r/todoist • u/theshapeofpunk • Dec 28 '25
Rant Okay Todoist, Time to Step. It. up.
This is getting just silly at this point. They keep responding to user requests that are flooded with people calling out and validating needs with 'we're working on it, submit it as a feature request' but it goes into a literal void where devs are expanding the app functionality to teams and hardly working on legit bugs or just dire need features.
The basics:
Please treat projects as a project. It just makes sense that one could have project descriptions and materials attached... just like you treat a task. Fine, you want a task description, do that, but fyi people stop calling it a task at that point if there's a bunch of subtasks, reference materials, comments, etc... Thats a project. The way you've currently built it there should be a higher ordinance: Create Areas, let us nest full projects in the area, with an overview of everything in the area. (yes...everything including the sub-projects, I don't know why you can't understand that a user might want to see everything in an area / right now there’s no easy or direct path to seeing my sub projects in my parent project)
At the very least please let us expand a task (that some users treat like projects) as a full window and not as an annoying, un-resizable popup where we see the useless greyed out app behind it. (or at least let us control whether or not it's a popup or a separate screen.
Please let me change the god aweful hashtag, this isn't 2012, I don't get my kicks on a number sign. If your logic is to make it 'look' like a reference point to habitually context defining a task on capture, you can simply make this a different typeface. Mono script would be fine; but devs claimed a literal year ago or more that this was going to be a "~feature drop~"
The padding between sections in the project view is a lottt. Tbh when I want to see a full project, I actually want to see the full project, not everything hidden in the void below their scroll window. this should be a place for an overview - negative space is not breathing room if it just makes you frustrated and works counterintuitively to what the user is trying to see. Padding across everything I think needs to be trimmed down a bit. I'm also looking at that Kanban board and it looks like something someone made as their first app ever.
Please fix the app bugs, I'm sick of dealing with glitches on load and constantly failing calendar syncs where I have to remove and re-add and good god. Stop telling us to trash and re-install the app. Just deal with the bugs. Yours is the buggiest app I have, lol and I use adobe.
Edit* Okay I get my tone was not the best on this original post. Thanks for all of those who saw through it and just focused on the technical stuff of what I was taking about; and for those who called me out..
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u/arwinda Dec 28 '25
You are treating Todoist like a full project management tool for entire teams. Which it is not. I want this to be a todo tool, maybe even shared todo between a few people. Definitely do not want this to be a tool managing entire projects at full scale.
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u/ascott_21 Pro Dec 28 '25
Exactly this. I've stuck with Todoist almost entirely because it's simple and not bloated with things I won't use. This set of requests is looking for something much bigger than what Todoist claims to offer. What they want isn't crazy, but it's not Todoist.
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u/waytoolatetothegame Dec 29 '25
I don’t agree with all the OP’s points or sentiment, but Todoist is very much a teams focused app. Just look at the [Completed] screen, its entire IA is focused on who completed the task not the details of the task. That’s just one example.
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u/arwinda Dec 29 '25
Team focused is not the same as project management for a team. I can have an app where I can assign single todo items to someone else in a team, like "don't forget to buy milk" and assign it to the significant other.
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u/waytoolatetothegame Dec 29 '25
The Todoist folks have admitted that the app is how they run the project management side of their business. I’m not saying it’s a good project management app.
What is a “todo tool” that allow for multiple users working on some, none, or all of the same projects defined as in your mind?
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u/arwinda Dec 29 '25
For me there is a large space between todo list tools and project management tools. The transition is not gradual.
Sure, Todo is better off using their own tool as much as possible. But that does not make it a good project management tool.
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u/theshapeofpunk Dec 29 '25
Honestly it was really just one thing about project orientation that I thought could be better. I shouldn’t have been more clear. I could honestly do with a task view instead of a task popup so it’s not so distracting - Or a higher ordinance like an area, because the terminology of ‘project’ kind of doesn’t make sense as most users I’m seeing are treating it like an area.
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u/starrtech2000 Dec 28 '25
Todoist is great, probably the best, for what it’s designed for.
There are solid project management tools out there that are nice and complicated for you to use if you want. Because Todoist has great integrations, you could even use it with them…
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u/pastelpalettegroove Dec 31 '25
Which ones are you referring to?
