Help

Getting started

Sign up

First, sign up for a free account here. All you need is a valid email address and a password. No other personal information is required.

Confirm your email

Once you have signed up, you'll be sent a confirmation email. Click the link in the email to validate your account. You will be taken back to listya.com, where you will automatically be logged in.

Add an item to your list

You will start on a page with the name "Main list" in the title box. Below that there are two columns: your (currently empty) list on the left, and the Add Item interface on the right. Type a short, descriptive name for your item -- such as "Do homework" or "Plan trip" or "Buy eggs" -- into the box on the right. Click the Add Item button. Your item will be added to the list on the left. Add as many items as you'd like.

Add descriptions and tags

Click the [edit] link next to an item name or the icon in an item's icon tray. This will load a new interface into the right column where you can add a more lengthy description of your item. You can also tag your item with keywords, separated by commas. (For more information about tagging, see below). Click the Save button to save your changes.

Add sub-items

Each item in your list can become a list unto itself. To add sub-items, click the item name or the "add" link on the item to which you'd like to add sub-items. This will take you to a new page with the item title in the header. Add items to the list the same way you did for your main list.

Basic usage

Navigating your lists

There are several buttons available to make navigating your lists easier.

• To access the Main List from anywhere in the site, click the button.
• To go up one list (to the parent list), click the button.
• To go back to the previous list you visited, click the button. This is analagous to your browser's Back button.

Adding an item

To add an item, simply type it into the box in the right column, then click the Add Item button. It will appear in the list to the left. New items are always added to the top of the list.

Adding sub-items

Any item in any list can be a list unto itself. There are three ways to add sub-items to a list.

• If an item has no sub-items, you will see a message in the lower right corner of the item. Clicking the "add" link will take you to a new page with the item name in the title.
• If an item already has sub-items, the message in the lower right will be replaced with a button indicating how many sub-items are in the list. Clicking this will take you to a new page displaying the sub-items.
• Clicking the item name will take you to that item's sub-items page.

From this page, you can then add items by typing them in the box on the right, then clicking Add Item.

Deleting an item

To delete an item, click the icon in the item's icon tray. You will be asked to confirm the deletion. Clicking "OK" will delete the item from the list.

Deleting an item removes it permanently. Once deleted, an item cannot be recovered. If you want to be able to restore an item, consider marking it completed instead of deleting it.

Completing an item

When you complete an item -- for example, when you finish a task, or acquire an item in a wish list, or are finished with an address you wrote down -- you can mark it completed by clicking the checkbox to the left of the item.

Completed items will drop to the bottom of your list, where they will remain for 24 hours. This gives you an opportunity to restore the item if you marked it completed by mistake.

You will also see an alert message in the lower right corner of a completed item if there are sub-items that remain incomplete. Incomplete sub-items may mean you marked the item completed before it is really done.

Restoring an item

Once an item has been marked completed, the checkbox to the item's left is replaced with a restore icon. Clicking that icon will mark it uncompleted, and will restore the item to its previous location in the list.

Editing an item

Clicking the [edit] link next to an item's name or the icon in the item's icon tray will load a new interface in the right column. From there, you can change an item's title. You can also add or edit a more lengthy description of the item, and you can add or edit the item's tags. (More info about tagging can be found below). Once you are done editing an item, click the Save button to save your changes.

Printing a list

To print a list, navigate to the list, then click the button. This will open a new window and spawn a Print dialog. Your list should print in a narrow column that takes up about 1/3 of the page width. These dimensions allow you to fold your list to a convenient size for carrying in your pocket. The printed list will have the list name at the top, with each item name below it in a box. If there is a description for the item, it will be below the item name in smaller print.

Advanced usage

Using the Tree view

To enter the Tree view, click the button. This will take you to a view of your list organized into a tree, similar to a nested outline. Each item in the Tree view is called a node. If the node has sub-items, the number of sub-items will be listed beside the node name in parentheses. The node name will also be bold, and there will be blue arrow beside it.

