If you find it difficult to manage your long to-do list, you may want to consider using one of these desktop applications. They are specially designed to help you stay on top of everything from work projects to household chores.

These apps also offer support for collaborating with others, so they are ideal for any group project where time management and adherence to schedule are important.

For the most part, these applications are free to use, but some may have additional features at extra cost. We’ll talk more about this when we take a closer look at each application.

# 1 – Trello

Trello has become a very popular productivity app that also serves as an effective team collaboration tool.

In Trello, you can create project-specific boards. You add cards to the board, and then you can attach comments, images, and other widgets to each card.

– / –

The idea is that you can put multiple tasks on the same board and have separate cards to track the progress of each task.

When collaborating, you can tag people on cards, write their names in comments to send them notifications, and use shortcuts to effectively manage group tasks.

Layout

format

When you visit the Trello homepage, you see the center where all your boards are. From here, you can create boards for new projects. It’s very easy to have separate boards for almost everything.

There is also a tracking feed that you can use to track changes and notifications from boards you have access to.

When you create a new board, you are presented with some customization options. You can give it a name, color or theme and choose if you want it to be private or group. If you choose the second option, you will be prompted to send email invitations to other Trello users.

You have complete control over the preparation of the boards. They do everything in their own way. You can dedicate each card to a specific task, or create a card for each day of the week.

There is no limit to the number of cards you can place on each board, so you can effectively use one tracking board every day.

Potential performance

productivity potential

Trello certainly has a lot of productivity potential. It is easily noted as one of the best desktop task management applications as it has a very wide range of potential uses.

The standard board and card system is somewhat limited in terms of functionality, but you can improve it with widgets and the game will change completely. In Trello, widgets are referred to as “bonuses”. New bonuses are added constantly.

You can add things like group voting or polls for team forums, tools to automate or duplicate cards, and plugins for popular platforms like Google Drive, Slack, Dropbox and much more.

Thanks to Power-Ups, Trello’s performance potential never dries up.

Price

price

Unfortunately, bonuses are only available to paid users. You can get a decent level of functionality from Trello and one free boost per board as a free user, but you’ll have to pay for better integration or task automation.

You can pay $ 9.99 per user per month to receive unlimited bonuses. It also increases the file upload limit from 10 MB to 250 MB. The enterprise option for large companies that includes additional security costs about $ 20 per user, but prices vary based on the number of users.

Synchronization

sync

Productivity apps are much more useful when you can quickly access all of your boards across multiple devices. Trello stores everything in the cloud, which means you get the same experience on any device you sign in.

Trello supports three platforms:

• Standalone desktop applications for Mac / Windows
• Web version on Trello .com
• Mobile apps for iOS / Android

Points to note

things to bear in mind

One of Trello’s biggest problems is that it requires an internet connection. It’s not that hard these days, but if you lose your internet connection for some reason and want to check your tasks, you can’t do it with Trello.

# 2 – Evernote

Evernote is a great task management app for anyone looking for a quick and easy way to jot down thoughts, event dates, and upcoming tasks.

Evernote is more like a word processor turned into a powerful note-taking application, but it has useful tools to help you go beyond just to-do lists or notes.

For example, Evernote allows you to set reminders for each individual note, and you can attach photos or PDFs to your notes to give them a little style.

Layout

format

If you’ve ever used a word processor, Evernote will make you feel right at home.

Starting at the far left, you have access to your notes, search functionality, and other navigation tools.

On the right you will have an access panel for notes in the selected area from the first panel. Then, finally, you have a full-fledged note-taking word processor to the right of the second panel.

One of the important aspects of Evernote is the notebook function. With it, you can organize your notes into different folders. There are many use cases for this, depending on how much you enjoy recording. Perhaps the most common option would be to create a separate notebook for your work and social life.

Performance Potential

productivity potential

Take your standard word processor, add reminder notifications, and then turn on the powerful organizing feature that, in a nutshell, defines Evernote’s productivity potential.

Evernote is definitely suitable for team collaboration. In fact, a lot is possible with the power of an embedded word processor.

Evernote is also suitable for storing personal notes. This is especially true if you are the type of person who likes to make your notes informative, or you have a habit of writing down whatever comes to your mind.

There is relatively little functionality beyond what you’d expect from Google Docs or Microsoft Word. Perhaps the only outstanding feature is the search function. With it, you can easily search your entire collection of notes.

If you remember writing a note about something but just can’t find it, just enter a phrase or a word in the search bar to go directly to the note you want.

Price

price

Evernote is mostly free, but additional features come at a cost. As a free user, you get a very small 60MB monthly download limit, so you’ll need to stick with text. You can only sync two different devices.

If you pay a premium subscription for $ 7.99 per month, you get unlimited sync, a 10GB download limit per month, and the ability to access notes offline.

The Business package costs $ 14.99 / month per user, which gives you additional features as well as more collaboration options.

Synchronization

sync

Evernote has apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. An online version is also available at Evernote.com. As a free user, you can sync your notes between 2 devices. If you pay, you can sync an unlimited number of devices, as well as save and access your notes for offline use.

Points to note

things to bear in mind

For basic notes, Evernote is better than Microsoft Word or Google Docs. It offers reminders and better organizational features. Evernote is somewhat limited if you’re not paying, however, and the layout feels a little awkward compared to Evernote when you’re trying to collaborate on multiple tasks at once.

# 3 – Wunderlist

Wunderlist is a powerful to-do list app that is supported on multiple platforms. It focuses on building a to-do list with short, straightforward tasks.

It’s very easy to set up Wunderlist and start tracking your notes right away. For people who just want to quickly find a solution to keep track of upcoming tasks, this is perfect.

Layout

format

If you are using any Microsoft application, you are very familiar with the Wunderlist layout. If not, don’t worry, it’s still very easy.

Just click “add task” and give the task a name. After that, you can click on each assignment to add a deadline and provide additional information as needed.

That’s all. You will then be able to see all your to-dos in one simple list. At any time, you can check the box to complete the task and archive it. You can also click the star button to pin a specific task to the top of the list.

Potential performance

productivity potential

Wunderlist users are provided with a reasonable level of functionality. For the most part, you’re not going to use Wunderlist to collaborate on complex projects, but it works well for simple tasks.

If you want to organize your tasks, you can create several different lists. Each list can include its own set of tasks.

You can share your to-do with other Wunderlist users, making it a great option for sharing things like shopping lists or upcoming group plans.

It doesn’t match Trello or even Evernote in functionality, but Wunderlist does more than enough for most basic tasks.

Price

price

The great thing about Wunderlist is that you hardly have to pay for its services. The first subscription costs $ 4.99 per month and gives you unlimited files and sub-tasks.

You can also get the business version, which costs $ 4.99 per user per month and includes a team management feature.

sync

Syncing across devices in Wunderlist is very easy, but you have to do it manually. Just click on your name in the upper left corner and then click sync.

The reason you need to do this is because Wunderlist is not always online, unlike the other two options on this list. This means that any changes you make to your Wunderlist account after you sign in will be saved to your device so you can always view your tasks without an Internet connection.

Please note that you need an internet connection to sync with other devices.

Speaking of other devices, Wunderlist is supported on Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.

Points to note

things to bear in mind

Wunderlist is a great free option if you don’t need extensive features. While possible, Wunderlist isn’t as great when it comes to managing teams and collaborating on projects.

summary

Thanks for reading our roundup of the best desktop apps for free task management. We hope this list was helpful.

–