When comparing Task Coach vs RowShare, the Slant community recommends Task Coach for most people. In the question“What are the best cross-platform task apps?” Task Coach is ranked 22nd while RowShare is ranked 68th. The most important reason people chose Task Coach is:
With access to the source code, savvy users can make under-the-hood tweaks to suit their work style.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Free and open source
With access to the source code, savvy users can make under-the-hood tweaks to suit their work style.
Pro Unlimited nesting of items and lists
When things grow in complexity, their parts can be turned into discrete task items within a hierarchical structure.
Pro Tracks hours and budget
Task Coach allows you to track how long it actually takes to complete a task and can be used to analyze the resulting impact on billing and budget.
Pro Tracks percent finished
Pro Manageable permissions
You can choose whether or not your rows and tables are visible to others.
Pro Email notifications
Email updates are sent when someone is working with your tables.
Pro Syncs with Excel
You can open tables directly with Microsoft Excel and still keep them synchronized.
Pro Row-level permissions
Permissions can be set on a row-by-row basis, meaning you won’t have to sacrifice complete control to have another collaborator join the project.
Pro Exports a number of document types
Generate all kinds of documents based on templates and the data contained in your table.
Pro User-set types that correspond to your data files
You can set the type of data contained in your rows, which speeds up the process of importing and exporting information.
Pro Supports attached files
Add your favorite files, pictures and videos directly into your tables.
Cons
Con No updated package for recent linux distros
deb package available to download does not install app
Con Multiple users can access a file over a network, but there’s no web-based interface for straightforward collaboration
A task file may be opened by several instances of Task Coach, either running on the same computer or on different ones (on a network share for instance). When you save, Task Coach will merge your work with whatever has been saved on the disk prior. Conflicts are automatically resolved, usually by you winning the conflict.
This serves two use cases: 1) A single user opening the task file on several computers (work, home, laptop) and 2) several users working on the same task file.
The first case is the most common and the most secure. The second case may be dangerous. Most network disk sharing protocols do not support the kind of file locking that would make this 100% secure. A list of common protocols and their behavior can be found in the Task Coach help file.
Con This is not a to-do app
Rowshare could be used to generate to-do lists, but its primary functionality is to create shareable datasheets.