Doodle Reviews

Pros
What I like most about Doodle is that it is a quick and convenient way to take polls for a group of people, for example to pick a date that works best for everyone or to figure out when or what works for the most people. I like that I am emailed the link directly to the poll from the creator, and I can simply click on it, see the question, and submit my answer. I also like that I can see the answers everyone else has submitted, so that way, if for example it is in regards to the best time for a meeting, I can try to pick what is best between what others have already chosen so that way the options don't spread out too much. This keeps keeping dates or taking polls in order to figure out what is best for everyone simple because seeing what others have already chosen makes me more inclined to pick something they already in order to make a decision faster. Other polling services often times do not show what others have chosen until after I submit my answer, so all of our choices can be spread out and that makes narrowing down options harder. That is why I like Doodle.

Cons
Honestly what I like least about Doodle is the name of the software... I don't feel professional using a software called "Doodle" and I can't imagine telling my employees or anyone in a workplace that I am sending out a "Doodle" for them to please respond to. I would rather just say I am sending out a poll than use the actual name. It might be a silly thing to like least about it, but it does not feel professional and a word people may not take seriously. I also do not like the layout of the Doodle once I open the page, but again that is a personal preference, because it was plain white and the entire format of the poll was spread out across the entire page and looked messy. I suppose users on not answering the question(s) for that long most of the time so it's not really a huge issue.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 7/10

Pros
It can be extremely difficult to arrange/schedule meetings, appointments, and events when multiple people are involved. But the brilliant thing about Doodle is that it does the hard work for you! Here's what I love the best: - In a matter of a few moments, you can create a poll of options or available meeting times. I can quickly send a link to teammates, who can quickly and easily access the poll and begin to select times that work. What's more is that they can also see other times that have been selected, so I feel like they are more willing to cooperate (if that makes sense). - This removes text or email chains that go on, and on, and on without end... until we finally come to the conclusion that there's never a good time for everyone to meet up. (After wasting a day.) - It's absolutely free. I can't believe it. I would think they could be making money with user fees off of this fantastic idea/platform, but no - it's free! - It's quite simple and intuitive. There aren't a lot of bells and whistles, but that's great. There doesn't need to be advanced features. - It's easy to use for the first time. It's not overly complex. - You are notified when responses come in, and you ultimately get to control the meeting time. - This is somewhat random, but you can be very specific with meeting points. Want to meet at 12:02? Perfect. Want a meeting to end at 9:07... Doodle will do that, too. - Can link or access your Gmail contacts - fabulous feature!

Cons
There's really nothing to complain about in my opinion. It's a simple designed platform that accomplishes it's goal. Some potential updates to consider would be adding "most commonly used emails," though, that would be helpful. Another idea is build in some sort of Skype, Hangouts, or FaceTime feature if an individual is unable to attend at the appointed time. I realize that gets complicated, though, and is not Doodle's problem to solve!

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
Ever since starting to use this a few years, it has now become to go-to application for scheduling everything from future meetings where we need a lot of participants all the way to more casual events like dinner and happy hour. It is easy to use and offers a high level of control to the event organizer, from the obvious (i.e. what dates to choose from, how many time slots per day, who is invited to participate) all the way to the not-so-obvious but still highly convenient feature such as allowing for tentative times and comments. It is really easy to invite attendees, as they can be directly emailed a link to participate. The best part is that the software will let you know what time works best for the most people, so no calculation needed.

Cons
It can be rather hard to keep track of who has participated, especially when organizing huge events. Additionally, it would be great to be able to set priorities, such as finding a time when certain crucial team members must all be present, whereas more participants that are more auxiliary to the meeting don't have to be present.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
We've all been in a group text or email chain trying to figure out what date and times work best for everyone. It's impossible to keep track of who can meet when! That's where doodle comes in as your group's best option. Doodle allows you to create a poll with dates and/or times of your choosing. You then send that Doodle link via email or text message to your group of friends. They simply click the link, type in their name, and click on all the dates/times they can meet. Once everyone has voted, it is easy to see what dates/times work for the most amount of people. The best thing about Doodle is that it is free for everyone. There's nothing to download. You simply click a link. After doing so, the instructions are crystal clear. There is basically no learning curve. And no one has to keep track of who said what date and what time because Doodle will present that information for you in a very simple way. Also, you can choose whether everyone can see what dates others chose or not. You can even choose to limit the # of votes each person has if you wish to.

