Quick Entry

A passing thought is the worst thing to lose. Quick Entry is 2Do's system-wide capture window — press a hotkey from anywhere on your Mac and a focused editor appears, ready for a new task. 2Do doesn't even have to be the front app.

Triggering Quick Entry

• Global hotkey — ⌃⌘Space out of the box, and user-configurable in 2Do > Settings > General. 2Do rejects a chord already reserved by macOS or used by a 2Do menu command.
• From within 2Do — Window > Quick Entry (⇧⌘2).
• Drop files on 2Do's Dock icon — Quick Entry opens pre-filled with the dropped files (see Drop Files on the Dock Icon).

The 2Do Alarm Helper is a small companion app that powers the global hotkey (and delivers 2Do's alarms), keeping both alive even when the main 2Do app is closed.

note

The 2Do Alarm Helper is required for the system-wide Quick Entry shortcut and for alarms — keep Launch 2Do Alarm Helper on System Startup enabled in 2Do > Settings > General. If the shortcut stops responding, see Alarms or Quick Entry Not Working?

What's in the Window

Quick Entry uses the same task editor style as the main app, so you can capture much more than a title:

• Title and notes
• List
• Start date, due date, due time, duration
• Priority
• Tags
• Location
• Action
• Alarms
• Recurrence

A short idea can be entered with just a title — but if it's already a fully-formed plan, there's nothing stopping you from filling everything out before you save.

Two extras worth knowing:

• A task-type popup in the window converts what you're capturing into a plain Task, a Project, or a Checklist before it's saved.
• Paste a line that is a URL and the new task automatically gets a URL action pointing at it — one click opens the page later.

Where the Task Lands

You can pick the list for each capture in the Quick Entry window itself, and set the fallback under 2Do > Settings > Tasks > Default list. The picker offers every list you have, plus Last used — the list you added a task to most recently, so captures follow whatever you've been working on.

If you'd rather send everything to a single collection point, turn on Getting Things Done® Inbox in the same pane: captures then land in the Inbox, and the Default list picker is locked for as long as it's on.

Tips

tip

Keep Quick Entry fast: type the title first, then tab into the date, list, tag, or alert fields only when the task already needs those details.

tip

The default ⌃⌘Space chord is quick to reach, but any combination you can record works. If the one you press is unavailable, 2Do beeps and shows an error rather than saving it — press a different chord and carry on.

Pasting Multiple Tasks at Once

Want to turn a chunk of text from another app (bullet points from an email, a copy-pasted list from a document) into a stack of tasks in one move?

• Copy the text in the source app (⌘C).
• Switch to 2Do.
• ⌘V paste anywhere in the task list.

2Do creates one task per non-empty line. Indent a line with a tab or four spaces and it becomes a sub-task of the line above it, so an outline you paste keeps its shape. To paste the whole batch under an existing project or checklist instead, select the parent first, then ⌘V.

Quick Entry works differently on purpose: it captures one task, whatever you paste into it. Multi-line text isn't split into separate tasks — the title keeps what fits and the rest is moved into the task's notes. Paste into the main task list when you want several tasks out of one block of text.

Drop Files on the Dock Icon

Drag one or more files onto 2Do's Dock icon and Quick Entry opens with a new, untitled task already carrying them. Only the first file is considered for the task's picture attachment, and only if it's a readable image; if it isn't, it's added to the notes as a secure file link like the rest. Type a title, adjust anything else you like, and save.

Two file types take their own route instead: a 2Do task file (.twodo, or the older .twodotask, shared from another copy of 2Do) is imported directly as a task, and a 2Do backup file opens the restore browser, where you can bring back just the lists you tick or restore everything — a full restore replaces all of your current data and relaunches 2Do.

Always Centered Above the Active Window

If you work across multiple monitors, the Quick Entry window can appear centered above the app you're working in — not on whichever monitor 2Do happens to be on. Turn on Display above currently focused application in 2Do > Settings > General.

With the 2Do Alarm Helper enabled at startup, the global hotkey works even if 2Do isn't running — including after a system reboot or after you've quit 2Do deliberately. Press the hotkey, the Quick Entry window appears, capture the task, and 2Do quietly takes care of the rest in the background.

Quick Entry can also auto-fill the new task's notes with the current clipboard text — turn on Auto-fill notes with text from clipboard in 2Do > Settings > General. To capture the selected text from another app instead, use the Add to 2Do share extension described below.

Quick Entry from Other Apps

Beyond the global hotkey, Quick Entry is reachable from:

• Add to 2Do (Share extension) — select text in any app, or open a web page in Safari, then choose Add to 2Do from the Share button. 2Do opens Quick Entry pre-filled with the selected text or the page's link, so you can set the list, tags, dates, and any other fields before saving. Nothing is captured until you confirm the Quick Entry window.
• URL schemes — see URL Schemes for programmatic capture from Shortcuts and external apps.