The Today view

Today is the screen Todowl opens on, and for most people it is the only screen they need before lunch. It collects everything that is due today or earlier and still open, from every project at once.

What lands here

A task appears in Today when both of these are true:

• it has a date of today or any earlier day
• it is not yet completed and not marked won’t do

That means yesterday’s unfinished work is waiting for you this morning rather than quietly disappearing into the past. Todowl does not roll dates forward for you: the task keeps the date you gave it, and it keeps showing up until you either finish it or move it.

Tasks with no date at all do not appear in Today. They live in their project until you schedule them.

The counter in the sidebar

The number next to Today counts open tasks dated exactly today. Overdue work is shown on the screen but is not part of that number, so the badge tells you what you planned for the day rather than the size of your backlog.

Adding to today

The input at the top of the screen adds a task dated today. It is the fastest capture point in the app, and it is the reason Today is the default screen: you can open Todowl, type, and close it again in five seconds.

Closing out the day

The habit that makes the rest of the app worth having is a two minute pass at the end of the day:

1. Tick what you finished.
2. Mark what got cancelled as won’t do rather than deleting it.
3. For everything left, either give it a new date or drag it onto a real hour in the calendar.

Do that and Today starts every morning as a plan rather than as a pile.

Where to go next

• Working with tasks for the detail panel and the two views
• The calendar for putting the day on a grid of hours
• Task priorities for deciding what to do first