Having your to-dos and lists in the right place helps to stay organized and on top of your tasks.

While moving items in Things is as easy as drag & drop, there are a few more options that can be even more efficient. Check out our tips below.

In this article:
  1. Drag and drop
  2. The Move dialog
  3. Move via keyboard
  4. Remove content from a project or area

Drag and drop

No matter if you’re using Things on a Mac, iPad, or iPhone, you can use drag and drop to:

  • Change the position of a to-do or heading inside a list.
  • Change the order of checklist items inside of their to-do.
  • Change the order of projects and areas in the sidebar/main lists view.
  • Mac/iPad: Drag and drop to-dos or headings on top of other lists in the sidebar.

Learn drag and drop gestures for iPhone and iPad here.

The Move dialog

Use the Move dialog if you have a lot of lists, or want to target a specific heading. A list of destinations will be automatically generated based on the content you are moving: a to-do can go anywhere; projects can move in and out of areas, and headings can move between projects.

The basics

Mac
  1. Select one or more to-dos.
  2. Click → in the toolbar at the bottom of the app window.
  3. In the Move dialog, click the new destination.

If you don’t see the toolbar, re-enable it via View → Show Toolbar.

How to Move to-dos and projects (as long as the sidebar is visible, you can also just drag and drop them).
iPad & iPhone
  1. Tap a to-do to open it or or swipe left on it to select it.
  2. Tap Move in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen.
  3. In the Move dialog, tap the new destination.

With gestures, you can select multiple items at once. Learn more.

Moving to-dos and projects in Things on iPhone and iPad. You can also drag and drop projects inside areas or drag them out of one.

Advanced options

Here are some additional things you can do in the Move dialog:

Mac
  • Start typing the destination’s name: Works great if you have a lot of lists because you don’t have to scroll through them all.
  • Project headings: They are not shown by default, but just start typing their name to find them.
  • Create new projects: Type the new project’s name, then click + New Project "[your project name]".
Type the name of any destination (project, area, or heading), or create a new project right from within Move.
iPad & iPhone
  • Pull down to search: Pull down with your finger and just start typing your destination’s name.
  • Project headings: They are not shown by default. Pull down to search, and type their name to find them.
  • Create new projects: Pull down to search, type the new project’s name, then click + New Project "[your project name]".
Pull down in search, then type the name of any destination (project, area, or heading), or create a new project right from within Move

💡Tip: If you have the same headings in multiple projects, or your heading isn’t found when typing it into Move, you can try a combination of the project name and heading. For example, if your project is called Travel to Faroe Islands and your heading is Preparation, you could type “far prep” to help Things find it.

Using Move in Quick Entry

Mac

When you use our handy Quick Entry (with Autofill) feature, just click on the button labeled Inbox and you can perform all the advanced operations explained further up.

File a to-do into its proper list directly from Quick Entry.
iPad & iPhone
  1. Drag the blue + over to the left corner and drop it on the Inbox target that’ll appear there.
  2. In the Quick Entry window that comes up, tap Inbox and you can perform all the advanced operations explained further up.

See our iOS gestures in action here.

File a to-do into its proper list directly from Quick Entry, which you can use from anywhere in Things.

Move via keyboard

To accomplish all of the above on your Mac and iPad, you won’t even have to lift your fingers off the keyboard.

Mac

To perform any move operation from the keyboard, invoke ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd M. This shortcut

  • works on both collapsed to-dos and inside open ones.
  • works inside of Quick Entry (with Autofill), too.
  • works on a selection of multiple to-dos.
iPad

To learn how to select and move items in Things, please refer to our extensive documentation here.

It might also be useful to know that ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd M

  • works on both collapsed and open to-dos.
  • of course works on a selection of multiple to-dos.

Inside the Move dialog, you can also start typing without having to pull down first.

Remove content from a project or area

If you change your mind and no longer want a to-do associated with a project or area, or move a project out of an area, here’s how to remove it from a list:

Mac
  • ^ Ctrl + click on a to-do and select Remove from Project/Area
    You can also select a to-do, and in the menu bar at the top of your screen, click Items → Remove from Project/Area
  • ^ Ctrl + click on a project in the sidebar → Move... → x No Area
    You can also enter a project, click ... behind its name → Move → No Area

If you prefer to use the keyboard, ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd M allows you to select x No Project/Area for a to-do. To use this shortcut on a project, you have to select the project inside of an area (not the sidebar).

iPad & iPhone

Enter the Move dialog as explained further up and tap x No Project/Area at the top.

For iPad users with an external keyboard, hit ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd M → x No Project/Area.

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