How to Get Started with ClickUp: Day One

One app to replace them all

Photo by Evershot on Unsplash

Sounds like the One App of Power I must carry to Mount Doom, doesn’t it?

Actually, it is a relatively new productivity tool on the market, and like Notion, whose tagline is All-in-one Workspace, it claims to do it all. I wrote getting started guides for Notion also, and you can find those links at the end of this article.

And while neither product actually does everything, either may do everything you need depending on those needs. Notion is more of a document/database app, great for building wikis or processes. It’s good at managing projects, but where it falls flat is actual task management.

ClickUp excels at task management at many levels. And it’s that multi-tiered hierarchy that makes ClickUp such a powerful tool. Another great feature of both is they have a small, but dedicated team of developers that are constantly adding new features. I think ClickUp is leading the pack with new features almost weekly. And with features released recently, such as better document integration, formula fields, and now automation, it could soon be the One App to Replace Them All. It can certainly replace your to-do lists and project management software. And depending on how deep you use them, it could replace your document storage and note-taking apps.

The one problem I found with ClickUp is that its hierarchy, custom fields, and statuses, creates both power and confusion. But if you start slow and simple, it’s not such a problem. This article will walk you through your first day with ClickUp and help you get started.

When you first browse to ClickUp.com you can enter your email address and click Sign Up for Free, but spend a few minutes looking around. One thing you want to check out is the pricing. There is a free forever plan that includes 100Mb of storage, and unlimited tasks and users. And while that sounds like a lot, like Notion, there are a few gotchas. But, also like Notion, the cost is very reasonable and if you find the app useful, it’s worth the price of admission.

The hurdle most people hit in the free plan is the custom fields. They allow you 100 uses in the free plan. This is confusing to most new users, so I wanted to explain that before we get started…