Ramble is a voice-to-tasks feature in Todoist that lets you quickly add tasks using your voice. Just speak naturally. Ramble listens, transcribes, and captures actionable tasks in real-time. This makes adding tasks on the fly fast and effortless, whether your thoughts are organized or not.
Add a task with Ramble
After your mic’s hooked up, here’s how to dictate and capture tasks with Ramble:
- Click the waveform icon in Quick Add or the sidebar. If you're using the desktop apps, you can also click the Todoist menu bar icon for macOS or app tray icon for Windows and Linux.
- Speak what you need to do freely. Ramble will capture tasks in a preview mode as you talk.
- Say phrases like “Actually, I meant…” to edit a task, or “Remove that” to delete a suggested task.
- End the session by saying “that’s all” or clicking Add tasks in the preview.
Nina · Customer Experience Specialist
- Tap the waveform icon in Quick Add. This opens Ramble.
- Speak what you need to do freely. Ramble will capture tasks in a preview mode as you talk.
- Say phrases like “Actually I meant…” to edit, or “Remove that” to delete a suggested task.
- End the session by saying “that’s all” or clicking the checkmark button.
- Tap the waveform icon in Quick Add. This opens Ramble.
- Speak what you need to do freely. Ramble will capture tasks in a preview mode as you talk.
- Say phrases like “Actually I meant…” to edit, or “Remove that” to delete a suggested task.
- End the session by saying “that’s all” or clicking the checkmark button.
Quick tip
Note
Edit or delete tasks with Ramble
Ramble captures tasks in a preview mode as you talk. If you need to change or delete the task, use phrases like “no, I meant…” to edit the task, or “remove that” to delete the suggested task.
Task attributes
Ramble can add tasks with specific attributes. See the table below for a list of supported and unsupported attributes:
| Supported attributes | Unsupported attributes |
|---|---|
| Task name | Sub-task |
| Description | Custom reminder |
| Date and time | |
| Project | |
| Priority | |
| Section | |
| Label | |
| Deadline (paid feature) | |
| Duration (paid feature) |
We’re looking into supporting more task attributes soon!
If you’re on the Free plan, dictating a deadline or duration will be ignored when tasks are added to a project. Upgrade to a paid plan to use all the task attributes with Ramble.
Dates and deadline phrases
- Use date language (“work on it Thursday afternoon”) for when you plan to tackle it
- Use deadline language (“must be finished on Friday 8th”) for hard cut-offs.
Example Ramble session
Here are some real-world examples inspired by our user’s feedback and common user cases:
| When spoken: | Ramble will: |
|---|---|
| “Finish Q3 roadmap draft by Wednesday afternoon, priority one and in the Work project. Oh, also email the beta testers tomorrow at 8am - should only take 15 minutes. Actually, move that email to Thursday.” |
|
| “Buy groceries tomorrow, tag it as errands, make it a P3. Pay the electricity bill today, add it to finance, urgent, make it a P1.” |
|
| “Okay, I need to renew my passport, buy travel insurance, and check if my flight has extra baggage allowance. Oh, and remind me to tell Alex about the visa thing tomorrow morning at 9am.” |
|
| “Let’s see… Update presentation slides, order groceries, and clean up notes from yesterday’s call. Actually, skip the slides. They’re done.” |
|
| “Email the client the updated pricing doc, schedule team sync for Thursday 2pm, follow up with Jordan about budget approvals, and call Mum on the way home.” |
|
| “Add send invoice in the Acme project by Friday, update CRM after the 2pm call, and prep slides for Monday’s 10am meeting. Should only take 30 minutes.” |
|
| “Summarize feedback from client meeting, share next steps with design team, and book a check-in with Sarah next Wednesday afternoon.” |
|
Note
Plan usage
Ramble is currently an experimental feature that's available to everyone, though usage limits apply based on your plan.
Beginner plan
Folks on the free or Beginner plan (as well as those on the Pro Legacy plan) can use Ramble with up to 10 sessions per month, which reset automatically on the 1st of each month (UTC). Each dictation counts as one session, even if you decide not to add the tasks to Todoist.