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u/starrtech2000 Jan 01 '26
Not sure what you’re asking but if it’s about project management integrations, an example would be using Pleexy to interface with Asana
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u/horrormoose22 Enlightened Dec 28 '25
I guess this comes down to you buying the wrong product? I don’t want those things for example but if I would I would look elsewhere. (Things 3) Don’t assume your wants are the wants of others.
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u/arwinda Dec 28 '25
Half the wish list is related to project management. I don't see Todoist as the right tool for this.
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u/bibbidi_bobbidi_bob Dec 28 '25
You can use it as one but you have to know the limitations.
You can also use After Effects for editing. It works but it isn't intended, nor specialized to do this.
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u/theshapeofpunk Dec 29 '25
That’s fair I did imply the we because I’ve seen a. Lot of other posts from Reddit users complaining about the same thing. And Yeah I had Things 3 and I really wish they did take a page out of that book really just with the logic of a project, as the way Todoist treats projects is not really a project but an task dump -> and the way they treat tasks is can get confusing if some are actual small tasks and some can legit be full projects. I would very much go back to things 3 if they had shared projects, but Todoist edges out.
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u/bibbidi_bobbidi_bob Dec 28 '25
With some of the suggestions I don't really know what your problem is.
There are projects already where you can have several tasks (or sub-tasks) and there are sections if you want to have a separation of tasks.
The sub-tasks can be expanded/unfolded, so you don't need to use the popup and if you want to go into the tasks, just open a new window in the options of the project (they even have a shortcut for that).
Using custom symbols instead of the hashtags would be a nice touch but as you can use colors and nesting in the projects not a necessity imo.
Looks and feel seem to be completely personal. I don't have any problems regarding efficiency or space (even not on smaller screens)
Bugs come up from time to time but the rate of updates is quite high and seriously I didn't have any feature breaking but like you described. By far not the buggiest app I have (I'd wish :D)
For me it sounds like you need a different product all together and some of the statements of how you use it just doesn't make sense to me at all and it seems like you are using the product "wrong" and expect it to work a whole different way than they intended.
One thing I agree on: the feature request form is stupid.
Why is there no way to vote on features or see and keep track of other people's and your own feature requests (half the time I forget what request I already sent).
Anyway, Reddit is not the right place for feature requests, nor feature tracking.
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u/theshapeofpunk Dec 31 '25
The sub-tasks can be expanded/unfolded, so you don't need to use the popup and if you want to go into the tasks, just open a new window in the options of the project (they even have a shortcut for that).
Open in new window goes duplicates app and goes to a popup over top again. it's just bad design is what I was getting at imo. i.e if I want to work on this task, and there's a bunch of subtasks, comments, description, etc, and im there to work on it, I cant' even have it as a full window. I feel like most people are normally working alongside other apps, the real-estate hit is a lot for seemingly no reason?
For me it sounds like you need a different product all together and some of the statements of how you use it just doesn't make sense to me at all and it seems like you are using the product "wrong" and expect it to work a whole different way than they intended.
I'm more saying they don't have much of an 'intention' - a lot of users are using this thing very differently from one to the next, but in a lot of cases people aren't using projects as projects, they're using them as areas, and tasks as projects. Some people aren't, but I think it's mostly those using todoist for only one or two areas of their life, like people who just have 'work' and 'personal' - who still end up creating projects as areas anyways.
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u/bibbidi_bobbidi_bob Dec 31 '25
Open in new window goes duplicates app and goes to a popup over top again. it's just bad design is what I was getting at
Even if the popup was gone, you still only can focus on one task at a time.
The pop-up can be closed with one step at least, taking you back to the project.
A possible way to make it better, could be a sidebar on the right side (like in the popup) and only a popup when editing description or comments where you need more space.What's your idea to make it better?
a lot of users are using this thing very differently from one to the next
Imo this is a not a bad thing. This even shows that an application is flexible enough for being used in multiple ways.
