Starting with the basics of Microsoft To Do
When I first opened Microsoft To Do, the interface felt weirdly plain, almost like a notebook slapped onto a screen. I clicked the big plus button to add a task, typed “buy groceries,” and it just sat there until I hit enter. Done. No sparks or confetti, just the task in a list. At first I thought it was too stripped down, but I actually liked that nothing distracted me when I only wanted to write “call the dentist.” The one thing that tripped me up, though, was the “My Day” feature. Every time I added tasks there, the next day it would be blank again. I panicked the first time because I thought To Do had deleted everything, but it turns out it just resets daily so you pick your focus every morning. Kind of genius once you get the hang of it, but the first week it made me feel like I lost stuff for no reason 😛
Why Todoist feels completely different at first
Switching to Todoist after trying Microsoft To Do felt like walking into a control room. Every button does something. When I added a task, I noticed I could drop in shortcuts like “Call mom tomorrow at 3pm” and Todoist actually understood it. It scheduled the task without asking me to click a date picker. I remember testing it obsessively, typing “review client list every Monday” and then watching it automatically create a recurring weekly task. That was the hook for me. But on the flip side, it felt a little intimidating because the inbox filled up fast. Todoist captures everything in one place and you have to keep cleaning it. The first weekend it got messy, and I ended up spending more time organizing labels and priorities than doing the tasks themselves.
Managing personal tasks in Microsoft To Do
One thing I do in Microsoft To Do is group recurring chores. For example, I wanted a repeating “take out trash” task. You can click on the task, go into details, and set it to repeat daily or weekly. Simple, almost boringly simple. I use it for things like watering plants too, and the app just quietly adds the next one when you check it off. What keeps me there for personal stuff is the syncing with Outlook tasks automatically. If I jot something down on my work email using the old flagged email trick, it shows up in To Do. That part makes me laugh because it feels like Microsoft smashed an old legacy feature into a sleek new app and somehow it still works. The problem is, the mobile notifications sometimes lag. I’ll set a reminder to “pick up milk at 5pm” and by the time it buzzes, I’m already home. That makes me fall back to written sticky notes more often than I want to admit 🙂
Using Todoist seriously for work projects
When I moved into Todoist for work projects, it clicked why so many people swear by it. You can create projects for different areas, like “Client A Website” or “Podcast Planning,” then break them into tasks and subtasks. Assigning due dates works beautifully, but the real juice is setting priorities — little red flags that push the most urgent stuff to the top. I once used it to handle a fasting pile of freelance writing deadlines. Every time an editor emailed me, I just forwarded the email into Todoist with its unique forwarding address, and the task would appear instantly in my inbox. Only issue: those forwarded tasks would show up with cryptic subject lines, so I still had to retype them into something usable. The labeling system is also a mixed bag. Once I figured out you can filter by labels like “waiting on client” or “urgent,” I finally felt organized. But if you over-label, you’re swallowed in your own tags.
How both apps deal with daily planning
This is where the real debate kicks in. Microsoft To Do practically forces you into the daily reset with its “My Day.” Todoist leans into rolling schedules where everything piles up until you clear it. I had days in Todoist where I woke up to a wall of red overdue tasks that just made me close the app immediately. Meanwhile, To Do gave me a fresh empty page in the morning, making me feel like yesterday’s failure didn’t matter. If you’re the kind of person who wants forgiveness baked into your app, To Do gives that breathing room. If you’re the type who needs the pressure of seeing what you didn’t finish, Todoist wins. Personally, I bounce between them depending on my mood, which is probably why I never feel completely settled.
Key integrations that actually matter
Something people don’t mention enough is the integrations. Microsoft To Do shines if you’re already in the Microsoft ecosystem. It syncs with Outlook Calendar in a way that just works — your flagged emails morph into tasks without you thinking about it. Handy for corporate setups where you’re already stuck in Microsoft 365 anyway. Todoist is more of an open playground. You can hook it to Slack, Google Calendar, or use Zapier automations like “when I star an email in Gmail, make a Todoist task.” I had a messy but brilliant Zap that grabbed notes from a Google Sheet brainstorm and turned each line into a Todoist task. The problem was, sometimes it would duplicate the same task twice for no reason. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But once I cleaned it, it let me brainstorm without losing the output. There’s also an IFTTT recipe I used that pops all Todoist tasks with a deadline into my Google Calendar, so I could see looming tasks alongside my real meetings.
Pricing and whether it even matters
Here’s the unsatisfying truth: both apps have free tiers that are enough for most people. Microsoft To Do is completely free, full stop, while Todoist has a paid pro plan. I tested Todoist’s paid features because I needed reminders on mobile (yup, weird that free Todoist doesn’t notify you of deadlines properly). The price is about the cost of one sandwich per month, which felt okay when I was deep in client work. But when my workload dipped and I was mostly managing grocery lists, it felt overkill. That’s where To Do won me back, because I didn’t feel guilty for paying nothing to keep a couple lists alive.
Practical choice for daily task juggling
If I’m honest, the real “winner” changes based on the phase of my life. When I’m stuck in corporate email land, I lean on Microsoft To Do because of its ties to Outlook. When I’m juggling freelance chaos, Todoist is the backbone that lets me assign and schedule without limits. The best way to figure it out is to literally add the same task in both and watch how each handles it over the week. That experiment taught me faster than reading endless productivity articles ever could. With Todoist, tasks grow into projects. With To Do, they stay friendly little lists. The tool you end up loving probably depends not on the software but on how forgiving or intense you want each day to feel.
If you want to try them, both are sitting on their sites at microsoft.com and todoist.com — nothing tricky about finding them. Just don’t expect either app to magically fix your procrastination, because I tested that and it still doesn’t work 🙂