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Tasks · Productivity · Free

Every task on a day, the full days visible at a glance, and one starred task for today.

A dated to-do list with a day strip that shows how full each day is, one starred task for the day, checklist steps, and a review for work that slipped.

  • The days, side by sideThe strip above the list counts each day's open tasks and draws how full it is. Drag a task onto a lighter day to move it there.
  • One thing firstThe star marks a single task. Starring another takes it off the first, and Today puts the starred task at the top as the day's one thing.
  • A review for what slipped"Review" brings up each overdue task and each one due this week. Move it, finish it, send it to Someday or delete it, one tap each.
HourLife Tasks: The end of a review: “Tasks reviewed.” with the tally of what was rescheduled, completed, moved to Someday and deleted.
The end of a review: “Tasks reviewed.” with the tally of what was rescheduled, completed, moved to Someday and deleted.

Your first week with Tasks

  1. Put today on the list

    Type into "Add a task…" under Today and press return. It takes your default time, 17:00, which you can change in Settings.

  2. Spread the week out

    Tap + and "Add date" for anything with a day. If the day can wait, use "SOMETIME IN" to give it a week or a month instead.

  3. Clear the past on Friday

    When "Past" shows a number, open ⋯ → "Review" and decide each one. The tally at the end says what you moved and what you finished.

Every step, in detail
  1. 1 Open Tasks. It always opens on "Today". The day strip above the list runs "No date", "Sometime" (once a task is due in a week or a month), "Past", today, the next few days and "Future", each with its count of open tasks.
  2. 2 Type into "Add a task…" and press return to add a task to the selected day. On a dated day it gets your "Default task time", 17:00 to begin with.
  3. 3 Tap + for the "New Task" sheet, where you can star the task, tap "Add date" to set a day and time, write notes, and link it to a goal, project, person or location.
  4. 4 Tap the circle on a row to complete it. Completed work collects under "Today's Completed".
  5. 5 When the "Past" count grows, open the ⋯ menu and choose "Review" to decide what happens to each overdue task.

Every day, counted at a glance

Above the list, Tasks lays the days out side by side. Each cell counts its open tasks, and each dated day draws a short bar for how full it is. This is a sample Tuesday: tap a cell to open its list, and tap the selected cell again to see everything at once.

Sample · Tuesday, October 20

Today

  • Send the Q4 budget to Priya

    09:30

  • Draft the onboarding email2/4

    11:00

    Launch the new site

  • Book the boiler service

    14:00

    Waiting: Quote from SamSince Oct 14 • 6 days

  • Pick up the prescription

    17:00

Today’s Completed (2)

  • Water the plants

    08:10

  • Pay the phone bill

    08:40

Thursday is the busiest day here, so its bar is full and every other day is measured against it. While no day has five, five is the measure.

  • Tasks opens on Today. Long-press a row and drop it on another cell to move it there: one of Thursday’s five could go to the empty Saturday.
  • On a single day, “Time” sorts by the clock and “My order” lets you drag the rows into the order you mean to do them.
  • “Sometime” takes a cell only while a task is due in a week or a month. A narrower screen shows fewer days before “Future”.
  • A row linked to an open Waiting For item says who you are waiting on, and for how long.

One star, one thing

The star is not a flag to scatter. One task holds it at a time: star another and the first loses it. Today puts that task at the top of the day as its one thing.

Sample · tap a row to star it

In the app, the star sits on the task’s page and in “New Task”, and “Starred” in the ⋯ menu lists the one task that has it.

ONE THING

Change
Send the Q4 budget to PriyaDraft the onboarding emailPick up the prescription

The card on Today. Tick the task off there without opening Tasks, or tap “Change” to star another. With nothing starred, it asks you to “Choose one task to focus on today”.

A day, or sometime in a week

Some tasks have a day. Others only have to happen this week or this month. The schedule sheet has both: quick picks for a day, and “SOMETIME IN” for a stretch, each with the date it is due by.

