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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, Done, Inbox. They are not real lists. They're built-in saved perspectives that pull tasks from across your real lists according to specific rules. This page explains exactly what each one shows, how to tune it, and how to keep specific real lists out of it.

Inbox​

The Inbox is your GTD inbox — the place where new, un-triaged tasks land while you're capturing fast and thinking later.

  • New tasks created via Quick Entry land in Inbox by default (configurable in Settings > General).
  • Tasks captured from the macOS Share Extension land in Inbox by default.
  • Tasks pushed in via the iOS Email-to-2Do add-on flow through Inbox by default when synced, unless the email subject sends them to another existing list.

The intent is to keep Inbox empty at the end of each review session: triage every task into a real list, give it tags / dates / actions, and you're done.

All​

All shows every active task across every list, in one place — useful when you want to scan everything at once or apply a Smart Filter across the whole system.

What's In and What's Out​

By default All shows everything. But it respects two important exclusions:

  • Tasks belonging to a list that you've excluded from All (see below).
  • Tasks hidden by a paused tag (see Tags — Pausing a Tag).
  • Tasks hidden by Smart Scheduling because they have a future start date.

Smart Scheduling — Scheduled Visibility​

Smart Scheduling keeps future work out of your active views. A task with a future start date is hidden from regular lists until that start date arrives, so All, Today, and your real lists stay focused on work you can act on now.

To peek ahead without changing the task:

  • Open the Scheduled Focus List.
  • Click the Sort Bar's scheduled-visibility toggle to show scheduled tasks inside the current list.
  • Choose View > Show Scheduled (⌘K).

Under 2Do > Settings > Appearance > Advanced, you can also decide what happens after a task's start date has arrived: keep started tasks visible, or keep them hidden unless they are due today.

Excluding a List from All​

Some lists shouldn't contribute to All — typically Someday/Maybe lists, recurring chores you only want surfaced by their alarms, or staging lists. To exclude a list:

  1. Right-click the list in the Lists Panel.
  2. Choose Exclude from All.

The list now displays a small visibility indicator next to its name to show that its tasks are hidden from All. The list and its tasks remain visible when you click into the list directly — they just don't pollute the All view.

Right-clicking a list to exclude it from All

Today​

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

  • It is due today (with or without a due time).
  • Include Overdue Tasks is enabled in Settings > Appearance — past-due tasks carry forward to Today until completed.
  • Include "Still Working On" tasks is enabled in Settings > Appearance — tasks with a start date in the past or today can remain in Today while they are still active.
  • It has a duration whose lead-up window or effective start time covers today.
  • Include Starred Tasks is enabled in Settings > Appearance — every starred task appears in Today.

Learn more in Dates and Durations.

Excluding a List from Today​

Right-click the list → Exclude from Today. The list's tasks no longer appear in Today — useful for chores you only want triggered by their alarms (you'll still get the alarm; the task just won't sit in Today all day).

Why Tasks "Show Up Mysteriously" in Today​

A task showing in Today before its due date is almost always one of:

  1. The task has a duration creating an earlier working window before the due date.
  2. Include "Still Working On" tasks is enabled and the task has a start date of today or earlier.
  3. The task is starred and Include Starred Tasks 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. It's a quick "what am I focusing on right now?" view.

  • Star — S on a selected task; or click the star indicator on the row.
  • Unstar — ⌃S, or click the star again.
  • Drag a task onto the Starred Focus List to star it; drag back out to unstar.

For the full distinction between Stars and Priorities — and when to use which — see Stars and Priorities.

Scheduled​

Scheduled shows tasks with a future start date that are currently hidden from the regular list by Smart Scheduling.

It's the place to peek at what's coming up without abandoning the focus of your active workspace. The same view is reachable from the Sort Bar's scheduled-visibility toggle without leaving your current list.

Done​

Done shows everything you've recently completed. Use it to:

  • Review what you got done today / this week.
  • Restore a task you marked complete by mistake (uncheck it from here).

Excluding a List from Done​

Right-click the list → Exclude from Done. Useful for shopping lists or scratch lists where the long history of completed items is just noise.

Sync Exclusion​

Beyond Focus List visibility, you can also stop a list from syncing entirely. Open 2Do > Settings > Sync > Exclusions and tick the lists that should stay local to this Mac. This is useful for sensitive content you specifically don't want in the cloud, or for staging lists you don't want propagated.

Indicators on List Names​

When a list has any Focus List visibility exclusions on, a small indicator appears next to its name in the Lists Panel — a permanent reminder that the list's contribution to one or more Focus Lists has been customised. To change those visibility options, right-click the list and choose the matching Include in... or Exclude from... command. To change sync exclusion, use 2Do > Settings > Sync > Exclusions.

Counters Next to List Names​

Each list shows two counters next to its name:

  • Undone (right) — total dated or undated tasks, projects, and checklists that have not yet been completed. Sub-tasks are not counted here — sub-task counts appear on the project indicator instead.
  • Overdue (left, red) — tasks, projects, and checklists with a due date in the past. Always shown in addition to the Undone count.

You can toggle the visibility of these counters under 2Do > Settings > General.

Tips​

tip

Treat Inbox as a true GTD inbox: drain it during your daily review. Anything that's been in Inbox for a week is something you've avoided deciding on.

tip

Combine the Focus Lists with Smart Filters for sharp views — All + type: hiprio AND duethisweek answers "what high-priority work is due this week, across everything?"

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