New to Todoist or need a quick refresh? This guide brings together the features, terms, and concepts that matter most, with simple explanations to help you get the most out of Todoist. 

Core Features

Tasks

An item on a list. Tasks represent individual actions or to-dos you need to complete. You’ll find out how to add, edit, duplicate, move, complete, uncomplete, or delete a task in Introduction to tasks.

Projects

A list of tasks organized together. Projects help you group related work by area of focus or goal. You can learn all about projects in our help center article, Introduction to projects. 

Personal projects

Projects you create for your own use or for collaborating with friends and family. Examples include household chores, family vacations, and party planning. Personal projects appear in the My Projects section of your sidebar.

Team projects

Projects created within a team for collaborating with teammates on work-related tasks (available in team workspaces). Examples could include meeting agendas, employee onboarding, product roadmaps, and client work. Team projects appear in your team section of the sidebar.

Sections

Used to split projects into parts. Sections help you organize tasks within a project into logical groups by status, priority, or phase. Get the steps in Introduction to sections.

Sub-tasks

Tasks nested under a parent task. Sub-tasks help you break down complex work into smaller, actionable steps. You’re able to turn an existing task into a sub-task, or a sub-task into a parent task. Find out more about sub-tasks and the best practices in Introduction to sub-tasks.

Sub-projects

Projects nested under a parent project. Sub-projects help you organize related work hierarchically. For example, you might create “parent” projects called “Home” and “Health” and then organize various sub-projects underneath each one.

Labels

Tags that help batch similar tasks together. Labels let you categorize and find related tasks across different projects. Examples include @email, @waiting, or @quick. Take a look at Introduction to labels for more ideas, or how to add, edit, and delete a label.

Filters

Saved task searches. Filters let you create custom views that display tasks matching specific criteria using queries to search across all your projects. This helps you narrow down your lists according to task name, date, project, label, priority, date created, and more. Check out our Introduction to filters to find out how.

Ramble

Ramble is a voice-to-tasks feature in Todoist that lets you quickly add tasks using your voice. 

Todoist Assist

A set of AI-powered features in Todoist that helps you work more efficiently by offering smart suggestions and automating tasks, including tools like Email Assist, which turns forwarded emails into tasks, and Filter Assist, which helps you create filters using natural language.

Task Properties

Date

The field in Todoist where you can schedule when a task should happen. Can include both the calendar date and a time. Here’s how to add a date to your task.

Deadline

The latest day by which a task must be completed. Deadlines are shown in red in Todoist and create urgency tracking. Different from date (which is when you plan to work on something).

Duration

An estimate of how long a task will take to complete. Requires a date and time to be set before it can be added. The maximum duration is 24 hours. 

Recurring

Tasks that happen more than once. You can set tasks to recur daily, weekly, monthly, or on a custom schedule. Find out more about recurring dates.

Priority

Rank of importance for tasks. Priority levels are p1 through p4, with p1 being the highest priority. Get started by setting a priority to a task.

Reminders

Used to remind yourself or teammates about a task. Reminders alert you at a specific time to help ensure you don't miss important deadlines.

Comments

Text attached to tasks or projects. Comments let you add context and files, collaborate with others, or track progress. 

Description

Additional text under the task name. Task descriptions provide details about what needs to be done and can include formatted text, links, and attachments. Give it a try, and add a task description in Todoist.

Views & Layouts

List layout

View of a project as a list. The traditional format for viewing tasks. If you prefer a straightforward list, you can use the list layout in Todoist.

Board layout 

View of projects in column form. Board layout displays tasks in a Kanban-style format with columns.

Calendar layout

View of a project, label, filter, Today, or Upcoming as a calendar. Calendar layout displays your tasks by date.

Task view

Detailed view of all information associated with a task. Find out how to use the task view to manage tasks in Todoist.

Organization & Navigation

Inbox

Default place for tasks without projects. The Inbox is a quick capture space for ideas and to-dos that you’ll organize later.

Today view

View of all tasks with dates scheduled for today. Today view helps you focus on what needs to be done right now.

Upcoming view

View of all tasks with dates. Upcoming view displays your tasks organized by date over the coming days and weeks. Go ahead and plan your week with the upcoming view.

My Projects

The section of your sidebar containing your personal projects. This is where you organize tasks for individual use or collaboration with friends and family. 

Team workspace

The team workspace is a dedicated area where you can view and access all team projects. It’s a shared workspace with multiple projects, team templates, activity summaries, admin controls, and one central bill. 

Favorites

Used to highlight your important items in the navigation menu. Here’s how to add a project, label, or filter to favorites in Todoist.

Home view

Main page to begin Todoist. Your starting point when you open the app. You’re able to change your home view in a few quick steps.

Productivity view

View for goals, Karma, and completed tasks. Check out how to use the Productivity view in Todoist.

Multi-select toolbar

A toolbar that appears at the bottom of the web or desktop app when selecting multiple tasks.

Search

The search bar is a field to enter keywords or search queries in order to find items. You can pull up specific tasks, projects, filters, labels, and comments. Find out how to search in Todoist.

Collaboration

Share

To invite people to a project. You can share both personal projects (with friends and family) and team projects (with teammates and guests).

Here’s how to decide between casual or work collaboration in Todoist.

Team

A group of people collaborating on work-related projects in Todoist. Teams have their own team workspace where members can view, join, and collaborate on team projects.

Admins

Team members with an admin role who can manage team settings, delete the team workspace, and manage other team members.

Members

Team members that have full access to all data within the team workspace but don't have the permissions to manage team settings, delete the team workspace, or manage other team members.