During a visit to the site, the Tree view will remember the state in which you last left it. If you expand a node then leave the page, the node will still be expanded when you return. This will persist as long as your browser stays open.

• To expand a node, (view its sub-items) click the blue arrow beside the node name. This will load the sub-items indented below the selected node, and the arrow will turn to face downwards.
• To collapse a node, (hide its sub-items) click the blue arrow beside the node name. This will hide the sub-items below the selected node, and the arrow will turn to face right. You will not be able to collapse a node if any of its sub-items are selected. This is a safety precaution to ensure that you don't hide a sub-item while it is still selected, therefore lessening the possibility that you may unknowingly delete it while it is hidden.
• To expand all nodes, click the Expand All link in the right menu. This will display all items and sub-items in the Tree view. If you have a lot of items in many lists, expanding all nodes may take quite a while. A loading message will be displayed to let you know the site is working on building your tree.
• To collapse all nodes, (hide its sub-items) click the Collapse All link in the right menu. This will hide all sub-items except for those immediately below the Main List.
• To select/deselect a node, click the icon next to the node you'd like to select. The icon will turn green, and the item will be highlighted and outlined with a dotted border. If you expand a node while it is selected, its sub-items will be marked as selected too. To de-select a selected item, just click the icon.
  
  Selecting a node also selects its sub-items even if they are not visible in the tree. Use extreme caution when assigning or deleting items that have hidden sub-items.
• To de-select all selected nodes, click the Clear Selected link in the right menu. All selected nodes and sub-items will be de-selected.
• To enter the List view for a particular node, click the node name. Only nodes with sub-items are clickable -- they are bold and have a blue arrow beside them.

Adding multiple items

You can add several items at one time by typing them into the box in the right column, entering each item on a separate line starting with an asterisk (*). For example, if you wanted to add three items -- "Wash car", "Buy clothes", and "Fix bike" -- you would enter them like this:

*Wash car
*Buy clothes
*Fix bike

When you're done, just click the Add Item button and each will be added to the list as a separate item.

Deleting multiple items

First, click the button to access the Tree view. Click the icon next to each item you would like to delete. This will highlight the selected item(s) -- and any associated sub-items -- by drawing a dotted box around them and turning the icons next to each item green . Once you have selected all the items you want to delete, click the Delete Selected link in the right menu.

Deleting items is permanent, and will delete all associated sub-items even if they are not selected or visible. If an item name is bold and has a blue arrow next to it, that means it has sub-items. I highly suggest you click the blue arrow next to each selected item and inspect all sub-items before deleting.

Moving items

To change the order of items in a list, locate the item you want to move and click the icon in the icon tray. This will highlight the selected item, and will display an Insert Here bar between each item in the list. Simply click the Insert Here bar in the slot where you'd like to move the selected item. (To move items from one list to another, see Assigning Items.)

Assigning items

Assigning an item means moving it from its current list to a new list. This is done from the Tree view. There are two ways assign items:

• To assign a single item, click the icon in the item's icon tray. This will take you to the Tree view with the selected item already highlighted. Just click the icon next to the list to which you'd like to assign the selected item. This will re-assign the selected item.
• To assign multiple items, click the button to access the Tree view. Click the icon next to each item you would like to assign. This will highlight the selected item(s) -- and any associated sub-items -- by drawing a dotted box around them and turning the icons next to each item green .

  Once you have selected all the items you would like to assign, click the Assign Selected link in the right menu. This will turn the icons next to all selected items to red . They will not be clickable -- you can't assign an item to itself, or two one of its own sub-items.

  Finally, click the icon next to the item to which you'd like to assign the selected item(s). This will re-assign the selected item(s) to the new list.

Tagging items

Tagging is one of the most powerful features of Listya. It allows you to associate related items using descriptive keywords, regardless of which list the items are in.

