The Urgent & Important view
Urgent & Important puts every task in one of four boxes: Do first, Plan it, Hand off and Later. Drag a task to another box to change it.
Pick Urgent & Important from the view button. Ring List sorts every task of the list into four boxes:
- Do first: urgent and important.
- Plan it: important, not urgent.
- Hand off: urgent, not important.
- Later: not urgent or important.
On a computer they’re two by two. On a phone they’re one under another, in that order.
Where a task goes
A task is urgent when it’s !!!, overdue, due today or tomorrow, or in Today’s Plan (or the next plan).
A task is important when it has a priority (!!!, !! or !), or the label 🚩 Flagged or 🐸 Frog (or one of your own with a priority hint of +2 or +3). A frog that’s also ❓ Maybe, 🏝️ Someday or ⏳ waiting isn’t important unless it has a !.
Change a task’s priority or due date and it moves to its box.
Drag it to another box
On a phone
Hold the task until it lifts, then drag it to a box.
On a computer
Drag the task by its ⠿ to a box.
The task changes as little as it needs to belong there:
- Into Do first or Plan it: a task with no priority, or ↓, gets !.
- Into Hand off or Later: its priority comes off, and so do 🚩 and 🐸.
- Into Do first or Hand off: if nothing makes it urgent yet, it’s added to Today’s Plan. It’s never given a due date.
- Into Plan it or Later: it comes out of the plan, and !!! becomes !!.
A note says what changed, such as “Priority ! · Added to Today’s Plan”. One Undo takes back the whole move.
What can’t be moved
A task that’s overdue or due by tomorrow stays urgent, and so does an Inbox task in a plan. While you carry one, Plan it and Later are grayed out. To move it there, change its due date first.