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Start date

A wonderful feature in other, otherwise less amazing task managers is a start date. This allows you to easily keep track of tasks that need to be done, but cannot be done before a certain date.

Tasks that haven't started yet could show up as grayed-out or otherwise low-priority until their date arrives.

I currently use a very backward workaround by using Boomerang for Gmail to email the tasks to the projects at a future date. That means I have a hard time of remembering that I ever created those tasks because they are nowhere to be found on todoist.

7 comments, asked by on Jun 18, 2012 - 14:40



This suggestion contains all votes from the following related suggestions:
71 votes

on Jun 19, 2012 - 01:15

Hello Shiri,

thank you very much for your suggestion, we appreciate it and will consider adding such feature in the future.

For now, please note that you can simply add due dates in a distant future date which will not display such tasks in the today or 7 days view at all (until the due date).

Also, you can use labels for such tasks, even date-labels, for example a label @20/7 to mark that the task should be started on July 20th.

Alternatively, in order to clearly separate such tasks even within a project, you can create a header for them. To do so, add an asterisk * in front of a task name and it will create a "task" with no check box which can work as a header/separator. You can then store the future tasks below it or even add an asterisk for any future task and remove it once the task should become "active".


Best regards,
David

on Jun 19, 2012 - 08:40

Hi David,

Thanks for the workaround suggestions. I often use labels (as contexts) for navigating my multitude of tasks and projects, so putting them in a certain order doesn't help me personally.

I like the concept of a label to mark the task with a start date as a potential solution. For now however I may continue to use Boomerang so that the tasks don't appear before they can be started. Thanks!

on Jan 03, 2013 - 16:05

Cannot use Todoist without this feature.

on Mar 29, 2013 - 11:29

Any update on this? Setting a start date is an essential part of my workflow as well. I need certain tasks to show up on my list on a certain date and be due on a different date. I don't want to have to manually move tasks around when the start date arrives, it should happen automatically. The interval between the two dates can vary wildly from task to task, so none of the suggested workarounds will accomplish what I need. Thanks!

on Mar 29, 2013 - 13:30

Hello Laura,

We will consider adding such option in the future, but for now, you could use reminders with Todoist Premium. Aside from a due date, you could assign one or multiple reminders to a different date and time and when this "start date" occurs, you would receive an email, an SMS or a mobile reminder (push notification).

Alternatively, you can set "date labels", simply type @4/16 within the task's name and with Todoist Premium, you could see a complete overview of all labels and search for tasks with these labels.


Best regards,
David

on Apr 02, 2013 - 08:04

Cannot use Todoist without this feature either (being able to sort tasks by either 'start date' or 'due date').

How many more features have a higher priority than this one (just to know whether those who need this feature can wait, or should use another Task Manager).

Thanks
PS: The claim "better than Outlook" or "integrates seamlessly into Outlook" is a bit pretentious, when simple but essential features of Outlook are not implemented.

on Apr 02, 2013 - 08:16

Sebastien,

Unfortunately, we can't specify when exactly such feature would be implemented. You can currently add labels to any task with a start date, for example, type @16/4 within the task's name to specify when it should start. Also, with Todoist Premium, you could set reminders to a different date than the due date that would notify you when a task should be started or use recurring dates such as "every day starting 10 Apr", check the task off each time you complete a part of it every day and then move it to history when it's done.

We're advertising our Outlook plugin as "better than Outlook" as it's much simpler to use and requires less time to add a simple task than when using Outlook's native "Tasks" feature which doesn't have certain options Todoist has. We would appreciate if you could specify what features do you miss in Todoist (aside from the starting date) that Outlook offers.


Best regards,
David