• To tag an item, click the [edit] link next to the item name, or the icon in the item's icon tray. This will load the Edit Item interface in the right column. Enter your tags in the Tags field at the bottom, separating them with commas. For example, you may tag the item "Clean the house" with the keyword "chores". Click the Save button to save your changes.
• To view an item's tags, click the icon in the item's icon tray. This will display the item's tags in a box below the title. If the item has no tags, there will be a link to add some.
• To view all your tags, click the button. This will display every tag you have associated with every item. If a tag has been used more than once, the number of items associated with the tag will appear in parentheses next to it. Clicking a tag name will display all items associated with that tag, regardless of which list each lives in.
• To remove tags from an item, follow the same steps as you would to tag the item. Just delete the tag from the item's Tag field, then click the Save button to save your changes.
• To remove a tag from all items, click the button to view your tags. Then, simply click the to the left of the tag you'd like to remove.

  Removing a tag from your tag list will not delete the items associated with it. It will just remove the tag itself.

• To tag multiple items simultaneously, click the button to enter Tree view. Select all of the items you want to tag, then click the Add Tags button. This will open an interface in the right column when you can add your tags. When you're finished, be sure to click the Save button.

  Adding tags to multiple items will not overwrite each individual item's existing tags. Instead, the new tags will be appended to each item's existing tags.

Searching items

To access the Search Items page, click the button. Type your search keywords into the Search For box, then check all relevant Search By boxes. Checking or unchecking the All box will do the same to all the other checkboxes. Click the Search button to submit your search. This will return all items containing the keywords you specified in any of the Search By fields you checked.

Pending items

Sometimes, an item requires action from someone else before it can be completed. For example, suppose your item is "Get shopping list from Mom." You call Mom to ask for the shopping list, but she is not home. You leave a message. Now you're waiting for Mom to call you back with the shopping list. This is an item you would mark pending. The Pending icon indicates that you have taken action on an item, but further action from someone else is required before it can be completed.

• To mark an item as pending, click the icon in the item's icon tray. This will display a icon next to the item name.
• To check how long an item has been pending, click the icon in the item's icon tray or the icon next to the item name. This will display a box with the date the item was originally marked as pending.
• To clear an item's pending status, click the icon in the item's icon tray or the icon next to the item name. This will display a box with the date the item was originally marked as pending, along with a "Remove pending status?" link. Clicking that link will clear the item's pending status.
• To view all your pending items, click the icon. This will display a list of all items marked as pending, regardless of which list they are in.

FAQ

About Listya

What does "Listya" mean?

"Listya" is derived from an ancient inscription found in a cave near Marakesh by a young goat-herder named Mufusa Ontowantabe (who, incidentally, grew up to be a famous singer best known as "the African Frank Sinatra"). Roughly translated, "listya" means "busy man make list on website."

Okay, I'm lying. "Listya" means absolutely nothing. I hope. There's a possibility it is the Polish word for "ass". If so, I apologize. It was either listya.com or that-free-site-that-lets-you-make-lists-of-stuff.com. I opted for the one that doesn't take an hour to type.

What is Listya all about?

Listya is built around the concept of hierarchies, or nested lists. Each list contains a number of items. Each item can then have sub-items added to it, becoming a list unto itself.

For example, let's look at a basic to-do list. Let's assume that you have three tasks, and that you're a caveman. You have to:

• Build fire
• Make spear
• Plan surprise party

Pretty basic, right? Sure it is ... until you start to tackle your list. That's when you realize that each item on your list is really made up of several smaller tasks, which are made up of even smaller tasks, and so on. Really, it looks more like this:

• Build fire
  • Gather firewood
  • Find rocks to make sparks
  • Buy marshmallows
• Make spear
  • Chip flint into spearhead
  • Create handle
    • Cut branch
    • Strip leaves
    • Add racing stripe
• Plan surprise party
  • Buy party hats, balloons, etc.
  • Mix rum punch
  • Decorate cave

Putting all this stuff on one list can be overwhelming. Keeping everything in separate lists can be confusing. That's where Listya comes in. Its flexible, intuitive interface allows you to organize your notes and tasks into short, simple lists that are easy to use, manage, and understand.

Why doesn't Listya [insert over-hyped Web 2.0 buzzword here]?

Most of the competing sites out there have spent so much time building out complex features, that they completely overlooked the simple stuff.

