Tour¶

View	Shows
Today	Tasks that start today or earlier and are still open.
Upcoming	A week strip, then every coming day, each with its own add.
Due dates	Tasks with a deadline, by when; select many to move their dates.
Mess Drawer	Tasks not yet put in a list: the place quick ideas land.
All	Every open task.
Calendar	Month, and 1 to 14 days on a time grid.
Assigned to me / Shared with me	Tasks others gave you, and lists shared with you.
Closed	Done and won't-do tasks.
Trash	Deleted tasks and lists, restorable for 30 days.
Search	Finds tasks by their words, ranked best first (see below).
Lists, Tags, Filters	Your own lists, nested tags, and saved filters.

Views show how many open tasks they hold, as lists do, and Closed how many closed tasks it lists (Calendar, Trash and Search show none); so do lists and tags pinned among them. The Today icon shows today's date, and turns over at midnight.

Edit sidebar pins, hides and moves views, Search included. While editing, drag a row by its grip on the left; a swipe anywhere else scrolls. The menu button at the top left folds the sidebar away and back (each device remembers it); folded away on a desktop, rest the mouse at the window's left edge and it slides out over the page, going again once the mouse moves off it. At the bottom, a small month shows a dot on days with open tasks; click a day to open that day's tasks as a list, like Today but for any day (today itself opens Today). The day page adds new tasks to that day, shows what got done that day, and its arrows step a day. The arrow at the top right of the small month folds it down to just one week (and back), and each device remembers which. Its title picks a month, and clicked again a year, to jump far; the dot between its arrows goes back to now. Under it is the app's version, which links to what changed. On a phone the main views sit in the bottom bar, and More holds the rest of the sidebar: the views, saved filters, lists and tags. Its pencil (or holding a row) edits it just like Edit sidebar on a computer, and the changes apply on every device. While editing, the Bottom bar section at the top picks the bar's tabs: up to four views, saved filters or Search, dragged into order, with More always last.

Dates leave the year off when it is this year: "Thu, Oct 22", "October", but "Jan 4, 2027".

Upcoming and Due dates¶

A task that spans days (a start and an end) is not overdue while it runs: from its start until its end it shows under today, and only once its end has passed does it count as overdue. Its row shows both dates, start then end (on a phone, the end under the start).

Today says all punched out once nothing is left open or overdue, with what you finished today still listed under it.

Upcoming lists today and every day after it, empty days included, under a strip of the week's days. More days load as you near the end, and the strip follows the day at the top of the list. On a wide screen the add bar sticks above the strip and adds to the day picked there. Swipe the strip sideways (or drag it with the mouse, or use the arrows) to move a week, and the list goes to the same weekday there; tap a day to jump to it. Going back before today, or picking an earlier day from the month name above the strip, starts the list on that day; Today brings it back, and Upcoming always opens on today. Each day's + adds a task to that day. Overdue tasks sit on top while the list starts today. Grouping it any other way than by date shows the next 7 days' tasks in those groups instead.

Due dates shows every open task with a due date: Overdue, Due today, Due tomorrow, Due in the next 7 days and Due later. Each row shows its due date (even when the task also has a start) and changes it in place. Select (or hold a row on a phone), pick tasks or a whole group with Select all, then move them all to Today, Tomorrow, Next week or a date you pick, or clear them. Each task keeps its own time of day, and Undo puts them back.

Filter (the funnel at the top of Today, Upcoming and the Calendar) shows only some lists, tags and saved filters, in any mix: a task shows when it is in one of the lists picked, has one of the tags picked (or a tag under one) and matches one of the saved filters picked; a kind with nothing picked lets everything through. Each of the three keeps its own filter on this device, and the funnel is colored while one is on. Clear shows everything again.

Tasks¶

A task has a title, notes (rich text, with - [ ] checklists), subtasks, tags, a priority, a start (a date, a time, or a time span) and an optional hard due date. Views place tasks by their start; the due date is the deadline.

