Introduction to filters

Available for

  • Beginner
  • Pro
  • Business

As Todoist starts to fill up with tasks, finding information needs to be speedy and efficient. That’s where filters come in handy! Filters are custom views for your tasks based on specific criteria. You can narrow down your lists according to task name, due date, project, label, priority, date created, and more.

Quick tip

View the tasks in your filters in three different layouts: as a list, a board, or a calendar (calendar layout is only available to Pro and Business customers)!

Create a filter

Add a filter

  1. Select Filters & Labels in the sidebar.
  2. Click the Add icon next to Filters.
  3. In the Add filter window, enter the name of the filter or change the filter color. 
  4. Enter the filter query. Check out these filter query examples.
  5. Click Add to save your filter.

    💡 Optional: Click the toggle to add your filter to your favorites for easy access.

Edit a filter

Click the pencil icon to the right of the filter name. Then, make changes to your filter.

Use default filters

Give these default filters a try in Todoist:

  • Assigned to me: shows every task in Todoist assigned to you
  • Priority 1: shows all p1 tasks in Todoist
  • View all: shows all active tasks in Todoist

Note

If you can't find the Filters & Labels view, it might be hidden from the sidebar. Customize your sidebar and make sure it's set to appear with all your other views.

Break it down with symbols

There are a range of symbols you can use when creating filters in Todoist:

SymbolWhat it meansExample

|

OR

today | overdue

&

AND

today & p1

!

NOT

!subtask

()

Filter tasks based on queries inside parentheses first.

(today | overdue) & #Work

,

Display filter queries in separate lists.

due: yesterday, today

\

Use special characters in project, section, or label names as regular characters.

Filter tasks in projects, sections, or labels with two or more words in the name.

#One \& Two

#Shopping\ list

Filter with advanced queries

Here’s a rundown of some of the more advanced filters you can use in Todoist:

Filter based on:

In order to create filters based on keywords, you can use search: followed by a keyword.

If you need toUse this

See all tasks that contain the word "Meeting"

search: Meeting

See all tasks that contain the word "Meeting" that are due today

search: Meeting & today

See all tasks that contain either the word "Meeting" or "Work"

search: Meeting | search: Work

See all tasks that contain the word "email"

search: email

See all tasks that contain web links

search: http

Create a filter to either see or exclude sub-tasks in the view.

If you need toUse this

See all sub-tasks

subtask

See all parent tasks while excluding their sub-tasks

!subtask

See all tasks due on a specific date.
If you need toUse this

View all tasks due on January 3rd

Jan 3

See all tasks that are due before a specific date

due before: May 5 or due before: 5/5

See all tasks that are due after a specific date

due after: May 5 or due after: 5/5

See all tasks due within the next four hours and all overdue tasks

due before: +4 hours

See all tasks that are due before the day you've selected in Settings > General > Next week

due before: next week

See all tasks with a due date in the current working week

due before: sat

See all tasks that are due next week

(due: next week | due after: next week) & due before: 1 week after next week

See all tasks due within the current calendar month

due before: first day

See active tasks due yesterday, along with today's tasks listed below

due: yesterday, today

See all tasks that have no due date associated with them

no date or no due date

See all tasks with a due date assigned to them

!no date

See all tasks with a due date and time assigned to them

!no date & !no time

See all tasks due today and before a specific due time

today & due before: today at 2pm

See all tasks that are overdue

Overdue or over due or od

See all tasks that are overdue and have had a specific time assigned to them, along with all tasks due today, but only with due times

overdue & !no time, today & !no time

See all tasks in your Inbox without a date, followed by a separate section with all your tasks that have due dates set, but are not in your Inbox

#Inbox & no date, All & !#Inbox & !no date

See all tasks due within the next 5 days

5 days or next 5 days

See all tasks that have a recurring due date

recurring

See all tasks that either have a non-recurring due date or no due date at all assigned to them

