You likely have tasks that repeat themselves on a regular basis, like monthly reports, putting out the garbage every week, remembering to call Mom on her birthday.
Instead of creating a new task for each occurrence, give it a recurring due date! When you complete a recurring task, it will automatically reset for the next due date with no extra effort required on your part.
How to set a recurring due date
You can add a recurring due date on any platform (desktop, mobile, or web) by typing it into the task field using natural language like every Monday or every other week. The smart Quick Add will automatically recognize the recurring date, highlight it, and add it when you save the task.
For example, for the task Create monthly report, the word monthly will be highlighted as a recurring due date. Just click or tap on the word to un-highlight it. You can also turn off automatic date recognition entirely.
Examples of recurring due dates
Some basic recurring due dates
There are so many options when it comes to creating a recurring due date that it can become a bit overwhelming, so let's start out with some 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 |
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 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 |
Using due times when creating recurring due dates
| 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 1st wed jan, every 3rd thu jul |
1st Wednesday of each January and 3rd Thursday of each July |
Using commas when creating recurring due dates
| 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 |
Repeating a task based on the 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 time is entered, it will change to every! 10 days effective from today |
|
after 10 days starting 1 Aug |
Once the due time 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 passed 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.
Using "every other" when creating recurring due dates
| 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
Tasks that need to be done on holidays can be specified using these respective keywords:
| 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 |
Special thanks to our Todoist ambassador Leighton Price for providing examples for this article.
FAQ
My recurring task isn't scheduling properly. How do I fix it?
When setting your recurring due date, there are a few tricks to get Todoist to understand you properly:
Todoist prefers the starting date at the end
For example, every 14 days starting 1 Nov 7am will not correctly recognize the time. Instead, use every 14 days 7am starting 1 Nov.
Todoist prefers the time after the first date
If you try setting a due date of 7am every other Wednesday starting 1 Nov, Todoist will not properly recognize the recurring element of the task. Instead, use every other Wednesday 7am starting 1 Nov.
My task is scheduled to recur every! day or every day. I didn't complete it yesterday and it's now overdue and scheduled for yesterday. If I complete it today, will the task move to today's date?
No. If you schedule your recurring task for every! day or 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.
Can I create a task that recurs on specific days?
Yes, but only if you're adding due dates with the same pattern. For example, every Monday, Tuesday.
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.
After I set a recurring task, I can only see the first task and not the rest. How can I see all recurrences of the tasks in Todoist?
It’s not possible to see all upcoming recurrences of a task in Todoist. This is because a recurring task is a single task with a shifting due date, rather than multiple separate tasks.
For example, if you create a task, Clean the house, and set the due date to monthly on the 28th, the task will be scheduled for the 28th of this month. When the task is completed, the due date is shifted to the next recurring date - in this case, the 28th of the next month.
How can I see my completed recurring tasks in my completed tasks list?
Unfortunately, you can't see completed recurring tasks in your completed task list, however, they can be viewed in your activity log.
Can I uncomplete a completed recurring task?
Unfortunately, you can’t uncomplete a recurring task that has been completed.
There is one exception. Right after completing a single instance of a recurring task, you can undo the completion using the undo option at the bottom of Todoist. The recurring task’s date will shift back to whatever it was before you completed it.
Please note that the option to undo a completed task will only last a few seconds.
How do I schedule a task for multiple days in a week without it recurring after that?
You can do this by scheduling the task for multiple days in a week and including a specific end date, too.
For example, if you want to schedule a task for this Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, you can simply set the due date to every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday ending Saturday. The task won't recur anymore after Saturday.
How do I properly postpone or reschedule a recurring task? If I type out a new date, the task loses its recurrence.
To postpone a recurring task, use the task scheduler by right-clicking (Web, Windows, macOS) or swiping left (iOS, Android) and pick a new date from there.
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.