Sample · picked on Tuesday, October 20

Oct 19 Oct 26 Nov 2 Nov 9 Nov 16 Nov 23 Nov 30 ON A DAY SOMETIME IN Today Tue Oct 20 Tomorrow Wed Oct 21 This Weekend Sat Oct 24 Next Week Mon Oct 26 This week by Oct 25 Next week by Nov 1 This month by Oct 31 Next month by Nov 30 Oct 19 Nov 2 Nov 16 Nov 30 Today Tomorrow This Weekend Next Week This week · by Oct 25 Next week · by Nov 1 This month · by Oct 31 Next month · by Nov 30

The shaded column is today. “This month” began on October 1, before the drawing starts. Weeks follow your iPhone’s calendar, which starts this one on Monday, and past “Next month” a menu reaches the months after it.

Where “Clear out the garage”, due this week, waits

  1. Tue 20 – Sat 24Under “Sometime”, labelled “This week”
  2. Sun 25On the day itself
  3. From Mon 26Under “Past”, like any task
  • “This Weekend” is the coming Saturday, and “Next Week” is next Monday.
  • “No date” takes the date off, so the task waits under “No date”.
  • “Add time” sets an hour. A task added straight to a day takes your default time, 17:00 to begin with.

Review: one answer per task

“Review”, in the ⋯ menu, lines up every overdue task and everything due in the next seven days. Each one gets a card and the question “WHAT NOW?”. Here are seven tasks, each answered differently.

Sample · a review of seven tasks

IN THE QUEUE WHAT NOW? Renew the car insurance Overdue Return the library books Overdue Reply to the landlord Overdue Fix the squeaky door Overdue RSVP to the conference Due today Prep the team retro Due tomorrow Send the board deck Due Thursday Today rescheduled Tomorrow rescheduled Pick Date rescheduled Complete completed Move to Someday someday Delete deleted Skip left as it is
  1. Renew the car insuranceOverduePick Date
  2. Return the library booksOverdueToday
  3. Reply to the landlordOverdueComplete
  4. Fix the squeaky doorOverdueMove to Someday
  5. RSVP to the conferenceDue todayDelete
  6. Prep the team retroDue tomorrowSkip
  7. Send the board deckDue ThursdayTomorrow
  • “Pick Date” opens the same schedule sheet as a new task. A skipped task keeps its date and still counts as processed.
  • “Move to Someday” turns the task into a Someday idea, to come back to without a date hanging over it.
  • Deleted tasks wait in Recently Deleted for 30 days. Tasks with no date never come up.

A task, opened up

Tap a row and the task opens on its own page. Everything a task can carry is here, from a focus timer to its steps and the goal it serves.

  1. 1
    Start Focus SessionOpens the Focus timer with this task loaded. Every session you finish adds to the task’s count.
  2. 2
    When it is dueThe schedule chip opens the sheet above. It reads “Add date” until the task has one, and “Overdue” once that has passed.
  3. 3
    The star“Mark important” makes this the one starred task; “Remove important” gives the star up.
  4. 4
    Focus countShows once a session has run on the task.
  5. 5
    ChecklistSteps added with “Add step…”. The row in the list shows how many are done, 2/4 here.
  6. 6
    LinkA Goal, Project, Person or Location. A linked goal’s title then shows on the row. Typing @ in the title links one too. A to-do added in Care also carries a stethoscope chip here, naming its visit or doctor.
  7. 7
    ⋯“Move to Someday” or “Delete”. A finished task reads “Completed” with the date and time, and offers “Reopen task” here as well.

Insights: how you get things done

“Insights”, in the ⋯ menu, reads the tasks you finished: when, how many, and how long they waited. These are its cards for a sample person.

Sample · October 7 to October 20

Thursday is your strongest finish day.

Throughput · 14 days

You’re ahead of your previous 7 days, with 20 done recently.

Daily completed tasks, with today at the far right.

0 2 4 6 Oct 7 Oct 10 Oct 13 Oct 16 Oct 19 0 2 4 6 Oct 7 Oct 10 Oct 13 Oct 16 Oct 19
last 7 days
20
prev 7
13
change
+7

Weekly rhythm

Thursday has 52 completed tasks.

Your all-time completion pattern by day of week.

Pace

Tasks usually take about 2 days from add to done.

Based on the typical completed task, so one old task does not distort the read.

Aging tasks

3 active tasks are more than a week old.

A short review could clear, reschedule, or archive stale work.

