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Ability to share Smart Lists

wss7932 says:
I've set up RTM to use smart lists quite extensively with the idea that they would be shareable just like regular lists only to find this is not the case. Please add this. This would be great. As it is currently everything goes to my inbox and the smart lists filter it all out for me.
Posted at 11:36pm on December 1, 2007
Answered
emily (Remember The Milk) says:
Smart Lists right now are just a set of criteria that gets applied dynamically to your account. So, if I had a Smart List that was:

dueWithin:"7 days of today"

and I was able to share this with Bob, all Bob would see is the criteria applied to his own account (i.e., all his tasks due within 7 days, not mine).

From reading this topic, I understand that most (if not all?) people would like the ability to share the Smart List along with the tasks that show up for that Smart List in your account. (So in that example, Bob would see my tasks due within 7 days.)

I'm trying to get a better understanding of this feature request, so was wondering if folks here could answer the following quick questions:

1) What's the criteria of the Smart List(s) you're interested in sharing?

2) Who would you share the Smart List(s) with? (e.g., spouse, boss, co-workers, etc)

3) Why do you want to be able to share Smart List(s) with them?

4) Does the person (or people) you'd share the Smart List(s) with need access to edit the tasks, or just see them?

Thanks! :)
Posted 13 years ago
prunella says:
Being able to share smart lists would be extremely helpful.
Posted 16 years ago
toneill says:
Hear hear!
Posted 15 years ago
gesmith says:
I just talked out office into using rtm and tried to share a smart list. :(
Posted 15 years ago
g.bay says:
Smart lists are so fantastic. Would love to be able to share as well.
Posted 15 years ago
snowcrash2k says:
Please!!!!
Posted 15 years ago
docdoc78 says:
I'd love to be able to share smart lists with my contacts also. Additionally, It'd be great to be able to make a smart list public.
Posted 15 years ago
fabriciosn says:
I would also love to do so.
Posted 15 years ago
sdouche.sa says:
+10 :)
Posted 15 years ago
lyncollege says:
I think sharable Smart Lists would be incredibly useful.
Posted 15 years ago
(closed account) says:
I think I could make this work effecitvely for my workflow if I could just have a short-cut for sharing a task. For example, I use tag's to assign tasks to the various smartlists I have coordinated. Then if the task is appropriately tagged, and shared with someone else, it will show up in the correcft smartlist for them (based on tag) as well.

Just means I have to select and use the pull-down to share tasks. It would be great to be able to "assign/share" a task with a hotkey, then select the user to share it with.
Posted 15 years ago
fbiljecki says:
+1
I really miss this feature! I have only few tasks to share with few people so it is really non-sense to create a special list for those tasks. I would like to just put the name of the person as a tag, and then create a smart list with that tag that I would share.
Posted 15 years ago
innuendo888 says:
im overwhelmed with RTM but just today discovered that smart list sharing is not possible. pleaseee
Posted 14 years ago
gwen168 says:
sharing smart list ? Cant believe you dont have this
Posted 14 years ago
chimericdream says:
Sharing and publishing a smart list is definitely the highest on my priority list for RTM. Everything else is so customizeable that it doesn't make sense not to have this feature.

Please add it!!
Posted 14 years ago
(closed account) says:
+1
Posted 14 years ago
jfiat says:
+1
Posted 14 years ago
driggins says:
+1