Cons
One of the cons is that if you want to put a deadline on your poll, you're going to have to pay for it by being a premium doodle user. This is not such a big deal because you can just tell your friends to vote by a certain date... but we all have those slackers in our groups who decide not to vote until it is already too late. Another con is that Doodle's homepage has become increasingly cluttered as it attempts to add features to its premium users (for organizers and for businesses over 1,000 people). It's simple enough to filter through to create your poll though.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
Have you ever tried to get a bunch of science professors to meet in the same room at the same time for a few hours? It's like herding cats, but luckily there is Doodle. The best part about Doodle is that I don't have to e-mail people back and forth to try to coordinate an event from multiple perspectives. Doodle eliminates ambiguity and allows everyone to see everyone else's exact availability for multiple weeks at a time which saves time and effort. It is so interesting to me that meetings can be scheduled really without any words from any of the participants, and I think that is beautiful. Bonus points for not having to try to sound really smart in multiple e-mails to people who are way smarter than you.

Cons
The calendar syncing function seems like it could be a really good idea, but I have had some trouble syncing up all of my calendars in the past and I usually can't see any of my events on there. I'm not quite sure what the function is supposed to do but there is no explanation and I felt like it was not super intuitive.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
Doodle is FANTASTIC for group scheduling. I have used the free version extensively for groups of various sizes and scheduling options of various numbers, and it beats any other form of group scheduling that I've tried (although I haven't used any other scheduling softwares, only emails/texts/unfortunately lengthy conversations). When creating a Doodle, there are many customizable options for date and time combinations, and it's easy to send a quick link to participants or send it directly from Doodle's site. There are options for polls to be visible to other participants or private; the visible option is great when we're trying to fill various volunteer shifts and want people to be able to see where we need the most support! When filling out a Doodle as a participant, it helps to be able to toggle back and forth between calendar and list views for schedules (although long lists still get a bit tedious to fill out if you are using a phone instead of a browser on your computer). It's also easy to go back to the link and edit your entry if your plans change.

Cons
If you have LOTS of scheduling options to consider, it can be difficult to add all of the entries when first creating the poll. There is a helpful "duplicate" option, but it doesn't work as well if you don't have the same times available each day.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
I enjoy how easy it is to use the tool to collaborate with others in order to find their availability for example. We are a lot of young people in the company I work at and Doodle is always the first step when it comes to organizing events and out of the office parties. Considering we are all busy with friends, exams and nights out Doodle makes it super easy and fast to find out a time and day that best works for all of us. The tool is very user friends and simple, there is almost no way to get confused about what you need to do even if you are not tech savvy.

Cons
My main dislike is that there is no option to change the dates with text, it would be great if I can select if we want to vote for date or venue or activity. Also, it would be better if dates on the checklist were shown at once. Of course there is the expand button, but I think it should be expanded by default when there are lot of options to choose from. Would be nice if the calendar view is improved as well, similar UI to the monthly/weekly Google Calendar type of view would be a great improvement and will also make it easier to use, and it will make the tool look less messy and unorganized.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
Doodle is a great tool to easily evaluate availability and schedule meetings for large, busy groups. The ability to customize times and the intuition built into Doodle-if I schedule a request for three hours then three hours translates to every subsequent date I select, makes this a great tool. Each invitee can see the response of others which can lend to being more flexible in your choices, and enhances getting a group to consensus on a date and time to meet. You can be proficient at using Doodle in a matter or minutes, both as a user and as an administrator. I love this product so much that I use it in business and also in setting up family events. There are three plans available, and if you are a casual user the free version should serve you well.

Cons
Plans are priced well, and the ability to remove ads and enhance communication with the premier version is very nice. A con of the free version is the weird ads you see running in the back ground as you are using the tool. However, not bothersome enough to change my favorable opinion of this great scheduling tool.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
Doodle is easy and quick to use. I have used many times in a statewide leadership organization where many of the members were spread across the state. I have also used it on a local level for the college student leadership organization I was with. I was able to choose the date and time slots after which I could send the information in a link to the people I invited to the meeting. From there the invitee was able to choose the time and date in which they could meet with me. Others who are sent the link can see the options and see the time and date that are in the majority. After the selections are made the schedule can be added to your calendar as a way a reminder of the event or meeting.