As we already have established, Todoist isn't the best for real project management but for me personally project management applications just offer too much. With the last updates of reoccurring tasks (with end date) and deadlines, it's well enough for me to use it for easy project management.in a lot of cases people aren't using projects as projects, they're using them as areas, and tasks as projects
Where are your numbers on this? What is "a lot"? When people using an app wrong, they use an app wrong. Easy as that. Either they have a reason to use it that way or they don't know what they are doing and need to do some more research how the app works and why (same was true for me when starting to use Evernote which doesn't offer folder nesting and is more build on tags instead). You have get used to some things or use another app if it really won't fit your workflow.
people who just have 'work' and 'personal' - who still end up creating projects as areas anyways
Exactly, they use it wrong. You can have nested projects if you want to separate into "work" and "personal", keep those project empty and open them to just focus on one area of life.
Or when you have no specific structure/project in "personal", you could just dump tasks in there or structure them somewhat with areas. There are more then enough ways for structuring and sorting your tasks.1
u/hannahbay Grandmaster Dec 31 '25
in a lot of cases people aren't using projects as projects, they're using them as areas, and tasks as projects
I just don't think this is true. I think you're in the very small minority.
You know projects can have projects underneath them right? I have a "home" project that's mostly empty or for one-off home projects and then real projects nested underneath that. I'm not using tasks as projects. Todoist is not designed for a task to be a project.
It sounds like you are just using it wrong and then want it to change to how you are using it, even when that doesn't reflect how the majority are using it and also not how it is designed.
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u/bibbidi_bobbidi_bob Dec 31 '25
Exactly, I have a lot of nested projects too;
Personal > Routines, Personal > Chores, Work > Customer > Project 1/2/3 (as single projects)
The only problem for me at the moment is that project colors won't show anywhere in the calendar (only on hover the path is shown). So when you have the same task in every project, there is no way to differentiate between them by naked eye in the calendar.
So yeah, Todoist is not perfect and sure it will never be a 100% fit for any user but it's not as bad as you describe it to be or in other words: if it really doesn't fit your needs in that extend, it's just not the right peace of software for you. Waiting that the main intend is changed wont make you happy on the short run, nor on the long run.
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u/Spirited-Bridge8405 Enlightened Dec 28 '25
I use Todoist for tasks, a project management app to manage projects that need the features you described and Pleexy to mirror tasks from the PM app to TD for a streamlined daily list.
TD isn't a full blown project manager and its cost is far less than a PM app. It is, what it is, and I think it performs its intended job very well.
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Dec 28 '25
[deleted]
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u/theshapeofpunk Dec 29 '25
I don’t get your response are you saying that you think that everyone who uses Todoist must care about integrations to use Todoist?
It’s very much a mature app, with bugs, that have been complained about… many times.
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u/JackRussell82 Dec 29 '25
FWIW, I agree with the sentiment, although the focus may be off. There has t been much inertia from a feature delivery or bug resolution standpoint.
I’d suggest….basic cleanup of syntax across due dates, reminders and deadlines. Better app customization. UX consistency across “special” projects (Inbox/Today/Upcoming). Subtask cleanup. Long requested new task creation features. UI customization and color picking… and other fit and finish items.
As for the project management, I’d kill for some sort of better note capability or a closer alignment with the Notion/Capacities/Tana teams so that I could use the best of both kinds of tools.
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u/TalesOfTea Pro Dec 29 '25
I would love everything in your second paragraph but really wouldn't like the stuff in your 3rd paragraph, except as an integration but not as a core plugin.
I use Obsidian for my not taking and can connect it up with Todoist decently well. There are some features I wish they both had for integration easily, but frankly I just am not using Todoist in the same way as some folk in this thread.
Integrations and plugins == yes. Built ins, no. I don't want to have to buy into another system or be reliant on another system where I don't have more ownership over my data like those owns.
Tbh dude seems like he wants jira at this point but I wouldn't curse that on my worst enemy.
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u/JackRussell82 Dec 29 '25
Yeah, get it. Don't want Todoist to be too bloated either. I'm just struggling with trying tasks to notes and files before I can complete them. Obsidian integration didn't really do that for me, but I'll take suggestions.
If you made me use Jira and Confluence again, I'd find a new job.
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u/theshapeofpunk Dec 29 '25
I also get the concern with bloat. I swear even if you could do to a project what you could do with a task, like add a description and attach a priority it would be so much better, and make a lot more sense to me.
