Skip to main content

Focus Lists: All, Today, Starred, Scheduled, Done, Inbox

At the top of the lists panel sits a fixed cluster of Focus Lists: All, Today, Starred, Scheduled, and Done. They are not containers. They are built-in perspectives that gather tasks from across your real lists according to fixed rules. This page explains exactly what each one shows and how to keep a particular list out of it.

With a hardware keyboard, ⌘1 to ⌘5 jump between them and ⌘0 opens the Inbox.

Inbox​

The Inbox is your GTD inbox, the place where new and un-triaged tasks land while you are capturing fast and thinking later. It appears above the Focus Lists once Getting Things Done® Inbox is turned on under Settings > Tasks > New Tasks. Unlike the others, it is a real list.

While it is on, captures made in the app, through Quick Add, the share sheet, or Shortcuts go to the Inbox unless you send them somewhere else. Mail to 2Do uses the Default destination list chosen in its own settings.

Aim to leave Inbox empty at the end of each review: give every task a real list, and dates, tags, or an action as needed.

tip

Treat Inbox as a genuine inbox and drain it during your daily review. Anything that has sat there for a week is something you have been avoiding deciding on.

All​

All shows every active task across every list, which is what you want when you are scanning everything at once or running a search across the whole system.

By default it holds back:

  • Tasks in a list you have excluded from All.
  • Tasks hidden by a paused tag. See Tags.
  • Tasks hidden by Smart Scheduling because their start date is still in the future.
tip

Combine a Focus List with a search for sharper views. Open All and type type: hiprio AND duethisweek to answer "what high-priority work is due this week, across everything?". See Smart Lists.

Excluding a List from All​

Some lists should not feed All: Someday lists, reference material, recurring chores you only want surfaced by their alerts.

  1. Touch and hold the list in the lists panel.
  2. Tap Edit.
  3. Under Exclude From, turn on All.

The list and its tasks stay exactly where they are and open normally when you tap into the list; they simply stop appearing in All.

Smart Scheduling​

Smart Scheduling keeps future work out of your active views. A task with a future start date stays hidden from regular lists until that date arrives, so All, Today, and your own lists show only what you can act on now.

Two ways to look ahead without changing anything:

  • Open the Scheduled Focus List.
  • Tap the clock chip on the sort bar to reveal scheduled tasks inside the list you are already in, or press ⌘K. A short confirmation tells you which way you just switched it. Tap it again to hide them.

A list that looks empty because it is holding scheduled tasks back shows a message with a chip to reveal them.

Today​

Today is the daily working list. A task lands here when any of these is true:

  • It is due today, with or without a due time.
  • Include overdue items is on under Settings > Today & Lists > Today List, so past-due tasks carry forward until you complete them.
  • Include 'Still Working On' tasks is on and the task has a start date of today or earlier.
  • Include starred items is on, so every starred task appears here.
  • It has a duration whose lead-up window covers today.

See Dates and Durations.

Adding a task while Today is open can preset its due date to today so the task stays in view. That is Use today's date in the Today list, under Settings > Tasks > Default Due Date.

Excluding a List from Today​

Touch and hold the list, tap Edit, and turn on Today under Exclude From. Its tasks stop appearing in Today, which suits chores you only want triggered by their alerts. You still get the alerts.

Why Tasks Show Up in Today Before Their Due Date​

A task appearing in Today early is almost always one of three things:

  1. It has a duration, which creates a working window before the due date.
  2. Include 'Still Working On' tasks is on and the task started today or earlier.
  3. It is starred and Include starred items is on.

See the FAQ entry Why are tasks due tomorrow showing in the Today Focus list?.

Starred​

Starred collects every starred task across every list, which makes it a quick answer to "what am I focusing on right now?".

To star a task: expand its row and tap the star, use its touch-and-hold menu, drag it onto Starred in the lists panel, or press S with a keyboard attached.

See Stars and Priorities.

Scheduled​

Scheduled shows the tasks with a future start date that Smart Scheduling is currently holding back. It is where you look ahead without changing the list you are working in.

Dropping tasks on Scheduled asks for a start date and applies it to all of them. See Drag and Drop.

Done​

Done shows what you have recently completed. Use it to review the day or the week, and to reopen anything you completed by mistake.

How far back it reaches is set by Show completed tasks for under Settings > Tasks > Completed Tasks, which also holds Apply rule to sub-tasks and Auto-delete completed tasks.

Excluding a List from Done​

Touch and hold the list, tap Edit, and turn on Done under Exclude From. This suits shopping lists and scratch lists where a long history of completed items is only noise.

Per-List Focus Settings​

Separate from the Focus Lists, each of your lists has its own Focus Filter: a set of conditions that narrows the list to what matters right now. Tap the Focus button on the sort bar to switch it on, and touch and hold it to choose the conditions.

The same choices are available for every list in one place, under Settings > Tasks > Focus Mode. The options are Overdue, No Due Date, In Progress, Today, Tomorrow, This Week, Next 3 Days, Next 7 Days, Next 30 Days, Next 6 Months, Next 12 Months, High Priority, and Starred. See Focus Filter.

Sync Exclusion​

Beyond Focus List visibility, a list can be kept out of sync entirely. Touch and hold the list, tap Edit, and turn on Exclude From Sync. The list and its tasks stay on this device only. If the list was already syncing, 2Do deletes it from the server and from your other devices, so use this deliberately.

Counters Next to List Names​

Each list row has room for two numbers:

  • Overdue on the left, in red: tasks, projects, and checklists whose due date has passed.
  • Not Done on the right: dated and undated tasks, projects, and checklists you have not completed. Sub-tasks are not counted here; their counts sit on the project or checklist itself.

What actually appears is set by Counts on lists under Settings > Today & Lists > Counts: None, Overdue items, or Overdue + Undone. The same section holds Include Smart Lists, which you can turn off if you have several complex Smart Lists and want counting to stay quick, and Undone counts should include Overdue tasks.

The digits roll when a value changes, so a count moving is easy to notice.

Indicators on List Names​

A list's color band changes to mark a list you have excluded from All, a Smart List, a locked list, and a list published to or subscribed from Wi-Fi. A small glowing dot appears when the list holds a task due today (white) or an overdue task (red); it never appears on All, Done, or Scheduled. See Lists and List Groups.

Last updated on