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 of your tasks using specific query syntaxes, all based on specific criteria. You can narrow down your lists according to task name, date, project, label, priority, date created, and more.
Add a filter
Let's start by creating your first filter:
- Select Filters & Labels in the sidebar.
- Click the Add icon next to Filters.
- In the Add filter window, enter the name of the filter or change the filter color.
- Enter the filter query. Check out these filter query examples.
- Click Add to save your filter.
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.
Edit a filter
You realize some of your filters have missing information, or are throwing an error. Here's how to edit a filter:
Click the pencil icon to the right of the filter name. Then, make changes to your filter.
Break it down with symbols
There are a range of symbols you can use when creating filters in Todoist:
| Symbol | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| | | OR | today | overdue |
| & | AND | today & p1 |
| ! | NOT | !subtask |
| () | Filter tasks based on queries inside parentheses first. Use & or | within and in between parentheses to run multiple queries in a single filter. | (today | overdue) & #Work |
| , | Display filter queries in separate lists. | date: 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 |
Marija · Customer Experience Specialist
Parentheses are especially powerful when you need to run multiple queries in a filter. By adding & and | symbols inside and in between parentheses, you can filter tasks based on very specific criteria. For example, a filter can show either assigned and unassigned tasks that are overdue and due today, and that have the @work label.
Use these filters
Here’s a rundown of all the supported Todoist filters you can use to organize your work. If a filter query isn't listed below, it's not available or supported in Todoist.
Filter based on:
To create filters based on keywords, you can use search: followed by a keyword.
| If you need to | Use 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 two or more specific words (for example: send email) | search: send email |
| See all tasks that contain web links | search: http |
Note
When searching for tasks that contain two or more specific keywords, the filter finds tasks containing all the keywords, but they may not necessarily be in that exact order.
Create a filter to either see or exclude sub-tasks in the view.
| If you need to | Use this |
|---|---|
| See all sub-tasks | subtask |
| See all parent tasks while excluding their sub-tasks | !subtask |
See all tasks scheduled for a specific date.
| If you need to | Use this |
|---|---|
| View all tasks scheduled for January 3rd | date: Jan 3 |
| See all tasks dated before a specific date | date before: May 5 or date before: 5/5 |
| See all tasks dated after a specific date | date after: May 5 or date after: 5/5 |
| See all tasks scheduled within the next four hours and all overdue tasks | date before: +4 hours |
| See all tasks that are dated before the day you've selected in Settings → General → Next week | date before: next week |
| See all tasks dated in the current working week | date before: sat |
| See all tasks that are dated for next week | (date: next week | date after: next week) & date before: 1 week after next week |
| See all tasks dated within the current calendar month | date before: first day |
| See active tasks dated yesterday, along with today's tasks listed below | date: yesterday, today |
| See all tasks that have no date associated with them | no date |
| See all tasks with a date assigned to them | !no date |
| See all tasks with a date and time assigned to them | !no date & !no time |
| See all tasks dated today and before a specific time | date: today & date 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 time assigned to them, along with all tasks dated today and with time assigned to them | overdue & !no time, date: today & !no time |
| See all tasks in your Inbox without a date, followed by a separate section with all your tasks that have dates set, but are not in your Inbox | #Inbox & no due date, All & !#Inbox & !no due date |
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 (dated in the next 3 days), -3 days (dated in the past 3 days)
- Days of the week: Monday, Tuesday, Sunday
| If you need to | Use this |
|---|---|
| See all tasks with no deadline | no deadline |
| See all tasks with a deadline | !no deadline |
| See all tasks with a deadline today | deadline: today |
| See all tasks with a deadline within the next 7 days | deadline after: yesterday & deadline before: in 7 days |
| See all tasks with overdue deadlines | deadline before: today |
The due query takes into consideration the date and deadline fields. If a task has both, a date and deadline, due prioritizes the date. If the task does not have a date, due will check if the deadline matches filter criteria. If you don't use deadlines, due and date filters will return the same results.
| If you need to | Use 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 due 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 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 and with only assigned time | overdue & !no time, today & !no time |
| See all tasks in your Inbox without a date or deadline, followed by a separate section with all your tasks that are due, 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 date | recurring |
| See all tasks that either have a non-recurring date or deadline, or no date at all assigned to them | !recurring |
| See all tasks with a date or deadline, but no due time, and which are not recurring | no time & !recurring |
| If you need to | Use 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 to | Use this |
|---|---|
| See all tasks with the label "email" | |
| See all tasks that don't have any labels | no labels |
| If you need to | Use 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 to | Use 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 to | Use 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 to | Use 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 |
| See tasks assigned to other people | assigned to: Steve Gray, assigned to: John, assigned to: Becky |
Handy Todoist filter examples
Need more ideas when creating Todoist filters? Try these out:
| If you need to | Use this |
|---|---|
| See all tasks created by you | added by: me |
| See all tasks assigned to you | assigned to: me |
| See all tasks you assigned to others | assigned by: me |
| See all tasks created by Becky | added by: Becky |
| See all tasks assigned to Becky | assigned to: Becky |
| See all active tasks in Todoist | view all |
| See all uncompletable tasks in Todoist | uncompletable |
| See all sub-tasks | subtask |
| See all parent tasks | !subtask |
| See all tasks in shared projects that haven’t been assigned to anyone | shared & !assigned |
| See all tasks that don’t have a date or deadline | no date & no deadline |
| See all tasks that have a date, but don't have a time | no time |
| See all tasks that have no date and no time | no date | no time |
| See all tasks created more than 365 days ago | created before: -365 days |
| See all tasks that are overdue or due today that are in the “Work” project | (today | overdue) & #Work |
| 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.
Unsupported filters
Although Todoist filters can surface lots of valuable information, there are several unsupported filters you won't be able to use for your tasks or projects:
| Unsupported filter | Reason |
|---|---|
| assigned to: nobody | This is an unsupported filter query. To see all tasks that are assigned to nobody, use !assigned instead. |
| Show all tasks with comments | Todoist filters can't access comment data. You can only filter by date, project, label, priority, assignment, and search terms. |
| Show task comments that contain a specific keyword | Todoist filters can't access comment content. |
| Show completed tasks | Todoist filters show open or active tasks by default. Completed tasks aren't visible in filter views. |
| Show parent tasks with their sub-tasks | Todoist filters only show either the parent task or the sub-task, not both. |
Delete a filter
If you no longer need or use a Todoist filter, here's how to delete it:
- Click Filters & Labels in the sidebar.
- Right-click the filter or click the three dots icon beside the filter name.
- Select Delete to remove the filter.
Best practices for filters
As you get the hang of using Todoist 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 to | Use 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 and are labeled @waiting | 7 days & @waiting |
| See tasks assigned to Denise or Carol due next week, and that contain the Todoist label | (assigned to: Denise | assigned to: Carol) & (due after: sunday & due before: 8 days after sunday) & @Todoist |
| See all tasks are due today or are overdue, and that contain the @work label | (all | today) & (all | overdue) & @work |
| 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 to | Use 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 in between filter queries.
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
Let Filter Assist generate the right filter for you. Describe which tasks you'd like to see in either English or Spanish, and Filter Assist will do the rest:
- Click Filters & Labels in the sidebar.
- Click the Add icon next to Filters.
- Click Try it in the Filter Assist banner at the top.
- Describe which tasks you want to filter in the Filter request field.
- Click Send.
- 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.
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!
