Todoist – Task Management & To-Do List App

What is Todoist?

Todoist has established itself as one of the world’s leading task management applications, helping millions of users organize their personal and professional lives through intuitive task capture, flexible organization, and seamless synchronization across all devices. Since its launch, Todoist has refined the art of task management, striking a balance between simplicity for casual users and power for productivity enthusiasts who demand sophisticated organization capabilities.

The application’s success stems from understanding that task management must be frictionless to be effective. If adding a task requires multiple steps or excessive mental overhead, people stop using the system. Todoist’s natural language processing, quick add functionality, and consistent cross-platform experience remove barriers to capturing everything that needs to be done.

Task Creation and Capture

Todoist excels at getting tasks into the system quickly and painlessly.

Natural Language Input

The standout feature for many users, natural language processing interprets plain English (and many other languages) to set due dates, priorities, projects, and labels automatically. Typing “Submit report tomorrow at 2pm #Work p1” creates a high-priority task in the Work project due tomorrow at 2:00 PM.

This capability means users don’t navigate date pickers, priority dropdowns, or project selectors for routine task entry. The system understands “every Monday,” “next Friday,” “in 3 days,” and countless other date expressions.

Natural language recognition continues improving through machine learning, handling increasingly sophisticated inputs and expressions.

Quick Add

Quick Add opens a task entry field from anywhere in the application with keyboard shortcuts. The feature also works system-wide on desktop platforms, enabling task capture without switching to Todoist.

Browser extensions add tasks from web pages, including page titles and URLs as context. Email plugins add tasks from email messages, maintaining links to original content.

Multiple Input Methods

Beyond typing, Todoist accepts tasks through voice input on mobile devices, email forwarding, and API integrations. Siri and Google Assistant integration enable adding tasks through voice assistants.

These diverse entry points ensure that wherever users work, task capture remains accessible without disrupting workflow.

Organization Systems

Todoist provides multiple complementary systems for organizing tasks.

Projects

Projects group related tasks into collections reflecting work areas, goals, or life categories. Project hierarchies nest sub-projects under parent projects for detailed organization.

Color-coded projects provide visual distinction in task lists. Project templates enable creating recurring project structures for repeating workflows.

Sharing projects with collaborators enables team task management, with assigned tasks, comments, and activity tracking.

Labels

Labels tag tasks with attributes that cut across projects. Common uses include contexts (home, office, phone), time estimates, or energy levels required.

Multiple labels apply to single tasks, enabling filtering by combinations of attributes. Label-based views show tasks matching specific criteria regardless of project location.

Filters

Custom filters create views based on any task attribute combination. “High priority tasks due this week in Work projects” becomes a saved filter accessible with one click.

Filter syntax supports complex queries combining dates, priorities, projects, labels, and assignment. Power users create sophisticated views matching their specific workflow needs.

Priorities

Four priority levels distinguish task urgency. Priority 1 (red) indicates highest urgency, descending through priority 4 (no color) for standard tasks.

Priority filtering helps focus on what matters most when task lists grow overwhelming.

Due Dates and Scheduling

Todoist provides sophisticated date handling for planning work over time.

Flexible Dates

Due dates specify when tasks must complete. Start dates indicate when tasks become relevant, hiding them from active lists until that time.

Date expressions support specific times, date ranges, and relative dates. “No date” tasks exist without deadline pressure for someday/maybe items.

Recurring Tasks

Recurring task syntax handles virtually any repetition pattern. Daily habits, weekly reviews, monthly reports, and annual renewals all configure through natural language.

“Every weekday,” “every other Tuesday,” “every 15th,” and complex patterns like “every 3rd Thursday of the month” all work correctly.

After completion, recurring tasks automatically generate next occurrences without manual recreation.

Today and Upcoming Views

The Today view shows tasks due today plus overdue items, focusing attention on immediate priorities. This view typically serves as the daily command center.

Upcoming view displays tasks by date, providing visibility into coming days and weeks. This planning view helps identify schedule overloads and distribute work appropriately.

Productivity Features

Beyond basic task management, Todoist includes features supporting productivity methodologies.

Karma and Streaks

Karma gamification tracks productivity through point accumulation. Completing tasks earns points; letting tasks go overdue costs points.

Streaks track consecutive days of productivity goal achievement. These motivational features help maintain consistent task completion habits.

Karma levels (from Beginner through Enlightened) provide recognition for sustained productivity. Some users find these features motivating; they’re optional for those who don’t.

Productivity Visualization

Charts and graphs show completion trends over days, weeks, and months. These visualizations identify patterns, track improvement, and provide satisfaction from accumulated accomplishment.

