The Task Editor

Use the task editor to change a task's title, notes, dates, and other details on iPhone and iPad. The examples below follow a workshop task through its main fields and settings.

Opening the Editor

• Tap a task in the task list.
• On iPhone the editor opens as a card over the list. Drag its grabber up to fill the screen, or pull it down to close it.
• On iPad the editor opens in the inspector pane beside your tasks, so the list stays visible while you work. See iPad Features.

Changes you make on the card, such as the title or priority, are saved as you make them. Tap Close at the top-left to leave, or press ⌘W or Escape on a hardware keyboard.

To create a task, tap + in the task list. Type a title, add any details you need, then tap the blue Done checkmark at the top-right to save it.

Add several tasks in a row

While adding a task, tap the lightning-bolt Quick Add button in the middle of the top bar to save it and start another. It becomes available once you have typed a title. The next task uses the same destination, including its section, or opens inside a project or checklist you just created. On iPad with a hardware keyboard, ⌘N does the same thing.

The Top Bar

While editing an existing task, the top bar has:

• Close on the left.
• Previous and Next chevrons in the middle. They move to the task above or below in the list you opened from, without closing the editor.
• The More menu on the right.

The More menu has:

• Open Parent Project or Open Parent Checklist, for a task that lives inside one.
• Mark as Completed or Mark as Incomplete.
• Convert..., which changes the task into a Task, Project, or Checklist.
• Share.
• Email as attachments.
• Delete.

tip

Use the previous and next chevrons to work down a list without closing the editor between tasks. It is the quickest way to triage a long list.

Title and Priority

The top row of the card carries three things: the completion checkmark, the title, and the priority control.

• Tap the checkmark to complete or reopen the task. It draws the same glyph the task row does, so a project shows its folder icon and a checklist its own.
• The title grows onto as many lines as it needs while you type.
• Tap the priority control on the right for None, Low, Medium, and High, plus a Starred switch. See Stars and Priorities.

While you type the title of a new task, Natural Language Input reads details such as tomorrow at 3pm, every Monday, or #errands out of what you wrote, fills in the matching rows, and removes those words from the title when you save. A date on its own is the due date, while a start word in front of it sets the start date, so Work on the report starting tomorrow sets the Start Date and leaves the Due Date unchanged.

The List Banner

The coloured banner under the title names the list the task lives in. After the list's name, it shows the task's section, as in Trip > Packing, or its parent project or checklist. For a task inside a project or checklist, the banner names the project or checklist rather than its section. Tap the banner to open the destination picker and move the task somewhere else. See Moving a Task.

When the task carries an action, a second banner sits opposite it saying what tapping the task does. Tap that banner to perform the action; touch and hold it and choose Edit to change it.

Property Rows and the Toolbar

Below the banner, an existing task shows its start date, due date, duration, alerts, repeat rule, locations, notes, tags, and recording. Empty properties are hidden.

To add something the task does not have yet, use the toolbar pinned to the bottom of the editor. Its six buttons open the property panels, in this order: Dates, Alerts, Repeat, Action, Locations, and Attachments.

A small dot under a button means the task already has a value for that property. Tap a toolbar button or a property row to open its panel. Tap the blue Done checkmark at the panel's top-right to save your changes and return to the task, or Cancel at the top-left to return without them. Pulling the panel down or tapping its toolbar button again also returns without your changes.

Choices such as dates, duration, repeat rules, and tags apply to the task when you tap the panel's Done. When you open a separate form for an alert, action, or location, tap Done to add that form to the panel. The back arrow returns without applying its changes.

tip

You do not need to fill every field. Start with the title, then add only what matters. The toolbar at the bottom is always there when a task needs more.

Dates and Duration

The Dates panel has three segments: Start, Due, and Duration.

• Start Date is when a task should begin. A task with a future start date is scheduled and stays out of your lists until that day arrives.
• Due Date is when a task must be finished. It appears in Today on its due date and stays there until it is done.
• Duration tells 2Do how long the task takes. It never sets or changes the start date or due date.

The Start and Due segments each show a month calendar, quick picks for Today, Tomorrow, the day after that (named after its weekday), and Week, plus a Clear control. Under the calendar, the Due segment carries a Time switch and a clock; the Start segment carries its own clock and four quick start times. Each schedule keeps its own set of four quick times, taken from your date shortcuts in Settings > Tasks.

