How To Export Your To-Dos From Astrid And Take Them To A New App

When Yahoo acquired Astrid earlier this month, we all knew the inevitable outcome: the service would be shuttered and we’d have to go somewhere else. Thankfully, Astrid’s developers have made it easy to get your data out, and a number of other to-do apps have rolled out the welcome mat for Astrid refugees with import tools that will get you up and running in seconds. Here are a few, and how to make the switch seamlessly.

How to Export Your Data from Astrid

If you currently use Astrid, you should notice there’s a new option in the webapp to export your data. The option wasn’t highlighted for existing customers, but a few enterprising users discovered it a few days ago. Here’s how to use it:

1. Head to the Astrid web site and log in.
2. Click your name in the upper right corner of the screen. In the drop-down menu, you should see “Export your data”. Select it.
3. On the following page, you’ll be notified that the data export feature is still in beta (so there may be errors), and the process can take a few minutes. You’re also asked if you want to export tasks that have been shared with you by other users. Check the box if you do, then click Backup My Data.
4. Astrid will package the export behind the scenes and send it to the email address it has on file for you.

The confirmation page says that the export process can take up to 24 hours; you can still use Astrid normally while your data is being backed up. Your backup file is essentially a ZIP archive that contains a CSV with all of your to-dos, categories, notes, due dates and other data in it. It’s fairly portable in that format, but there are some services that have gone out of their way to make it easy to make the switch with Astrid-specific import tools.

Services With Astrid Import Tools

Here are a few existing to-do apps that are waiting to welcome you:.

Wunderlist

Wunderlist, is our favorite to-do app for Android, Windows, Mac and Linux. It was also one of the first services to unveil a migration plan for Astrid users. You don’t even need your exported Astrid data to make the switch, either.

Wunderlist put together its new premium services, too.

Any.DO

Any.DO is one of our other favourite to-do apps for the iPhone and for Android, and the new Any.DO Moment overview of your daily to-dos is something that really does help you start the day off right. While Any.DO is lacking a proper webapp (we really wish it had one), it does have a Chrome extension to go along with its iPhone and Android apps. If you’re an Astrid user, fire up your preferred mobile app, because you can import your to-dos and categories right from the palm of your hand.

Once you open the app on your smartphone, the Astrid import tool will open automatically. Just tap “Import” and the app will pull in the Astrid data from your phone, and add your to-dos seamlessly. It took a couple of seconds on my device, and when it was finished, all of my Astrid to-dos were in Any.Do, organised neatly by category, complete with their due dates. Recurring to-dos were properly set, and I was back up and running in moments. Since Any.DO is completely free, it’s worth giving it a shot just to see if the app fits with your workflow. Of all of these, Any.DO is probably the closest in look and feel to Astrid, and it comes with some bonus features (like the ability to add missed callers to your to-do list, and Any.DO Moment) that you may enjoy.

Sandglaz

Sandglaz isn’t quite as large as some of the other to-do services in our roundup, but it’s a solid to-do app and calendar for individuals and teams. We’ve mentioned it hem before, and the service has only grown since then. If you need a refresher, the video above show you what the service is all about. If you’re a fan of productivity methods like Personal Kanban or tools like Trello, you might like Sandglaz. The team has also rolled out the red carpet for Astrid refugees, as long as you’ve exported your data first.

Here’s the deal: Sandglaz is a freemium service, and free users get three “grids” or projects, to use to organise their activities. That can run out pretty quickly, so you can either earn more (up to 8 with a free account) by referring friends to the service, or up for a pro account, for $US8/month or $US69/year. If you’re a current Astrid user, you can try Sandglaz Pro for free until 1 August. All you need to do is sign up through its Astrid promo page and import your Astrid data once you’re logged in. That’s all there is to it. If you like the service, you have the option to continue paying for it once the promo period is up, and you get to bring all of your projects, to-dos, and data along for the ride so you don’t waste time getting set up and organised with a new tool.

Wrike

Wrike is designed to be a collaboration and project management tool for groups, so using it just to organise to-dos might seem like overkill, but it works just as well as a personal organisation tool as it does for groups. The service is welcoming former Astrid users with open arms, and has an easy-to-use web importer to prove it. You’ll need your Astrid data and a Wrike account in order to use it, but once you have both, you’re all set. Wrike accounts are free (although it offers premium plans too). Once you’re all logged in, tap the “Import” button at the top of the page and select Astrid. Upload your data, and all of your to-dos, categories, and due-dates will be imported.

Wrike has all of the features you’re probably used to in Astrid and then some. Free accounts come with access to Wrike’s webapp, iPhone app and Android app. Since Wrike is packed with features for people who want to collaborate with others, you can invite other users to use the service as well. If you thought Astrid was great as a to-do app, but wished you could use something more robust to keep track of all of your plans and projects, Wrike might be worth a look.

These four services are the ones we found that specifically have tools designed to bring Astrid users into the fold. That doesn’t mean they’re the only ones that will import Astrid to-dos. For example, Remember the Milk, another tool we’ve mentioned several times, doesn’t officially support importing Astrid data, but that hasn’t stopped one enterprising user from finding out how to make it work.

We checked on Producteev, but the developers say they don’t do it and that’s that. There is, however, a roundabout way to do it through ToodleDo, but at that point you may as well just use ToodleDo. Either way, Astrid does sync with Google Tasks, so you can always get to your to-dos that way, and virtually everything supports Google Tasks at this point. Regardless of where you choose to go, it should be easy enough to take your data with you.