Tools lists

Sync between every platform you use. Which platforms will depend on what you personally use, but we didn't consider anything that doesn't sync between desktop and mobile. We tried to find the best apps that balance these things in various ways.

None of these options will be right for everyone, but hopefully one of them is right for you. Let's dive in. Todoist isn't the most powerful to-do list out there. It's also not the simplest. That's kind of the point: this app balances power with simplicity, and it does so while running on basically every platform that exists. That's a strong selling point—which is probably why Todoist is one of the most popular to-do lists right now.

Adding tasks was quick on every platform in our tests, thanks in part to natural language processing type "buy milk Monday" and the task "buy milk" will be added with the next Monday set as your due date.

You can put new tasks in your Inbox and then move them to relevant projects; you can also set due dates. Paid users can create custom filters and labels, and there are also some basic collaboration features.

Todoist is flexible enough to adapt to most workflows but not so complicated as to overwhelm. And it adds new features regularly: you can view projects as a Kanban board, for example, and navigating the app by keyboard is much smoother after recent updates.

Overall, this is a great first to-do list app to try out, especially if you don't know where to start. Todoist also integrates with Zapier , which means you can automatically create tasks in Todoist whenever something happens in one of your favorite apps. Here are some examples. Check out more ideas for automating Todoist with Zapier.

TickTick is a fast-growing to-do list app that offers a wide array of features on just about every platform you can imagine. Adding tasks is quick thanks to natural language processing.

There's also a universal keyboard shortcut offered on the desktop versions and pinned notifications and widgets on mobile, which makes it quick to add a task before getting back to what you're doing.

Tasks can be organized using lists, tags, and due dates, and there's even the ability to add sub-tasks to any task. TickTick offers all of this with apps that feel native—the macOS version is distinct from the Windows version, for example, in ways that make sense given the differences between those two systems.

TickTick also offers a few features that are above and beyond what other apps offer. First, there's a built-in Pomodoro timer , allowing you to start a minute work session for any of your tasks complete with numerous white noise options, if you want. Second, there's integration with various third-party calendars, allowing you to see your tasks and your appointments in one place, and even do some time blocking.

There's also a built-in habit-tracking tool , allowing you to review how many days you did or didn't stick to your exercise and diet commitments. A recent update added an Eisenhower Matrix view, allowing you to prioritize your tasks based on what's urgent and what's important. It's a great collection of features, unlike anything else on the market. With TickTick's Zapier integration , you can automatically create tasks in TickTick whenever you do things like save a message in Slack or star a new email.

Check out other ways you can automate TickTick with Zapier. In , Microsoft bought Wunderlist and put that team to work on a new to-do list app. The main interface is clean and friendly, adding tasks is quick, but there's a lot of flexibility below the surface. But the real standout feature here is the deep integration with Microsoft's ecosystem.

Outlook users can sync their tasks from that application over to Microsoft To Do, meaning there's finally a way to sync Outlook tasks to mobile. Windows users can add tasks using Cortana or by typing in the Start menu. For example, you can type "add rice to my shopping list," and rice will be added to a list called "shopping. This is also the prettiest to-do list app on the market, in my opinion. You can set custom background images for every one of your lists, allowing you to tell at a glance which list you're looking at.

You're going to be looking at your task list all day—it might as well look good. Microsoft To Do integrates with Zapier , which means you can do things like create a task in To Do whenever important tasks pop up in your other apps.

Here are some examples to get started. Microsoft To Do price : Free. Learn how you can make Microsoft To Do a productivity powerhouse with Zapier. Things macOS, iPhone, iPad. To-do list apps tend to fall into two categories: the complex and the minimalist. Things is somehow both.

That's about the highest praise I can give a to-do list app. This is an app with no shortage of features, and yet it always feels simple to use. Adding tasks is quick and so is organizing them, but there's seemingly no end of variation in ways to organize them.

Areas can contain tasks or projects; projects can contain tasks or headers that can also contain tasks; and tasks can contain sub-tasks if you want. It sounds confusing, but it isn't, which really speaks to how well Things is designed. Other applications offer these features, but Things does it in a way that never feels cluttered, meaning you can quickly be done with looking at your to-do list and get back to whatever it is you're doing.

Combine this blend of functionality and beauty with features like a system-wide tool for quickly adding tasks, integration with your calendar so you can see your appointments while planning your day, intuitive keyboard shortcuts, reminders with native notifications, and syncing to an iPhone and iPad app.

The only downside here is the complete lack of versions for Windows and Android, though this decision is probably part of what allows the team to focus on making such a clean product.

If you're an Apple user, you owe it to yourself to try out Things. You can automatically add to-dos to Things from your other apps with Things' integrations on Zapier.

Here's some inspiration. OmniFocus is nothing if not flexible. This Apple-exclusive application is built around the Getting Things Done GTD philosophy trademarked by David Allen, but an array of features means it can be used for just about any organizational system you can imagine. There are three different kinds of projects you can set up, for example, depending on whether you need to do tasks in a specific order or not.

There are six main views by default, allowing you to organize your tasks by things like due date, projects, and tags. Planner is available as a web app, Teams tab, and mobile app. Use Lists : If you want a customized experience where you can control the task fields, their options, their layout, their views, and more. That brings us to examples like inventory tracking, asset management, event itineraries, and travel planning.

You can view tasks and other list items in a list or calendar view. Lists is available as a web app, Teams tab, and mobile app. The choice between To Do and Tasks in Teams is a bit harder to make.

Tasks in Teams is simply a way of viewing your existing tasks in To Do and Planner. But the way you view them is different. Use To Do : If you want a listing of your tasks in a central spot, especially one that has a great mobile app and is easy to set due dates and reminders with those push notifications really help!

To Do is great for managing your tasks on a day-to-day basis to help you build your personal schedule. To Do is good for granular task management. Tasks in Teams also separates your tasks out by Plan and Team, which means you can home in on tasks by project and deliverable, not just an endless list of tasks that were assigned to you to be done today some of those days are simply impossible to complete, amirite? Tasks in Teams is good for big-picture task management.

And you can sync one Project file to a SharePoint task list to save on license cost and permission-protect various tasks. More details here. This is a major separation point from many of the competing list and task apps out there, especially Asana, Wrike, and monday.

And then you have various apps in the Microsoft ecosystem that do some of them. Microsoft is doing its best to offer similar functionality so you get the most bang for your buck all while keeping your task and list information protected by world-class data protection and security.

On top of that, many of these new apps are evolutions of others and need to please the longtime users of those apps Wunderlist, Outlook tasks, SharePoint lists. Nice article. Do you have a recommendation around apps to manage meetings into Microsoft teams? Thanks for the great breakdown of these tools. Do you know if Microsoft plans to add this to ToDo? Hi Tony, we created a whole guide to meetings in Teams. Will Lists be integrated with To Do, where a user would be able to view items assigned to them from Lists?

Hi James, highly unlikely this will become a built-in integration. However, my boss wants me to do everything in Planner. You have written such a clear and informative article. You can create, manage and organize tasks quickly and easily with extensive keyboard shortcuts. You can receive reminders via email, SMS, and instant messenger; tag your tasks; and locate your location-based tasks on a map.

Ta-da List : Ta-da List is a 37signals product that lets you create multiple lists and add, edit, re-order, and remove tasks from each list. You also have the ability to share and create RSS feeds for your lists.

TaskToy : With TaskToy you can create individual tasks with multiple lists, recurring tasks, and use simplified project management actions. You can also print and share your lists, and access your data from your mobile device. Toodledo : Toodledo allows you to organize and prioritize your tasks in a sortable online to-do list.