Focus

You’ve run 31 focus sessions on your tasks.

Until a task is finished, Insights says “Nothing to show yet.” When most tasks are done the day they are added, Pace says so instead of counting days.

Settings that change the day

“Settings”, in the ⋯ menu, holds the time a task takes when you give it only a day, when its reminder comes, and what happens to tasks that slip past.

HourLife Tasks: Tasks settings: show completed tasks, the overdue indicator, a default task time of 17:00, a reminder 15 minutes before due, and auto-reschedule.
Tasks settings: show completed tasks, the overdue indicator, a default task time of 17:00, a reminder 15 minutes before due, and auto-reschedule.

Default task time · Remind before due

Due at 17:00, reminded at 16:45

A task you add to a day without a time takes the default task time. “Default due notifications” is on to begin with, and “Remind before due” sets the reminder anywhere from 0 to 120 minutes ahead; it starts at 15.

Auto-reschedule overdue tasks

Past-due tasks move to today when you open the app

Off to begin with, so nothing moves without you. “Review” is the other way to clear “Past”, one task at a time.

Display

Show completed tasks
Opens the completed tasks under each day without a tap.
Overdue indicator
Highlights tasks past their due date, as the “Overdue” heading is above.

Tips

  • Type @ in a task title to mention a person, project, goal or tag and link it without leaving the title field.
  • Turn on "Auto-reschedule overdue tasks" in Settings if you would rather have past-due tasks move to today when you open the app.
  • "Remind before due" in Settings sets how early the reminder comes, from 0 to 120 minutes before the due time.
  • Tap the selected day in the strip again to see every open task at once, grouped by day, with "Overdue" first.
  • Deleted tasks go to Recently Deleted and can be restored for 30 days.

Questions

About Tasks day to day.

  • Can I star more than one task?

    No. The star marks the one task that matters most, so starring a task takes the star off any other. Today shows the starred task as its one thing.

  • What happens to tasks I did not finish?

    They stay where they were and count under "Past". Run "Review" to decide each one, or turn on "Auto-reschedule overdue tasks" in Settings to move them to today whenever you open the app.

  • Can a task have no date?

    Yes. Pick "No date" in the schedule sheet. It waits under "No date" in the strip and "No due date" in the full list, and the review leaves it alone.

  • What does "Sometime" mean?

    It holds tasks due in a week or a month rather than on a day. A task due "This week" sits there until the week's last day, then shows on that day, and counts as overdue after it like any other.

  • Will I get a reminder?

    "Default due notifications" is on to begin with, and "Remind before due" sends it 15 minutes before the due time. Change either in Tasks settings.

  • Can I get a deleted task back?

    Yes. A deleted task moves to Recently Deleted and can be restored for 30 days.

Works with

Where Tasks hands off to the rest of HourLife.

  • Today

    Today shows a Tasks section with today's tasks, and its one-thing card is your starred task.

  • Focus

    "Start Focus Session" opens the Focus timer with the task loaded, and the task counts the sessions you finish.

  • Goals

    The "Goal" chip links a task to a goal, and the goal's title then shows on the task row.

  • Projects

    The "Project" chip files a task under a project.

  • People

    The "Person" chip, or an @mention in the title, links a task to someone in People.

  • Waiting

    A Waiting item linked to a task marks that task as blocked, showing who you are waiting on and for how many days.

  • Care

    A to-do added in Care is an ordinary task here, with a stethoscope chip naming the visit or doctor it is about. On the task's page the chip sits under "Link", and tapping it opens the visit in Care.

  • Someday

    "Move to Someday" in the task menu or the review queue moves a task you are not ready to commit to into Someday.

  • Brain

    An item in your Brain Dump inbox can become a task in one step.

Read and try

Books from the library that Tasks puts into practice, and something to try on paper or in the browser.

Already have HourLife?

Tasks is under Productivity in the module list. Today shows today's tasks in its Tasks section, and the ⋯ menu in Tasks holds "Insights", "Starred", "Completed", "Review" and "Settings".

Tasks is in the Library, under Productivity. If it isn’t there, turn it on in Settings → Look & Feel → Modules.

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Try Tasks in HourLife.

Tasks is one of HourLife’s free modules.

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