(For Windows 98-XP only) Using Windows’ Active Desktop feature, this tutorial will show you how to embed your Remember the Milk to-do list on the Windows desktop. You’ll need a Remember the Milk account, Windows, and the ability to use Internet Explorer for short periods of time without exploding. Update: We’ve covered some more webapps in this post.
Another Update: Mark Godwin has a tutorial for Windows Vista users.
You’re required to use Internet Explorer. Make sure you check “Remember me on this computer” or otherwise the To-Do list we’ll embed will log you out.
Right click on any empty spot on your desktop, and select Properties.
You’ll be greeted by Display Properties. Click on the Desktop tab, and click on the button below the list of wallpaper that says Customize Desktop…
A Desktop Items window will appear. Click on the Web tab, and click on the button labeled New.
The New Desktop Wizard. Put the following URL in Location field, and click OK.
http://rememberthemilk.com/services/modules/googleig/
You’ll see the Desktop Items window again. Make sure your new entry is checked, and click OK. Then click OK to the Display Properties window. Magically, your Remember the Milk to-do list appears on the desktop. You can resize it, and move it around.
Thanks for the easy to follow tutorial. The screenshots make it even easier, I will definitely check this tip out. Thanks again.
-NKA
You had me right up until “the ability to use Internet Explorer for short periods of time without exploding.” Just can’t do it.
Seriously though, very nice use of Active Desktop.
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@nka: You’re welcome. We try to make all the tutorials easy to understand.
@jarhead: Thanks! And IETab might work as well, if that’s a bit less daunting.
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I can’t wait to try this when I get home!!! Thank you.
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When i click on the login button, instead of logging in there, it opens a new page in the browser. How do i resolve this ?
@smartfather: You’re welcome!
@avinashsonee: Make sure you login to Remember the Milk with “Remember me on this computer” checked in Internet Explorer.
Thanks for the tip! Although I tend to keep my desktop clutter free, I think I will give it a shot.
@Jason: Thanks for the reply. Quick question, when I enabled the RTM active desktop, the name of the desktop icon shortcuts become highlighted with whatever color the desktop is set to. Is there a way to remove this highlight and have the icons appear as they do before active desktop is enabled.
If you have a workaround for this, please let me know via email, thanks!
@Jörn: You’re welcome! I also tend to keep my desktop clutter free, I have it without icons.
@NKA: Unfortunately, I haven’t found a workaround for that. I actually didn’t notice that until it was mentioned earlier, since I keep my desktop clear of icons. I’ll see what I can dig up.
I have done the installation. However, I have a picture as my desktop along with numerous files on the desktop. All the titles of the files now have a color associated with them rather than being transparent, so the desktop does not look as nice at all! Is there a way to restore the file titles to a transparent background – they are the color under Desktop > Color.
@Nancy: Unfortunately, that seems to be a side-effect of Active Desktop, and we’re still looking for a workaround. The only way to restore the transparency is to remove the Active Desktop item.
Genius – I previously kept RTM in my Firefox sidebar but this frees up browser real estate. In conjunction with Outlook On the Desktop, my top folders, to-do list and calendar are all neatly arranged side-by-side and just a Window+D away. I’ll hold back unreserved praise until I see if the syncing works OK over the next few days, if it does I’ll be one happy to-doer.
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Depending on your style preferences you can also use the Netvibes widget: http://www.rememberthemilk.com//services/modules/netvibes/
This is a great tip. My only problem is that the embeded page always shows the RTM login screen. Logging in launches a new IE window. Any way around that?
@XNet: That’s another possibility. I didn’t notice the difference until you pointed that out.
@Pat: Make sure you login through Internet Explorer at http://www.rememberthemilk.com/login/ and check “Remember me on this computer” beforehand.
Using the Gmodule one for me had the Active Desktop error constantly, but the netvibes one worked fine.
Hi,
I just did this and it works great! I have one question, though: how do I retain my desktop wallpaper? The entire desktop is white now, with the RTM module in the center.
@Heather: That’s an interesting side-effect I haven’t heard of. Have you tried setting your desktop wallpaper again?
