# Tasks

> Every to-do in your notes in one place, by note or by date. Checking off from the list, dates, snoozing, carrying to today, and asking Ask about your to-dos.

Applies to Canto 1.0 beta 9 · Updated Oct 27, 2026 · https://lonelyduck.io/docs/canto/tasks

Tasks gathers every to-do in your notes into one list. Your to-dos stay in the notes where you wrote them: Tasks finds them there, on your Mac, and when you check one off here, its note changes too. Tasks sends nothing anywhere, and it's free on every plan.

## Open Tasks

**Tasks** is near the top of the sidebar, under the Inbox. You can also choose **Go › Tasks**, or run **Open Tasks** in ⌘K. It opens in a pane like a note, so back and forward work.

On a first launch with a big vault, Tasks says "Still reading … notes on this Mac. More to-dos may show up." until it has read them all.

## Add a to-do

A to-do is a line in a to-do list in any note. Make one in any of these ways:

- Type `[ ]` and a space at the start of a line.
- Choose **/ › To-do list**.
- Press `⇧⌘9`.
- In [Quick capture](https://lonelyduck.io/docs/canto/capture#quick-capture), start a line with `[ ]`. It becomes a to-do when the capture is filed or added to today's note.
- Run the **Extract tasks** action on a note: it adds the note's action items at the end as to-dos, for you to review like any edit. See [Actions and styles](https://lonelyduck.io/docs/canto/actions).

Meeting notes list their action items as to-dos too, with who and when ("You · Friday").

## Give a to-do a date

In a to-do, type `@`. A menu offers **Today**, **Tomorrow**, the days of the coming week by name, and **Pick a date…** for any other day. Keep typing to narrow it ("@fr" for Friday) or to name a day ("@23 oct", "@next friday", "@in 3 days"). Words that name no day, like "@Ana", stay words.

Outside a to-do, **/ › Date** opens the same menu.

The date becomes a small chip in the line, read against today: "Today", "Tomorrow" or "Fri 23 Oct", marked when it's due today or overdue. A to-do in a daily note is due on that note's day unless it has a date of its own.

In a Markdown export, a date is written as `📅 2026-10-23`, and importing Markdown reads it back as a date.

## The list

The bar at the top chooses what the list shows:

| Control | Choices |
|---|---|
| Show | **Open** (with its count), **Done**, and **Snoozed** while any to-do is snoozed |
| Folder | **All folders**, or one folder with the folders inside it |
| From | **All notes**, **Notes**, **Daily notes**, **Meetings** or **Research notes** |
| Group | **By note** or **By date** |

**By note** groups to-dos under their note, newest edit first, with the note's folder and when it was edited. A daily note reads as "Today's note", "Yesterday's note" or its day, and a meeting has a microphone mark. A row says where its to-do sits ("in Lodging").

**By date** groups them as **Overdue**, **Today**, **This week**, **Later** and **No date**, earliest first. Each row names its note.

**Search tasks** finds to-dos by their words and by their note's title. `/` or `⌘F` jumps to it, and `Esc` clears it.

Click a to-do and the inspector previews its note, with the to-do marked and in view, and **Open at task** and **Open beside**. Its **Info** tab says which folder the note is in, how many of its to-dos are open and done, the heading the to-do is under, and when the note was created and last edited.

## Check off a to-do

Press `Space`, or click its box. The to-do stays where it is, struck through, with **Undo**, until you leave Tasks. Press `Space` again on a done to-do to uncheck it.

Checking off from Tasks changes the note itself:

- Canto saves a version of the note first, so [version history](https://lonelyduck.io/docs/canto/writing#version-history) has it as it was.
- If the note is open, the change is made in it as its own undo step, so `⌘Z` in the note takes it back too.
- Canto finds the to-do by its place and its words. If it can't be sure which one you meant (two to-dos in the note say the same thing, or the to-do is gone), it says so and changes nothing: "Open the note to check it off."

## Keys

| Keys | Does |
|---|---|
| `↑` `↓` or `J` `K` | Move through the to-dos |
| `Space` | Check off, or uncheck |
| `↩` | Open the note at the to-do |
| `⌘↩` | Open the note beside Tasks |
| `U` or `⌘Z` | Undo the last check |
| `E` | Snooze until tomorrow (in Snoozed: bring it back now) |
| `/` or `⌘F` | Search |

Right-click a to-do for the same choices, and for snoozing.

## Snooze a to-do

To put a to-do off without changing its note, right-click it and choose **Until tomorrow** (`E`), **For a week**, **For a month**, or, for a to-do dated later, **Until it's due**. It leaves Open and comes back on its day. A toast says when, with **Undo**.

**Snoozed** lists what you put off, each with the day it comes back. **Bring back now** (`E`) returns one to Open.

Snoozing is kept on this Mac only. It doesn't sync, and your other Macs show the to-do as open.

## Carry to today

A past daily note's open to-dos can follow you to today. In **By note**, its group has **Carry to today**:

- **Move open to-dos to today's note** takes them out of the old note and adds them to the end of today's, under a line that links back to the day they came from.
- **Copy open to-dos to today's note** leaves the old note as it is.

To-dos nested under a carried one go with it, and done to-dos stay where they were. Today's note is made from your daily note template if it doesn't exist yet. One **Undo** puts both notes back, as long as nobody changed them since.

## The sidebar count

The Tasks row in the sidebar counts your open to-dos. Choose what it shows in **Settings › General › Tasks › Sidebar count**:

- **Open** (the default): every open to-do.
- **Due**: a badge for the ones overdue or due today, and nothing when none are.
- **Off**: no number.

Snoozed to-dos aren't counted.

## Ask and your to-dos

Ask can read your to-dos and check them off. Ask it what's still open ("what's left for the trip?") and it lists them with their notes and dates, inside what the chat reads: a chat that reads only some folders or notes sees only their to-dos.

When Ask wants to check to-dos off, it asks first, naming each one and its note: "Check off 3 to-dos?" Canto saves a version of each note before it changes it.

- **In one note**, this is free.
- **In several notes at once**, it's part of **Pro** (Edits across many notes), with three free tries on each Mac, and a try is spent only once you approve. Without Pro or a try, check them off one note at a time, or here in Tasks.

See [Ask about your notes](https://lonelyduck.io/docs/canto/ask) and [Free and Pro](https://lonelyduck.io/docs/canto/pro).

## Other apps (MCP)

Apps you connect over MCP get two tools for your to-dos: `list_tasks` lists open or done to-dos with their notes, free on every plan, and `set_task_checked` checks one off or back on, which needs **Pro** or a free try, like every change from another app. See [Other apps (MCP)](https://lonelyduck.io/docs/canto/mcp).

## What stays on this Mac

Tasks reads your notes on your Mac and sends nothing about your to-dos anywhere. Your to-dos are part of their notes, so with [iCloud sync](https://lonelyduck.io/docs/canto/sync) they reach your other Macs with the notes; snoozes stay on the Mac where you set them. When you ask a cloud model about your to-dos, the ones it lists go to that model with the rest of the chat, as anything a cloud chat reads does; see [What leaves this Mac](https://lonelyduck.io/docs/canto/privacy#cloud-models).