The calendar marks busy days, so you can see where work is already stacking up before you pick a date. Choose the style under Settings > Appearance > Busy Days > Date Pickers: None, Dots, or Heat Map.

tip

Tap and hold any date to see what's already on that day. A short list of that day's tasks appears without changing anything.

The Duration segment offers quick lengths from 2 mins through 6 hours, plus wheels for any number of Mins, Hours, Days, or Weeks.

Learn more about how Start Date, Due Date, and Duration interact in Dates and Durations.

Smart Scheduling

By default, tasks with a future start date stay hidden from your lists until that date arrives. Open the Scheduled Focus List to see them without changing their dates. Smart Scheduling explains how to show them in other lists using the clock button.

Due Time and Duration Together

When a task has a due date, a due time, and a duration, the duration tells 2Do when the task starts needing your attention. For example, a workshop task due at 3:00 PM with a 2-hour duration becomes active at 1:00 PM. The Duration segment shows that time as In progress from.

Default Due Date and Default Due Time

If most of your tasks share a pattern, set it once under Settings > Tasks: Default Due Date gives every new task a due date, and Default Due Time gives every new dated task a time. You can still override either on any task.

Alerts

The Alerts panel lists the task's alerts, grouped by whether they are still active. Tap Create New Alert... to add one, tap an existing alert to change it, or swipe an alert to Delete it. If the task has no alerts, the panel opens directly to New Alert.

The alert editor has two forms:

• Presets fire a fixed distance before the task's own time: On Time, 5, 10, 15, and 30 minutes before, 1, 2, 6, and 12 hours before, and 1 and 2 days before.
• Custom either counts a number of days before or days after the task's date and fires at a time you set, or pins the alert to an exact date and time of its own.

Play Sound decides whether the alert makes a noise. A line under the controls says what the alert counts from, so an alert on a task with no due time reads This alert counts from the due date. With no due time, that means the start of the day.

For the workshop due on Wednesday at 3:00 PM, the 15 minutes before preset gives a reminder at 2:45 PM that day. To remind yourself the day before instead, choose Custom, leave Relative to Due Date on, and set 1 day before with the time you want. Check the date and time at the top, tap Done to add the alert, then tap the panel's Done to save it.

Where system alarms are available, a Ring as Alarm switch sits under the list. It decides whether this task's timed alerts ring like a Clock alarm instead of arriving as notifications. See Alerts and Nagging.

Repeat

The Repeat panel shows the current rule at the top. Choose a preset (Never, Daily, Work days, Weekly, Biweekly, Monthly, or Yearly) or one of three custom options:

• On every given period for every N days, weeks, months, or years.
• On some days of the week.
• On a day of each month.

Work days uses your selection in Settings > General > Work Week. See Repeating Tasks for how to update a rule after changing your work week.

For a task you do on Mondays and Wednesdays, choose On some days of the week, then select M and W. The summary changes to Every Mon, Wed.

Repeat from completion date decides whether the next occurrence is counted from the task's due date or from the moment you tick it off. Under Ends, choose Never to keep repeating, On date to stop on a chosen date, or After to stop after a number of repetitions. See Repeating Tasks.

Tags

Tap the tags row and start typing. Choose a suggested tag to add it, or tap Pick to open the full Tags panel. Search your saved tags there, or use Create New Tag... for one that does not exist yet.

Tap a tag to add or remove it. A checkmark shows which tags the task already has, such as work and design for the workshop.

Paused tags are marked as paused in the picker, so you always know a tag will hide the task. See Tags.

Locations

The Locations panel lists every place you have saved, with Add a New Location... at the top. Tap a place to attach it to the task, or tap it again to take it off. Swipe a row for Edit and Delete, and drag rows to reorder your catalog.

To save a new place, tap Add a New Location... and give it a name, such as Workshop venue. Typing an address in the name field does not search for it.

Tap the magnifying glass below the map to open Find Location, enter an address or place name, then tap a result to place the pin. You can also use the current-location arrow or tap the map itself.

The Done checkmark at the top-right stays disabled until you have entered a name and selected a point on the map. If another saved place already uses that name, choose a different one. Tap the checkmark to add the place, then tap the Locations panel's Done checkmark to save it and attach it to the task. See The Location Editor for the full steps.