How often will the embedded page refresh? The only option in Active Desktop I can find is for 1 day – which kind of renders this thing a bit pointless
@Ciaron: I just performed a test (opened RTM in browser, watched Live HTTP Headers for requests) and I believe it updates automatically with AJAX. No need for a manual refresh.
Any chance for a Firefox version? Regardless, thanks for the effort.
@Douglas Reid: You mean in the sidebar? This article has information on that: http://thirderror.com/webpages-in-your-firefox-sidebar/
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For some reason, after working for a day, now all I get is a gray box with hidden top menu bar not matter what I do. I have tried deleting and redoing, refreshing, unchecking and saving and rechecking, and even the Google calender only displays a gray box without having worked at all. Any ideas?
@Marc: Interesting. Does the page load up in Internet Explorer?
This works without installing IE. Just use IE tab extension in Firefox to login. Then use the following registry hacks.
First set the IE homepage to RTM.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
“Start Page”=”http://rememberthemilk.com/services/modules/googleig/”
Then restore the “web” tab to the desktop properties view (which disappears when IE isnt installed)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explore
r
Look in the right pane for values called NoActiveDesktop and
NoActiveDesktopChanges. If found, they should be set to 0. If not, then
double click each entry and set it to 0. If they don’t exist, right click
in the right pane, select New, DWord value and name them as above. Leave
them at 0.
Tada, enjoy the RTM desktop goodness without having to bloat your pc with IE.
Hm, for some reason when I embed my list at home I can’t manage the tasks from the desktop. At the office, no problem.
@anon: Thank you for the tip.
@Kimbo: That’s an interesting case. Does the RTM to-do list give any feedback, or do your tasks not update?
I don’t know if i disabled AD a long time ago or not, but when i add the items, nothing displays.
I found it, had to mess with some group policies.
I used the netvibes widget posted by XNet. It’s far prettier and didn’t caused me any new browser openings.
Thanks!
This is great, thank you! I am having an issue where none of the links on the module are working – if I click “options” or “refresh” I get “The page cannot be displayed” in a new IE window. It’s trying to open “javascript:RTMIG.reload();” for example.
@Santiago: I’m glad XNet’s advice has come in handy.
@Robin: I’m not sure how to fix this. Have you tried the Netvibes module XNet suggested?
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/modules/netvibes/
thanks a lot! just what i needed!
@stellasworkinc: You’re welcome. Glad you found it useful.
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I tried doing this with the netvibes link for my Active Desktop and every 5 seconds, a new firefox tab is opened to:
http://www.netvibes.com/ajaxProxy.php?type=html&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rememberthemilk.com%2Fservices%2Fmodules%2Fnetvibes%2Frpc.rtm%3Ftheme%3DWinter%2520Plain%26lang%3Den_US%26mid%3D0#RTM.RPC.Resize_1886
So when I wake in the morning, I see easily over hundreds of tabs and causes my PC to slow down. How do you stop this automatic opening of tabs from Active Desktop?
@Ganesh: I’m not quite sure what’s causing Active Desktop to open new tabs. Does the same problem occur with the iGoogle module?
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Actually no, it does not. However, the iGoogle gadget doesn’t support any of the dropdown actions like postpone, edit, etc. and leads to a popup window with a Javascript action in its URL which obviously leads to a “page not found error”. That’s the reason why I’m using the netvibes module.
I’ve documented by problem here as well:
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/help/5065/#forumreply
Can you please advise? My email is [ admin edit: no need to post your email publicly
]
I also noticed a post about using Active Desktop with firefox when IE is not installed. I followed the registry steps even though I have IE installed and it did not work. I had hoped that Active Desktop would call Firefox (my default browser) instead of IE to resolve the popup issue but that didn’t work. Any other ideas?
Interesting Ganesh. Does the gadget work completely fine in a browser? I have the drop-down actions working well on the iGoogle gadget.
It works perfectly in the browser. IE and Firefox. Why does it not work in Active Desktop?
That’s intriguing, it should technically work in Active Desktop as Active Desktop is generally Internet Explorer on the desktop. I’m not sure how you would repair it.