The inability to share my smart lists undermines RTM's applicability for GTD'ers like me. I have to run an alternate task management system (via RTM) in order to delegate tasks to others.
Posted 14 years ago
sunjana1 says:
+1
yes this would be super valuable!
Posted 14 years ago
nathan.reiter says:
+1
Posted 14 years ago
jonmadison says:
+1
Posted 14 years ago
stormy.peters says:
+1
Posted 14 years ago
ghostsquad says:
I totally agree! +1
Posted 14 years ago
leah.shalom Power Poster says:
+1.
Posted 14 years ago
danygeller says:
+1
Posted 14 years ago
driggins says:
+1 again
Posted 14 years ago
cbi says:
+1
Posted 14 years ago
mvrkljan says:
+1
Posted 14 years ago
ctresor says:
+1
Posted 14 years ago
patrick.scheuerer says:
+1
would be incredibly useful for me!
Posted 14 years ago
(closed account) says:
+1
Posted 13 years ago
(closed account) says:
Yeah seriously, this needs to be implemented.
Posted 13 years ago
ascrichton says:
mmm +1
Posted 13 years ago
jonny.walton says:
I think this would be very helpful. It would also be useful to be able to set a reminder for smart lists as for a task so that every day / week a list of all tasks coming up in the next week / month were listed. Both of these would be very helpful indeed
Posted 13 years ago
pablo.cerdeira says:
One more. Please, I need to share smart lists with my contacts. I would be a very useful option to set tasks faster and to get a better control over it. Sometimes I forget to share some specific task but if RTM allowed me to share a smart list, it probably would never occur again.

But, as I can see here, there are more than one year since the first request :-(

I cannot believe that it will be developed soon...
Posted 13 years ago
ctresor says:
+1
Posted 13 years ago
kanntara says:
+1
Posted 13 years ago
r.trevor.hughes says:
+1
Posted 13 years ago
benmjt says:
+1 Thanks
Posted 13 years ago
wmono says:
+1
Posted 13 years ago
glenn.hope says:
Pretty please with nomnoms on top?
Posted 13 years ago
kylir says:
+1
Posted 13 years ago
gwllosa says:
Or at least an explanation why they aren't easily shareable?
Posted 13 years ago
janvanderploeg says:
+1
Posted 13 years ago
ernfors says:
+1

Would be very very useful for me as well. I actually have a greater need to share "smart lists" than "normal lists".
Posted 13 years ago
chasedeluca says:
+1
Posted 13 years ago
stephen.nevison says:
+1
Posted 13 years ago
keoni8888 says:
+1
Posted 13 years ago
common.csc says:
+1
Posted 13 years ago
jennwilgo says:
+1
Posted 13 years ago
rauros says:
+1
Posted 13 years ago
nobody4711 says:
+1
Posted 13 years ago
hetp0st says:
+1
Posted 13 years ago
casutton says:
+1
Posted 13 years ago
(closed account) says:
Ok, so i'm weighing in here. .. I want this very much...

Essentially, i'm working around not having subtasks by using tags (which works great), having the ability to share smart lists for 'Release' / 'Patch' etc would provide a really good view on current actions.

Sharing normal lists is fine... til you have way to many to interact with...
Posted 13 years ago
darcy.sharman says:
+1
Posted 13 years ago
rmavery says:
C'mon... Share the smart list... :-(
Posted 13 years ago
eduardoconde says:
C'mon this request is too old and this would be very useful!!!
Posted 13 years ago
thechilibuddy says:
Share smart lists please!
Posted 13 years ago
(closed account) says:
+1 from me, smart lists are really, really cool!
Posted 13 years ago
watkins.family says:
+1 This is essential for what we want to do.
Posted 13 years ago
daniel940 says:
I second (or 100th) the motion. Share the smart lists.
Posted 13 years ago
kwegner says:
+1 much needed
Posted 13 years ago
craig.jessup says:
I was shocked to find that this was not already a feature; please get this implemented as a priority!
Posted 13 years ago
tobbesjufem says:
+1 essential feature, must have
Posted 13 years ago
ankgt says:
Please add this feature. It would be absolutely amazing! I stumbled upto this thread while trying to Google this functionality and am glad to see that there are soo many people already asking for the same thing. Please add it soon though... its already been 2 years since this thread started!
Posted 13 years ago
mailman1175 says:
Looks like this is a pretty popular request. I, too, would love to see it implemented.
Posted 13 years ago
ellenme says:
Just one example: I'd like to share my @grocerylist with my husband so that he can pick up items when he happens to be at the grocery store. If he were to use RTM on his smartphone as I do, he'd be able to edit the tasks, though since he likely won't, I just want him to be able to see the list (possibly printing it out). I realise I could easily set this list as a regular list, however, I like that when adding an item to my smart list on my iPhone, it will automatically tag it appropriately. Again... just one example.
Posted 13 years ago
heisenman says:
+3 This is excellent and precisely what I need. I need the ability to share smartlists with my boss so he can see, at a glance, what I'm up to at any given moment. Giving him an "unlisted" URL he can bookmark and return to at will would save real time. Our meetings would be more productive because he would already see my daily roadmap of productivity, if you will, track completed tasks, etc.
Posted 13 years ago
ranbarton Power Poster says:
Emily:

I'd love to share a grocery list or an errand list with my wife, and have it be editable.

