Introduction to reminders

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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.

Looking for information about notifications? Please check this article.

Setting 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:

Click your avatar in the top-right corner of Todoist and select Settings.
Click Reminders.
Move the toggle to on next to 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.
- Email 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.

Click your avatar in the top-right corner of Todoist and select Settings.
Click Reminders.
Move the toggle to on next to 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.
- Email 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.

Focus Assist blocks Todoist notifications by default. If you want to receive notifications in priority mode, make sure to add Todoist via Windows' Settings → System → Focus Assist → Customize your priority list → Add an app → Todoist.

At the top-right of your Todoist, tap the gear icon.
Tap Reminders.
Tap Remind Me Via, select the type of notification you’d like to receive:
- Mobile Notification to get notifications on your mobile device.
- Desktop Notification to get notifications via your computer’s operating system.
- Email to receive a reminder email on the address that you’ve added via Settings → Account.
(Optional) When you snooze a reminder on iOS, you can choose to be reminded again at a later time. Tap When snoozed… and select an interval from the list.
Tap Automatic Reminders and select a relative time from the list.

Swipe up the bottom app bar to open the menu.
Tap the gear icon in the top right corner to open Settings.
Select Reminders.
Tap Remind Me Via, select the type of notification you’d like to receive:
- Mobile push notification to get notifications on your mobile device.
- Desktop push notification to get notifications via your computer’s operating system.
- Email to receive a reminder email on the address that you’ve added via Settings → Account.
(Optional) When you snooze a reminder on Android, you can choose to be reminded again at a later time. Tap When snoozed… and select an interval from the list.
Tap Send automatic reminders and select a relative time from the list.
(Optional) Tap Pin reminders to prevent reminder notifications from being dismissed.

Setting up custom reminders

Set up custom reminders for any task, whether it has a due date and time or not:

You can even have a reminder triggered at a specific location, like when you’re walking by the grocery store. You can learn more about location reminders here.

When adding or editing a task, click the Reminders icon.
If your task has no due time, or if you want to set a reminder for a specific date and time, select the Date and time option and add due time for your reminder.
If your time has due time, you’ll see an option — Before task — to set a reminder for a certain amount of time before your task is due.
Depending on the option you chose in step 2, set the trigger for your reminder — type in the specific date and time, or select the relative time before the task is due.
(Optional) In shared projects, you can add a reminder for a specific collaborator. To do this, click your avatar icon next to the reminder's due time and select an assignee.
Click Add reminder.
Click Add Task (when creating a new task) or Save (when editing an existing task).

You can create multiple custom reminders for the same task.

If you're adding a new task, or if you opened a task view of an existing task, tap the Reminder icon.
Choose one of the suggested reminder times or select Custom Date & Time. For existing tasks with a due time, you’ll also see an option Before task to set a reminder for a certain amount of time before your task is due.
Depending on the option you chose in step 2, set the trigger for your reminder — select a specific date and time, or the relative time before the task is due.
(Optional) In shared projects, you can add a reminder for a specific collaborator. To do this select an assignee to notify when picking the due time for the reminder.
Tap Save to add your reminder.

You can create multiple custom reminders for the same task.

If you're adding a new task, or if you opened a task view of an existing task, tap the Reminder icon.
Choose one of the suggested reminder times or select Custom date & time. For existing tasks with a due time, you’ll also see an option Before task to set a reminder for a certain amount of time before your task is due.
Depending on the option you chose in step 2, set the trigger for your reminder — select a specific date and time, or the relative time before the task is due.
Tap OK to save your reminder or CANCEL to discard the changes.

You can create multiple custom reminders for the same task.

Use shortcuts to create reminders

To make adding reminders even quicker, you can use the “!” shortcut while adding or editing a task. Simply type “!” in the task name field, directly 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 2hours 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 time Note: 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

FAQ

Which date and time formats are supported for creating reminders?

Any of the due dates and times that can be used to schedule your tasks also work for reminders.

Can I create a recurring reminder for my task?

Absolutely! Simply use any of the recurring due dates and times.

Can I get a default reminder for tasks without a due time?

No, simply because the default reminders are relative to the due time of a task.

On which devices can I receive location-based reminders?

Location-based reminders are only available for iOS or Android devices. You can learn more about location reminders here.

Can I snooze a reminder?

Yes, but you can only snooze the reminders you receive on Android or iOS.

On Android, simply tap Snooze on the reminder.
On iOS, long press the reminder, then tap Snooze, and pick either Snooze for X minutes (Default), Snooze for 3 hours, or Snooze until 9 AM.

What is the default snooze time? How can I change it?

The default time for snoozing reminders on Android is 30 minutes, and on iOS it is 5 minutes. However, you can change this in your setting:

Open Todoist on your Android or iOS device.
Tap the gear icon in the top-right corner on iOS. On Android, swipe up the bottom app bar, and tap gear icon.
Select Reminders.
Tap When snoozed... to set a new default time for snoozing reminders.

Is there a way to sync the notifications between macOS and iOS?

Unfortunately, it's a known limitation, completing a task on one of the devices won't clear the notifications on another device. We're working on solving this in the future.

My device is running iOS 15 or above. If I use Apple’s Focus feature, will I still get reminders from Todoist?

All Todoist reminders, whether they are time or location based, are considered Time Sensitive notifications, so you should still receive these, even if you have Focus enabled on your iOS device.