Packing Your Lists

As I mentioned yesterday, one of the essential applications that I hadn’t packed in my last trip was, well, my packing list and a couple of people suggested how I might go about doing this [Thanks Jason & Roger].

For years now I had been using an MS Word document which I would print before leaving and tick off as I packed each item on my list.  This was a simple enough solution but naturally if the information is in digital format then I could perform the same process on my Treo instead of having to print a separate sheet each time.

Having made the decision to build a new packing list on my Treo the next step was to figure out which application I could/would use.  There were four options:

1. ThoughtManager Desktop ($39.95) is a powerful and simple outliner, list manager and information organizer that I’ve used for quite some time and which has the added benefit of a companion desktop application to make data entry even easier. 
2. ListPro ($29.95) is also a very good and powerful outliner and list manager with its own desktop component as well but the main drawback for me is the relatively tedious ‘new item’ input method each of which requires a Ctrl+W entry instead of a Return or Tab one which I’m used to in Excel or other database programs.  However, the benefit of list pro is that you can have an unlimited number of columns while ThoughManager can only have a single item per entry + a check box.
3. SplashShopper ($19.95) is a sophisticated shopping list manager (more like an ‘Items I Need’ builder) with a desktop component that even includes a Travel Checklist as standard but where it works really well for shopping I personally don’t feel that it is simple enough to build a quick travel list.
4. Finally, Bonsai ($34.95) is another increasingly popular outliner which is very similar to ThoughtManager but with a few more tweaks such as the ability to combine outline, to do and tasks.  Unfortunately, I haven’t yet had a chance to take it for a full spin.

All four applications however lack the ability to define fonts and color per level and instead limit you to just one type which makes viewing the information a little ‘plain’ and less appealing on my beautiful color Treo screen.  Naturally, all of these applications can be used for a lot more than just a simple packing list and each is particularly good for one need or another.  I personally have ThoughtManager, ListPro and SplashShopper installed on my Treo.

In the end, I decided that ThoughtManager would be the simplest and fastest option for my packing list and although I could have used the desktop version for faster data entry I chose to use the keyboard on my Treo instead. 

I had twelve categories with an average of 10 items each to fill and it took me about 15 minutes to create a new list and enter all the data.

You have three options for viewing the list: as bullets and checkbox with and without ticked items.  Additionally, as an outliner I could easily have created multiple subfolders.  Another thing that I like about ThoughtManager is that I can drag and drop any list item or folder and move it about as I please.

After syncing to my laptop my new packing list was automatically added to ThoughtManager Desktop from which I can add or amend any items in the future and even print if I need/want to.

Treonauts are always packing lists for every need and occasion…