Introduction to filters

Filters are saved searches that show only the tasks you need. You write a query, such as today & p1, and Todoist lists every task that matches it. You can filter by keyword, date, deadline, priority, label, project, section, assignee, and more. Then open the filter any time from Filters & Labels.

Add a filter

Here's how to create a filter:

Use Filter Assist

Not sure how to write a query? Describe the tasks you want to see in English or Spanish, and Filter Assist writes the query for you:

Edit a filter

If a filter shows the wrong tasks or returns an error, edit its query. Here's how:

Add a filter description

Add a description to remind yourself, or your team, what a filter shows and how to use it. The description appears under the filter name and above the filter results. You can add a description to both personal and team filters.

Delete a filter

Here's how to delete a filter you no longer need:

Refresh a filter

Todoist calculates a filter’s results when you open it. A filter built on a relative date, such as due before: in one minute, won’t add tasks on its own as they become due while you have it open.

In Todoist for iOS, pull down on the filter to refresh it and show any tasks that have since become due.

Use symbols in filter queries

Symbols connect, exclude, and group queries, so one filter can match exactly the tasks you want:

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, (today | overdue) & %work shows all tasks that are due today or are overdue, and that have the work label.

Use filter queries

Use the queries below to build your filters. If a query isn't listed here, Todoist doesn't support it. You enter these filter queries in Filters & Labels, not in Display settings. Label queries use %. @ also works for now, including in filters you have already saved, but is planned to be retired by the end of 2026.

Keywords

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

Sub-tasks

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

Dates

See all tasks scheduled for a specific date.

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

Deadlines

Due

The due query takes into consideration the date and deadline fields. If a task has both a date and a deadline, due uses the date. If the task has no date, due checks the deadline instead. If you don't use deadlines, due and date queries return the same results.

Priority levels

Labels

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

Projects, sub-projects, and sections

Workspaces and folders

When a task was created

Shared projects and assigned tasks

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, search assigned by: Steve Gray or assigned to: Steve Gray.

You can identify a collaborator by their email, their full name, “me” (yourself), or “others” (everyone other than you).

Handy Todoist filter examples

Need more ideas when creating Todoist filters? Try these out:

Stef · Customer Experience Specialist

Many of these examples come from Todoist ambassador Leighton Price. Try them out, then tweak them to fit your own projects.

Unsupported filters

Todoist doesn't support these searches in filters:

Build advanced filter queries

Once you know the basic queries, combine them, use wildcards, or show several lists in one filter.

Combine queries with symbols

Combine any queries to get the exact view you need. Here are a few examples:

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 starts with the word “urgent”.

Run two or more filter queries

You can show several task lists in the same filter by running two or more queries at once. Add a comma between each query.

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

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.