When you've reached your 10-session limit, Todoist will show a prompt inside Ramble. You won’t be able to start a new session until it resets at the start of the next month. Upgrading to Pro or Business removes this limit.
Your monthly Ramble count is shared across all devices. Whether you use Ramble on the web, desktop, or mobile app, every session adds to the same total for your Todoist account.
Pro or Business plans
Todoist Pro and Business customers enjoy unlimited sessions as part of their subscriptions, though in rare cases, rate limiting may apply to keep Ramble running smoothly for everyone.
Share your feedback and help us improve Ramble.
System requirements
To access the latest Ramble features, including label selection on mobile and upcoming in-app guidance, make sure you're on the minimum supported versions:
Web or desktop: 9250 or later
iOS or iPadOS: 25.11.17 or later
Android: 11962 or later
How AI powers Ramble
Ramble is built on Todoist Assist, our AI-powered suite of productivity tools. When you use Ramble, advanced large language models (LLMs) work behind the scenes to:
- Transcribe your speech accurately into text in real-time across 40+ languages.
- Understand natural language to extract actionable tasks from your spoken thoughts.
- Interpret task attributes like dates, deadlines, priorities, and durations from conversational phrases.
- Learn from context to distinguish between tasks, edits, and deletions as you speak.
Microphone access
Before jumping into Ramble, check if your microphone’s set up correctly:
- First use: You’ll see a prompt to enable microphone access. Approve to start dictating.
- Active microphone: In Ramble, you can see which mic is in use or switch to a different one, if needed.
- Denied access: If you’ve denied access, follow the on-screen instructions to enable it in your system or browser settings.
- No microphone detected: If no mic is found, connect one or check your system settings.
Access Ramble on mobile
Keep Ramble within reach by adding the Ramble widget to your home screen or lock screen, or as a control on iOS.
If you're using an iPhone that runs on iOS 17 or later, you can assign the Ramble control to the Action button of your iPhone:
- Open the System Settings app of your iOS device.
- Tap Action Button.
- Swipe left until you see the Controls option.
- Tap Choose a Control...
- Search for and select Ramble.
Best practices when using Ramble
Bring your productivity full circle with these best practices when using Ramble:
Speak naturally but signal tasks clearly
Begin with actionable cues like “I need to…”, “I want to…” or imperative verbs, such as “Buy milk”. This helps Ramble spot tasks instantly. Ramble isn’t optimized for assistance requests such as “Can you plan my trip to Japan?”.
Improve speech recognition
Speak slower, closer to the mic, and minimize background noise.
Pause between each item on your list
When rattling off several tasks (“For the trip: book flights, renew passport, buy adapter”), pause slightly between each item to give Ramble room to create separate tasks.
Use quick corrections
If you misspoke or need to make edits, just say “Actually, make that…” or similar. Ramble will update automatically – no need to stop or undo manually.
You can also delete tasks as you Ramble on. For a phrase like “I need to buy apples”, you can follow with “Scratch that, I already have some” or “Forget the apples”.
Activate Ramble with Siri
You can activate Ramble using Siri on your iOS:
- Open Shortcuts.
- Tap +.
- Search for Ramble.
- Tap Open Ramble.
- To trigger the shortcut, say "Hey Siri, open Ramble".
- Start rambling.
Troubleshoot issues with Ramble
If you're having trouble with microphone access, dictation, or general errors with Ramble, check if it's a limitation or follow these troubleshooting steps to resolve them.
Limitations
Ramble follows the same task limits as the rest of Todoist. If a project already has 300 active tasks, Todoist will let you know when Ramble can’t add more tasks there. You can choose another project or delete some of the existing tasks before trying again.
Ramble is quite the polyglot, and understands the following languages:
- Arabic
- Bengali
- Bulgarian
- Chinese (simplified and traditional)
- Croatian
- Czech
- Danish
- Dutch
- English
- Estonian
- Finnish
- French
- German
- Greek
- Hebrew
- Hindi
- Hungarian
- Icelandic
- Indonesian
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Latvian
- Lithuanian
- Norwegian
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Romanian
- Russian
- Serbian
- Slovak
- Slovenian
- Spanish
- Swahili
- Swedish
- Thai
- Turkish
- Ukrainian
- Vietnamese
Ramble isn’t supported when using the Todoist browser extensions. These extensions can’t reliably access your microphone due to the browser’s privacy and security restrictions.
