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Microsoft To Do Blog
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Smart due date and reminder recognition in Microsoft To Do

Ayan_Chakraborty's avatar
Apr 01, 2022

Adding due dates and reminders is the best way to keep track of your tasks and complete them on time. We have just released smart due date and reminder recognition in To Do for Windows. This is the fastest way for you to add due dates, reminders, and repeat information to your tasks by typing in all the details in the task title using natural language. We will automatically recognize and highlight the relevant information and add it to your task.

 

Try the feature now: Download the To Do Windows application or update it to version 2.66 or above.

 

How it works

Click on + Add a task in any of your To Do lists.

 

Add a due date

While typing details for a task, type the due date using natural language. For example, type in “tomorrow”, “Apr 27”, and “Friday,and To Do will automatically recognize the due date and add it when you save your task.

 

Add a reminder

While typing task details, type the reminder date and time using natural language. For example, type in “tomorrow 5pm”, “Apr 27 10am”, “Friday noon”, and To Do will automatically recognize the reminder and add it when you save the task.

 

Add repeat information

While typing task details, type the repeat information using natural language. For example, type in “daily”, “every Monday”, “daily 5pm” and To Do will automatically recognize the repeat information and add it when you save the task.

 

We understand that sometimes the date or time can be part of the actual task title and not meant to be a due date or reminder. For example, in “buy food for April”, “April” is a pet’s name but To Do will highlight and set it as due date.

Don’t worry! You can turn off the smart date and time recognition on a case-by-case basis by pressing backspace on the highlighted word from your keyboard. We will unrecognize it and the word will become part of your task title. You can also delete or modify the due date, reminder, and repeat information anytime using the buttons in the task input bar.

 

Note: This feature is currently available on To Do Windows app for English (EN-) languages only.  We also have smart due date, reminder suggestions in To Do iOS app. We are working on extending support to more of our apps and languages.

 

For more details on how to use this feature or turn it off check our Support article

We can’t wait to hear what you think of this new feature – let us know in the comments below or on Twitter, you can also write to us at todofeedback@microsoft.com.

 

Updated Apr 01, 2022
Version 6.0

19 Comments

  • Cybrn8's avatar
    Cybrn8
    Copper Contributor

    I've decided to give-up on To-Do...
    Used Todoist years ago, then went on to MS TO-DO. Couldn't get To-Do to sync with Calendar. Recently went back to Todoist and realised how awesome it is. Simple, professional, powerful, smooth, efficient, view as List or board. It syncs with everything and the Ul is just perfect! Seriously, I've tried them all, Asana, Trello, ToDo, etc. Todoist is the 'sticker'

    Also, the paid version is really, really not expensive, and the extra features just make it perfect... To-Do was close, but Todoist defo pips it for me 🙂

  • Again, I really like this feature, but I work mostly in the Online versions of Outlook and To Do. 
    I had to stopped what I was doing in the Online version to launch the desktop version to use this feature.  
    I wasted time to save time, so I really didn't save time. 
    T

  • mpcthomas's avatar
    mpcthomas
    Copper Contributor

    Is there any way to turn off the 'reminder' that comes up with a "Got It" button after tabbing through to set due dates etc.?
    That's much quicker than typing "a fortnight on Tuesday" or "the 3rd Wednesday in May" which I don't particularly want in my to do list title either.
    The reminder/information was useful the first couple of times - but it's a lot of unnecessary actions to dismiss every time. How do I convince To Do that I have understood?!
    (I don't want to turn the functionality off - it's great for 'today' 'tomorrow' etc.)
    Thanks

  • Cybrn8's avatar
    Cybrn8
    Copper Contributor

    Really frustrating, and probably net this thread. Most task lists like Asana, Todoist etc. sync really nice with Outlook Calendar & Windows Calendar - Why can't To-Do? I like to look at my Calendar and see everything in one place; this is logical, but not available with To-Do
    Could someone please point me to the correct thread/blog to discuss this please?

    Help 😞

  • Chaz Weber's avatar
    Chaz Weber
    Iron Contributor

    Awesome new feature though frustrating it's not released across all to do platforms. Way too common of a trend with Microsoft's releases.

  • nandolopez_IT's avatar
    nandolopez_IT
    Copper Contributor

    Nice and very usefull feature, please, create a 2 way bilding between MS To Do and MS Calendar, I tired of do double job in set due date / reminder in To-do and a 2nd reminder in calendar.

  • JPJPJP's avatar
    JPJPJP
    Brass Contributor

    Yesss finally!!! Been waiting a while for this!

    Next up - Please add proper subtasks with separate details, due date and reminders from the parent task!  🫰

  • xmido's avatar
    xmido
    Brass Contributor

    Please add image preview to task comments, and categories