Manually sorting To-Do tasks and turning off sort order

[Don Slater]

Help - this is driving me crazy....

I want to be able to sort my tasks manually (ie, not in one of the order options - alphabetically, creation date, etc)

I am able to drag and drop tasks into any order on SOME lists - ones which don't have a 'sorted by' option already selected and showing just under the list title. (there is one exception to this: Important list. Can't manually sort even thoiugh there is no sort order selected).

SO: how do I turn off an automatic sort order once it has been selected????  I've tried everything and looked everywhere - baffled!

don

[#2]

@Don Slater

I was struggling with this too.

Rob Weiss posted the solution to this in a UserVoice related to manually sorting To-Do tasks.

"You can turn off Sort by clicking the x in the sort header bar at the top of the list. then you can sort manually"

[#3]

@gjen020 

I tried this and it doesn't seem to work that way for me. When the X in the sort header bar is clicked, the only thing that happens is the Sort By bar is hidden. I was unable to manually sort.

Perhaps I missed something or don't understand your solution. Can you elaborate?

[#4]

@gjen020 
Thank you for the "X" Trick - this is more like a "easter egg" than a feature 😉

[#5]

@banthonywhite  I feel your frustration - If I can't manually sort, this product is useless..

After deleting the X associated with the sorting choice in the header, I closed out of To Do and then restarted the app.  Then the manual sorting was available.  

[#6]

@JavaBeansNo matter what I try, I can't manually sort the Important list. Is this expected behaviour? Many thanks. 

[#7]

@Aaron88 , Once I select the "X" on the list to turn off the sorting, the system will not allow me to sort manually.  But then I close the To Do application entirely, then restart the application.  It works then.

Good luck!

[#8]

@JavaBeans, just to confirm, you are able to sort the Important list after you click X and restart the app? I am not able to in any version of the app. Many thanks.

[#9]

Aaron88, my apologies - I misunderstood your comment. You are correct -- it is not possible to manually sort the "important" list. I've tried various methods too. Disculpame.

[#10]

Many thanks.

[#11]

@JavaBeans Thanks, closing and then re-opening it (on my PC computer) worked. It's a double Easter egg! Thanks!

[#12]

Just in case anyone else stumbles upon this discussion, while it is not possible to manually sort the "Important" list, it is possible to manually sort the "My Day" list (This won't add any due date). So, I am now adding all the items that I want to focus on into the "My Day" and do the manual sort in there.

[#13]

@Don Slater 

After experiencing the same frustrations mentioned here (what have they done to one of my favourite apps, Wunderlist?), I came up with a simple solution. Ignore ToDo's ready-made lists at the top of the sidebar and create your own using +New List - even with the same names if you wish - in the lower half of the sidebar. You can then organize items to your heart's content. I still think the fact you can't custom-organize lists as a standard feature sucks.

[#14]

Great find Michael. I just tested that and it definitely works. What madness is this? We can manually sort custom lists, but not the built in one ("Planned"). Why Microsoft? Just why?

BTW, of course these tasks show up in the thick Outlook client and are perfectly sortable there. So, why it's broken in the web version I've no idea.

[#15]

Mind. Blown. I've recently converted a custom Access database task list to To Do and am loving it, but I've been looking for a way to do manual sorting (particularly for my 'My Day' view) for months. Thank you and thank Rob Weiss!

[#16]

@Michael_Ion Thanks for that very helpful tip - it works! I also just discovered that one can still mark something as Important and then right-click the task and move it to a different folder that I've created - e.g., Work Tasks - and the task is moveable in that folder Or I can create a task in the list I've created and then mark it important. In either case, the task shows up both in the Important folder and the folder I've created and I can rearrange it along with all other tasks in my created folder.

[#17]

I like that we've found a work around. It would be nice to know why Microsoft has not addressed the ability to manually sort tasks in Important. I have also found that when I'm assigned a tasks (such as in Planner or Teams) I'm able to mark it as Important but I'm unable to move that task to another folder such as My Day or any other list for that matter. 😞

[#18]

@Aaron88 

I think I have a work around - partial.
I tend to use ONLY Important folder for immediate tasks. SO I assisgn all to tasks folder and then you can drag the tasks around within the tasks folder to suit your priority. Not ideal but a work around until MS allow us to do what we would like - I won't hold my breath on that one !

[#19]

You should be able add to My Day by either editing the due date to today's date or CTRL + T.

[#20]

This worked perfectly! I wondered why I had to sort some lists and some not. I look forward to more from ToDo from Microsoft as far as integration of ToDo and Outlook and checkable calendar to do items syncing with ToDo.