Cons
There isn't really anything that I like least about the software and have never came across any issues while using the software. The set up is easy to do and to share with those who need to respond. However I have always used Doodle for small groups, generally under 35 users. I am not sure how well it works with more people,

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
Doodle Poll is exceedingly easy to use, I have on multiple occasions opened the site and had my poll ready to go in under 2 minutes, and that is not an exaggeration. You can poll just about anyone with an email address and I have never had an end-user complain about the product or how to use it. Fields are intuitive and you have the ability to make the polls more dynamic than a simple yes/no vote. We mostly use the product to schedule meetings with external stakeholders who do not have access to the University scheduling system. Although other services provide similar features, Doodle seems to be the easiest one for all parties to grasp.

Cons
I now have an full account but before I did I was limited to simpler polls. Preferences and conditions are useful for finding the best time, and I was only able to access those features after joining. That being said, joining is easy. Our mail client can provide some polling as well so we do not necessarily need Doodle, however I have found it more useful.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
Doodle recently received a new feature that allows users to not just select the hourly times that work in their schedule to meet, but they can also double click a time, which says that they could make it work in their schedule if they had to. I think this is great because before this feature, I would have a really hard time finding a time to hold meetings because my co-workers had very conflicting schedules and we would just create a group message trying to figure it out, which defeated the purpose of filling out a Doodle. I love that feature! I also love Doodle 1:1 where you can link your Google Calendar to a Doodle so you don't double book yourself.

Cons
The website isn't always the most user friendly, and I often find myself clicking around aimlessly just to open up a new Doodle invite. I also wish Doodle would offer features to college students for free or really really discounted because I was the president of many student organizations and used Doodle all the time and would have appreciated being able to send reminders from Doodle.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
The absolute best thing about using Doodle is that our entire organization and stakeholders love participating in it! We all use Doodle and most importantly, it makes our lives easy and guarantees buy-in and participation in order to pick the optimal meeting and scheduling times.

Cons
There is nothing to dislike about Doodle. It is easy, efficient, and well-like by all!

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
It's such a simple concept and interface, but the most useful and common sense product out there. At a time when everyone is busy with multiple projects in their lives, it's hard to keep track of everyone's conflicts and carve out a time where the majority of the people are available to meet. Back over 10 years ago I would have to email everyone to send me in their availability and I would have to Tetris everything. Now everything is so simplified with Doodle. You send a link with the available dates and times available and everyone can enter in all the times they are available. The program highlights the days/times that the most people can attend. It's so easy to see on one page without much effort.

Cons
I don't think there's anything I dislike about this except there was one incident when all the dates and times were wrong. We don't even know what happened but it somehow got changed to a different time zone so you do have to make sure that's set properly. Other than that I've never had any issues with this program.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10

Pros
I liked most the simplicity of Doodle. I can set up a Doodle poll easily and either email to participants, or copy a link and email it myself. It is easy to compare answers, and it is user-friendly for participants and colleagues who are not as tech savvy.

Cons
The poll is limited in options, and if you are suggesting multiple dates and times over many weeks or months, the poll becomes a bit tedious and time consuming to build. Also there is little space to customize questions among certain days.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
Doodle is easy to use, intuitive and has some fun features (paid). It's a freemium app, so you can go ahead and schedule your meetings (or softball games) without paying, but if you fork out a few bucks each month you can access logos and branding, integration with Slack and a few other features. Overall, it's a nice app to have if you need to create a poll to ask employees when they want to meet. It's user-friendly, actually has a pretty attractive interface and you can't beat free.

Cons
While Doodle is easy to use and a good way to get everyone's opinion on when a meeting should be held, my question is, "why?" Maybe I'm old school, but one of the perks of being "the boss" is that you set a meeting time and your employees show up. Simple as that. If you absolutely must ask for your employees' feedback, there are quite a few options out there - SurveyMonkey comes to mind first - that will allow you to just shoot over an email, collect your poll data and that's that. None of this hand-holding stuff. That said, I can see how this application would be useful for more recreational purposes. For instance, "What day works best for you for the holiday party?" or "Which day and time works best for you for team softball practice?" Other than that, I didn't really find too much useful about this software.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 5/10

Pros
I enjoy the simplicity of Doodle and the fact that it is super easy to use. I never heard that anyone had any problem with it figuring their way around. Since I am not using it that often, the free version works for me perfectly.

Cons
There is nothing to dislike if you are looking for a simple, intuitive tool. Sure, there are not a great many features, but this is why it is so appealing.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 7/10

Pros
Easy to use, best software for group work, polls, projects etc. I used it most days when I was at university and I still use it for tutoring. It helps my students to choose the time they want, add anything or edit while I am having a look at it too. Easier to edit in real time when you are working with a large group that isn't in the same place.

