Tasks

Press ⇧T anywhere to add a task. Tasks lists your tasks by when they're due, and you can choose one to open it. To get to Tasks, press G and then T.

Add a task

1. Press ⇧T. You can also press N in Tasks, or choose New task in the New menu.
2. Type its title, and set its home and dates if you like.
3. Choose Add task, or press ⌘↵.

Nothing is saved until you add the task. A task added from a project or a list starts there.

From any app on a Mac

While Nifty is open and you're signed in, you can add a task from any app. Press ⌃⌥⌘T, and a New task window opens over your other apps.

1. Type the task, and set its home and dates if you like.
2. Choose Add task, or press ⌘↵.

The window closes and you're back where you were. The task goes to the Inbox unless you choose another home.

If you're already in Nifty, the shortcut opens New task in Nifty instead.

To close the window without adding anything, choose Cancel. Esc closes it too, until you've typed something. To close it for now and keep what you typed for next time, press ⌘W, or the shortcut again.

To change the shortcut:

1. Choose Nifty → Desktop Settings…, and then Shortcuts.
2. Next to New task shortcut, choose Change… (or Record shortcut if it's off).
3. Press the keys you'd like. They must include ⌘, ⌃ or ⌥, unless you use a function key (F1 to F20).

To stop using the shortcut, choose Turn off.

A task's home and dates

Every task has a Home, which is the Inbox, one of your lists or a project. New tasks without a home go to the Inbox. To move a task, choose its home and type to find a list or project. When the home is selected, you can start typing straight away. A task moved to another home goes to the bottom of it.

To keep a task about someone, mention them in its details with @.

A task can have three dates, and all of them are optional. In an open task, its home, start and deadline are beside the title, or under it on a phone. An empty one says Start or Deadline. To give it an expiry date, choose ⋯ → Set expiry… at the bottom. Once it's set, the expiry shows with the other dates, and its × removes it.

Date	Means
Start	When you'll start. From that day it's in Today. Any time if unset.
Deadline	When it's due. Late tasks show how late they are. A task with a deadline and no start is in Today.
Expires	If it's still open after this day, it moves to the Logbook. Never if unset.

A task can start after its deadline. It then shows Will be late until the deadline passes, and Overdue after that. It stays out of Today until it starts.

Type a date

To choose a date without paging through the calendar, type it in the field under the calendar and press ↵. Nifty understands dates such as tomorrow, next Friday, in 3 days, 4 March, 4/3/26 (day first) and 6 January 2000. The line under the field shows the day Nifty has read.

When a date is selected, you don't need to open its calendar first. Start typing, and the calendar opens with your text in the field. See Keyboard shortcuts.

A date without a year is the nearest one, so in October, 4 March means next March. You can type a date for a task's dates, a document's date, an event's date, Pick a date on Today, a search's day and a project's dates.

Views

These are the tabs at the top of Tasks.

Tab	Shows
Today	The same tasks as the Today page: those that have started, and those with a deadline and no start, however far off, from the Inbox, your lists and your projects. A task you've put off past its deadline waits until its new start. Add one with T.
Inbox	Tasks with no home and no start date, in your own order.
Upcoming	Tasks starting after today, under a heading for each day.
Delegated	Tasks you've delegated to someone, by deadline or start date.
Logbook	Completed, won't do and expired tasks.

Lists at the end opens your lists and New list…. A project's tasks are also on the Tasks tab of its page.

Choose how a page orders its tasks at the top. Nifty remembers each page's choice on every device you use.

• Deadline groups them by when they're due (Overdue, Today, Tomorrow, Next 7 days…).
• Start groups them by when they start (Ready now, Starts tomorrow…).
• Custom is your own order. Drag a task by its grip to move it, or press ⌥↑ or ⌥↓. A task's ⋯ menu also has Move to top and Move to bottom.

Today and Delegated offer Deadline and Start. A list or project offers all three. The Inbox is always in your own order.

Work through tasks

Tick a task, or press Space, to complete it. Tick it again to reopen it.

Choose a task to open it. Change what you like, and then choose Save or press ⌘↵. To leave it as it was, choose Cancel. Esc closes the task only while nothing has changed; otherwise the task stays open and says Save ⌘↵ or Cancel. Along the bottom are Start, Delay and ⋯, which holds Attach…, Set expiry…, Delegate…, Won't do and Delete task. A closed task has Reopen and ⋯ instead.

You can use each task's ⋯ menu, or a key while the task is focused. Right-click a task to open its menu where you clicked.

