Introduction to projects

Whether you’re planning a presentation, preparing for an event or creating a website, create a project so all the important details are saved in one central place!

Here's how:

Create a project

  1. In the sidebar menu, click the plus icon beside Projects.
  2. In the Add project window, type out the name of your new project. Use letters, numbers, or special characters, like # " ( ) | & ! _ - or , in the name.
  3. (Optional) Select a different project color from the drop-down menu.
  4. (Optional) For easy access to the project, click the toggle to add it to your favorites.
  5. Click Add to create the project.
  6. (Optional) You can then drag and drop your project to a new place on your project list, or turn your project into a sub-project.

Use projects

Now that you've created your project, it's time to add and organize your tasks! Below are some tips for how to make the most of a project in Todoist.

Load up your new project with every relevant task you can think of. It’s a brainstorm, there are no bad ideas! You can add a task directly to your project by clicking/tapping the Add task or + button in the project.

Quick tip

When quick-adding a new task, you can immediately move it to a project by typing “#” directly into the task field and entering the name of the project.

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Some work needs to be done now, other work can wait. To make sure you get things done on time, set each task’s due date.

Set the due date by typing the date into the task name, like “Today”, “Next Thursday” or “March 12”.

Some tasks are more important than others. Go through your project and set your most important tasks as priority 1. They’ll show up in red so you know what to work on first.

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If you want to break your project down into different parts, you can do so by creating sections and adding your tasks to their relevant section.

Quick tip

Not sure what a section is? Click here to learn more.

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You can then drag and drop tasks to change the indent and rearrange them as sub-tasks.   

Edit a project

Need to make some changes to your project? No problem! Simply follow one of our guides below:

Whether you need to correct a typo or you've completely changed the title, here’s how to edit a project name in Todoist:

  1. Click the web_three-dots.svgthree dots icon to the right of the project name.
  2. Select Edit from the drop-down menu.
  3. Enter the new name.
  4. Click Save.

Quick tip

If you're already working inside the project, click the project name at the top and make your changes. Then, click Save to confirm.

Brighten up and organize your Todoist by color-coding your projects. Here's how:

  1. Hover over the project you want to change and click on the three dots icon that appears to the right of its name.
  2. Select Edit project.
  3. Select the color you want for your project from the Color drop-down menu.
  4. Click Save.

Organize projects

Change the order of your projects by manually dragging the project to your preferred location in the projects list.

If you're using Todoist for Android, follow these steps to reorder projects:

  1. Tap the menu icon.
  2. Tap Manage projects.
  3. Tap the pencil icon at the top-right.
  4. Touch and hold a project. Then, drag it to a new location.

If you're organizing shared projects, your collaborators won't see changes to its order. They will have to drag the projects as well to follow how you ordered them.

Delete a project

Get rid of old projects and keep your project list nice and tidy. Here's how:

Note

You won't be able to delete a project if it has been shared. Instead, you'll have the option to Leave the project.
  1. Hover over the project you want to delete and click on the three dots icon that appears to the right.
  2. Select Delete project from the drop-down menu.
  3. In the pop-up window, click Delete to confirm.

Quick tip

You may want to archive a project instead. Archiving a project removes it from your project list, but you can always view and restore it later. Just follow all the same steps as above, but select Archive rather than delete.

Get help

If you deleted a project by accident, you'll need to create a new project and import a backup.

If you're on the Pro plan or Business plan, Todoist automatically backs up your data every day that you login to Todoist. You can store up to 21 backups in your account.

If you're having trouble creating or managing projects in Todoist, get in touch with us.