I'd like to share a list with subordinates at work, and have it be uneditable.

These lists are generated by searches for tags and, sometimes, due dates.

I wish to share these to enable me to use RTM as a communications tool, so that tasks I share with others can be usefully managed in RTM.

I don't use lists - everything is organized by smartlist via tag, so the current sharing options are of limited utility to me.

Thanks for pursuing this.
Posted 13 years ago
tomkerswill says:
+1 for sharing Smart Lists
Posted 13 years ago
ghisamd says:
+1
Posted 13 years ago
lkolny says:
@ emily

I'd like to shortly explain my implementation of smart lists and then answer your questions:

I use RememberTheMilk to organize work with my office. I tag tasks with the names of my colleagues and create smart lists so I can see who is responsible for a certain job. I'd like to share those lists with co-workers, so they could easily keep track of tasks assigned to them.

1) What's the criteria of the Smart List(s) you're interested in sharing?

basically - certain tags

2) Who would you share the Smart List(s) with? (e.g., spouse, boss, co-workers, etc)

co-workers

3) Why do you want to be able to share Smart List(s) with them?

so they can keep track of tasks I made them responsible for

4) Does the person (or people) you'd share the Smart List(s) with need access to edit the tasks, or just see them?

just seeing tasks is enough for me, although an option to let them edit tags would be nice

And - of course - big +1 for sharing smart lists :-)
Posted 13 years ago
(closed account) says:
+1

1) What's the criteria of the Smart List(s) you're interested in sharing?

certain tags.

2) Who would you share the Smart List(s) with? (e.g., spouse, boss, co-workers, etc)

co-workers.

3) Why do you want to be able to share Smart List(s) with them?

to not having to rearrange my task-List-structure (of course, I could manually create a task-list witht these tasks and share it) and - more specifically, use the list with certain tags and filters for weekly meetings.

4) Does the person (or people) you'd share the Smart List(s) with need access to edit the tasks, or just see them?

in my case seeing them would be enough.

On a glance, very similar to lkolny.
Posted 13 years ago
cdrynan says:
For the RTM-resistant spouse. This is a MUST have. :) honey-go-do lists would go to a new level.
Posted 12 years ago
j.aitken says:
+1 - I would find this a productive & time saving feature, below are my responses to emily's ?s.

1) What's the criteria of the Smart List(s) you're interested in sharing?

The results of a Smart List search criteria which has been setup by me.

2) Who would you share the Smart List(s) with? (e.g., spouse, boss, co-workers, etc)

* Management team (in my main job I have 3 bosses) & colleagues
* Family

3) Why do you want to be able to share Smart List(s) with them?

@ Work
On Monday I have to produce a weekly prioritised 'todo' list for my 3 bosses. Invariably this list is out of date by lunch time. It would be better if I could just send them a link to a dynamic Smart List which would enable my management team to monitor my constantly changing priorities. In addition to this it would be good if other colleagues could see this dynamic 'todo' list.

@ Home
To give the extended family a means of submitting & progress monitoring odd jobs & tasks.

4) Does the person (or people) you'd share the Smart List(s) with need access to edit the tasks, or just see them?

In order to make this feature really effective I suspect there needs to be a range of access/edit permission levels. Ranging from view only as a public or password protected webpage (I have management & colleagues who would not be prepared to open an RTM :-( account to get access). Right up to, well... (this is were I feel it gets tricky) something close to full edit permission. But, without the collaborator being able to see any other lists in the owners account which are outside the original search criteria.
Posted 12 years ago
fionaussie says:
+! for sharing smart lists/tagged items.

