Make a task

Turn something you have to do into a task — on its own, or inside the note it belongs to.

Every task lives in a note. A task you make inside a note stays there, next to what you wrote about it. A task you make anywhere else is filed into one note set aside for them.

Make a new task

Click or tap the green button at the top of the sidebar, or the + for a new task above the Tasks list.
Type the task's name — the title is ready for typing as soon as the task panel opens.
Save it, or choose Save and Add Another to file it and start the next one straight away.

Touch and hold the blue circle at the bottom of the screen, then tap the green task button that rises above it. In the Tasks list, you can also tap the round button beside the search field.
Type the task's name — the title is ready for typing as soon as the task panel opens.
Save it, or tap Save and Add Another to file it and start the next one straight away.

While you type a task's name, the bar above the keyboard holds buttons for its due date, flag, priority, settings and deleting it, with the date between them. The date shows as much of itself as fits on one line — Yesterday, 07:00, or just Yesterday on a narrow bar; tap it to change the date.

Tip: Write @ and somebody's name in the task's name to assign it to them. See People.

Make a task inside a note

In a note, select the words that describe the task.
Press ⌘T, or click or tap the ✓ button.

If the words you selected name a person you added with @, the task is assigned to that person rather than having their name in its title. For example, selecting Anna Sørensen Book the venue makes the task Book the venue, assigned to Anna Sørensen. The note keeps your words as they were.

To go back from a task to the paragraph it was made from, click or tap the link button on the task.

Where tasks from outside a note go

Tasks you make from the Tasks list, a widget, Siri, your Apple Watch and other places outside a note all go into one note. Unless you choose another, the first such task creates a note called Tasks, and every later one joins it.

To choose a different note, go to Settings ▸ Tasks ▸ Note for new tasks and pick one from the list.

When a new task is due

A task you make without a date gets one from the time of day you make it:

made before 7:00 — due at 7:00 the same day;
made before 10:00 — due at 10:00 the same day;
made later — due at 6:00 the next morning.

This applies wherever the task comes from, subtasks included. On your Apple Watch, the time that counts is when you dictated the task. A task you give a date keeps the date you gave it.

To change the three times, or to turn this off, go to Settings ▸ Tasks ▸ New tasks. The sentence under the times describes the rule as you have set it.