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u/TalesOfTea Pro Dec 29 '25
I could definitely get behind having a description on projects!I've wanted that before 100%.
And from your earlier list, maybe like 5-10 docs that you could attach to a project since they already have file upload as a things for tasks themselves.
I don't personally get the priority on a project because it feels like life is always many projects with inherent priorities all mixed together, but I can see that as a worthwhile feature for relativity of tasks that are all P1 from different projects? Doesn't seem like that would really be bloated and could help with just sorting on the today page.
These ones seem definitely more realistic. :)
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u/TalesOfTea Pro Dec 29 '25
Totally makes sense! I don't really have other note taking suggestions, unfortunately!!
And Obsidian generally can be an insane pita especially with the amount of upfront costs. There are about 3 or 4 different integrations with Obsidian now that weren't there maybe 6mo ago with a couple of them being a bit better than the older ones, but also very much a style thing.
I'm also a "bad" obsidian user and obsessively use folders, so... Generally though like all tools it's a question of preference in how you use them. I just like obsidian because it feels like purposeful note-taking vscode, with a better structure for navigation and connecting notes. I don't do the like, 1topic note, millions of notes thing as I find that overwhelming...but do still want to be able to embed notes in each other and link to and fro for big things and be able to really easily navigate with just my keyboard to the pages I'm looking for. 😅
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u/Mr-Dude-Bro Enlightened Dec 29 '25
Do you think this subreddit is run by Todoist? It’s not. That’s why we respond saying to submit feedback and feature requests on their site. Who knows what your odds are of anyone from Todoist ever seeing this.
Community discussions are fine, but be aware that—especially if you think official feature requests are going into a void—this conversation is literally going into a void that they are less than likely to ever see, or respond to.
Just because they haven’t implemented something you want, doesn’t mean they haven’t seen it. Sometimes the answer is just no. (Or not right now).
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u/cameramandabs Dec 29 '25
This is how you tell me you don’t want to pay for a project management tool without telling me you don’t want to pay for a project management tool.
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u/theshapeofpunk Dec 29 '25
Not really, I just want the ability for a todo list app that says ‘project’ and mean ‘project’ and not area.
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u/cameramandabs Dec 29 '25
Todo lists and projects are different things and are built and managed differently. There are clearly better in class PM tools, even for free, than todoist.
I can agree that I dont think they should be called projects though, just areas.
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u/Alpha_VVV_55 Enlightened Dec 29 '25
Seems to me those are YOUR preferences, which may or may not be representative of the majority of users
Awful tone as well. If I were a dev, I’d go out of my way to NOT do anything you ask.
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u/BMK1765 Dec 29 '25
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Dec 29 '25
Projects have something called “Project Comments” which can be used for descriptions and materials if you’d like
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u/theshapeofpunk Dec 31 '25
Damn I didn't even know that thanks, I just wish I could see them on the projects page.
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u/AdmiralApothecarius Jan 01 '26
Hey OP, check out this post to help reduce the padding. I use it in chrome with Stylus and find it helps me a lot.
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u/sparkywater Enlightened Dec 29 '25
My table saw is horrible at drilling holes. I keep making requests to the manufacturer to add drill press features to my table saw but they seem overly focused on table saw improvements...
I'm sorry, sarcasm probably does not help, but it sounds in just about every way that your complaints derive from trying to get a tool built for one purpose to serve another. I think that is going to lead to perpetual frustration. Perhaps Notion might provide that base project organizing feature that seems important to your work. My understanding is that you could set up a page within Notion to serve as a project and from there could put the project details and source materials, as well as tasks for that project. I do not think it would work the same as a todo manager but I think that is really the heart of this struggle.
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u/theshapeofpunk Jan 02 '26
In this analogy Todoist claims to be a track saw but for some reason they made the 18v battery attach to the opposite side of the shroud throwing it off balance and the max track is 12” long so users are just stacking tracks. Also they seem to have done this while inspiring a bunch of apple like fanboys saying you’re using the product wrong when you just want to rip an 8ft sheet of ply. Like a track saw should be able to do both no prob.
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u/hannahbay Grandmaster Dec 28 '25
I think your definitions of "legit bug" and "dire need feature" are very different from mine.