Microsoft To Do

This is BY FAR my absolute FAVORITE app ever. This app is a direct extension of my brain. It keeps all my thoughts organized. It is a perfect holding place for all the crazy ideas and things I need to get done that pop up in my brain. I can easily dump them here and then focus on what I need to. I’ve been using this for years back when it was Wunderlist. I can’t say enough good things about it. Best app ever. This keeps my personal to do list, my business to do list, my wish list, shopping list, books I want to read (but won’t ever get around to actually reading), business ideas, writing ideas, silly crazy ideas, movies I want to see, my vehicle maintenance schedules, my goals, my dreams and everything in between. As a side note I also use a simple but crazy-effective emoji system. I put an emoji in front of each to-do item. For example the hammer emoji means fix, a tree means outdoor project, a squid emoji means organization project, thread=sewing, car=car, computer=computer, etc. after that I put a number emoji which means how long I think that project will take. The app allows you to sort alphabetically so all the emojis are all grouped. When I have time, all I do is look at my to-do list and decide what kind of project I’m going to tackle and how much time I have. Then I get things done. Yes I was that really productive friend when the pandemic hit and we all got laid off. I was crushing it, getting things done, building stuff, starting side businesses. All with the help of Microsoft To-Do.

I would have to say that overall Microsoft To-Do is a fantastic app and definitely the best to-do list app I have used. They make it very easy for someone with an ever growing and changing list of things that need to be done to organize everything in their life. For example: I have my main tasks listed in the default list but I also have a list for each of the jobs I work, and a group with lists for all of my college classes and their assignments. And the best part is you can view everything that needs to be done today, tomorrow, next week, and later from all of those lists all on one page in the “Planned” tab. This app also works really well across multiple platforms by instantly syncing changes. I use it on my iPhone, iPad, and Windows PC. A main feature I would really love to see added for the versions on iOS and iPadOS is the ability to add Microsoft To-Do to your widgets this way you can see and check things off your list all right from your home screen. My biggest complaint is that whenever you add a task from the “Planned” tab it defaults to being due yesterday??? But overall it’s a to-do list app and I think you would have a really difficult time finding a better one out there.

Update from review a few months ago: So another plug - Please add more sort options to the Important list (right under My Day on my screen). It would be absolutely PERFECT if I could sort the Important list by specific lists and in alphabetical order since the grocery lists are set up by store layout. Alternatively, allow users to sort each list with sub-sorts such as: in my TJ’s list, sort by importance, then alphabetically. It should automatically do this, though, IMO. It is simply not functional if trying to use it as a grocery list. If I’ve designed the list by store layout, then I want all the dairy that I’ve starred to be together. Why are so many requests being ignored (for years) by Microsoft? I’m about to move on from this app and try another one specifically for groceries, but boy what a headache that would be. To Do could be an excellent, simple app if Microsoft would take care of some key requests (and apparently bugs). Partial review a few months ago: The “Important” list brings in all the starred tasks, however there still is no option to sort by the different lists each of these starred tasks live in. I have grocery stores as lists and I used to be able to go to the Important list and it would show me all the starred items I needed to purchase, separating it by each grocery store “list”. Worked perfectly! If this sort feature can be added to To Do, I’d seriously consider giving it 5 stars, but not until then.