Add: the field at the top of a list, or press Q anywhere. Type it all in one line: see quick add.
Open: click a task for its details panel; it can be widened or made full screen. The expand button at the end of the add field opens a new task straight in the full view, filled with what you typed. The + button at the bottom right (every screen size) opens that full view too, with the title ready to type into; on a phone it fills the screen, and closing it closes the task. At the bottom: the comments, the task's history and when it was made and last changed. On a phone those wait behind a bar at the bottom: tap it, or swipe up on it or past the end of the task, and a panel as tall as the task's slides up with the comments and, below them, the history. When the task was made shows at the left and when it last changed at the right. Panels that slide up close with a swipe down or a tap outside them. Phone rows put the title on its own line, with the list and tags under it and the date at the right.
Reminders: in a task's details, Reminders opens a list like TickTick's: tick any of On time, 5 or 30 minutes, an hour or a day early (an all-day task: On the day, 1, 2 or 3 days or a week early, each at 9:00 or the time set in Settings > New tasks > All-day reminder time), or None. Custom makes your own: the Day or Week tab picks how many days or weeks early and the wheels the time of day (60 days early at 4:00 PM, say); a timed task also has Minute and Hour tabs for minutes or hours early. It shows when the reminder will come, or that the time has passed. Constant reminder keeps a reminder on screen until the task is done: on the Android app it keeps sounding and buzzing until you open it, dismiss it or press a button, going quiet after 30 minutes; in a browser it comes back every 5 minutes for 30 minutes. Its Dismiss stops that reminder (the task's other reminders still come) and Snooze 10 min adds a one-time reminder ten minutes on. Nothing changes until OK. The first reminder asks your browser for permission to show notifications. Reminders go to the people the task is assigned to, or to whoever made it when nobody is. They appear while Punchlist is open or in the background (offline too), and with a server and Settings > Notifications > Notify me when Punchlist is closed turned on for the device, also with Punchlist closed (on iPhone and iPad, from Punchlist added to the Home Screen). A click opens the task. A small bell on the row shows a task has reminders. Settings > New tasks > Reminder opens the same list a new task shows (the all-day one at the all-day reminder time, or the timed one when new tasks start with a time) to give every new task reminders once it has a date.
Repeat: in a task's details, Repeat offers daily, weekly on the task's weekday, weekdays, monthly on its day and yearly on its date, and Custom: every so many days, weeks (on the days you pick), months (on its day, on its weekday such as the second Tuesday, or on the last day) or years, ending never, on a date or after a number of times, and counted from the task's date or from when you finish it. Completing a repeating task, or marking it won't do, keeps a closed copy in its history and moves the task to its next date, keeping its time and reopening its subtasks. A task without a date starts today. A small arrows icon on the row shows it repeats. Quick add reads every ... too.
Notes: always ready to type in, with no edit mode. Checklist boxes tick with one tap, without starting to edit. The small button in their bottom right opens the full editor, with a formatting toolbar. Type / for blocks (headings, lists, a checklist, a quote, code). Two of them change the whole note: Every line a checkbox makes a checklist out of what is there, one box per line, and Checkboxes back to lines undoes that; the full editor has the same as one toolbar button.
Assigned: a task you add to a shared list starts assigned to you.
Files: the paperclip at the top of a task's details attaches files, or drop them on the details. Pictures show as thumbnails and open large; other files download. Everyone who sees the task sees its files; whoever added one, or the list's owner, removes it. Files sync through the server (up to ATTACHMENT_MAX_MB, 25 MB by default); a larger one is refused before it is added.
Complete: the circle on the left, or Space. Won't do is in the task's menu.
Move: drag it up or down (on a phone, hold it a moment first); the task rides along under your finger, and near the top or bottom of the screen the page scrolls on. In a list's own order a line shows where it will land: drag it right to make it a subtask, left to undo that, or drop it on the middle of another task to nest it there; a list sorted another way switches to its own order when you drop. Into another group, the whole group lights up and the task takes its value: a day (Today, Tomorrow, a day in Upcoming) or No date sets its date (keeping its time), Next 7 days and Later date it to their first day, priority, tag and list groups set its priority, swap its tag or move it to that list, and Pinned pins it (dragging a task out of Pinned unpins it). Overdue only drags out: letting go over it, or over the task's own group, changes nothing. Drop it on a list in the sidebar to move it there. Or use Move to list... in its menu, or Alt+Up / Alt+Down / Alt+Right / Alt+Left.
Groups: a group's whole heading row (apart from its buttons) folds and unfolds it.
Pin: Pin to the top in a task's menu (its ... in the details) puts it in a Pinned group at the top of every view it shows in, and it stays in its own group too. Completing it lets go of the pin.
Swipe (phones and tablets, like TickTick): swipe a task right to complete it (or reopen a closed one); a short swipe left shows Date, Move and Delete, and a full one opens the task's date. Settings > Swipe actions shows each side on a sample task and changes its buttons (up to three: Complete, Date, Move, Pin, Won't do or Delete; move them left or right, take one away, add another) and what a full swipe does, or turns the full swipe off; it is kept per device. Each change can be undone. Swiping up and down still scrolls. Holding a task drags it; holding its checkbox opens its menu.
Undo: every change, in the calendar too, shows a small round Undo button for a few seconds (a ring runs down the time; it sits bottom left on a phone, above the + on a big screen). Touching it, or nudging it a little, starts the time over; swipe it left or right to send it away.
Comment: at the bottom of a task's details. Comments take a little Markdown (**bold**, *italic*, `code`, [links](https://...)) and @name for the people on the task (type @ for suggestions). Ctrl+Enter posts. Everyone who sees the task sees its comments; people who may change the task may comment (a list's viewers only read). You edit or delete your own; a list's owner may delete any on it.
History: under the comments, a timeline of who changed what and when, newest first (Sam set the date to Fri, Oct 30), each change marked by an icon for what changed, from when the task was made: its title, dates, priority, list, people, tags, notes, repeat, reminders, progress and pin, and completing, deleting or restoring it. A person's quick changes to the same thing within ten minutes show as one. The server keeps it for a year, so it shows with a server (and while it can be reached).

