How to Import a Pre-Built Excel Template into Todoist

The purpose of this blog post was to publish this video walk-through to share with other authors who have asked me about my process in importing a fancy Excel spreadsheet into Todoist. But I decided to include some written commentary too, for those of you who prefer to learn that way, need the additional reinforcement/summary, or to cover anything I forgot to say in the recording.

So here is the video, then read below for more info.

Overview

This instruction video shows how to import from an Excel spreadsheet that automatically calculates dates into Todoist.

What is Todoist

Todoist is a project/task management app that I love. Here are some of the answers to your initial questions about Todoist if you don’t already use it:

available on all platformslives in the cloudnot open sourcehas a free level, a pro (paid) level, and a team level. There are limitations on the number of projects you can create on the free level. It is one of the few apps I use the paid level for, and think it is well worth it.while they promote collaborative use, Todoist works very well as a one-person appyou can import and export your information, you are not “stuck” if you decide you don’t like itit is in active development, with new features coming out all the timeit connects to Google calendarsit has system remindersyou can time blocklots of shortcut keys if you like to keep your hands on the keyboarduses natural language to parse your entriesI have used it for about seven years and according to Todoist have completed 81,996 tasks and achieved “Enlightened” levelWhy Import from Excel?

If you are regularly importing long task lists with dates assigned, this can free up a lot of time. My use case: I write a book every month and each of these projects has 175+ tasks to go from planning to publication. By implementing this process, I fill in the title of the book, the milestone dates, and import into Todoist. The book title is embedded into every task description so I know at a glance which book it refers to without checking the project name, and all of the appropriate milestone dates are imported (with no midnight reminders.)

The sheet will automatically:

Calculate task deadlinesCreate calculated dates to relative dates (e.g. “today + 5 days”) to avoid the creation of midnight remindersGenerate markdown-rich task descriptionsStep 1: Creating your Template

Todoist gives you the basic instructions for setting up a CSV file here.

They provide a sample CSV file that you can download to start yourself off.

Save it as an xlsx file to keep a template of your calculations and other formatting. CSV will only save your text.

Features I have added to my Excel SpreadsheetIndenting the task description so that I can easily see what each task nests under. This will not affect the indent level in Todoist. The column Todoist will pay attention to is the INDENT column. If you get that wrong, it will not indent to the right level in Todoist.I changed the background colour for each section so that I can see the stages and find my tasks quickly if I need to make changes.I use TEXTJOIN to combine the description with the book title. You can use this to quickly concatenate multiple columns of text. I don’t use the author, responsible, or timezone fields but I keep them in my spreadsheet anyway.You must include the language code in the DATE_LANG columnIf you capitalize task, note, or section, they will not enter. Lower case only! Notes about my ColumnsColumns with ALL CAPS headings are the ones that will be imported by Todoist.Columns with Title Case headings are used for the calculations and will be deleted before import into Todoist. About DatesImporting relative dates (e.g. today, in 7 days) instead of absolute dates (January 1) avoids the creation of midnight reminders, which drive me crazy. I prefer not to have to delete reminders from 175 tasks one at a time.Todoist doesn’t support repeating and dated tasks together on import. Import as repeating, then set the start date manually after import Optional: Formatting text and Embedding Links in TasksIf you want rich text in your tasks, you can use markdown formatting in the description. **Bold***Italic*[Link description](URL)You can embed links to:Obsidian notes, Fantastical dates, or records in other apps with URI schemesOther projects or sections in TodoistSystem files or folders using Hookmark (MacOS only, there may be other apps that work for Windows)Web-based tools (e.g., Photopea or Canva)System Apps

What is a URI scheme? Some apps like Fantastical and Obsidian let you link to certain records or views using a URI (which is like and internet URL, but for apps.) In Fantastical, you can have it jump to a certain date. In Obsidian you can link to a certain note or vault.

Hookmark is an app that will let you link to certain files or folders to open them. So if you are super ADHD and get distracted on the way to where you want to go or get there and forget what you were supposed to be doing, Hookmark can link you directly from your “Edit ABC doc” task to that document. It is real lifesaver for me.

Tip: if an app does not have a URI scheme, you can still make a link open an app itself by Hookmarking the app executable file in the Applications Directory (MacOS). I use this to open Messages, Photos, and others during my weekly review/planning.

Step 2: Save as CSVMake any Final Edits

On my spreadsheet, that means entering my book title and milestone dates. You may have other items you need to edit in yours. Do whatever pre-importing edits you need to do now.

Save and importAfter making whatever modifications you need to on your spreadsheet, save your Excel file with a new name (don’t overwrite the master unless you really mean to.)Save as .csv.Close CSV file and then reopen it again to reload it as a CSV file rather than an Excel file.Delete any calculation columns that are not to be imported into Todoist

If you ignore paragraph 3 above, you will break it. Even though you have saved it as a CSV file, Excel is still editing it as an Excel file, and deleting your extra columns will break the formula calculations. You need to save it as a CSV, close it, and reopen it and then all of the data is embedded in your file as text rather than formulae.

Step 3: Import into TodoistOpen Todoist.Create or select the project to import into.Use Import from CSV.Select your saved file.Wait a while. A big spreadsheet might take five minutes. Your entire project (including section headings and due dates) will appear.

You can’t “undo” this. Todoist suggests importing into an empty “bulk import” project so that you can delete it if it does not import the way you expect it to.

Tasks will retain:

Markdown formattingLinksSection groupingDue dates (without unwanted reminders)

Remember you will need to add dates to those repeating tasks to make them start on the right day. For example, my daily repeat to write 6000 wpd needs to be started on the first of the month rather than on the day that I import it.

The post How to Import a Pre-Built Excel Template into Todoist first appeared on pdworkman.com.