I tag items I need with several tags so when I'm at one of many stores, I can see what I need even though it may reside on a 'master' list since that is where I would normally purchase the item. If I am able to tag and share the task, I can pull up the tag, depending on which store I'm at. I would also be able to share the smart list with my husband so he can use his phone to see what we need.

For work, I start a list for a project, but may tag certain tasks with the names of various people who are involved in the project. Sharing a smart list, or list with similarly tagged tasks would allow the person to see their responsibilities, as well as me, and I would still be able to track the project under one 'master' list.
Posted 12 years ago
thedavejansen says:
+1
Posted 12 years ago
tdemarest says:
+1 here as well. My issue is very similar to fionaussie's.
Posted 12 years ago
andromac says:
+1
Posted 12 years ago
oleh.boiko says:
+1
Posted 12 years ago
kylir says:
Great idea. Please implement this!
Posted 12 years ago
sandro.tarkhan says:
absolutely! I really need that

it's usually inappropriate to share all the tasks in any of your lists with someone

but let's say you want to share some tasks with John: tag them with "John", create a smart list and share with John
Posted 12 years ago
chasedeluca says:
A read-only option would be sufficient for me (and many other people, it seems). Really the whole "publish" tab that's available for regular lists, should be available for smart-lists. I should be able to publish a read-only smart list for a contact, or I should be able to publish it publicly.

To be honest, I can already generate an atom feed of a smart list; publishing would just be nicer. Sharing (even as read-only) would be ideal, though, if only because RTM users could see it among their lists.

True sharing (read-write) would get very complicated. Read-only, though, makes a lot of sense, and should be much easier to implement.
Posted 12 years ago
(closed account) says:
For my uses, it would be sufficient that another person just sees the tasks related to her. As I sort my tasks according to topics in different lists, I tag them with the name of the person who is supposed to help me with these tasks and create a smart-list with these name-tags. It would be nice if that person could see the whole smart-list in her account, too.
Posted 12 years ago
peterlov says:
+1
Posted 12 years ago
alistair.fox says:
+1 for lkolny who said what I would want:

"I'd like to shortly explain my implementation of smart lists and then answer your questions:

I use RememberTheMilk to organize work with my office. I tag tasks with the names of my colleagues and create smart lists so I can see who is responsible for a certain job. I'd like to share those lists with co-workers, so they could easily keep track of tasks assigned to them.

1) What's the criteria of the Smart List(s) you're interested in sharing?

basically - certain tags

2) Who would you share the Smart List(s) with? (e.g., spouse, boss, co-workers, etc)

co-workers

3) Why do you want to be able to share Smart List(s) with them?

so they can keep track of tasks I made them responsible for

4) Does the person (or people) you'd share the Smart List(s) with need access to edit the tasks, or just see them?

just seeing tasks is enough for me, although an option to let them edit tags would be nice

And - of course - big +1 for sharing smart lists :-)"
Posted 12 years ago
jezozwierzak says:
+1
Posted 12 years ago
gstore says:
+1
Posted 12 years ago
alexandergarber says:
+1
Posted 12 years ago
ejlevin1 says:
+1
Posted 12 years ago
joao.g.post says:
come on, this is easy to do and makes the product much more usable. With this feature you can share with your co-workers the topics that you want to discuss with them. Wouldn't you like to keep such a list for each of your co-workers and share that list with them so that they can see it in advance, before you talk to them?
Posted 11 years ago
biancatg says:
this has not been implemented! Why does it say "Answered"?
Posted 11 years ago
(closed account) says:
I'd love to be able to share a list of tasks with a particular tag with a coworker, or perhaps even (tag:tag1 NOT tag:tag2)
Posted 11 years ago
gerry.steele says:
+1
Posted 11 years ago
idahogray says:
+1
Posted 11 years ago
aka178 says:
+1
Posted 11 years ago
bordaigorl says:
I guess a first, easier, approximation of this feature would be the ability of *publishing* a smart list. This avoids the problems of co-editing.