Goals

Daily and weekly task completion goals establish targets for productivity. Progress indicators show advancement toward goals throughout each period.

Collaboration

Todoist supports both personal and team task management.

Shared Projects

Project sharing invites collaborators to view and manage tasks together. Permissions control who can add, edit, and complete tasks.

Assignment designates specific people responsible for individual tasks. Assigned tasks appear in personal views with clear ownership indication.

Comments and Discussion

Task comments enable discussion within context. File attachments share relevant documents directly with tasks.

Activity history shows what changed and when, providing audit trails for team coordination.

Team Workspaces

Team workspaces organize shared projects for business use. Administrative controls manage membership, permissions, and billing.

Integrations

Todoist connects with numerous other applications and services.

Calendar Integration

Two-way calendar sync displays Todoist tasks in Google Calendar, Outlook, and other calendar applications. Tasks appear as calendar events, providing unified schedule views.

Time blocking schedules tasks for specific calendar time slots, progressing from task list to planned schedule.

Automation Platforms

Zapier, IFTTT, and Make connections enable automated workflows between Todoist and hundreds of other services. Examples include creating tasks from emails, Slack messages, or form submissions.

Communication Tools

Slack and Microsoft Teams integrations add tasks from messages, show task activity, and enable team productivity within communication platforms.

Email Plugins

Gmail and Outlook plugins add tasks from emails with single clicks. Email content converts to task context, maintaining reference to original messages.

Platform Availability

Todoist maintains consistent availability across all major platforms.

Desktop Applications

Native applications for Windows and macOS provide offline access and system integration. These applications offer the full feature set with platform-appropriate interfaces.

Mobile Applications

iOS and Android applications provide full functionality on smartphones and tablets. Mobile-specific features include widgets, notification actions, and voice input.

Web Application

The web application provides access from any browser without installation. Feature parity with native applications ensures consistent experience regardless of access method.

Browser Extensions

Chrome, Firefox, and Safari extensions enable adding tasks from any web page. Website content populates task descriptions automatically.

Watch Applications

Apple Watch and Wear OS applications provide quick task viewing and completion from wrists. Voice input enables adding tasks without reaching for phones.

Pricing Structure

Todoist offers tiers addressing different usage levels.

Free Tier

The free tier provides core task management for personal use. Limitations include project count, collaborator count, and advanced feature access.

Free functionality suffices for individuals with moderate task management needs. The tier provides genuine value rather than crippled functionality.

Pro Subscription

Pro unlocks unlimited projects, reminders, labels, filters, and other advanced features. Calendar integration, backups, and enhanced productivity tracking become available.

The subscription addresses power users and professionals who need comprehensive capabilities.

Business Plans

Business subscriptions add team workspaces, administrative controls, priority support, and team billing. Per-user pricing scales with organization size.

Security and Privacy

Todoist addresses data protection concerns.

Data Protection

Encryption protects data in transit and at rest. Regular security audits identify and address potential vulnerabilities.

GDPR compliance provides European users with appropriate data rights. Data export functionality ensures users can retrieve their information.

Backup and Recovery

Automatic backups protect against data loss. Pro users access backup downloads for local archives.

Comparison with Alternatives

The task management market includes various approaches.

Things 3 provides excellent design and GTD methodology support but only works on Apple platforms.

TickTick offers similar functionality with included calendar and habit tracking features.

Microsoft To Do integrates tightly with Microsoft 365 but lacks Todoist’s sophisticated features.

Notion combines tasks with notes, databases, and documents but with more complexity than focused task managers.

Getting Started

New users begin by creating accounts and installing applications on their devices. The quick start guide introduces core concepts efficiently.

Initial setup should establish a few projects reflecting major life areas. Over-organizing initially often leads to abandoning the system; starting simple allows organic growth.

Practicing natural language input accelerates task entry speed. Learning the syntax for dates, priorities, and attributes pays dividends quickly.

System Requirements

Web: Modern browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge)

Windows: Windows 10 or later

macOS: macOS 10.13 or later

iOS: iOS 14.0 or later

Android: Android 8.0 or later

Storage: Minimal local storage required

Conclusion

Todoist succeeds by making task management genuinely usable rather than another source of overhead. The natural language input removes friction from task capture, while flexible organization systems accommodate various productivity approaches from simple lists to sophisticated GTD implementations. Cross-platform consistency ensures the system works wherever users are, and the generous free tier provides real value for casual users while Pro features address power user requirements. For individuals and teams seeking a task management solution that balances simplicity with capability, Todoist represents a mature, refined option backed by years of development and millions of active users.