Lists¶

Lists hold tasks. The three dots next to a list's name open its view menu: Select, the view (List or Timeline), grouping (by date, priority or tag, or None for the list's own order, the one you drag tasks in) and sorting, and, for its owner, editing, archiving or deleting the list. The built-in views (Today, Upcoming, All, Assigned to me, Shared with me) and every tag and saved filter have the same menu, plus List to group by list. Picking the chosen grouping or sort again turns it around (an arrow shows which way it runs): Z to A, latest date first (undated tasks stay last), low priority first, oldest first, or the groups in reverse. Each list and view keeps its own choice on this device, and the dots turn colored while it differs from the default; Restore defaults at the bottom of the menu goes back.

Select picks many tasks at once: each task's box becomes a circle to tap, and each group gets a circle that picks everything in it. The bar at the bottom (in place of the tabs on a phone) then completes, dates, moves, tags, prioritizes, pins or deletes them all together; one Undo puts them back, and the cross stops selecting. Select all in the bar picks every task shown, then turns into Deselect all.

Timeline shows a list's dated tasks as bars across their days, with today marked. Drag a bar to move the task to other days (its times and length stay), or drag either end to change when it starts or ends; a click opens it, and Undo takes a move back. On a phone a swipe scrolls the timeline, bars and all; hold a bar still for a moment to pick it up, as on the calendar. One per task gives each task its own row, the one due first at the top and the last at the bottom; Fit together lets tasks that do not overlap share a row, to see more at once. The magnifiers make days wider or narrower, from months at a glance to roomy days. Tasks without a date wait under the timeline. Each list remembers whether it was last shown as a List or a Timeline, on this device.

Folding a group (click its heading) folds it everywhere it shows: fold Overdue in Today and it is folded in Upcoming, All and your lists too, until you open it again. Each device remembers.

A list is marked in the sidebar by its color as a dot until you give it an icon: Edit list (or the new-list dialog) offers about 260 line icons drawn in the list's color and about 370 emoji. Each set starts with a row of common ones, and the rest sit in rows that swipe or scroll sideways; the search above finds either by name ("garden", "car", "money"), and any other emoji can be typed into it and used. Colors for lists and tags open on your theme's own nine, with the families (Pastel, Muted, Earthy, Classic, Vivid) beside them, More themes for any other theme's set, and the rainbow circle for a custom color. A list shared with a group shows the group after its name ("Groceries - Household") for everyone, so it never looks like someone's own list of the same name. Lists can be shared: see sharing.

