To-dos

Add a To-do with its day in the title, plan it with When, and keep its Deadline separate.

A To-do needs only a title. A day, a time or a repeat at the end of the title, such as “Call dentist Friday”, sets when it is planned. When is the day you plan to work on a To-do and Deadline is the day it is due, and Today, Upcoming, Anytime and Someday sort your To-dos by those dates.

Get started free

Dates in the title

A To-do is added from one field, with only its title. Magpie reads a day, a time or a repeat at the end of the title, and the line under the field shows what it understood, such as “Friday 16 October”, before the To-do is added. Those words are taken out of the title; Keep as text adds the title exactly as typed.

A day: “Buy printer ink tomorrow”, “Call dentist Friday”, “Pay rent on March 1” and “Book the venue in 3 days” are each planned for that day.
A day and a time: “Submit report next Monday at 9am” gets a date and a time. A time alone, as in “Call mum at 5pm”, is on the day the To-do is being added for, or today.
A repeat: “Take bins out every Thursday”, “every weekday” or “every 3 months” makes a repeating To-do.
Someday or no date: “Learn the cello someday” sets it aside for Someday, and “no date” at the end leaves it undated.
Words inside a title: Only the end of the title is read, so “Watch Friday Night Lights” and “Fix 3/4 inch pipe” stay as typed.

Where a new To-do goes

A To-do is added for the view you are on: on Today it is planned for today, on Upcoming for tomorrow, on Anytime it has no date, on Someday it is set aside, and on a List's page it goes into that List. The When row under the field shows that choice, and Today, Tomorrow, Next week, Someday, No date or Pick a date… sends the To-do somewhere else. A day at the end of the title is used instead of the When row.

The To-do goes into Personal or the team you are in, and the field's placeholder names it, such as “Add a To-do for tomorrow in Acme”.

When and Deadline

When is the day you plan to work on a To-do, with a time if it needs one. Deadline is the day it is due. The two are set separately, and a To-do can have either, both or neither. Dates in the title set When; the Deadline is set on the To-do's page.

A To-do appears in Today from its When date. Today also lists an open To-do whose Deadline is 7 days away or fewer, whatever its When date. Snoozing a reminder never moves the Deadline.

Today, Upcoming, Anytime, Someday and Completed

The To-dos page shows one view at a time, with the number of To-dos in Today, Upcoming and Anytime beside their names.

Today: To-dos planned for today or an earlier day, and those due soon, in one list. One from an earlier day says Overdue and the day it was planned for. Drag To-dos into your own order, or use the up and down buttons; the order is kept on every device you use, and each teammate has their own.
Upcoming: To-dos planned for a later day, in a group for each day.
Anytime: Open To-dos with no date. Each shows its List, and Team To-dos groups them by List.
Someday: To-dos set aside with no date.
Completed: Completed To-dos, most recent first. A ticked To-do can be reopened, or put back with Undo in the message that appears.
Several at once: Select up to 100 To-dos to complete them, give them a day (Today, Tomorrow, Next week, Someday or No date), move them to a List, or delete them.

Calendar and Dashboard

Calendar shows each open To-do on its When date, at its time when it has one, and its Deadline separately on the day it is due. Completed To-dos are left out, and selecting a To-do opens its page. A team's Calendar shows the team's To-dos to members who can use To-dos in that team.

Dashboard lists the start of your To-dos: those in Today first, then the next ones planned. Tick them off from Dashboard, or add one with + New To-do or the T key without leaving it.

Notes, checklist, tags and timer

Each To-do has a page of its own with its dates, repeat, reminder, List, assignee and priority (Normal or Important), and every value on it saves as soon as it changes.

Notes: Written in Markdown, shown with their formatting.
Checklist: Steps inside one To-do. Make it a To-do turns a step into a To-do of its own when it needs a date, a reminder or an assignee.
Tags: Labels such as “phone” or “waiting”, shared across Personal or the team. A To-do shows no tags until you add one.
Start timer: Starts a Time Tracking timer with the To-do's title, and the time entry links back to the To-do.

Add your first To-do.

Create a Magpie account, open To-dos and type a title with a day at the end, such as “Call dentist Friday”.

Create account