Microsoft ditches its productivity tool, Wunderlist

Microsoft has decided to scrap its Wunderlist productivity tool, instead replacing it with Microsoft To-Do, a task manager that "intelligently" organises your day.

Developed by the same people who created the Wunderlist app, Microsoft claims To-Do is better at helping people work out what needs to be done and when.

"Once we are confident that we have incorporated the best of Wunderlist into To-Do, we will retire Wunderlist," Ori Artman, general manager of Microsoft To-Do said in a blog post. "While the name and icon may change, the team that brought you Wunderlist continues on. We look forward to making To-Do even more useful, intuitive and personal."

At its core, Microsoft To-Do is a list-making app, whether you want to remember what to buy from the supermarket, you need to create a priority list for work or to keep your life in check in general. Each list can have deadlines alongside items, due dates and notes. They can also be colour-coded to highlight important tasks, for example.

Microsoft To-Do starts each day with a blank slate so you aren't distracted by yesterday's tasks. You can of course refer to what you were supposed to do, but it's not the first thing you'll see when you launch the app.

If there's a task the app thinks was important from the day before, it'll appear when you tap the lightbulb icon. Other things the app thinks you need to be aware of will show up too, based upon what the algorithm has learnt from the way you usually work.

Microsoft To-Do fully integrates with Office 365, including Outlook, so any tasks that need to be completed according to your email will show up in To-Do too.

"As the only task management app built on an enterprise cloud, To-Do offers the advanced security that our Office 365 customers expect," Artman added. "Data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and To-Do is served out of our hyper-scale, global network of data centers."

To-Do is available in preview on iOS, Android and Windows, as well as the web. Redmond only bought the company behind Wunderlist, 6Wunderkinder, in summer 2015, paying a reported $100 million - $200 million.