Cons
Nothing. The software is amazing and doesnt have a limit of documents you can share or people who can access it. Makes projects very easy to do

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
Doodle allows us to find the best meeting times (for informal events). Simply select times that are available to meet and set it out to others to fill out their availability. Scheduling has never been easier.

Cons
A tad bit dumbed down and the UI is not the most attractive. Not a huge con but it could use some work.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
Doodle is my favorite calendar tool and I use it very frequently. In my opinion, there is no simpler and easier app that does the similar job. Therefore, the best thing about Doodle is its user-friendliness. To create a meeting in this app (I personally use its app version) takes no longer than a minute for me. It saves significant amount of my time. I do not want to imagine how long it would take me if I had to send emails to my groupmates about our meetings. Another thing that I love about Doodle is it is even easier for the people in the group who are going to vote for the time they are available. I have created so many meetings/events with the help of Doodle and so far I have not had anyone tell me that they had trouble understanding how the app works.

Cons
There are couple of things that I do not like about this software. First, as a frequently user I get annoyed by too many ads on the website or in the app version. I understand it is a free app and I have to somehow "pay" for the features I am using. However, what I personally think is there should be less advertisements. What is the second thing I dislike about Doodle is sometimes I have some people who forget to participate in the vote before we make the final decision about our meetings. And in these cases, Doodle does not show me who are the missing people in the free version of the app. I personally think it is a simple feature and should be added to the free version of the app.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
It's free!!! I probably use Doodle once a week. It's the easiest program I've found to quickly make and distribute scheduling polls to multiple people. The developers have done a great job at making the program very easy to use and with just the right functionality for what you're looking for. We've actually started using Doodle for shift schedules so that our part time staff can easily sign up for shifts. It has worked wonderfully so far, we are very pleased. They put out new functionality fairly frequently, which is nice.

Cons
Biggest issue I have with this program is that you can edit an entry once you submit it. This makes things challenging when schedules or thoughts change. Other than that, the features aren't the most robust, but for a free program, you can't complain.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
I have mainly used this for scheduling 1:1 sessions with students. Doodle has made that easy to do. I can provide multiple available times and send the link to my students and they can get in where they fit in. This takes the stress off of reaching and trying to schedule individual sessions with 15-17 students. There is also a mobile app and that have provided some convenience. I've also used the service when others are trying to plan meetings. I like ease of use of trying to find mutual available times for meetings. And it gives the option of allowing people to remain anonymous.

Cons
The functionality of this product can take some time to get comfortable with. I find that it takes me more time to put together my doodle than I anticipate, however, it's not something that has kept me from using it.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
We have all been there, right? Group of 4, or maybe 14 people, and you are trying to find the one perfect unicorn-time for all of them to be able to meet at once. It can be really hard! But doodle is just AWESOME at solving this issue. Insert dates, insert times, send invites over. Simple as that! I am using is just as often for professional purposes, scheduling meetings and calls between various people (sometimes cross-organisational), as for private meetings with friends and colleagues.

Cons
Integrated groups feature would be nice - I'd like to create several groups of emails to easily share them among those groups. It's not really a big issue anyway - I can do that by sharing link to groups via gmail, but nonetheless, it would be nice to have it built in.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
Doodle is easy to use, meaning that any contact of yours will find it intuitive to use it. This enables you to schedule meetings across a large audience, including people who are not IT-friendly and shy away from computer applications. Also, it is entirely web-based, meaning that nothing has to be installed on other people's PCs, and that any device (including smartphones) is enough to use it.

Cons
Integration with one's calendar is not as smooth as you may expect, but still it's more than manageable.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
This software enables me to make it easy for admins and meeting attendees to mark out their availability for meetings or events without having to play that horrible email game. I use the free version so there is some functionality I can't speak to, but the free version is great.

Cons
Nothing - it's great. The new interface is a little wonky at times - you tab to get to a time, but then have to space again to enter the time if you're using just your keyboard.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
This is such a simple idea and it works wonders. It's really amazing how such an easy concept can solve so many problems. It has stopped all the issues concerning scheduling meetings with different people. Now I just share the possibilities and wait the results. Also, we can see other people's choices which simplifies the process to achieve a consensus. It's very user-friendly and, as far as I'm concerned, totally necessary for today's busy lives.

Cons
The only thing I might point out are the ads in the free version which are unavoidable I guess and not so worrysome.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10