To use Ramble, open Todoist in your web browser or desktop app. You can also use the desktop app’s global quick Ramble shortcut for faster access.
Ramble only works with an internet connection. Check if you’re online and try again.
Some regions (for example: Russia) may experience connection issues due to local internet provider limitations. Install and use a trusted VPN service to keep using Ramble.
There's currently no option to turn off or disable Ramble, but you can choose not to use Ramble while using Todoist.
Speech recognition issues
Ramble catches a lot, but might struggle depending on speed, volume, and noise. We recommend speaking more slowly, closer to the mic, and minimizing background noise to improve recognition.
Ramble also works better with a list of things to do (“I want to plan a trip to Japan”), rather than a brainstorm or assistant request ("Can you please plan my trip to Japan?”).
Language detection issues
Ramble might misinterpret tasks dictated in your own language. To troubleshoot this, speak as clearly as possible. Go slower, enunciate, and see if results improve. If you're still having issues, please share your feedback.
Microphone issues
If you're having issues with your microphone access, check your browser mic permissions:
- Log in to Todoist at https://todoist.com.
- Open the website settings. These are usually found on the left or right of the address bar.
- Make sure to allow microphone access for Todoist.
- Reload the web browser.
Check microphone permissions
If you're having issues with your microphone access, make sure Todoist for macOS has access to your microphone:
- Open System Settings.
- Go to Privacy & Security.
- Select Microphone.
- Find Todoist in the list and make sure it’s enabled.
- Reload Todoist for macOS.
Check system audio settings
Todoist uses your system audio to transcribe what you dictate. If you're having audio issues, check the system audio settings:
- Open System Settings.
- Go to Sound. You'll see your device's system sound settings.
- Check that output and input are properly set to the microphone you’re using.
- Compare these settings with what’s used in your calls and make sure they match.
Check microphone permissions
If you're having issues with your microphone access, make sure Todoist for Windows has access to your microphone:
- Open System Settings.
- Go to Privacy & Security.
- Select Microphone.
- Find Todoist in the list and make sure it’s enabled.
- Reload Todoist for Windows.
Check system audio settings
Todoist uses your system audio to transcribe what you dictate. If you're having audio issues, check the system audio settings:
- Open Settings.
- Open System and select Sound.
- Check that input is properly set to the microphone you’re using.
- Compare these settings with what’s used in your calls and make sure they match.
Check microphone permissions
If you're having issues with your microphone access, make sure Todoist for Linux has access to your microphone:
- Check your system's privacy settings.
- Allow microphone access for Todoist.
- Restart Todoist for Linux.
Allow microphone permissions
If you installed Todoist for Linux using Snap, check if you've allowed Todoist to access your microphone. Open a terminal window and enter the following command: sudo snap connect todoist:audio-record
Check your microphone permissions
Make sure Todoist has permission to access your microphone:
- Open the Settings app of your Apple device.
- Scroll down and tap Apps.
- Find and open Todoist.
- Make sure Microphone is toggled on.
- Switch to Todoist for iOS and use Ramble again.
Check your microphone permissions
Make sure Todoist has permission to access your microphone:
- Open the Settings app of your Android device.
- Tap Apps and choose to see all apps installed on your device.
- Find and open Todoist.
- Tap Permissions and select Microphone.
- Select Allow only while using the app.
Check system microphone settings
It’s possible the microphone is blocked at the system-level on Android:
- Open the Settings app of your Android device.
- Tap Security & privacy and select Privacy controls.
- Make sure the Microphone access option is toggled on.
- Switch to Todoist for Android and use Ramble again.
Note
Errors in Ramble
The connection to Ramble may have temporarily dropped and show an error. Wait a few seconds and try again. If the error persists, please share your feedback.
Get in touch
If you’re having trouble using Ramble to dictate or capture tasks, get in touch with us. We – Marco, Summer, Nina, or any of our other teammates – are more than happy to help!
