Getting started with Todowl

Todowl opens on Today, and that is the screen you will use most. Everything else grows out of it: tasks live in projects, the calendar shows the same tasks laid out over hours, and the trackers sit alongside them in the sidebar. You do not have to set anything up before you start typing.

Sign in first

Todowl runs in the browser at app.todowl.com. You can sign in with Google, with Apple, with a sign-in link sent to your email, or with an email and password. There is also a demo mode that fills the app with sample data so you can look around before committing to anything.

Whichever route you take, the account is the same one across every device you open the app on. See Ways to sign in for the details of each option.

Capture your first task

On Today, the input at the top of the list is the fastest way in. Type what you need to do and press Enter. The task lands in the day with no date picker, no dialog and no required fields.

Click the task once and it opens in the detail panel on the right. That panel is where a task grows up:

• a description, with bold, italic, headings, lists, checklists, quotes and images
• a date and an optional start and end time
• a priority, from none through low, medium and high
• the project and list it belongs to
• a repeat rule, if the task comes back

Nothing there is mandatory. A one line task with no date is a perfectly good task.

Put tasks into projects

A project is the top level container, and a list is a lane inside it. New accounts start with a small set of projects; you add your own from the sidebar with the plus button, then rename them, give them a colour and pick an icon.

Every task belongs to exactly one project and, optionally, to one list inside it. The free plan keeps 3 projects with up to 3 lists in each, which is enough for a personal setup. Projects and lists covers how to structure them.

Switch between list and board

Inside a project, the same tasks can be read two ways:

• List groups them by when they are due: overdue, today, tomorrow, next 7 days, later and completed.
• Kanban puts each list side by side as a column, so you drag a card from one lane to the next.

The toggle sits at the top of the project. Switching views never changes the data, only the arrangement.

Plan the week on the calendar

The calendar shows every project’s tasks together, in day, three day, six day, week or month layout. Drag a task from the Arrange tasks panel onto an hour and it gets a date and a time. Drag it again and it moves. See The calendar.

Turn on the trackers you want

Below the projects, the sidebar holds the other trackers:

• Habits for the small daily things, with streaks and a year heat map
• Notes for anything longer than a task
• Finance for income, spending and the monthly picture in more than one currency

You do not have to use all of them. An empty tracker costs nothing and stays out of your way.

A sensible first week

1. Put everything you are carrying in your head into Today, without dates.
2. At the end of the day, drag the leftovers onto real days in the calendar.
3. Add two or three habits, no more, and tick them for a week.
4. Only then decide whether the finance tracker is worth setting up.

That order works because it front-loads capture and delays configuration. Most people who abandon a planner do it during the configuration step.