Batch Editing

Use batch editing to reschedule, tag, move, share, or delete several tasks at once.

Entering Batch Editing

Start batch editing in any of these ways:

• Tap Batch Editing at the end of the bar above your tasks.
• Touch and hold a task’s checkmark, then drag down the column to select several tasks in a row.
• With a hardware keyboard, press ⌘B.

Tap tasks to select or deselect them. The drawer at the bottom shows the number selected and the available commands. Use Select All in the sort bar to select every task, or Deselect All to clear the selection.

The Commands

The drawer has seven commands:

• Dates: Set Due Date, Set Start Date, Set Duration, Defer... for a relative shift, and Schedule... for a future start date. For what start dates, due dates, and durations do, see Dates and Durations.
• Tag: opens the tag picker over the whole selection. See below for Append and Replace.
• Priority: Auto-Prioritize at the top, then No Priority, Low, Medium, High, Unstarred, and Starred.
• Location: opens the location picker over the whole selection, with the same Append and Replace choice.
• Share: More options hands the selection to the iOS share sheet, and Email as attachments sends the tasks as files.
• Move: opens Move to..., a searchable picker listing Today, Starred, and Done first, then your lists with their sections, projects, and checklists. To use a new list, type its name and choose Create New List.... Pick a destination and tap the checkmark to apply it. See Moving Tasks to a Section.
• Delete: removes the selection, after a confirmation.

A batch edit can be undone; see Undo and Redo.

tip

In Today, select unfinished tasks and choose Dates > Defer... to move them to tomorrow.

tip

Tag tasks you are waiting on with @waiting. Pause that tag to hide them until you are ready to follow up. See Tags.

Auto-Prioritize

Choose Auto-Prioritize at the top of the Priority menu to let Apple Intelligence set priorities for the selected tasks. With a hardware keyboard, press ⇧⌘P to open the picker.

Processing stays on your device, and Undo restores the previous priorities. The command requires a device that supports Apple Intelligence, with iOS 26 or iPadOS 26 or later and Apple Intelligence turned on.

See Auto-Prioritize for how priorities are chosen.

Auto-Create Sections

In a regular list or the Inbox, select the tasks, touch and hold one of the selected task rows, and choose Auto-Create Sections. Apple Intelligence organizes the unfinished tasks in your selection, using existing sections where they fit and adding new sections where needed. You can also choose Task > Auto-Create Sections from the main menu.

The list must allow editing, and the device requirements are the same as for Auto-Prioritize. See Auto-Create Sections for details, including how selected sub-tasks are handled.

Append or Replace

The Tag and Location pickers each offer two modes at the top of the card:

• Append adds the selected tags or locations to those already on each task. This is the default.
• Replace removes each task’s current tags or locations and applies your selection. Save an empty selection to clear them all.

You can also choose Remove all Tags or Remove all Locations.

Moving Tasks to a Section

Move the selected tasks into a section in the same list or in another list:

1. Select the tasks.
2. Tap Move.
3. Find the list and choose a section under it.
4. Tap the checkmark.

To take the tasks out of their sections, choose the list's own name instead. See Sections in the List Picker for how the picker shows sections, and Moving Tasks In and Out of Sections for what happens to projects and sub-tasks.

Dragging a Selection

With a selection made, touch and hold any of the selected tasks and drag. The whole stack lifts together, and the same drop targets apply as for a single task:

• Drop on a list to move every selected task there.
• Drop on Today to make them all due today.
• Drop on Starred to star them.
• Drop on Done to complete them.
• Drop on Scheduled to pick one future start date for all of them.
• Drop on a tag in the Tags panel to tag them.
• Drop between tasks in the same list to reorder them. This works only while the list is sorted Manually. See Sorting Manually.
• Drop on a section title to move them all into that section. This works with any sort.

note

All, Smart Lists, and list group headings are not drop targets. Drop on the real list when you want to move tasks.

See Drag and Drop for the full set of targets.

Deferring onto the Mini Calendar

Drag selected tasks onto the mini calendar to change their due dates.

1. Open the calendar. On iPhone, tap the calendar row at the bottom of the lists panel; on iPad it is always part of the editor pane.
2. Tap Batch Editing. On iPhone the calendar stays in place while the selection controls appear above it.
3. Select the tasks you want to move.
4. Touch and hold one of them, drag onto the destination date, and drop.

Every selected task takes that date as its due date.

With a Hardware Keyboard

While batch editing is on, the arrow keys move the highlight and Return adds or removes the highlighted task from the selection. Every bare key that acts on a task acts on the whole selection instead, so you can select ten tasks and press T once to make them all due today. The drawer’s commands also have keyboard shortcuts:

Shortcut	Command
⌘B	Enter or leave batch editing
Return	Add or remove the highlighted task
⇧⌘S	Start Date
⇧⌘D	Due Date
⇧⌘T	Tag
⇧⌘P	Priority
⇧⌘L	Location
⇧⌘C	Share
⇧⌘M	Move

See Keyboard Shortcuts.

Leaving Batch Editing

Tap Batch Editing again, tap the drawer’s close button, or press ⌘B to leave batch editing. Changes you have already made are saved.