It would be very helpful to be able to set a task as recurring. This could be through the date picker dialogue box when the todo bullet has a date. Daily, weekly, monthly, etc and perhaps a custom option.
I have a number of tasks that I repeat daily and weekly and attach a date to so that I can see them through a search (e.g today’s tasks). It would be great if completing the task would automatically move the date to the next day (or week, month etc). Currently I have to click the date and select the next day through the date picker.
I’d like this too.
In addition to the usually daily, weekly, etc. I frequently use “from completion” dates. Ie - repeat this task 3 days after I mark it done.
Example: Water house plants (after 7 days)
If I don’t do this on Monday when it’s planned… or indeed don’t get to it until Thursday, I want it to show up 7 days from when I marked it done (not from when it was due).
In the meantime, before we get our recurring tasks feature (not if, but when!), what are people doing to keep track of their recurring tasks?
I use a tagging system to keep track of which tasks need to repeat and the frequency. It gets a bit convoluted, but it seems to be working. Except when I forget to copy a completed task and move it to a future date. The new WF calendar system helps make it easier to move to the next date, but it is up to me to remember to copy and move it!
Some examples of my tagging system are: #repeat-daily (self-evident) #repeat-weekly-M (weekly task on Monday) #repeat-monthly-D1 (every month on the first day) #repeat-yearly-Apr-D15 (every year on April 15)
I have thought about having a master list with the instance dates added to the note of the recurring task, which would bring it up automatically in the WF calendar linked dates, but I haven’t tried that out yet.
I’m curious to see how others are taking care of this need.
TBH, I finally got tired of waiting on WF’s reminders, and I’ve since resorted to using another Windows app, with full featured reminders that provide all the granular control I prefer.
The nice thing about this app is that I can simply drop the link for my WF task into the note on this app, and then I can jump straight into WF when I need to follow-up on the reminder.
I realize this may not be ideal for many, but it works like a charm for me.
If you don’t use any Google apps, instead of TaskMerlin, you could use your own preferred calendar app to set-up your reminders. Or you could use an email reminder program like FollowUpThen.com.
@workflowy2hughes ~ Do let us know what option you eventually decide to use for your reminders. I’d love to be able to share a good, working solution with others who are in a situation similar to yours.
Recurring tasks are what kept me on Todoist for the longest time, before the overall concept of Workflowy won me over by enabling me to take notes and track my to dos in the same platform.
Especially now that we have the (very lovely) calendar and found dates, which allow me to seamlessly copy tasks from call notes, they are super duper useful.
+1 to this — I think the key is keeping it lightweight and inline.
One idea: a “repeat on completion” behavior tied to the checkbox itself.
For example, a task could have a subtle recurring state (icon or style), and when checked, it automatically reappears with the next date (daily/weekly/etc.), instead of needing to manually reset it each time.
This would keep everything inside the normal Workflowy flow (no extra panels or configuration), and match how people already use checkboxes + dates together.
Right now recurring tasks are possible but require manual upkeep, which breaks the flow of using Workflowy as a daily system.
Slightly different perspective. I don’t use checkboxes at all, just the WF dates. Seemed redundant to me. I do however use tags to denote the node as recurring of some type (Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly). I suppose one could add tag to icon or style.
Though it does get complicated if one is early/late or any given recurrence type has multiple days or dates, Not insurmountable but complicated. Which is maybe why I prefer setting the next date myself.
My current system for handling repeating tasks (primarily home chores in my set up).
I put the date at the FRONT of the item, very first thing. This allows me to sort the list by date.
Then the task after that. I note the repeat cycle in the item. (ie: 14d or 6w, etc.)
I also have three items with a date in front, and highlighted DAHSES to serve as markers. The RED dashed item, I update the date to “Today” each day. Then I have two others (blue dashes in mine) that I update to the FIRST and LAST day of the current week.
This way, when I sort my list by date, it’s very clear anything that is Overdue (it’s above the red marker), and anything upcoming this week (they are between the blue markers).
I have one massive master list of all my dated recurring stuff, and use mirrors as needed to have the items in sub lists. (ie - all Basement chores together.)
I also use tags to allow me to find related tasks (ie - all outdoor chores) My marker bars also have ALL the tags in them (in the comments) so that they are still visible when I filter the list by a tag.
When I complete something, I update the date to the next recurrence.
When I want to put one of these recurring tasks into a “today” list, I create a LINK to it. That way I can mark it done in my today list, but click the link to view the task and update the date to the next instance.
WORKFLOWY TEAM: Until recurring tasks make it into the core program…
It would help me a great deal to be able to select multiple tasks at once and generate LINKS to them.