Use case: a list of gift ideas you want to share with your partner, hiding the gift ideas for him/her!
Posted 11 years ago
(closed account) says:
So let me give you an example of how this should work. I have a list called appointments. I wanted to assign a tag that says family and create a corresponding smart list. This smart list would be shared. If the other party entered something into the list than it would create a task with the same tag as the rule in the smart list (just like it was in the owners RTM account).
Posted 11 years ago
milkmaid88 says:
Can't you already share using the RSS feed for that list?
Posted 11 years ago
pakosj says:
For me I'd like smart lists to be shared with my wife. I have a Costco list, Grocery Store list, Appointments. I'd like to share the smart list with her and have it show up in her smart lists. I don't need her to be able to edit the lists/tasks, just be able to see them the same way I do...
Posted 11 years ago
isaacab says:
So much needed! +1
Posted 10 years ago
(closed account) says:
This would be a great addition :)
Posted 10 years ago
lucabasilico says:
1) What's the criteria of the Smart List(s) you're interested in sharing?

I need to share specific project's task indetified by a specific tag within a same list

2) Who would you share the Smart List(s) with? (e.g., spouse, boss, co-workers, etc)

co-weorkrs

3) Why do you want to be able to share Smart List(s) with them?

to work on a same project and be up to date on who is accomplishing a specific task... so that no one else will take care of it again

4) Does the person (or people) you'd share the Smart List(s) with need access to edit the tasks, or just see them?

Yes co-works shoul be bale to edit the... add comment..change due date etc
Posted 8 years ago
marco.littges says:
Any updates after 10 years? ;-)
Posted 5 years ago
ranbarton Power Poster says:
In the seven years since I last chimed in on this thread, I have found other tools to handle groceries, communications with subordinates, and other related jobs I would like to accomplish easily with RTM, but have instead turned to various iOS apps, Google, Microsoft, Slack, and Things, as examples. None of them is as structurally elegant as RTM, but they do let me accomplish these objectives. I think it's too bad that RTM hasn't developed as more of a platform to host all sorts of task-related jobs.
Posted 5 years ago
erica.nofi says:
I know this is old, but my 2 cents after moving a lot of things over to shared lists recently.

I would be very happy if I could share a smart list and have it apply the criteria to the recipients account, because I would only be sharing smart lists built off regular lists that are already shared. I currently have to send a message with the criteria I want to share and the recipient has to recreate the smart list on their end. I primarily use this method to build shared household to-do lists and packing or shopping lists with my spouse, and it works ok, but it is annoying to keep the criteria synced across accounts when one of us wants to change the architecture a little.

1) What's the criteria of the Smart List(s) you're interested in sharing?

Pulling together items from multiple shared lists (by list and/or tag) and sorting them (also by tag or list).

2) Who would you share the Smart List(s) with? (e.g., spouse, boss, co-workers, etc)

Spouse or potentially other family members.

3) Why do you want to be able to share Smart List(s) with them?

So that they can use the same list, tag, and search architecture and get the same resulting "real" list (for example, our groceries are in lists by aisle, the smart list collects them into one list sorted by aisle--if I add a new aisle list I need to add that to the smart list criteria. My spouse needs to make the same change or they won't see those items in their smart list).

4) Does the person (or people) you'd share the Smart List(s) with need access to edit the tasks, or just see them?

The underlying lists are already shared with edit permission... they would not need to see anything coming from a non-shared list (in fact, I would consider that an error?).
Posted 5 years ago
(closed account) says:
While it would be cool to be able to share a dynamically-created task list (smart lists), I do see that it would cause a pretty significant challenge to the developers. As emily mentioned, just sharing the criteria that makes up the list would make it apply to the recipient's tasks, not the sender's.

I suppose you could make it so upon sharing, it would create a static list of those tasks, but there would be no updating it or making it remain dynamic. That would greatly reduce the usability of it.

My wife and I each have an account and we've been working just fine with it, but I do understand the desire of, for example, businesses, etc.

Someone in a comment above mentioned how this would be an easy thing to implement; just a quick, cursory thought (and an understanding of the dynamic nature of smart lists) will show that assessment to be incorrect. I don't envy the developers if they are considering how this could be done.
Posted 2 years ago
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