Choose	Key	Does
Open	↵	Opens it.
Start	S	Starts working on it now. On the task you're working on, it's Stop. See Work on a task now.
Add to today	T	Starts it today. Remove from today clears its start. A delegated task, or one with a deadline, shows Start today and Clear start date instead, because a deadline keeps it in Today. A task that's due today or overdue has neither, unless you've put it off past its deadline. Then Start today brings it back.
Delay: Tomorrow, Monday, In a week		Moves its start later. See Put a task off.
Pick a date…	D	Moves its start to a day you choose.
Move to…	M	Gives it a new home.
Delegate…		Delegates it to someone. See Delegate a task.
Won't do	W	Sends it to the Logbook without completing it.
Delete task	⌫	Deletes it.

You can undo Delay, Move to…, Delegate…, Won't do and Delete task for 10 seconds from the message that appears, or by pressing U.

Put a task off

When you can't get to a task yet, delay it rather than leaving it in Today. Choose its ⋯ and then Tomorrow, Monday or In a week, or choose Pick a date… (D). Monday shows unless tomorrow is a Monday. In an open task, choose Delay at the bottom, choose a day, and then choose Save.

If the new day is after the task's deadline, Nifty asks first:

• Keep the deadline keeps it. The task will be late.
• Move it to a day moves the deadline on by the days you had left.
• Pick a date… lets you choose another day.

Nifty remembers each time you put a task off. A task you've put off shows a dot for each time beside its dates, up to four, then a number. In an open task, a line above the buttons says what has happened to its dates, such as how often you've put it off and when it's due. Choose it to see a timeline of the task's dates and its History. Changes you make within 10 minutes count once, so a quick correction or an undo doesn't count.

Work on a task now

To keep track of what you're doing, choose a task's ⋯ → Start, press S, or choose Start in an open task. The task is then your Now task: a banner at the top of every page except Today shows it, and its row says Now. Today shows it on its card instead. Choose Open in the banner to open it, or Stop when you've finished for now.

Only one task is your Now task at a time, so starting another stops the first. You can't start a task you've delegated. A task that starts later starts today instead, and you can undo that from the message that appears. Completing the task, choosing Won't do, deleting it, putting it off or delegating it stops it too.

The task stays current until you stop it. To have Nifty stop it at set times each day, such as the end of your working day, add the times in Settings → Tasks.

Delegate a task

When you've handed a task to someone else but still want to keep an eye on it, delegate it to them.

1. Choose the task's ⋯ → Delegate….
2. Type to find the person, and choose them. If they aren't in Nifty yet, choose New person to add them.

A delegated task leaves Today, the Inbox and Upcoming, and shows on the Delegated tab and on the Tasks tab of the person's page instead. A task in a list or project stays there too. There, and on the Delegated tab, the person's photo shows before its title. Once it's due today or overdue, it also shows under Waiting on on Today.

To change who it's delegated to, choose ⋯ → Delegate to someone else…. To make it yours again, choose Take back. In an open task, choose ⋯ → Delegate…. The person then shows beside the dates. To delegate it to someone else, choose their name. Take back makes it yours again. Both are saved when you choose Save. You can't delegate a task to yourself. On a delegated task, Add to today becomes Start today, which sets its start date without putting it in your Today. Rest the pointer on a person's photo in a list to see their name.

If you delete the person, their tasks become yours again.

Lists

Lists are your own homes for tasks, such as Groceries or Home. Nifty shows them in alphabetical order.

• To add a list, choose Lists → New list… and give it a Name, a Colour and an Icon. To find an icon, type part of its name.
• On a list, Edit list (E) changes these. Its ⋯ menu has Delete list, which deletes its tasks too. You can undo this for 10 seconds.

The Logbook

The Logbook tab shows completed, won't do and expired tasks, newest first, by the day they closed. To bring a task back, tick it or choose ⋯ → Reopen. The Inbox, a list, a project and a person's Tasks tab also show their closed tasks under Completed. Nifty remembers whether each one is open, on every device you use.

Notes and documents on a task

You can attach notes and documents to a task, as many as you need. In an open or new task, choose ⋯ → Attach…. Once something's attached, it shows beside the dates, and choosing it opens the same list. Before you type, it shows the notes and documents you added most recently.

Type to find others by their name or by what's in them, or choose Type or Day to narrow the list. Each result shows what it is and its date. Choose one to attach it, or choose one marked Attached to remove it.

What's attached is listed at the top: choose a document's name to view it, or the × to remove it. To add new documents, choose Upload…, or drop PDFs and images on the task. An email you drop goes into Unsorted straight away.

Press Esc, or choose Done on a phone, to go back to the task. Nothing is attached or removed until you save the task.

A note or document lists its tasks in its details, under Tasks. Tick a task there to complete it, or choose it to open it. Choose the + beside Tasks to add a task that's already attached.

A new task is attached to the note you have open, including one you're editing. See Library.