Plan a project with sections and milestones

A project holds the tasks for one piece of work with an end, such as a move, a trip or a renovation. Inside a project you sort tasks into sections, see them as a list or a board, add dated milestones and keep notes. This page covers creating a project, both of its tabs, and finishing, archiving or deleting it.

Create a project

Open Projects

Click Projects under My Life in the sidebar, or press G then P.

Click New project

Click New project at the top right. The new project opens straight away.

Name it

Type a name in place of New project. To note what the project is for, point at the space above the name and click Add description.

To change the icon or color, click the icon next to the name. It’s the same picker as for life areas. In the color list, turn on Inherit color to use the color of the goal or life area the project is aligned to. Each project has two tabs at the top: Overview for the project itself and Tasks for its tasks. A project reopens on the tab you last used in it. This is remembered per browser and in the Mac app, not across devices.

The Overview tab

Part	What it’s for
Alignment	Links the project to a goal or a life area.
Date	When the project starts. Turn on Deadline to add an end date.
Progress	Fills by itself: the share of the project’s tasks that are completed.
Notes	Space for plans, links or a checklist. The placeholder reads “Add notes, docs, or a spec…”.
Milestones	Dated checkpoints, with a count of how many are done.

Link a project to a goal or life area

On the Overview tab, click under Alignment.
Search or scroll, then pick a goal (or subgoal) or a life area.

A project linked to a goal also belongs to that goal’s life area, and the goal’s page lists it under Projects. To unlink it, open the same menu and click Clear.

The Alignment menu with lea typed in the search box, three goals under Goals, Growth & Learning under Life areas, and Clear at the bottom — Type to narrow the list: goals first, then life areas

Add milestones

Milestones mark the moments that matter, like “Contract signed” or “Keys in hand”.

In Milestones, click Add milestone, type a name and press Enter.
Point at the milestone and click Set date at its right to give it a date.
When you reach it, click the circle in front of its name.

Drag milestones to reorder them. To rename or delete one, point at it, click ⋯ at its right, and choose Rename milestone or Delete milestone.

The Tasks tab

The Tasks tab shows the project’s tasks, grouped into sections.

To add a task, click New task under a section, or + next to a section’s name on the board. It’s filed into the project, in that section.

Use sections

Sections split a project into stages or topics, such as “Paperwork”, “Apartment” and “Moving day”.

Click Add section (on a board, it’s to the right of the last column), type a name and press Enter.
Drag tasks between sections to move them, and drag sections to reorder them.
Click ⋯ next to a section’s name to Rename section, Hide group or Delete section.

Drag a task to another section's column

Tasks that aren’t in a section appear under No section. When you delete a section, its tasks stay in the project and move to No section.

Switch between list and board

Click the view settings button (the sliders icon) at the right of the tab row.

Option	What it does
List or Board	Shows tasks as rows under each section, or as cards in one column per section.
Group	Click Group to open the Groups page, then click Group there and choose Section (the default), Priority, Date or Assignee. On a board, each group becomes a column.
Display properties	Picks what each task shows: Alignment, Date, Labels, and Assignee once you share something with someone or accept a share.
Show	Open tasks only, or All to add a Completed group. A list also offers Completed on its own.

The project's view settings with List and Board, Group set to Section, Display properties Alignment, Assignee, Date and Labels, and Show set to Open — View settings on the Tasks tab

On the same Groups page, turn on Hide empty groups, click the eye next to a group to hide or show it, or drag groups into another order.

The Groups page with Group set to Section, Hide empty groups turned on, and the groups Paperwork, Apartment, Moving day and No section, each with an eye icon — The Groups page of the view settings

You can add sections only while the tasks are grouped by Section.

Drag a task to change it

Dragging a task into another group changes the task to match:

Grouped by	Dropping a task into a group
Section	Moves it to that section.
Priority	Gives it that priority.
Date	Today or Tomorrow gives it that date, and No date removes its date. Overdue, This week, This month and Later don’t accept dropped tasks.
Assignee	Assigns it to that person, or to no one under No assignee.

When the Completed group shows (grouped by Section, with Show set to All), drag a task into it to complete it, or drag a completed task back into a section to reopen it there. To rename Completed, click ⋯ next to its name and choose Rename group.

Move a task into a project

Open the task, click under Alignment, and pick the project under Projects.
Or, while you type a new task, type + and the start of the project’s name, then pick it from the list. See Type a task in one line.

A task belongs to one place: a project, a goal or a life area. Picking a project for a task replaces any goal or life area it had.

Complete, archive or delete a project

Open the project and click ⋯ at the top right. In the Projects list, point at a project and click the handle that appears at its left.

Mark completed marks the project as done. Its tasks stay as they are. It stays in the Projects list, dimmed and marked with a check. Choose Mark incomplete to reopen it.
Archive puts the project away without deleting anything. An archived project is read-only. To see your archived projects, open the view settings on the Projects page and turn on Show archived, then choose Restore to make one active again.
Delete removes the project after you confirm in the Delete project window. Its tasks move to Trash and its sections are deleted.

A deleted project can’t be brought back. Its tasks can be restored from Trash, but they come back without the project. See Undo and Trash.

Good to know

Do a project's tasks count toward its goal's progress?

No. A goal measured by Completed tasks counts only the tasks aligned to the goal itself. The project’s tasks fill the project’s own Progress bar. To see the project from the goal, open the goal’s page and look under Projects.

Why don't I see my project on its life area's page?

A life area’s page lists goals, tasks, habits and notes, but not projects. Open Projects in the sidebar to find it; the Alignment column shows where each project belongs.

Why can't I edit an archived project?

Archived projects are read-only, so nothing changes by accident. Restore the project first, then edit it.

Can other people work in my project?

Yes, with Pro you can share a project and assign its tasks. See Share with others.

Limits

The Free plan includes 3 projects. Completed projects don’t count toward the limit, but archived ones do. Pro has no limit. See Free, Pro and Lifetime.

Goals

Link a project to the outcome it serves.

Tasks

Dates, priorities and everything else on a task.

Share with others

Invite people into a project and assign tasks.

Undo and Trash

Restore tasks from a deleted project.

Start here

My Life

Plan your days

Apps and settings

Planning routines

Account and billing

Troubleshooting

Plan a project with sections and milestones

Create a project