Lists used to have sections. They are gone: a list that had them keeps its tasks in the order they showed in (tasks outside a section first), and the section names go.

Tags¶

Tags nest with /: home/garden. A task tagged home/garden also shows under home. Pick colors in a tag's menu; subtasks inherit their parent's tags.

Calendar¶

Two views, switched at the top right:

Month: the weeks run on without breaks, so the next weeks are always in sight at the end of a month. It scrolls freely, a flick carrying it on, and settles with a week at the top (with a mouse; on a phone it stays wherever the flick leaves it). Done tasks stay off the calendar. Each day lists its tasks as short lines (time first for timed ones, an hourglass for a due date), then +N more. Pick 1 to 12 weeks on screen with the round number button: four at first, then whatever you picked last. Click a day (or its +N more) for everything on it and a field to add to it. Drag across several days, or swipe across them on a phone, to Show these days or make a New task over these days.
Days: 1 to 14 days side by side on a time grid, with an all-day row on top. The round number button by the view switch picks how many: press and hold it, run your finger round the dial that opens (the number under it rings and grows, and the days follow as you go), and let go to keep it. A tap opens the dial to tap a number; with the keyboard, the arrow keys step it. Pinch, or hold Ctrl and use the wheel, to make hours taller or shorter. Click an empty time to add a task there. On a phone, swipe sideways to page.

Drag a task to move it to another day or time: with a mouse, just drag; with a finger, hold the task a moment until it lifts, then drag, so a swipe anywhere (tasks included) only scrolls. Each move can be undone. In Days, pull the grip at a task's top or bottom edge to change when it starts or ends; on a phone, hold a task still for a moment to get big grips above and below it (easy to hit on a short task), and tap elsewhere when done. While you drag or stretch a task, a label above it shows its start (and end) time, and a dashed outline shows where it will land. Phones show no scrollbars in the calendar: swipe to scroll. Drag tasks from Unscheduled (on a phone, the calendar-with-a-cross button at the top) onto a day (all day) or a time. A task dropped on a month day keeps its time. Each device remembers the view, days, weeks and hour height.

Your profile picture in the top right (your photo or initials, with a small icon of the sign-in provider when you signed in through one) opens a menu with Notifications, Settings, Admin (admins only), Stats (your own numbers, as the server counts them), Friends and groups, Keyboard shortcuts, Change password and Log out.

Settings > Profile holds your photo: choose a picture, then drag it (or use the arrow keys) and pinch, scroll or use the slider to zoom until it sits in the circle, and Save. It is kept small on your profile, so friends and people you share with see it too. Remove photo goes back to your initials. Signed in through an identity provider with no photo of your own (never set, or removed): at sign-in Punchlist uses the provider's picture, if it gives one. A photo you set stays yours.

At the bottom of the menu is the version of the page you are using, with a green check when it is the version your server runs, or a yellow ! when it is not (a page from before an update): hover or click it to read why, and Reload to get the matching one. In the Android app the app's own version shows under it, with a check when the app has everything the server's web app uses, or a ! when it is too old for some of it (update the app).

Update available: when a newer Punchlist release is out than your server runs, or than your Android app, a box at the bottom of the sidebar (at the end of More on a phone) says so, with Release page for its notes and downloads and Skip this release to hide it until the next one. The server looks twice a day (UPDATE_CHECK).

Change password asks for the new password twice. Every password field has an eye at its right end that shows what you typed.

Notifications lists reminders, @mentions, comments, tasks someone assigned you or a group you are in, dibs called on a group's task, and lists someone shared with you, newest first; a red dot on your picture means some are new. Settings > Tell me about picks which of those kinds reach you as a notification on any of your devices (reminders; assignments and dibs; shared lists; comments and mentions) and whether they vibrate; the page lists everything either way. The Android app also lists the same kinds under the phone's own notification settings for Punchlist, where each can be silenced or muted the Android way. A new or changed comment tells everyone else who can see the task (changes to the task itself tell nobody). A click opens the task or list, the cross clears one and Clear all clears the rest. A comment has Reply on the left, which opens the task with its comments shown and scrolled to it, and a thumbs up on the right, which answers with 👍. A task for a group has Open task on the left and Call dibs on the right; a task assigned to you or taken by dibs has Open task, a shared list Open list. The same buttons come on the notifications your phone or browser shows, and those show while the app is open too, as soon as the next sync brings the news (pull down to sync now). Opening the page marks them read. The server keeps them for 90 days; reminders that fired on this device stay on it.

