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Archive lists, but don't archive them

fant says:
Hello everybody,

it happens that I want to give some of currently actionable projects (lists) a rest.
Okay, I have to confess that this is rather selfish - I want them not bother me, so I can concentrate on the more important projects/stuff (if there's any).

On the frontend I have a very simple setup. In the backend it's more complex thanks to the mighty smartlists. Following I discribe this subject by showing only the neccessary points. But it should be easy to implement this in any setup.

_Setup: Lists_

My list for 'one-off-Task' is named '+' (yes, only a +)

All Projects (in my case lists) which are active _start_ with an '+'.
(for example: '+Conquer.The.World')

All Projects/Lists which I want to put in a dormant state, but they resist to move to the archive start with an '>'.
(for example: '>Conquer.The.MilkyWay')

Thus, simply by editing the listname the projects, hence the tasks in those lists, get active or dormant. The lists themself get not out of sight. For example when doing a weekly review you can resurrect dormant projects simply by replacing the '>' with an '+' and vice versa.

Sort order of lists is alphabetically so the active projects are separated from the dormant ones.

_Setup - smartlists_

The simple thing is to start every smartlist which should show only active tasks (like '@desk', '@home' and so forth) with:

listcontains:+ AND ("here comes and the rest, what suits you best ")

(for example: listContains:+ AND tag:desk AND tag:next)

_Effect_
As mentioned above, only tasks in active lists (starting with a '+') will be shown. Nothing else must be changed.

_Drawback_
Due to the fact, that there is no syntax like 'listStartWith:' the name of dormant lists should not have a '+' in its name.
For example: '>Conquer.The.MilkyWay_+_Conquer.The.AndromedaGalaxy' will not work. I've tried, but I had to surrender :-(

That's all.
Hope it's of use to anyone.
Cheers! Jens
Posted at 1:51pm on February 19, 2020
(closed account) says:
I do the same thing, and posted about this in my GTD post a couple of weeks ago. But instead of using "+" and ">" I use "1." and "2.". Good method.
Posted 4 years ago
emily (Remember The Milk) says:
Hi fant, love the creative use of list names with special characters! You're this week's Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner, and we've shared your tip on the Remember The Milk blog.
Posted 3 weeks ago
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