Guests

People outside of your organization that you want to collaborate with on select team projects. Guests have limited access compared to full team members and can only see the specific projects they’re invited to.

Assign

To delegate a task to a specific person. In shared projects, you can assign tasks to yourself or others to clarify ownership and responsibility.

Plans 

Plan

The specific features and pricing tiers Todoist offers, such as Beginner, Pro, or Business, detailing what you receive at each level. Choose your path to productivity by comparing the plans.

Beginner plan

Free plan for solo users. 

Pro plan

Paid plan for individuals. The Pro plan unlocks advanced features and increased usage limits. When you’re ready to upgrade, you can get started with Todoist Pro.

Business plan

Paid plan for teams. The Business plan includes all Pro features for every team member, plus team-specific features like the team workspace, permissions, central billing and collaborative tools. Get started with Todoist Business today.

Productivity Features

Quick Add

Used to add a task rapidly. Quick Add opens a task entry field so you can capture tasks quickly from anywhere in Todoist using keyboard shortcuts. Start using Task Quick Add in Todoist. You can also customize Quick Add in Todoist.

Smart date recognition

Used to recognize, highlight, and add dates in task names. Also called natural language date parsing, this feature lets you type dates conversationally like “tomorrow at 3 PM.” You can turn smart date recognition on or off.

Karma

A productivity scoring system designed to help you build habits and stay motivated. Karma tracks your progress and celebrates your wins as you complete tasks, hit your daily goals, and maintain your streaks. Karma levels span from Beginner all the way to Enlightened.

Streaks

A consecutive series of days achieving your daily task goals. Streaks are tracked in your Karma and Productivity view to help maintain momentum.

Vacation mode

Used to pause Karma points and maintain streaks when you’re away. You can turn on or off vacation mode in Todoist.

Actions & Operations

Complete/uncomplete

To check off or reopen a task. Completed tasks are marked as done and move out of your active lists. Here’s how to complete a task, and this is how to uncomplete one.

Archive/unarchive

To move a project out of or into an active project list. Archived projects are preserved for future reference and can be restored at any time. You can also archive or unarchive a section.

Schedule/reschedule/unschedule

To add a date, change a date, or delete a date from a task.

Postpone

To reschedule a task for a later date.

Duplicate

To create a copy of a task. If you want to reuse the details of a task, you can save time and effort by duplicating the task and any of its active sub-tasks.

Move

To relocate tasks or projects to different locations within Todoist. For example, you can move a personal project to a team workspace, or move a team project to your personal workspace. You can also move a task.

Sort

To arrange items by characteristics. Sorting options let you organize tasks by name, date, date added, deadline, priority, manually, or others. You can sort or group your tasks in Todoist.

Group

To collect tasks with the same attribute into separate sections. Grouping options let you organize tasks by date, date added, deadline, priority, or label. Find out how to group your tasks in Todoist.

Collapse/expand

To hide or view content (tasks, sub-tasks, sub-projects) with an arrow.

Drag and drop

To move an item by clicking and dragging it to a new location.

Three dots menu

The menu that appears when you tap or click the three dots icon. Used to find more options.

Additional 

Activity log

The activity log shows the history of edits and updates. Information is organized by date and filtered by project, person, or event type. Here is how to view the activity log in Todoist.

Avatar

Profile picture associated with your account. You can change your name or avatar photo.

Emoji

Small digital icons used to visually represent emotions, objects, ideas, or actions in text. Emoji can be added to comments and anything you can name: tasks, sections, projects, labels, and filters.

Integrations

Connections between Todoist and other apps and tools you use. Browse all available integrations in the Todoist integrations gallery.

Markdown

Used to add formatting elements to text. 

Notifications

A gentle reminder about something new. Notifications inform you about task assignments, comments, reminders, and other updates. You can choose which notifications you receive from Todoist.

Time block

A scheduled period of time dedicated to specific tasks or activities. Learn more about time blocking in Todoist.

Theme

You’re able to change color themes to personalize the look and feel of your Todoist app.

Keyboard shortcuts

Combination of keystrokes used to perform a task quickly without using your mouse. Find out how to use keyboard shortcuts in Todoist.

Mobile-Specific Features

Navigation bar

Used to quickly access the views you use most often in Todoist. Here’s how to customize the Todoist navigation bar.

Dynamic Add button

Button used on mobile to add tasks, sub-tasks, and sections in specific views by touching and dragging it in place. This is how to use the Dynamic Add button in Todoist on mobile devices.

Context menu

An additional menu on mobile that appears for more options upon long press. Find out more about context menus with Todoist for iOS.

Other

Beta features

Features that are in the final stages of development and testing. Beta features may appear in your Todoist without requiring opt-in and can be used immediately if visible. They may change or be discontinued based on feedback and real-world usage.

Experimental features

Early-stage features that explore new ideas and require opt-in through your Todoist settings. Experimental features are available for early testing and feedback, may be less stable than officially released features, and can change significantly or be discontinued based on what is learned during development.

Experimentalists

People who have joined the pre-production testing group. To subscribe or unsubscribe, you can follow the steps here.

Todoist Partner Program

Programs that reward content creators, publishers, coaches, and other productivity-focused partners for introducing Todoist to new users. These programs support different types of partners in promoting Todoist and growing alongside the platform. Find out more, or apply to become a Todoist partner here.

Get in touch

For detailed information about any feature, you can browse the Todoist help center. You’re also always welcome to get in touch with us. We – Samara, Rikke, Diane, or any of our other teammates – are here to help!