it), I don't lose the manual sequence I created, and can get right back to it.

(C) Adding a data column in the Windows version that automatically renumbers sequentially top to bottom when an item is dragged manually would enable this there as well, and could be the mechanism to carry that sequence to the Android device.

(D) The user could edit the numbers in this sort sequence column manually if desired to have things jump to new positions instead of dragging them, with the manually numbered item moving to just below the existing item with that number.

(E) If a group of tasks were selected and the first item in that list was manually renumbered, the selected items would stay in the same order but move as a group to go after the existing item that had that number.

D and E would be especially useful when rearranging long lists on small screens, to avoid lengthy dragging operations.

(F) The automatically generated number sequence could be straight integers, count by 10s or some other increment, or use any one of the many existing hierarchical outline formats. Bonus: Let the user choose between these, and create their own sequences (Year/Month/Day/Hour comes to mind, though each level of the hierarchy could use any list the user enters).

(G) Extra bonus feature: Let the user add multiple sorting columns! The one currently selected as the sort-by column would update as the items were dragged into new positions.

Bug report: On Android, manually sorting is overridden when the screen auto-rotates between portrait and landscape. The sequence reverts to some default sequence. Ouch!
Thank you for a detailed analysis of my problem and support. EssentialPIM has enormous potential for MUST HAVE and ALL-IN-ONE. The new releases bring many amazing features, some of which already offer free competing specialized programs much earlier. Unfortunately, I am very disappointed that the repair of significant bugs, stability improvements, and the user experience takes the development team for so long.
Jiri Humplik
main czech and slovak translator (epim.preklad@gmail.com)
http://www.epimcz.wbs.cz

MS WIN10 Home 64-bit @150 dpi: EssentialPIM Pro Portable 8.5
Xiaomi Redmi 4X, Android 7.1.2, MUIU 10.3.1.0: EssentialPIM Pro 5.6.2
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Re: EPIM ANDROID BUG: Sorting task lists

Post by admin »

Please mention which significant bugs there are at the moment in the latest version. Thanks!
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Re: EPIM ANDROID BUG: Sorting task lists

Post by Georgo2010 »

admin wrote: Tue Feb 19, 2019 7:18 am 1. I'm not sure we understand the problem. Could you please elaborate more about it, preferable with a list of steps or a short video?

Hi admin,

I created a updated short video clip (https://photos.app.goo.gl/stZi7kTcg7PaguBc6) 8) of my personal tasks that it demonstrates serious problems (https://www.essentialpim.com/forum/view ... 416#p99304).

1. step - You can see my lists of tasks in my own sorts (begins from "Osobní cíle" (Personal goals), "Finance" (Finance) etc.),
2. step - I opened the first task from the active list "Osobní cíle".
3. step - I selected from the lists. BUGS: You can see lists of tasks are sorted by created date instead of by real; names of lists are not displayed completely
4. step - I went back to the list of tasks (saving or canceling changes in task)
5. step - You can see the active list of tasks - BUG: but without name of the active list! The names of lists have moved and you can not see the current marked list.

Well, I suggest to use the same list as is used for move selected tasks (items) and fixed name of list after "close" task (item). And remove (in Settings of tasks) please annoying message "No internet connection available".

Can you please confirm these bugs?

With regards,
Jiri Humplik

P.S.: You may also notice that when you viewing different task lists the application often freezes or crashes. :?

P.P.S: By the way, when I click on a task in the list, show me only the current task. Why can not I see directly a task detail by clicking on a task in the list? Actually I must to click on the Edit button.
Jiri Humplik
main czech and slovak translator (epim.preklad@gmail.com)
http://www.epimcz.wbs.cz

MS WIN10 Home 64-bit @150 dpi: EssentialPIM Pro Portable 8.5
Xiaomi Redmi 4X, Android 7.1.2, MUIU 10.3.1.0: EssentialPIM Pro 5.6.2
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Re: EPIM ANDROID BUG: Sorting task lists

Post by admin »

1. Will fix issue with moving tabs.
2. Agree, would be more logical to show task lists in the same order they are in the main view.
About freezes - what's your Adroid device model?
The no internet connection message only appears when synchronization cannot start due to the lack of, well, internet connection :)
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Re: EPIM ANDROID BUG: Sorting task lists

Post by Georgo2010 »