Them: "You can collaborate with co-workers on a virtual whiteboard in real time, then subscribe to the changes via an RSS feed!"

Me: "Wow. That's great. Can I take a task from one list and move it to another?"

Them: "No. But you can set deadlines and milestones, then graph your progress on a pie chart accessible right from our handy dashboard!"

Me: "But, see, I just want to move a task from this list to --"

Them: "WE ARE A SCALABLE ONLINE COLLABORATIVE WORKSPACE! WE HAVE WIDGETS!"

Me: "You're crying."

Them: "You're ugly. Go away."

Listya is designed to do a few simple things very, very well. Instead of overwhelming you with complicated options and features, it gives you a handful of very basic tools ... that can be used in some very sophicated ways.

If you're interested in a to-do list that can also tie your shoes and cook you breakfast, then you're in the wrong place. But if you want an easy, infinitely flexible solution for organizing your life, then Listya is perfect for you.

Who created Listya?

I did. Hi. I'm Warren. I'm a web developer who got tired of trying out all the online to-do lists without ever finding one that did everything I needed. So, I built one myself. All the design, programming, and copywriting is done by me. Unless something is broken. Then it was the other guy.

You're a genius. Can I buy your site for a billion dollars?

No.

Please?

Okay. Email me.

Signing up

How much does it cost to use Listya?

Nothing. It's totally free.

I never got my signup confirmation email. Where did it go?

Your confirmation email may have been snagged by a spam filter (especially on Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, or AOL) and deposited in your Spam/Junk/Bulk folder. Or, if you have a really aggressive spam filter, it may have been deleted or bounced altogether. The email comes from confirmation@listya.com. Try adding that email address (or the entire listya.com domain) to your spam filter's whitelist. Then, return to the signup page, enter your email address, and click the "Re-send confirmation email" link.

I clicked the link in my signup confirmation email, but it gave me a message saying it is an "Invalid link".

Sometimes, links in email will break when they wrap to more than one line. Try highlighting and copying the confirmation link, then pasting it into your browser's address bar. If that doesn't work, then check the date of your confirmation email. If it has been more than 24 hours since you signed up, you missed the 24-hour confirmation window, and your account was deleted. You'll have to sign up again.

Logging in

Help! I forgot my password! Can you send it to me?

No problem. Just go to the login page, type in your email, and click the Forgot Password link. Your password will be emailed to you. If you don't receive it within a few minutes, be sure to check your Spam/Bulk/Junk folder.

Help! I forgot my email! Can you send it to me?

Sorry, man. You're out of luck. Since your email address is the only distinguishing info we have about you, we have no way of retrieving it if you don't know it. You'll have to register again with a new email.

About the site

What is that little blue rotating circle that sometimes appears near my mouse?

That circle lets you know that Listya is currently processing a request for you. You'll usually see it when adding, saving, moving, or deleting an item.

My account

How do I change my email or password?

You can update all your account information from the My Account page

I changed my email, but when I try to log in with my new email it tells me there is no account for it. What happened?

Your email change doesn't take effect until you visit the link in the confirmation email sent to your new account. If you didn't get or can't find the confirmation email, log in with your old email and visit the My Account > Change Email page again. Re-submit your new email, and the confirmation email will be re-sent to you.

I changed my password, but when I try to log in with my new password it tells me that it is wrong. What happened?

Your password change doesn't take effect until you visit the link in the confirmation email sent to your account's email address. If you didn't get or can't find the confirmation email, log in with your old password and visit the My Account > Reset Password page again. Re-submit your new password, and the confirmation email will be re-sent to you. If you don't receive it within a few minutes, be sure to check your Spam/Bulk/Junk folder.

What if I make a mistake and mis-type my new email while changing it?

Your email change doesn't take effect until you visit the link in the confirmation email sent to your new account. Just re-visit the Change Email page and enter your correct email.

I haven't been to the site in a while, and now when I log in I get a message saying there is no account for my email. What happened?