!recurring

See all tasks with a due date, but no due time, and which are not recurring

no time & !recurring

Quick tip

You can write a date in any of these ways:

  • Specific date: 10/5/2022, Oct 5th 2022
  • Specific date and time: 10/5/2022 5pm, Oct 5th 5pm
  • Relative date: today, tomorrow, yesterday, 3 days (due in the next 3 days), -3 days (due in the past 3 days)
  • Days of the week: Monday, Tuesday, Sunday

If you need toUse this

See all tasks with priority level 1

p1

See all tasks with priority level 2

p2

See all tasks with priority level 3

p3

See all tasks with no priority level (i.e. p4)

No priority

Create filters based on labels. For example, the filter today & @email will pull up all tasks with the @email label that are due today.

If you need toUse this

See all tasks with the label "email"

@email

See all tasks that don't have any labels

no labels

If you need toUse this

See all tasks in the “Work” project

#Work

See all tasks in the "Work" project and its sub-projects

##Work

See all tasks in the "School" project and its sub-projects, but exclude the "Science" project

##School & !#Science

See all tasks belonging to sections named "Meetings" across all projects

/Meetings

See all tasks belonging to the section "Meetings" in the project "Work"

#Work & /Meetings

See all tasks not assigned to sections

!/*

See all tasks not assigned to sections, but excluding tasks in your Inbox

!/* & !#Inbox

If you need toUse this

See all tasks in the “My Projects” workspace

workspace: My projects

See all tasks of the projects in the "Design team" folder

##Design team

Only see tasks in the "Doist" workspace

workspace: Doist

See all tasks in the "Doist" and "Halist" workspaces(workspace: Doist | workspace: Halist)
If you need toUse this

See all tasks created on a specific date

created: Jan 3 2023

See all tasks created more than 365 days ago

created before: -365 days

See all tasks created within the last 365 days

created after: -365 days

See all tasks created today

created: today

When you search for tasks assigned to or by one of your collaborators, make sure that you use the name the collaborator uses in Todoist.

For example, Steve's real name might be Stephen Gray, but if he is listed as "Steve Gray" in Todoist, you should search assigned by: Steve Gray or assigned to: Steve Gray.

Note

A collaborator can be identified by:
  • The person’s email
  • The person’s full name
  • “Me” (referring to yourself)
  • “Others” (referring to all users other than yourself)
If you need toUse this

See all tasks that have been assigned to others

assigned to: others

See all tasks Steve Gray assigned

assigned by: Steve Gray

See all tasks that you assigned to others

assigned by: me

See all tasks that have been assigned to anyone (yourself and others)

assigned

See all tasks in shared projects

shared

See all tasks in your Todoist, excluding those assigned to others

!assigned to: others

Note

There aren't any filters for completed tasks because you can only filter for active tasks in Todoist. Instead, here's how to access and review your completed tasks.

Handy filters to try out

If you need toUse this

See all tasks that are overdue or due today that are in the “Work” project

(today | overdue) & #Work

See all tasks that don’t have a due date

no date

See all tasks that don't have a due time

no time

See all tasks that are due in the next 7 days and are labeled @waiting

7 days & @waiting

See all tasks created more than 365 days ago

created before: -365 days

See all tasks you assigned to others

assigned by: me

See all tasks assigned to Becky

assigned to: Becky

See all tasks created by you

added by: me

See all tasks created by Becky

added by: Becky

See all tasks in shared projects that haven’t been assigned to anyone

shared & !assigned

See all sub-tasks

subtask

See all parent tasks

Note

It's not possible to create a filter to display parent tasks with their sub-tasks.

!subtask

See all tasks

view all

See all uncompletable tasks

uncompletable

See all tasks due within the next 8 hours, but exclude all overdue tasks

due before: +8 hours & !overdue

See every unscheduled task in your #Work project

#Work & no due date

See every high-priority task in the next two weeks

(P1 | P2) & 14 days

See tasks that were created more than 30 days ago

created before: -30 days

See all tasks with the label "night" that are scheduled for Saturday

Saturday & @night

See every task you’re assigned to in the project "Work"

#Work & assigned to: me

Huge thanks to our Todoist ambassador, Leighton Price, for providing examples for this article.

