Reminders

A reminder is a time before a scheduled item at which Todowl gets your attention. There is one important thing to understand before you rely on it, so it is at the top rather than buried at the bottom.

The limitation, first

A reminder only fires while Todowl is open in a browser tab. The app checks every thirty seconds for anything due, which means it cannot tell you about a meeting if the tab is closed, the browser is quit or the laptop is asleep.

If missing the thing would be expensive, put it in your phone’s calendar as well. Todowl’s reminders are good for staying on track during a working day, and they are not a substitute for a device level alarm.

Setting a reminder

Open an event on the calendar and use its reminder row. Reminders attach to items that have a start time; an all-day item with no time has nothing to count backwards from.

The default for new items is set in Settings, under notifications, with the choices being none, at the time itself, or 5, 15 or 30 minutes before.

What happens when one fires

Two things, independently:

• A sound plays. This is controlled by the sound settings.
• A browser notification appears, showing the item’s title and how far away it is, phrased as “starting now”, “in 15 minutes”, “in 1 hour” or “tomorrow”.

The notification half is gated behind push notifications in Settings. While that switch is off, Todowl never asks your browser for notification permission and never posts one. Turn it on and the browser will ask you to allow notifications; if you decline at the browser level, the sound still plays but nothing appears on screen.

Each reminder fires once. Reloading the page does not replay reminders you already had.

If nothing happens

Work down this list:

1. Does the item have a start time? Reminders need one.
2. Is a reminder actually set on that item, rather than left at none?
3. Is push notifications on in Settings?
4. Did the browser get permission? Check the site permissions for app.todowl.com.
5. Is the tab open? This is the usual answer.
6. Is the system muted, if it is only the sound that is missing?