You must log into your account at least once every six months in order for your account to stay active. If more than six months have passed since your last login, your account has been deleted. You'll have to register for a new account.

Adding items

When I'm adding a lot of items, it gets annoying to have to stop typing and move to the mouse to click the Add Item button every time. Is there any faster way?

Sure. Hit the Tab key (left side of your keyboard) to shift focus from the input box to the Add Items button, then hit Enter. This will input your new item and will shift focus back to the input box so you can enter another.

Is there any way to add multiple items at once without clicking the Add Item button every time?

Yes.

Printing

Why is my list squished into a narrow column instead of spanning the page?

The print layout is optimized to take up about 1/3 of the page width. This size allows you to fold the list to fit nicely into your pocket. At this size, you can glance at your list without constantly folding and unfolding the paper. It also gives you plenty of room to scribble notes or add new items.

How do I change the print dimensions of my list?

For now, you don't. Future versions of Listya will allow you to choose from a selection of print layouts. However, at the moment, the existing print configuration is the only one available.

Suggestions

Introduction

Listya is built on the core belief that there is power in simplicity. You'll notice right away that the site doesn't offer a ton of features. Why? Because I don't know how you want to use the site. YOU do.

When you see a site with a lot of bells and whistles, what you're really seeing is a bunch of programmers trying to figure out what you want to do, then attempting to build tools to help you do it. Unfortunately, they never quite get it right.

I don't want to prioritize my potato

The more sophisticated an application is, the more rules it forces you to follow. "You want to create a task? Great. What's the start date? The end date? The category? Home? Work? School? High priority? Low priority? What are the milestones? We'll email you the day before the deadline to remind you. And if you miss the deadline, we'll email you every day until you complete this task. Cool, huh?"

Uh ... No. Not cool. Not at all.

See, I just need to buy a potato. That's my task. "Buy potato." That's it. Potatoes don't have deadlines. There are no milestones for buying a potato. I don't want to prioritize my potato. And most of all, I don't want some damn computer constantly nudging me about not buying the potato. I'll get to it when I have time, and I'll check it off when I'm done. Now leave me alone.

Basic sophistication

The problem is, most project management applications are over-designed. They're great if you're the engineering lead at a major tech firm, trying to coordinate a team of programmers to meet a deadline. But what about the rest of us?

With Listya, I take the opposite approach. Instead of overwhelming you with complicated options and features, I give you a handful of very basic tools ... that can be used in some very sophisticated ways.

Below you'll find a few suggestions on how to use Listya to simplify your life. If you've got your own techniques for using the site that you'd like to see here, let me know.

Getting Things Done (GTD)

Getting Things Done (or GTD) is an work-life management framework, derived from the book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen, as well as his teachings, seminars, and lectures. You can read more about the basics of Getting Things Done here or here.

Listya was primarily designed with GTD in mind, since most of the other online tools for GTD don't quite fit the bill. I know -- I tried them all. But I got so frustrated with their lack of simple functionality that I decided it would be easier for me to build my own GTD-type site than to try and twist other sites' functionality into a GTD framework.

For example, a big part of GTD is moving items between various lists, yet most GTD applications don't allow this. GTD also requires a hierarchical organization of lists, another thing that is lacking in many project management applications.

To use Listya for GTD, you should first add several items to your main list:

• Inbox. This is where you will capture everything you need to track or remember: things to do, things to buy, people to call, etc. You can collect each of these scraps of info as sub-items in your Inbox list (see Adding sub-items).
• Next Actions. For each item in your Inbox, figure out the next action you can physically take on it. A lot times, an item will require several sub-items to be completed before the item is really done. However, there is always something you need to do first. These are your "next actions."
  
