Todoist - Alexa Integration

Sometimes I'm slow on the uptake, even though I think I'm a techie! Of course it may also be true that being a techies can make things over-complicated. In this case it is certainly true.

1. I appreciate the convenience of Alexa in the house and in the shop.
2. I use Todoist to organize my daily tasks and project to-do lists.
3. Alexa does integrate with Todoist, e.g. "Alexa add a to-do" ... What would you like me to add? ... "Order some stuff "

That all works, and has worked for me for months. Unfortunately the to-do is added without a due date, I don't see it in my daily tasks. As a techie, I went looking for a solution. A search suggested that I might use IFTTT, but that seemed to difficult to figure out, as I have no IFTTT experience. That led me to Zapier, which will integrate with Todoist. I created a zap that would put today's date on any inbox task. Oops. That wasn't the best idea, because my Google calendar integration puts things in the inbox. So the the zap really did some zapping, changing calendar dates from the assigned date to today! I zapped that zap.

But as I said at the top, I was over-thinking it.

As I was filling the dishwasher this morning, the organic solution came to me (isn't it great that I could cleanse my mind along with the dishes).

Todoist, as I well know, allows for natural language entry of dates. So naturally, if I speak to Alexa with that natural language, Todoist should see it and process it! Huh. I just need to talk naturally (and say when the task should be completed).

"Alexa add a to-do" ... What would you like me to add? ... " Today Order some stuff "

or "March 21, Celebrate Spring" or "tomorrow Order some more stuff"

So simple.