Best practices for filters

As you get the hang of using filters, you’ll discover more ways to quickly surface information. Keep these best practices in mind to avoid bumping into errors:

Combine filters with symbols

You can combine any filter query you want to get the exact view you need. Here are a few examples:

If you need toUse this

See all tasks that are due today and are also labeled @email

Today & @email

See all tasks that are labelled either @work or @office

@work | @office

See all tasks that are either due today or are overdue and are also in the “Work” project

(today | overdue) & #Work

See all tasks that are due in the next 7 days

all & 7 days

See all tasks that are not assigned to anyone

!assigned

See all tasks that are due today but exclude tasks in the "Work" project

Today & !#Work

See all tasks that are due tomorrow in the “Homework” project, but exclude tasks with the @languages label

#Homework & tomorrow & !@languages

Use a wildcard

To filter for tasks with similar symbols or characters, enter an asterisk (*) in your search terms to use a wildcard.

For example, the filter query @urgent* will pull up a list of all tasks that have a label that start with the word “urgent”.

If you need toUse this

See all tasks with any label that starts with “home”. For example, @homework and @homeoffice

@home*

See all tasks assigned to anyone whose first name starts with an M and last name is Smith

assigned to: m* smith

See all tasks from projects which name ends with “work”. For example, #Artwork, #Network, and #Work

#*Work

See all tasks from sections that have the word "Work" in the name. For example, /Work Meetings, /Work Admin, and /Work Calls

Work*

See all tasks that don't belong to any section

!/*

Quick tip

If you need to search for a project which has an emoji in its title, you can use an asterisk to replace the emoji. For example, instead of adding #Welcome 👋 to your query, you can add #Welcome *.

Run two or more filter queries

You’ve the option to create multiple task lists in the same filter view by running several filter queries simultaneously. To separate each filter query in the view, add a comma ( , ).

For example, the filter query p1 & overdue, p4 & today shows two task lists in the same view:

  • A list of priority 1 overdue tasks
  • Priority 4 tasks that are due today

Use Filter Assist

Note

Filter Assist is currently only available in English and Spanish.

Let Filter Assist generate the right filter for you. Describe which tasks you'd like to see, and Filter Assist will do the rest:

  1. Click Filters & Labels in the sidebar.
  2. Click the Add icon next to Filters.
  3. Click Try it in the Filter Assist banner at the top.
  4. Describe which tasks you want to filter in the Filter request field.
  5. Click Send.
  6. Click Add filter.

Quick tip

Go further by customizing your filter. Change the filter's name, assign a different color, or add the filter to your favorites.

Delete a filter

  1. Click Filters & Labels in the sidebar.
  2. Right-click the filter or click the three dots icon beside the filter name.
  3. Select Delete to remove the filter.

Get started

Need some more ideas for filters? Try any of these handy Todoist setups to get started. If you’re having trouble creating or using filters in Todoist, get in touch with us. We—Marco, Dermot, Summer, or any of our other teammates—are more than happy to help!

FAQ

The order in which tasks are sorted in a filter depends on whether it includes due date queries:

  • When using a filter with due date queries: due time > priority > task creation date and time > project ID > task ID
  • When using a filter without due date queries: priority > due time and date > project order > task order within their project.

If you want to only view tasks that are either assigned to you or unassigned, and exclude tasks assigned to others, you can use this query: !assigned to: others.

For example, if you wanted to see tasks with the label @work that are not assigned to other people, use: @work & !assigned to: others.

If you only want to see tasks that are assigned to you (excluding unassigned tasks), this filter will help: assigned to: me.

For example, if you wanted to see tasks with priority 1 that are assigned to you, use: p1 & assigned to: me.