Todo.txt file options

SwiftoDo provides some flexibility in how your task list works. These configuration options are found in the “Todo.txt file” section of the app’s Settings screen.

Todo.txt sync provider and File name

See the previous page.

Prepend creation date to new tasks

Choose “Yes” to automatically insert today’s date as the creation date in every new task. This will work for all new tasks created, even if those tasks are inserted by pasting into the task list or via drag-and-drop.

The creation date is formatted as YYYY-MM-DD and will appear at the beginning of the task, after any priority or completion date.

2021-05-01 this task was created 1 May 2021 (A) 2021-05-02 this task was created 2 May 2021 x 2021-05-06 2021-05-01 this task was created 1 May 2021 and was completed 6 May 2021

Archive tasks upon completion

Choose “Yes” to automatically trigger the archive command, which moves completed tasks to a new file, whenever a task is completed.

Archiving is to remote files is much slower than other processes, and file sync providers often need a second or two to catch up with what you are doing. It is not recommended to auto-archive if you plan to do frequent, quick edits.

Retain priority upon completion

The original todo.txt implementation removed the priority of a task upon completion. SwiftoDo does that, too, by default. You may, however, choose to retain the priority (e.g., (A)) either as is (e.g., (A)) or as a tag (pri:A).

This setting has three values:

“Do not”, which will remove the priority (this is the default)
“As is”, which will move the priority to after the completion date and creation date.
“As tag”, which will transform the priorty to a pri: tag and place it after the completion date and creation date.

If “As is” or “As tag” is set, marking a completed task incomplete will restore the priority as it was before the task was marked complete.

Default priority for new tasks

If a new task is added to the task list with no priority, it will be assigned to the priority selected here. The default selection is (-) which indicates “no priority.”

Hide future tasks

Choose “Yes” to hide tasks with threhold dates (e.g., t:2030-01-01) in the future, no matter what filters are applied. This can be useful for keeping only current tasks visible.

The threshold date is a start date for the task. It is expressed as a tag, like so: t:YYYY-MM-DD.

Hide hidden tasks

Choose “Yes” to hide tasks marked with “hidden” tags (i.e., h:1), no matter what filters are applied. Hidden tasks can be used to store task list metadata. You may wish to use hidden tasks to store project names or context names that you always want to have available in SwiftoDo’s task list filter and task editor project and context pickers.

Hidden tasks are tasks that include a h:1 tag.

Export todo.txt file

Choose this option to export the current task list, as a text string or text file, to another application or to save it to the Files app.

Todo.txt file setup Done.txt file setup