Concepts
Tasks
The heart of Todebaran — what a task holds, and where it lives.
A task is a single thing to do. At its simplest it's just a title, but a task can hold much more when you need it to.
What a task holds#
- A title — the one thing that's always there.
- A rich-text note (open it with ⌘J).
- Subtasks — a lightweight checklist inside the task (⌘U).
- Tags (⌘T) — labels that cut across projects. See Tags.
- A schedule and a deadline — see Scheduling.
- A recurrence rule to make it repeat — see Recurrence.
- A slip to print when it's done — see Slips.
- Focus time, tracked when you work on it in focus mode.
When + deadline, not reminders
Todebaran follows a when + deadline model rather than a remind me at 3pm one. There are no priority flags or timed reminders — the flag icon on a task sets its deadline, not a priority. This keeps your lists about what to do, not about alarms.
Where a task lives#
A task sits in exactly one place: a project, a collection, or — if you haven't filed it yet — the Inbox. Move a task with ⌘R.
The Inbox#
The Inbox (⌘2) is your catch-all: a task lands there when it has no schedule, no project and no collection. File it out of the Inbox by giving it a date, moving it to a project, or dropping it into a collection.
Capture first, organize later. Use Quick Add to drop a thought into the Inbox from anywhere, and sort it when you have a moment.
Completing and deleting#
- Completing a task ticks it off and files it in the Completed logbook (⌘7), where your full history stays searchable. Completing a repeating task spawns its next occurrence.
- Deleting a task moves it to the Trash (⌘8), where you can restore it. The Trash empties itself after 30 days — see Recovering deleted items.
Next, learn how to group tasks into projects.