Microsoft To-Do is your personal task manager to help you achieve your goals and stay organized. Pick a task, set a reminder and get it done!
The Microsoft To-Do app is the best way to capture, organize and complete your tasks from your computer, smartphone or tablet. Whether you’re an Office 365 user or not, Outlook helps you get more done with email, calendar and reminders.
Things
Things is my personal favorite of the bunch. While it appears simple, it actually has a lot of powerful features but is still super intuitive and easy to use, even for non-power-users.
For one, you can easily capture new tasks into Things from anywhere, no matter what app you’re in, thanks to the Quick Entry feature. I also love the fact that you can create “Goals” and add projects into them, and you can see your progress from there. And when creating tasks, it’s easy to add notes, make it recurring, assign a due date or deadline, add tags for organization and searching, create nested checklists, and flag priority items.
I’ve been using Things for a few years now, and it’s my go-to app when it comes to staying on top of everything. This is especially true when you integrate your calendars into Things as well, so you get everything in your schedule at once.
GoodTask (macOS, iPhone, iPad, Watch)
Reminders is great but not exactly feature-rich. GoodTask is unique in that it uses Reminders as a backend: add anything to GoodTask, and it will show up in Reminders and vice versa. So what’s the point? GoodTask offers features that Apple doesn’t in Reminders.
First there’s Calendar integration, meaning you can see your calendar appointments and your tasks in one place. You can also create smart lists, allowing you to filter your tasks using things like tags, due dates, and locations. You’ll have to spend some time setting this up before it’s any better than Reminders, but if you’ve got a specific overview of tasks in mind, you can probably design it here. GoodTask also offers an assortment of widgets for Big Sur’s new notification center, and so far as we know, is the first app to do so.
Integration with Reminders means all your tasks sync to the iPhone and iPad without the need for any other software, though there are versions of GoodTask available for those devices if you want the same power on them. And there’s a universal keyboard shortcut for adding events—that alone might make this app worth using over Reminders. Overall, this is a nice upgrade over Apple’s default app, so check it out.
GoodTask for Mac price: $19.99 with a 14-day free trial. GoodTask is also available on Setapp, which is a $10 a month subscription service with access to dozens of Mac applications. There’s also an iPhone and iPad version available for free, with an in-app purchase of $9.99 to unlock all features.
Todoist
Todoist is another great service to check out, and it’s especially useful for those who like automation and insights.
With Todoist, you’ll get your basic task management features, including a way to quickly add a task with a natural language parser. But the real magic with Todoist lies behind all of the app integrations, including IFTTT, Slack, Zapier, Amazon Alexa, and more. There are more than 60 of them to go through, so there are a ton of possibilities with what you can do with Todoist.
While Todoist is free to use forever, you can also upgrade to Premium for things like long-term goals and planning. But if you don’t need the extras, then the free version should be fine.
TaskPaper (macOS)
Wondering why to-do lists have to be so complicated? TaskPaper isn’t. This text-based option means you can just start typing to create your to-do list. Projects end with colons; tasks begin with a hyphen; tags start with the @ symbol. It sounds simple, but it’s surprisingly powerful once you get used to it, especially with the filtering and search options.
There isn’t an iPhone version, but the third-party application Taskmator ($4.99) is compatible and syncs using Dropbox. Alternatively, you can set up TaskPaper to sync over items from Reminders.
Taskpaper price: $24.99 with a free trial. Taskpaper is also available on Setapp, which is a $10 a month subscription service with access to dozens of Mac applications.
2Do
If you like the idea of GTD, but don’t want to be over-intimidated by software like OmniFocus, then you should give 2Do a try. It’s like OmniFocus, but much easier to pick up and use.
One of the best features of 2Do is the ability to create simple tasks, checklists, or even projects with sub-tasks. Every task item in these can have notes, attachments, and even multiple alarms (sometimes we need that extra push). 2Do also not just does lists, but there are smart lists, which utilize filters and custom views. There is tag support to make organization a breeze, as well as a ton more features.
I used 2Do (along with everything else here) a while ago and must say that it’s definitely one of the more underrated to-do apps out there.
TickTick (Mac, iPhone, iPad, Watch, Android, Windows)
TickTick is a straightforward to-do application you can run on basically every platform on earth. Unlike other cross-platform applications, however, TickTick actually feels like a native Mac application. Some of this is good design choices, but there are also features that make TickTick stand out: menu bar icon with a miniature version of your list, integration with appointments from Calendar, and native notifications. There’s also a keyboard shortcut for adding tasks from anywhere.
Organizing your tasks isn’t complicated: you have lists, tags, due dates, and that’s about it. But there are a few features here that other applications don’t offer, including a built-in pomodoro timer. Try out TickTick out if you’re looking for something straightforward, particularly if you need to sync over to non-Apple devices.
TickTick price: Free, but premium features like a monthly calendar view and custom smart lists require a $2.99 per month subscription.
Reminders (Mac, iPhone, iPad, Web)
The best to-do list is the one you have with you, right? If you own a Mac, you already have Reminders, which comes free with every Apple device.
Apple’s default application for managing tasks is a simple one, allowing you to create lists of tasks and schedule when you’ll do them. There are a few views: Today, Scheduled, All, and Flagged. Beyond that, though, you can see individual lists. It’s simple, sure, but this simplicity might be a big plus: you get in, add tasks, and then get to work.
There’s no universal keyboard shortcut for adding tasks, but there is integration with Siri for Mac, which is something no other app on this list can claim. And iCloud integration means you can sync tasks with your iPhone and iPad very easily. You’ve already got this application, so why not give it a shot?
Reminders price: Included with all Macs, iPhones, and iPads.
Microsoft To Do (Android, Windows, macOS, iPhone and iPad, Web)
Is it weird for a Microsoft app to show up on a list of Mac apps? Sure. But for a long time, no list like this would exclude Wunderlist, and Microsoft To Do is that app’s spiritual successor. It’s also completely free and the prettiest to-do list app for Mac.
Users can add as many custom lists as they want, and even sort those lists into groups. Every list has a custom background, which is a nice touch—it looks good, sure, but you also always know which list you’re looking at. There’s also support for due dates and the ability to share lists with other To Do users. Mac users are less likely to care about this, but To Do is extremely integrated with the Microsoft ecosystem—tasks can sync with Outlook, for example.
There are downsides. One big one: there’s no universal keyboard shortcut for adding tasks. But it’s by far the nicest to-do list for Mac you can find for free.
Microsoft To Do price: Free.
Conclusion
Microsoft To-Do is your personal task manager for life. It’s easy to get things done, whether you’re running between meetings, at the grocery store, or on a busy afternoon with the kids. Simply add new tasks or projects, give them a status, and get going!
Free Microsoft Office to do list app for Mac and Windows. Get organized and feel more in control of your tasks and projects, so you can get things done and achieve more at work, school or home. A to-do list that works how you work.
Whether your interest is in the basic features of the Microsoft To-Do app or more advanced techniques, you can find useful content here.