Search¶

Search ranks what it finds the way a search engine does (BM25, as Obsidian's Omnisearch): a word in a task's title counts most, then its tags, its list's name, its parent task, its notes, its comments and its files' names, and a title that starts with what you typed comes first. Every word must match somewhere; words match as you type them ("gard" finds "garden"), and a slip in a longer word is forgiven. A word found only inside another ("paint" in "Repaint") still shows, after the rest. "quotes" keep a phrase together, -word leaves out tasks with that word, and #tag asks for tasks with that tag. Open tasks come first, closed ones under Closed.

Settings¶

Settings (the profile menu, or G S): appearance (light, dark or system theme, and colors), dates (your time zone, how dates show, 12 or 24-hour clock, the first day of the week, when a due date counts as soon, how long a task with only a start time shows on the calendar), sign-in methods and linked accounts, Lists and tags, and Your data (download or import a copy, or move from or to another app: TickTick, Todoist, Google Tasks, Microsoft To Do, iCalendar and Things).

API keys (on a server with accounts) let a script or another app use Punchlist as you: give each a name, an expiry (or none) and only the permissions it needs (read or change tasks, download or upload attachments, notifications, and admin for admins), copy it once, and revoke it whenever you like. Each shows when it was made, when it expires and when it was last used. See the HTTP API.

Show the Closed group (under Lists and tags) hides or shows the done and won't-do tasks under lists and views on this device; a long press (or right-click) on a Closed group's header hides it too. The Closed view and search always show them.

Lists and tags gathers them on one page: drag a list by its grip to set the order the menu shows them in, and from each row change its name, icon and color (tap it), who it is shared with, people and groups (the share button), pin it to the top of the menu, archive it or delete it. Archived lists wait at the end with Unarchive. Tags the same: tap one to rename it, nest it or change its color, pin it, or delete it.

Start over (last on the page): Delete all lists, tasks and tags moves every list, task and tag of yours to the Trash at once (lists others share with you stay), and Undo brings them back. Tick Also empty the Trash to delete them, and everything already in the Trash, for good.

Date format: the language's own (Automatic), a ready-made one such as 2026-10-24 or 24.10.2026, or Custom... to type a pattern such as YYYYMMDD or ddd D MMM: YYYY 2026, YY 26, MMMM October, MMM Oct, MM 10, M 10, DD 05, D 5, dddd Monday, ddd Mon, and [text] as is. It shows today's date in the pattern as you type. Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday keep their names.

Colors: pick one of 30 palettes, from calm (Punchlist, Ocean, Forest, Graphite) and soft (Rose, Blossom, Peach, Lavender, Mint) to bright (Electric, Tropical, Citrus, Berry) and deep (Sunset, Midnight, Coffee), loud (Neon, Arcade, Fiesta, Volt, Rainbow, Lagoon, Sunburst) and pretty (Bubblegum, Cotton candy, Lilac, Rose gold, Peony, Orchid, Champagne), then change any of its colors. The loud and pretty ones also wash the page in their color. Reset colors goes back to the palette's own colors. Picking another palette asks whether to recolor your lists and tags too: each moves to the same spot in the new palette's set (grays, and lists you cannot change, stay as they are).

Time zone: "today", due dates and the calendar follow it. It starts out as the server's time zone (TZ), or your device's without a server; pick another one if you live somewhere else.

New tasks: what a new task starts with: a list (for tasks added outside a list), a priority, a date (none, today, tomorrow or in a week) with an optional time, reminders, the time all-day reminders come at, and on a server whether tasks you add to shared lists start assigned to you. Times are shown on your clock (Settings > Clock) and set with the same wheels as a task's date. Where you add a task still wins: in a list it goes to that list, in Today or on a day it gets that date, and what you type in quick add wins over both.