Introduction to reminders
The secret to effortlessly remembering everything? Have Todoist remind you.
Whether it’s the deadline for an important report or a friend’s birthday, just set a Todoist reminder and move on with your day. When it’s time, Todoist will send you a push notification or email about the task so you never miss a thing.
Quick tip
Looking for information about notifications? Please check this article.
Set up automatic reminders
When you set a due time for a task, Todoist automatically sets a reminder for you.
For example, when you create a task for tomorrow at 4 PM, Todoist will automatically send you a reminder 30 minutes beforehand.
You can change your default reminder settings to choose how much time beforehand you want to receive the automatic reminder and whether you want it sent by push notification, desktop notification, or email:
Select Platform:
- Click your avatar in the top-left.
- Click Settings.
- Click Reminders.
- Turn on the type of notification you’d like to receive:
- Desktop notification to get notifications via your operating system.
- Mobile notification to get notifications on your mobile device.
- Emails to receive a reminder email on the address that you’ve added via Settings → Account.
- Select a relative time under the Automatic reminders drop-down.
Set up custom reminders
Create single or multiple custom reminders for any task, whether or not it has a due date and due time.
There are two kinds of custom reminders:
- Date and time: send a reminder on a specific date and time
- Location: send a reminder at a specific location
Learn how to add a location reminder to a task.
To add a custom reminder based on a specific date and time:
Select Platform:
- Click the Reminders chip in the composer. If the task view is open, click the Reminders section.
- Click the Date and time tab to add:
- Due time: create a notification for a specific time (for example: 19:00)
- Date & time: create a notification for a specific day and time (for example: Monday 19:00)
- Recurring date and time: create a recurring notification (for example: ev Monday 19:00)
- Click the Before task tab to create a reminder for a certain amount of time before the task due date and due time.In shared projects, add a reminder for a specific collaborator. Click your avatar beside the reminder due time and select an assignee.
- Click Add reminder to save the reminder.
Use shortcuts to create reminders
Warning
Reminder shortcuts don’t work with Microsoft Swiftkey. To resolve this, turn off this keyboard or switch to a different keyboard on the Windows device.
To quickly add a reminder, use the “!” shortcut while creating or editing a task.
Type “!” in the task name field followed by the desired time for the reminder (or just select one of the useful suggestions that appear).
You can set a reminder for a specific time (like “!3pm”), for after a certain amount of time has passed (e.g. “!2h”), or to make sure you get notified an X amount of time before your task is due (e.g. “!30mb” or “!30min before”). Todoist will even understand when you add a reminder for “!later” (i.e. 4 hours later) or “!tomorrow” (i.e. the next day at 9:00 AM).
Here is the list of supported reminders:
| SHORTCUT | EXAMPLE | WHAT IT DOES |
|---|---|---|
| !30m | Work meeting today 10:30 !30m | Reminder set for 30 minutes from current time (time when added to task) |
| !2h30m | Call the hotel to confirm reservation !2h30m | Reminder set for 2 hours and 30 minutes from current time (time when added to task) |
| !0mb or !0min before | Lunch at restaurant 1pm !0mb | Reminder set at due time (0 minutes before) |
| !later | Clear the trash !later | Reminder set for around 4 hours later from current time (rounded down to the closest hour) |
| !1hb or !1h before | Prepare meeting agenda 11am !1h before | Reminder set 1 hour before due timeNote: When added to tasks without a due time, this will create a reminder set 1 hour from the current time. |
| !11am !1hb !2db | Dentist appointment Thu 2pm !11am !1hb !2db | Multiple reminders set for: the next instance of 11 AM, 1 hour before the due time, and 2 days before the due date at 9 AM |
| !6pm | Get groceries after work !6pm | Reminder set for the next instance of 6 PM |
| !30mb or !30m before | Take vitamins every day at 9am !30mb | For each instance of the task, reminder is set for 30 minutes before 9 AM |
| !tmr 3pm | Hand in report before EOD !tmr 3pm | Reminder set for tomorrow at 3 PM |
| !Mon 9am | Check schedule for the week !mon 9am | Reminder set for Monday at 9 AM |
| !every 5pm | End of day review every day !every 5pm | Reminder set for every day at 5 PM |
| !every sat 9am | Water plants every weekend !every sat 9am | Reminder set to every Saturday at 9 AM |