  Sometimes it helps to organize your Next Action items in an additional dimension, like "home" or "office" or "store." You can do this by adding tags to your items. You can then view your items grouped by tag either by searching for the tag, or clicking it from your View My Tags list (see Tagging items and Searching items).
• Projects. Whenever an item in your Inbox requires more than one step to accomplish it, it becomes a Project. Projects are regularly reviewed to make sure that they all have Next Actions associated with them, so that they are all moving towards being accomplished. You can assign items from your Inbox to your Projects list, then add sub-items to each Project item to account for all the steps needed to finish it (see Assigning items and Adding sub-items).
• Pending. A big part of GTD is delegating items to other people. Whenever a delegated item is awaiting a response, or when completing an item requires someone else to do something first, you can mark the item as Pending. You can tag your items to keep track of who they have been delegated to (i.e. "delegated to Tony" or just "Tony"), and when they are due (i.e. "next week" or "Monday" or "June 4th"). To see all your Pending items from all your lists at a glance, just click the View Pending button. See Pending items, Assigning items and Tagging items.
• Someday/Maybe. These are things you'd like to do someday in the indefinite future, like "climb Everest" or "learn to tango". Tags can help you group these into related categories, such as "work" or "family" or "recreation." See Tagging items.

Calendar

Most people think of a calendar as a 7-column, 4-row grid consisting of 30 or 31 boxes. But really, a calendar can just as easily be represented as a nested list: Year > Month > Week > Day > Hour > Minute.

To use Listya to keep track of your calendar, simply create items and sub-items for each of the calendar categories above. For example, you may want to add an item to your main list called "2007 Calendar." Then, you can add sub-items to that list, one for each month. For each month, and sub-items for each week (i.e. "Week One" or "1st - 7th"). Under each week, add a sub-item for each day, Sunday through Saturday.

Once you have this structure laid out, you can start adding your scheduled items to each day. You can then further organize these items into groups by tagging them with keywords such as "birthdays" or "holidays" or "conference calls".

Address Book

Listya can make an extremely effective, easy-to-use address book. First, create an item in your main list called Address Book. Then create some sub-items for that list to represent alphabetical groupings, either one item for each letter of the alphabet, or ranges of letters such as A-E, F-J, K-O, etc.

Next, add your contacts as sub-items of the alphabetical groups. You might want to use the person's name and main contact number as the item name, and put the rest of the contact info in the description. Then, tag your contacts to group them into subcategories like "business" or "golf buddies" or "ex-girlfriends". Since each item can have as many tags as you want, you can group your contacts in an infinite number of ways.

When you need to contact someone, you can just re-assign their item from your Address Book to your to-do list. Then, once you have contacted the person, assign the contact item back to your Address Book again.

Shopping Lists

Making shopping lists with Listya can help to greatly simplify and organize your shopping trips. For example, you may want to add an item called "Shopping list" or "Things to buy" where you keep an ongoing list of everything you need to buy, as they come to your mind.

Tag each item with the name of the store where you would buy it, such as "Whole Foods" or "Wal-Mart" or "Best Buy". Then, when you're headed out to one of those stores, just click the tag to generate a list of all the items you need from there.

You can also use Listya to build really effective gift shopping lists. Tag each gift with the name of the store where you'll buy the item, as well as the name of the person you are buying for. Clicking the store name tag will give you a list of all the items you need to pick up from that store, for everyone you need to buy gifts for. Clicking the person's name will show you what you have bought the person, and what you have left to buy for them.

Restaurants

We all have a handful of places that we love to eat regularly. Maybe you have a pizza place you always order from, or an all-you-can-eat buffet that you visit every weekend. You can use Listya to keep all the names, addresses, and phone numbers of these restaurants in one easy-to-find place.

Make finding places even easier by tagging each restaurant with the type of food they serve: "pizza" or "Chinese" or "Italian." When you're in the mood for a certain type of food, all you need to do is click the appropriate tag and you'll get a list of all your favorite places.

Prioritizing Tasks

While Listya has no explicit prioritization built in, you can easily prioritize tasks in two ways. First, you can re-order the items in your list by using the Move function (see Moving items) to put the highest priority items at the top of the list. If that doesn't suit your needs, then try using tags to set item priorities. Just tag your items with keywords like "Priority: 5" or "High Priority." Then you can easily find all the high priority items in all your lists by either searching for the tag, or clicking it in your tags list.

Coming soon

• More print options