Tasks with a location can appear in the Nearby page of the utility panel and can alert you when you arrive. See Nearby and Locations.

Action

The Action panel turns the task itself into something you can do in one tap. Pick one of six:

• Call
• Message
• Mail
• Visit
• URL
• Google

Each asks for what it needs: a number, an email address, a link, an address, or search text. For contact-based actions you can pull a value straight from Contacts with Pick Contact. See Actions.

For example, choose URL to keep a workshop reference page one tap away. Enter the link, tap Done, then tap the panel's Done to save the action. The action banner on the task then opens that page.

Attachments

The Attachments panel holds two things:

• Photo: Take Photo, Choose Photo, and Remove Photo. A photo also appears as a banner above the task's title.
• Voice: Record, Stop, Play, Pause, and Remove Audio Note.

For the workshop, you could attach a photo of a sample or record a short reminder about what to bring.

Tap the photo to open it full size in the viewer, where you can:

• Pinch to zoom and drag to move around, or double-tap to return to the resting size.
• Pull the picture down to put it away.
• Tap Enlarge to open it outside the panel, filling more of the screen.
• Tap Share to hand it to the system share sheet.

Transcribing a Voice Note

2Do can turn a voice note into text you can read and copy. It works on any saved note, including one you have just recorded. Tap Stop to finish a recording before you transcribe it.

Transcription needs iOS 26 or iPadOS 26 or later, on a supported device and in a supported language. It uses your device's current language. On earlier versions of iOS and iPadOS, Transcribe does not appear.

1. Tap Attachments in the editor's toolbar.
2. Under Voice, tap Transcribe. The text appears below the playback controls and fills in as 2Do works through the recording.
3. Tap Copy, then paste the text into the task's notes or anywhere else.

Playing or pausing the recording does not stop transcription.

The transcript is not saved. Closing the Attachments panel clears it, so copy anything you want to keep first. Transcribing does not change the recording, the task, or what syncs.

Transcription uses the offline speech recognition built into iOS and iPadOS. The recording and its text are processed on your iPhone or iPad, and transcribing does not upload them to 2Do's servers or to an online transcription service. The first time you transcribe in a language, your device may need to download support for that language, which needs an internet connection. After that, transcription works offline.

While transcription runs, the panel shows its progress: getting ready, downloading, or transcribing. If a recording cannot be transcribed, a short message explains why: the device or language is not supported, the recording cannot be read, or no speech was found. If transcription stops because of an error, you can try again from the same place.

Notes

Tap the notes row to open the notes card. Notes hold whatever helps: context, links, snippets, or a running log. They style Markdown as you type, insert date and time stamps, link to other tasks, and gather every link they find into one menu. The notes card saves your note automatically, and Done at its top-left closes it.

Full details are in Notes, Markdown, and Links, and task links have a page of their own in Linking to Other Tasks.

Sub-Tasks

Sub-tasks belong to projects and checklists. A regular task cannot hold sub-tasks of its own. For children with their own dates, tags, and alerts, convert the task to a Project with Convert... in the More menu. See Projects and Checklists.

Moving a Task

Tap the list banner under the title to open the destination picker. Search for a list, project, or checklist, tap it, and then tap Done to move the task there. If the name you type does not exist yet, tap Create New List... and then Done, and 2Do makes the list and files the task in one step.

Each list's sections appear under its name. Tap a section to move the task into it, or the list's own name to take the task out of its section, then tap Done. See Sections in the List Picker.

Keyboard Shortcuts

With a hardware keyboard connected, the editor answers these:

Shortcut	Action
⌘/	Edit Dates
⇧⌘S	Start Date
⇧⌘D	Due Date
⌘'	Alerts
⌘;	Repeat
⌘B	Action
⌘E	Edit Note
⌘R or ⇧⌘T	Tags
⌘G or ⇧⌘L	Locations
⌘L or ⇧⌘M	Move
⌥⌘0	Priority None
⌥⌘1	Priority Low
⌥⌘2	Priority Medium
⌥⌘3	Priority High
⌥⌘S	Toggle Starred
⌘W or Escape	Close

While composing a new task, ⌘Return saves it. The full list for the rest of the app is in Keyboard Shortcuts.