Check Off: Another To-Do List Manager for Mac

I recently wrote a review of a new to-do-list manager for Mac OSX called Do It. In that review I commented about how it's a nice program, but not quite ready to pull me away from other, more fully-implemented - programs available for Mac users. In this review I'll look at another to-do-list manager, called Check Off. Check Off, compared to Do It, is not nearly as flashy, has fewer overall features, but does have a couple in particular that put it, in my mind, higher on the list of programs I'm most likely to use. It may not be something I'll use to replace iCal and its reminders or Thunderbird's options, but it's definitely a program I can recommend more easily.

First, what is Check Off? As opposed to Do It, which spawns a floating window showing all your upcoming appointments and tasks, Check Off creates a menu icon, which - when clicked - produces a scrolling window that shows all your tasks.

If you've read my review of Do It, you'll know that while the task creation process is simple in Do It, there were a couple snags. This is definitely not the case in Check Off. In Check Off, creating a new task is as simple as clicking the menu bar icon, clicking the plus sign, and filling in the name of the task. Check Off isn't a reminder service, so there's no reminder or alert information to fill in, because Check Off won't pop up a message to remind you of your upcoming task. In fact, there are really only three pieces of customization that can be applied to any task.

The first, as I mentioned, is the name. When you first create the task, you can start typing, since the task is ready for you to rename it. The second aspect of a task that can be changed (or customized), is an explanation. The bottom portion of the scroll down window changes depending on which task is highlighted. In this section you can type in a description of a task, such as where it is, when it needs to be completed, along with any other information you deem relevant. Finally, each task can be further customized by giving it a highlight color. This is accomplished by first highlighting a task, then clicking on the color icon in the window's menu and clicking your color preference.