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Introduction to recurring due dates

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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 due date! When you complete a task with a recurring due date, it automatically shifts to the next due date with no extra effort required on your part.

Add a recurring due date

Due dates in Czech and Turkish aren't supported yet. Use this form to request support for these languages in Todoist.

In the task name, use natural language to set a recurring due date, like every Monday or every weekend. The smart Quick Add automatically recognizes, highlights, and adds the recurring date to the task.

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

Use recurring due dates

Recurring due 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 07:00 PM, there’s a recurring due date for almost anything.

Huge thanks to Todoist ambassador, Leighton Price, for providing examples for this article.

Basic recurring due dates

Let's start with basic examples:

Type this To add this recurring due date
every day or daily Every day starting from today
every morning Every day at 9am
every afternoon Every day at 12pm
every evening Every day at 7pm
every night Every day at 10pm
every weekday or every workday Every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
every week or weekly Every week starting today
every weekend Every Saturday
every month or monthly Every month starting today
every 3rd friday Every 3rd Friday of the month
every 27th or every 27 Every 27th of the month
every year or yearly Every year starting today
every jan 27th Every January 27th
every last day Every last day of the month
every hour Every hour starting from now
If you schedule your recurring task for every day, your task will set its next due date based on the date you complete the task. This means that if your task was due yesterday and you complete it today, the task will not move to today. It will instead move to tomorrow's date.

Start and end dates

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

Type this To add this recurring due date
every day starting aug 3 Every day starting on August 3 (from aug 3 also works)
every day ending aug 3 Every day starting today and ending on August 3 (until aug 3 also works)
every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday ending Saturday This Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday only
every day for 3 weeks Every day for the next 3 weeks starting today
every day from 10 May until 20 May Every day starting May 10th ending May 20th
You can learn more about start dates here.

Due times

Type this To add this recurring due date

every 12 hours starting at 9pm

Every day at 9am and 9pm

every mon, fri at 20:00

Every Monday and Friday at 20:00

every 3rd friday 8pm

Every 3rd Friday of the month at 8pm

every 6 weeks at 09:00 starting jan 3

Every 6 weeks starting on January 3rd, at 9am

every fri at noon

Every Friday at 12pm

every mon in the morning

Every Monday at 9am

in the evening every weds

Every Wednesday at 7pm

Tasks with due times can't be set independently for each recurring day. This means that if you create a task with the due date every Monday, Friday at 8pm, both the Monday and Friday recurrence will be scheduled for 8pm.

Commas

Type this To add this recurring due date

every monday, friday or ev monday, friday or every mon, fri

Every Monday and Friday

every 2, 15, 27 or ev 2, 15, 27

Every 2nd, 15th & 27th of the month

every 14 jan, 14 apr, 15 jun, 15 sep

Every January 14th, April 14th, June 15th & September 15th

every 15th workday, first workday, last workday

Every 15th workday, every first and every last workday of a month

every 1st wed jan, 3rd thu jul

1st Wednesday of each January and 3rd Thursday of each July

You can't add recurring due dates using more than one every or with a different recurring pattern. For example, every Monday every 1 hour won't work.

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: Completing a task that has a due date of every 3 months will set the task’s due date to 3 months from the task's original date. So if you created a task on January 10th with a due date of every 3 months, it will recur on Jan 10, Apr 10, July 10, etc regardless of when you complete the task. 
  • Every!: When you complete a task with a due date of every! 3 months, it will set the next due date to 3 months after the day you completed the task. So if you completed the task on January 20th, the next occurrence of the task will be April 20th. 

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

Type this To add this recurring due date

every 3 days

Every 3 days starting today

every first workday

Every first working day (Mon to Fri) of the month

every last workday

Every last working day (Mon to Fri) of the month

every 3 workday

Every 3rd work day (mon-Fri only) from today

every quarter or quarterly

Every 3 months starting from today

every! 3 hours

Every 3 hours from the time the task is completed

every! 5 days

Every 5 days from the day on which the task is completed, starting today

every! 2 months

Every 2 months from the day on which the task is completed, starting today

after 10 days Once the due date is entered, it will change to every! 10 days effective from today

after 10 days starting 1 Aug

Once the due date is entered, it will change to every! 10 days effective from August 1

Every week is a dynamic recurring due date. This means that the task is scheduled according to when you last completed the task.

  • For example, if you complete a recurring task that has the due date every week on a Monday, the task will be scheduled for the following Monday. If you complete the task on a Tuesday, the task will be scheduled for the following Tuesday.

Todoist will only schedule recurring tasks on future dates. If your recurring task is overdue past the date the task was next due to occur, Todoist will schedule the next occurrence on the next future recurring date when you complete the task.

  • For example, if you create a task with the due date every 3 months starting from 15 Jan 2023 and you complete the task on 19 September 2023, Todoist will schedule  the next occurrence of the task to 15 October 2023, because 15 April 2023 and 15 July 2023 have already passed.

"Every other" day, week, or month

Type this To add this recurring due date
every other day Every other day starting from today
every other week Every other week starting from today
every other month Every other month starting from today
every other year Every other year starting from today
every other fri Every other Friday, starting with the second Friday from now (and not the next upcoming Friday)

Holidays

Use these keywords to schedule tasks during specific holidays:

Type this To add this recurring due date
new year day January 1
valentine or Valentine's Day February 14
halloween October 31
new year eve December 31
Thanksgiving used to be included in the natural language, but was removed as some countries, e.g. Canada, celebrate on dates differing to the US.
If you need to see all occurrences of a task, open your project, apply the calendar layout, and learn how to view all future occurrences.

Reschedule a task with a recurring due date

If you suddenly need to put a task off for another day, reschedule the task.

When rescheduling a task with a recurring due date, the next recurrence depends on the type of recurring due date:

  • Absolute recurring due date: the next recurrence will always be on that specific day of the week or date of the month. For example: every Tues or every 15th day.
  • Relative recurring due date: the next recurrence will continue based on the newly set date. There's no option to reschedule them where they would still maintain the original pattern. For example: every week or every 12 days.

To postpone a recurring task, use the task scheduler and pick a new date. If you type a new date for a recurring task, you will completely change the task's due date and lose the recurrence.

Best practices for recurring due dates

When adding a recurring due 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 due time after the first date: every other Tues 7am starting 1 Nov
  • Specify the days of the week the due date will recur: every mon, tues, wed, and fri

    Todoist doesn't support every day except as a recurring due date.

Get in touch

Start creating tasks with recurring due dates to build strong habits over time. If you run into any issues scheduling recurring due dates, get in touch with us. We—Summer, Keita, Stef, or another one of our 14 teammates—will make sure you stay on track with all your recurring tasks.

FAQ

Can I reset the sub-tasks that belong to a recurring parent task?

Yes, you can! Here's how.

How can I view all the recurring tasks on my account?

You can view all the recurring tasks on your account by either searching recurring or using recurring as a filter query.