How I automate Raindrop bookmarks into my Todoist inbox
Background
A few weeks ago, I had decided to try to flatten down my tech app stack and see if I could consolidate anything. One such tool that I decided on is Raindrop. Raindrop is a neat and convenient bookmarking platform that works on almost every platform you could want to use it on.
It's a great tool, and I wanted to see if I could use Todoist for a similar, but simpler option. So… I tried out the Todoist Official Chrome Extension. And… it was a no go. It's far too slow to open up, and essentially the whole web app shrank down.
I then remembered the Zapier tool I had used during my internship. I had to figure out a way to automate simple birthday wishes to potential leads or existing clients via Telegram, connected to a spreadsheet of the names and birth dates. I remembered being pretty fascinated by the world of automation!
So… I did some research and landed on two options that I could work with: Make.com and IFTTT. I ended up with IFTTT, as this was a relatively simple project, and there's essentially no limitation (except for the number of times it can get activated—in IFTTT's case, it was once an hour). Make.com was very customizable, but there was a token system, which I didn't want to think too much about.
I'm still experimenting with this setup, but so far, so good! If this ends up having any issues, I'll probably try another extension that was created (but not officially promoted) by the Todoist team: Check out this one-click Todoist extension!
Applet
The applet I created with IFTTT is fairly simple. I basically set it up to:
- Create a task for every bookmark I make using Raindrop that is added into a specific folder. In this case, I made life easier and just made one within Raindrop called 'Todoist.'
- Once that's created, it will trigger IFTTT to create the task in my Todoist inbox and add the label :Bookmarks.
- I do also have it set up to have the notes section transferred :)
This is a basic setup, but I find it quite useful so far. I like that I have to filter through my bookmarks in my inbox and place them appropriately in a project's section. A habit of mine when I used Raindrop was to save many links but never really end up opening them since they weren't technically 'actionable.' In Todoist, you can immediately move it to a project or section and schedule when you want to act on that bookmark.
