Introduction to recurring dates

You likely have tasks that repeat on a regular basis – writing monthly reports, recycling every week, or calling Mom on her birthday. Instead of creating a new task every single time, add a recurring date. When you complete a task with a recurring date, it automatically shifts to the next date with no extra effort required on your part.

Add a recurring date in the task name

Use recurring dates

Recurring dates come in a wide variety of formats, so you can consistently complete your tasks. Whether it’s to buy milk every week or take medication every 12 hours starting at 7 PM, there’s a recurring date for almost anything.

A task’s future occurrences are hidden by default. To see all occurrences of a task, apply the calendar layout to Today, Upcoming, or a project. Then open the Display menu and turn on Future occurrences. This works on all platforms. To see occurrences you’ve already completed, learn how to view completed recurring tasks.

Basic recurring dates

Let’s start with basic examples:

Start and end dates

You can use natural language to schedule a recurring task with a start and end date:

Time

Tasks with time can’t be set independently for each recurring day. For example, if you add every Monday, Friday at 8pm to a task, both the Monday and Friday occurrences are at 8 PM.

Commas

Original date or the completion date

You can create a recurring task that repeats at regular intervals from either the original task date or from the task’s completed date by using every or every!, respectively. Here’s how:

• every: The next date is calculated from the task’s date, not from the day you complete it. For example, if you add every 3 months to a task on January 10, it recurs on April 10, July 10, and so on, even if you complete it a few days late.
• every!: The next date is calculated from the day you complete the task. For example, if you complete a task with every! 3 months on January 20, the next date is April 20.

Here are some examples of recurring dates that use every or every!:

For example, a task with every week that’s due on a Monday moves to the following Monday, whether you complete it on Monday or Tuesday. With every! week, completing the task on a Tuesday moves it to the following Tuesday.

Todoist only schedules recurring tasks on future dates. If you complete an every task so late that its next date has also passed, Todoist moves the task to a future date instead of another overdue one. Recurring dates tied to specific days, like every Monday, move to the next matching day.

“Every other” day, week, or month

Holidays

Use these keywords to schedule tasks during specific holidays:

Add a recurring date using the scheduler

Use the scheduler to add a recurring date to a task in Todoist:

1. Click a task. The task view will open with all the task details.
2. Click Date on the right-hand side. The scheduler will appear.
3. Click Repeat.
4. Select one of the suggestions from the list, or select Custom… to create your preferred recurrence.

If you want to create a custom recurring date, a new window will appear with more options:

• Repeat based on the scheduled date (every) or the completed date (every!).
• Select the desired repeat frequency.
• Set a date for when the recurrence ends, or if this is an ongoing recurrence.

Click Save to confirm. The recurring date is added to the task, and appears in the date field of the scheduler.

1. Tap a task. The task view will open with all the task details.
2. Tap Date. The scheduler will appear.
3. Tap Repeat.
4. Select one of the suggested recurring dates, or tap Custom to create your preferred recurrence.

If you want to create a custom recurring date, a new window will appear with more options:

• Repeat based on the scheduled date (every) or the completed date (every!).
• Select the desired repeat frequency.
• Set a date for when the recurrence ends, or if this is an ongoing recurrence.

Tap Save to confirm. The recurring date is added to the task, and appears in the date field of the scheduler.

1. Tap a task. The task view will open with all the task details.
2. Tap Date. The scheduler will appear.
3. Tap Repeat.
4. Select one of the suggested recurring dates, or tap Custom to create your preferred recurrence.

If you want to create a custom recurring date, a new window will appear with more options:

• Repeat based on the scheduled date (every) or the completed date (every!).
• Select the desired repeat frequency.
• Set a date for when the recurrence ends, or if this is an ongoing recurrence.

Tap Save to confirm. The recurring date is added to the task, and appears in the date field of the scheduler.

Change or remove a recurring date

When you change a recurring date in the scheduler, where you make the change decides whether it applies to every occurrence or only the next one:

• Date field: Editing the recurring date in the text box at the top of the scheduler changes the whole pattern, such as its days and time. For example, change every day to every day at 9:30 AM.
• A single date: Selecting a date below the date field reschedules only the next occurrence. The task returns to its usual pattern after you complete it.
• Time option: Setting a time with the Time option only changes the time of the next occurrence. To change the time for every occurrence, type it into the date field instead.

Disregard a recurring date

A date may be a part of a task name rather than when the task is due. For the task “Create monthly report”, Todoist automatically highlights the word monthly as a recurring date. Click or tap the word to disregard it. You can also turn off smart date recognition.

Limitations with recurring dates

There are several recurring date formats that aren’t supported in Todoist. Here’s a list of unsupported date formats, so you can edit the recurring date right away:

Reschedule a task with a recurring date

If you suddenly need to put a task off for another day, you can either postpone or reschedule it. Both actions only change the next occurrence – the underlying recurring schedule stays intact.

Postpone a recurring task

Use the Postpone option to automatically move the task to its next future occurrence. If the task is overdue, Todoist moves it to tomorrow.

If you’re managing overdue tasks in the Today view, you can drag them to the bottom of the list to postpone them to tomorrow. Learn more in Plan your day with the Today view.

Reschedule a recurring task

Use the task scheduler to move a recurring task to a specific date in the future. The next recurrence after you complete the task depends on the type of recurring date:

• Absolute recurring date: the task snaps back to its fixed schedule after completion, regardless of when you rescheduled it. For example: every Tues or every 15th day.
• Relative recurring date: the next recurrence is calculated from the rescheduled date, not the original one. For example: every week or every 12 days.

If you type a new date directly into the task name, you’ll replace the recurring date entirely and lose the recurrence. This is ideal if you want to permanently change the task’s recurring schedule.

Best practices for recurring dates

When adding a recurring date, follow these best practices to ensure Todoist recognizes and adds it correctly:

• Place the start date at the end: every 14 days 7am starting 1 Nov
• Place the time after the first date: every other Tues 7am starting 1 Nov
• Specify the days of the week the date will recur: every mon, tues, wed, and fri
• Add the deadline to the task name: every 2 days at 12:00 {Feb 28}. As you work on the task, you’ll always see its deadline, even when it shifts to the next date. Learn more in Introduction to deadlines in Todoist.

Get in touch

Start creating tasks with recurring dates to build strong habits over time. If you run into any issues scheduling recurring dates, get in touch with us. Our team is happy to help.