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Add Tasks

This how-to covers adding new tasks to your list. For subtasks, scheduling, repeating tasks, and issue-linked tasks, see 2.04-Manage-Subtasks, 2.05-Manage-Scheduled-Tasks, 2.06-Manage-Repeating-Tasks, and 2.07-Manage-Task-Integrations.

Open the Add Task bar

From the header: Click the Add new task button (plus icon) in the top bar. The add task bar opens and the cursor focuses in the input.

With the keyboard: Press Shift+A (default shortcut for "Add new task"). You can change or confirm the key under 3.02-Settings-and-Preferences → Keyboard; see 3.03-Keyboard-Shortcuts.

Create a Task

1. With the add task bar open, type the task title in the input. The placeholder shows an example: A task title #tag @16:00 t25m (you can use #tag, @time, @date, and [t]time in the title; see below).
2. Press Enter or click the Add task button (plus icon next to the input). The task is added to the current project or context (Today / tag).

You can also create a task by dropping an .eml email file onto the add task button (the + icon in the header). The task title becomes sender: subject. The plain-text part of the email — including quoted-printable/base64-encoded bodies and multipart messages with an HTML alternative — is saved to the task's notes as literal text; HTML-only bodies and unsupported encodings create a title-only task.

The new task appears at the top or bottom of the list depending on the add bar setting (see “Add to top or bottom” below).

Short Syntax in the Title

While typing the title you can use:

• #tagName — Add the task to a tag (e.g. #work). If the tag does not exist, you can create it when adding the task.
• @16:00 or @09:30 — Set a due time for the task (today by default when only time is given).
• @tomorrow, @next week, or a date — Set the due date. You can combine with a time (e.g. @tomorrow @14:00).
• !friday, !next month, or !14:30 — Set a deadline date/time after enabling deadline short syntax in Settings (it is off by default).
• [t]25m — Set an estimated time for the task. You can also add time previously spent on a task by adding a / at the end (e.g. t30m/). The t tag is optional and the short syntax will work even if it is ommitted.

See 3.04-Short-Syntax for more information on available short syntax tags. You can also restart the interactive How to: Create a task walkthrough from the Help menu.

The add task bar also has action buttons to set properties without typing:

Button	Shortcut	Description
Schedule	Ctrl+4	Set a due date/time
Tags	Ctrl+5	Assign tags
Estimate	Ctrl+6	Set a time estimate
Repeat	Ctrl+7	Configure a repeat schedule

Additionally, you can press Ctrl+8 to open the deadline dialog directly, or click the deadline chip once it has been parsed from the title.

Once a value is set, a × clear button appears next to the corresponding action button or chip. On the Schedule/Planner view, the add bar may show different options (e.g. "Plan for today").

Deadline vs. Schedule

• Schedule (Ctrl+4): When you plan to work on the task — places it in your daily plan.
• Deadline (Ctrl+8): When the task must be done by — the hard due date. Tasks with a deadline set to today are automatically moved into Today's list.

Add to top or Bottom

Next to the input there is a button that toggles whether new tasks go to the top or bottom of the list. The tooltip shows “Add to top (Ctrl+1)” or “Add to bottom (Ctrl+1)”. You can also press Ctrl+1 (or the key you configured) to toggle. This applies to the next task you add.

Add to Backlog or Today (if the Project Has a backlog)

If the current project has Backlog enabled, another button appears: Add to backlog / Add to today. It toggles whether the new task is added to the project’s backlog or to today’s list. The icon and tooltip (“Add to backlog” vs “Add to today”) show the current mode.

Add Existing Tasks or Issues (search mode)

Click the search icon (or press Ctrl+2, if configured) in the add task bar to switch to issue search mode. The placeholder changes to “Add existing task or issues…”. You can search for:

• Tasks from the archive or other projects — select one to add it to the current context.
• Issues from configured integrations (Jira, GitHub, etc.) — select one to add it as a linked task.

Type to search, then choose an item from the list to add it. Disable search again with the search button or Ctrl+2 to return to normal “create new task” mode.

Where New Tasks Go

• Project view: Tasks are added to the current project. With “Add to backlog” on, they go to the project backlog; otherwise they go to the main list (or today, depending on context).
• Today / tag view: Tasks are added to the current tag (e.g. Today). They also belong to a project; if you are in a project’s Today view, the task is in that project.
• Schedule / Planner: When you use the add bar there, you can plan the task for a specific day (e.g. today); the task is scheduled for that day.

Add a Task from the Schedule / Planner

On the Schedule or daily planning view, you may see an Add button (plus icon and “Add” label) for a day. Click it to open the same add task bar in place; the task can be created and planned for that day. Creating the task closes the inline add bar.

Edit several tasks at once

Select several tasks and apply one change to all of them. Selection is temporary: it clears when you change project or tag, navigate away, or press Escape.

Select

• Ctrl+click (Cmd+click on macOS) a task to add it to the selection; click again to remove it.
• Shift+click selects every task between the last toggled task and the clicked one.
• With a task focused, Shift+ArrowDown / Shift+ArrowUp extend the selection by keyboard, X toggles the focused task, and Ctrl+A selects the whole list.
• A plain click on any task selects that task only (clears the selection).
• On a touch screen, swipe a task left to open its menu and choose Select several tasks…. Every task then shows a ring instead of the done box: tap a task to select or deselect it. Selection mode ends when you apply an action, deselect the last task, or use the bar's ✕, the back button or Escape. Swiping, dragging and title editing are paused while selecting.

Selected tasks get a tinted background with an accent stripe on the left. There is deliberately no checkmark: a checkmark means done.

Act

A bar at the bottom of the list shows how many tasks are selected. Actions opens a menu with everything that can be applied to all of them: schedule, unschedule, add to Today, deadline, mark done or not done, move to backlog or back, estimate, tags, move to another project, delete. Right-clicking a selected task, or pressing Q, opens the same menu. The usual task shortcuts (D, Backspace, S, Shift+S, Shift+T, U, Shift+B) apply to the whole selection while it exists.

Some rules keep bulk edits predictable:

• Done is applied to every selected task individually; marking a parent done does not mark its subtasks done.
• Moving to a project or backlog only applies to top-level tasks; selected subtasks follow their parent and are reported as skipped.
• Moving a recurring task asks once per repeat config and moves the config with all of its instances, as the single-task move does.
• Deleting more than one task always asks for confirmation, because there is no undo for a bulk delete yet. A single selected task is deleted like any other task, with its confirmation setting and undo.
• Tags: if every selected task already has the tag it is removed from all of them, otherwise it is added to all of them.