GTD-Free User Manuals

Version: 0.6-beta

1 Requirements
2 Running GTD-Free

2.1 Running on Windows
2.2 Command line parameters
2.3 Running from USB or other removable device

3 Data and Configuration

3.1 So where is my data stored?
3.2 Automatic or manuals save?

4 How to use GTD-Free

1 Requirements

It requires Java 1.6 or later to be installed on your system. You can obtain Java Runtime Environment from Sun official page, click here.

2 Running GTD-Free

Download jar file to a folder where you keep executables.
Start jar file with Java Runtime Environment version 1.6 or later with command:
```
java -jar gtd-free-0.6-beta.jar
```
Program will create necessary files and folders in your home folder.
Create shortcut on your desktop or in menu when command is tested.

2.1 Running on Windows

On windows may be started just by double-clicking on jar file if latest Java Runtime Environment is installed.

Alternatively you can download and run exe file. When started it will automatically offer to download Java if not installed.

2.2 Command line parameters

You can tell to GTD-Free in which folder to store data files by -data command line parameter. For example:

java -jar gtd-free-0.6-beta.jar -data c:\some\gtd-free\folder

If this parameter is not given, then default folder is used in user home location.

Only one instance of program can be running at same time for single data folder.

2.3 Running from USB or other removable device

Attach removable device to computer.
Make a folder for GTD-Free on your removable device and copy to the folder GTD-Free jar.
To run on Windows create in the folder a file GTD-Free.bat with following line:
```
java -jar gtd-free-0.6-beta.jar -data .
```
to run on Linux/Unix create in the folder a file gtdfree with following line:
```
java -jar gtd-free-0.6-beta.jar -data .
```
and mark the file as executable with following command:
```
chmod a+x gtdfree
```

When GTD-Free started with these scripts, all data will be stored in same folder where jar file is located.

3 Data and Configuration

3.1 So where is my data stored?

By default your data (everything you type into GTD-Free and configuration and backup files) is stored as XML files in .gtd-free folder in your home directory. You can start GTD-Free by providing other location for the data with -data command line parameter (see Command line parameters section).

If you are not sure where your default folder is then you have several options:

Try to fine in browser default location, in windows this is C:\Document and Settings\<your login name>\.gtd-free.
In GTD-Free open Help/About dialog and check for the value of gtd-free.data in the System Properties tab.
If you are running GTD-Free from jar file check console output.

In data folder you will fined main data file gtd-free-data.xml with all your data and ten backup files with copies of ten last saved main data as gtd-free-data.backupN.xml, where N goes from 0 to 9.

3.2 Automatic or manuals save?

It is strongly recommended to always keep automatic save turned on. You can find this option in File menu. Automatic save will make save each time something changes. It will keep record of ten last saved XML files for backup purposes.

If automatic save is switched off following will help you save your data:

When closing application a popup dialog will ask you to save any unsaved data.
If GTD-Free is terminated due to computer shutdown or log-off process then popup can not be displayed but data is still saved to file gtd-free-data.shutdown_backup.xml.

4 How to use GTD-Free

GTD-Free is build around work-flow methodology known as GTD. It's not necessary to follow GTD method to use GTD-Free but it helps to understand the structure of the application. Everybody is doing his ToDo lists or GTD lists differently, so don't worry too much if you are doing it right. As long as it works for you it's OK.

For an easy start here are some links to online resources about GTD method:

The best description at the moment how GTD-Free can be used is available in following articles:

GTD-Free: a simple yet powerful GTD-based task manager at Freewaregenius,
Cómo aplicar el modelo GTD con GTD-Free at Uptodown in Spanish, the translation to English by Google is quite readable and it's worth the effort: How to apply the GTD model with GTD-Free.