2. Everything is written in my signature: "Xiaomi Redmi 4X @ Android 7.1.2: EssentialPIM Pro 5.6.1".
Jiri Humplik
main czech and slovak translator (epim.preklad@gmail.com)
http://www.epimcz.wbs.cz

MS WIN10 Home 64-bit @150 dpi: EssentialPIM Pro Portable 8.5
Xiaomi Redmi 4X, Android 7.1.2, MUIU 10.3.1.0: EssentialPIM Pro 5.6.2
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Re: EPIM ANDROID BUG: Sorting task lists

Post by admin »

Okay, thanks, will try to improve in the next minor update.
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Jeff K
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Re: EPIM ANDROID BUG: Sorting task lists

Post by Jeff K »

admin wrote: Mon Dec 24, 2018 9:08 am We plan to include this feature in the next major update with the version number 5.7.
Thanks, happy holidays to you too!
...Saw the new version release message today. Hoped that it would include 5.7 for Android. But apparently, not yet. Any sense of how soon this might be available?
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Re: EPIM ANDROID BUG: Sorting task lists

Post by admin »

We plan to release the first public Beta version till the end of this month.
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Re: EPIM ANDROID BUG: Sorting task lists

Post by Jeff K »

“Keep all your data in sync!” says your tag line.

I really want that to be the case. Really. However, as I said earlier in this thread (now nearly two years ago), the manual sort order of a task list itself contains lots of significant, important user data, and alas, these data still appear to be lost in translation from Android to PC, and within the PC environment.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Thank you for working on this program!

I now have the Android version 5.7 Beta 3, and Windows version Pro Portable 8.6.1. (Is there a pro version on Android?)

After using USB sync, once I found “Manually” under the Android sort options, I saw that I was able to get the Windows manual task list sort order onto Android. That is huge! Thank you, Android team!

And manually changing the order of items in Android, re-sorting by some other criteria, and then sorting “Manually” brings it back to the last manual sequence I had. Perfect! Thank you! Being able to view the task list in other sort orders has much value, as long as I can quickly and easily get it back to the manual order. And now I can. At least on Android. Thank you!

However, it appears to be a one-way street. Changes in manual sort order do not appear to be communicated from Android to the PC when re-synchronizing, even with a one-way Android to PC sync. Maybe I'm missing something. I hope so. Please advise!

And in Windows, if I should re-sort by some other criteria, there is no undo, there is no “manually” choice that I can see – in short, an inadvertent mouse click can still irrevocably destroy the data contained in a manual sort. This is not good. This is not helping me to keep all my data in sync. This is causing me to be very cautious, and not allowing me to use the useful, built-in sorting options in Windows, without then being forced to recreate, by hand, the manual sort order I had previously established. Even if it exists perfectly in the right manual order on Android.

Please, Windows developers, take a look at these features now on the Android (Beta) version, and implement them in Windows. Thank you!

Two more things.

(1) (Of lesser importance, but still important.) A hack, a kludge, a crude, primitive way I found to establish and preserve a manual sort order in Windows, was to create a custom column, and use Auto Hot Key to populate that column with an ordered sequence that I could then use the built-in sorting functionality to sort by. And it worked, but required me to run a script that slowly walked through the list line by line, and re-run it if I manually changed the list order. This is not a good long-term solution. This is not even a good short term solution. It is so awkward to use that I haven't bothered with it since I first tried it, especially since these data didn't transfer to Android.

And even now, custom column data in Windows do not yet appear to be transferred to the Android version, though that would be very useful for other things, and would have been at least marginally useful for communicating manual sorts to Android had the Android team not recently implemented a much better approach.

So, again please consider this request for implementing manual column data in Android, and syncing it with Windows.

(2) (Of greater importance, but not quite as important as getting the manual sort order within to-do lists to synchronize properly.) I like lists. I have lots of them. And it should not be a surprise to you by now for me to say that the order of the lists in Android (the list names across the top of the window) should match the order of the lists in Windows (the tabs at the bottom of the screen). Sadly, these bits of user data also seem to be ignored when synchronizing, at least as nearly as I can tell.

So, please also consider this request for synchronizing the order of the lists between devices.

Thank you.

I will now resume my search for some other otherwise grossly inferior product that will allow me to keep ordered lists ordered between PC and Android, while I await your brilliant solutions to these limitations in this one. But please, don't make me wait so long this time.

Thank you!
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