Date-based scheduling
In Lunatask, you can use date-based scheduling to move a task out of sight until it becomes actionable, i.e. defer it to a later date.
Dates in Lunatask behave more like start dates (i.e. when to do the thing), not like deadlines.
To do this, open the task detail and click on the option to schedule the task. The popup appears where you select a future date using the calendar or by typing the date — our natural language parser will do its best to interpret the date.
No need to open task detail to schedule tasks for a future date. Simply select any task in the list and press S – the scheduling window will now appear. Learn more about our keyboard shortcuts.
When the task is scheduled for a future date, it automatically gets Later status and moves to the bottom of the list as our lists are always sorted with the most actionable tasks on the top and least actionable on the bottom.
The "coming up" section
In some workflows, when the date comes, Lunatask will show scheduled/deferred tasks in a special section at the top of the list (named "coming up") to bring your attention back to them. Scheduled tasks are usually not meant to stay in the "coming up" section. Go over each task and move it where it now fits your plans. You can move it to, for example, Next or Must. When you do so, the date goes away.
You can think of date-based scheduling in Lunatask as future reminders and of the "coming up" section as a notification area if that helps.
Plan your week
If you work in such a way that you plan your week ahead (which tasks to do today, which tomorrow, and which for example on Wednesday), we recommend checking out our Plan Your Week workflow.
App icon and menu badges
Depending on your menu badge configuration, you can be notified of coming up tasks using the badge on the area the task belongs to, and on the app icon itself. When you sign up, badges are configured to show the number of due or coming up tasks. You can change this in the settings. Learn more in our article dedicated to badges and notifications.
FAQ
Does Lunatask support deadlines?
No, Lunatask currently does not support end dates or deadlines for tasks. Please, treat the date more as a start date (or a date on which to decide what to do with the task, i.e. a deferred date) when scheduling tasks for the future. We recommend putting the deadline in the task name (i.e. Write a blog post (due 08/31)) and moving the task manually between "next"/"later" manually depending on where you want to have it.
Goals, useful for managing projects in Lunatask, do have due dates.
When I move a scheduled task out of the "coming up" section, it loses its date, but recurring tasks do not do that?
That is true. The assigned date is a bit different for recurring tasks – not just the app automatically manages it, but it also identifies which occurrence it is, as you might have several occurrences for one recurring task in the list at the same time. Whereas manually scheduling a task for a future date in two weeks is more like creating a future reminder. When the app reminds you of the task in two weeks, and you decide what to do with it given current priorities at the time, the reminder is no longer needed.