How to set up GTD in Todoist Inbox, labels, filters and a weekly review.

Todoist's Inbox, projects, labels and filters are enough to run the method. Here is a setup in six steps, a weekly review, and the plan limits that get in the way.

Jacky Fakkeldij Building Driftto, on his own · Updated 23 October 2026

I build Driftto, an iPhone app that writes new items into Todoist, so a lot of people tell me they run their whole list there. Many of them ask how to make Todoist work for GTD. I compared the apps that suit the method in the best GTD apps for iPhone and weighed the two best-known ones in OmniFocus vs Todoist. This page is for people who picked Todoist and want the setup.

In October 2026 I went through Todoist's help center, its plans and pricing FAQ, its pricing page and the US App Store listing. What a plan allows comes from those pages. Where a page doesn't say, I say so. The method is David Allen's; the steps below are my own wording.

The short answer

In Todoist, capture in the Inbox, give each outcome a project, and use labels for contexts and a Next label. A filter then shows only what you can do now. Check Upcoming for dated items and clear the Inbox weekly. The free plan allows five projects and three filters; Pro, $60 a year, raises both.

What GTD asks of a tool

Getting Things Done is David Allen's method for handling everything that asks for your attention, and a registered trademark of the David Allen Company. I won't repeat his book. In short: get every open loop out of your head and into one trusted place, decide what each one is, and keep one concrete next step for every outcome you care about.

A tool needs four things for that: a place to drop anything fast, a way to group tasks by outcome, a way to mark which task is the next step and where you can do it, and a view that shows only those. Todoist covers all four with ordinary features, which you set up once.

The setup, in six steps

1. 01

   Capture everything in the Inbox

   Todoist's help says the Inbox is where every new task lands when you don't add it to a project. It is built for fast capture, so don't sort while you capture. On the web you click Add task and type; on iOS and Android you tap the red add button. The Inbox is a holding place, not a list you work from. Step 6 empties it.

2. 02

   Make one project per outcome

   Name a project after the result you want, such as Book the autumn trip, not the area it belongs to. A task is one step; a project is anything that takes more than one. Sections split a project into parts, up to 20 per project, and a task can have sub-tasks. On the free plan you get five active projects, and Todoist's help doesn't say whether the Inbox counts toward them. With five, you can't give every outcome its own project: use sections, and keep Someday as a label (step 3) instead of a project.

3. 03

   Add labels for contexts, Next, Waiting and Someday

   Open Filters & Labels in the sidebar (on a phone, Browse, then Filters & Labels), tap the plus beside Labels and name it. Make one label for each place or tool that decides what you can do: home, computer, phone, errands. Then make three that carry the method: next, waiting and someday. To label a task as you type it, put % in the task name, or use the Labels chip in Quick Add. Todoist's help says the old @ still works, but it plans to retire it for adding labels by the end of 2026, so use %. Labels have no per-plan limit in the help; the usage limits page caps them at 500 per account on every plan.

4. 04

   Mark one next action per project

   Open each project and ask what the very next physical step is. Write it as a verb you could start on: Call the dentist, not Dentist. Put the label next on that task, plus a context label such as phone. Leave the other tasks in the project unlabeled. When you finish the next action, label the one after it. A project with no next action is stuck, and the review will find it.

5. 05

   Build filters that show only what you can do now

   Filters are saved queries. Open Filters & Labels, tap the plus beside Filters, name it and type the query. Todoist's filter help lists the operators: & for and, | for or, ! for not, and brackets to group. Three queries cover most of a GTD list. First, %next & %phone shows the next actions you can do on the phone. Second, %next & no date shows next actions you haven't pinned to a day. Third, %waiting & (today | overdue) shows what you are waiting on and should chase today. If you don't want to write queries, Filter Assist can write one from a plain description. Todoist's filter help writes labels with % and accepts @ for now.

6. 06

   Use dates sparingly, and watch Upcoming

   GTD keeps the calendar for what must happen on a day or at a time. Most next actions have no date, and a date you invent only becomes an overdue task you start ignoring. When something does have a day, give it one. Upcoming shows every dated task across your projects for the next seven days and beyond, up to two years ahead. Drag a task to move it to a new day, or use the Reschedule button for overdue ones. Check it each morning, and again in the weekly review.

A weekly review you can repeat

Todoist's help suggests setting aside a few minutes each day or week to process the Inbox, and its Upcoming article suggests a recurring weekly task to plan your week. Put your review in a task that repeats every week, and give it a day when you are usually at a desk. Work down this list.

• Empty the Inbox

  For each task, move it to a project, give it a label or a date, or delete it. Todoist's help says it is fine to decide a task needs no attention.

• Look at Upcoming

  Read next week. Move what won't happen, and clear what is overdue with Reschedule.

• Open the waiting filter

  Chase anyone who owes you something, or give the item a date so it comes back.

• Walk through your projects

  Each live project needs one task labeled next. If it has none, add one. If you no longer want the outcome, archive the project.

• Skim someday

  Open the someday label. Pull out anything you now want to do, and take off the label.

What the free plan covers, and what needs Pro

Todoist calls its free plan Beginner. Nearly all of this setup works on it. Two limits matter for GTD, and one more is worth knowing. Pro costs $60 a year or $7 a month on Todoist's plans FAQ, with a seven-day trial. The US App Store lists $59.99 a year and $6.99 a month.

In practice: three filters are enough for a start, such as next, waiting and one context, but you will hit the cap once you want a filter for each context. Five projects are tight for GTD, since every outcome is a project. If you go over after a downgrade, Todoist's help says the five most recently created projects stay active and older ones become view-only. Labels, the Inbox, due dates, Upcoming and automatic reminders all work on the free plan. Custom reminders, and the calendar layout for time-blocking, need Pro.

Where Driftto fits

Driftto only matters for step 1, getting a thought into the Inbox when you are away from Todoist. It writes new tasks into Todoist and nothing else: it never reads, edits or completes what is already there.

You type or speak a note, then tap Todoist. The whole note becomes the task name, in the project you picked at setup. If you picked none, Todoist puts it in the Inbox, which is where a GTD capture belongs. You can add a due date, but only a date, not a time. Nothing goes into the description, and Driftto doesn't set labels or priority, so sorting still happens in your weekly review.

It is an iPhone app only. One capture can also go to several destinations at once. If you want more ways into Todoist, I compared them in the best Todoist integrations.

Questions

Driftto is in the App Store now. The yearly plan starts with a free week.