Super Productivity is the ultimate task manager for your time management goals

Task managers and to-do lists are a great way to keep you organized. I’ve used various tools for keeping track of the things I need to get done for a long time, and they’ve really made a difference.

However, not all to-do lists and task managers are created equal. Some task managers offer little more than bulleted or numbered lists to keep track of your tasks, while others offer so many features that they quickly become overwhelming.

Also: 5 to-do list apps on Android I recommend for staying on track

And then there’s the sweet spot, where the ideal mixture of features and simplicity lives. One task manager that exists in that zone is Super Productivity.

Super Productivity is for those who really need to be productive. This task manager features to-do lists, time tracking, insights, timesheets, work summaries, integration with services such as Jira, Gitlb, GitHub, Open Project and more; CalDAV integration; focus mode; break reminders; notes; bookmarks; file attachments and more.

Super Productivity is also open-source, which means you can download, view, and even edit the source code for the app. 

Super Productivity is free and available for Linux, MacOS, Windows, Android and iOS. Installation of Super Productivity is quite simple on all platforms. For example, you can install the app on Linux with Snap like so:

sudo snap install superproductivity

Installing on Windows, MacOS, Android and iOS is just a matter of opening the respective app store, searching for Super Productivity and installing.

How to use Super Productivity

Once you open the Super Productivity app, you should get a pretty good idea how easy it is to use. In the main window, click + to add a new task. A pop-up will appear where you enter the details of the task.

You could simply add the name of the task and hit Enter on your keyboard, or add a time estimate to the task. Let’s say I want to add a task for writing this article and predict it’ll take me 60 minutes to do so. For that, I could type:

Write article about Super Productivity 60m

Hit Enter and the task will be created and will include the estimated time.

Let’s say you’re about to work on that task. Hover your cursor over the task and you’ll see a start button (right-pointing arrow). Click the start button and Super Productivity will start tracking the time you spend on the task. When you’re finished with that session, hover the cursor over the task and hit the pause button.

If you select that task, you should then see a list of information regarding the time spent on the task. Every time you hit the start button for that task, Super Productivity will track the time spent. This gives you a good idea of how much time it took you to complete the task in total.

At the end of your day, you can hit Finish Day and you’ll see how much time you spent working, how many tasks were completed, time spent on tasks, and time spent during breaks.

You could also add a task to a project and include tags. For instance, let’s say my project is ZDNET and I want to add the tag software. When creating that task, I could type:

Write article about Super Productivity +ZDNET #software 60m

You’ll be asked to verify whether you want to create the new tag. If you notice that the task doesn’t create the project, you’ll need to create it manually. To do that, expand the left sidebar, hover over projects, click +, give the project a name, change the color (optional), add an icon (optional), enable project backlog (optional), and click Save.

Now, when you create a task associated with a project, you should see the project name in the task list.

There are other features you might find useful, and all of them are fairly straightforward. The important thing is getting started with an app that makes managing tasks and time quite easy.

If you’re in the market for an app to help keep you on task and productive, Super Productivity is hard to beat. Give it a go, and see if it doesn’t help you stay on target.