Drag to reorder tasks in Task List by Zaweba

Drag to reorder is how Task List by Zaweba lets you decide the order of a list yourself. Grab a task, move it up or down, and a sky-blue line shows where it will land. Let go and that order is saved. It is the default sort for every list, so the next time you open it the tasks are just where you left them.

Computers like to sort by date or by name. People, on the whole, do not work that way. You know that the phone call has to happen before the email, even though the email is due first, and your own order is the place to say so.

Moving tasks with the mouse

Open a list and point at a task. Press the mouse button, drag up or down, and watch for the sky-blue drop line between rows. Release where you want the task to sit. The rest of the list closes up around it.

To move a task to a different list, drag it onto that list's name in the sidebar instead. The task leaves the list it was in and joins the other one, keeping its stars, tags, notes, checklist and due date. This is the quickest way to tidy a catch-all list into proper ones, such as Work, Home and Someday.

Moving tasks from the keyboard

If you prefer the keyboard, select a task and press Alt+Up or Alt+Down to move it one place at a time. It is precise, it is quick once your fingers know it, and it saves reaching for the mouse when you are already typing tasks in with Ctrl+N. The same keys move lists in the sidebar, which are ordered by importance first and then by your own drag order.

Other sorts, and getting back

Sometimes your order is not what you need. Task List offers four other sorts: by stars, by due date, by date created and by most overdue. Sorting by due date gives you a calendar view of the list. Most overdue puts the tasks you have been putting off at the top, which is a useful dose of honesty once a week. Sorting by stars brings the ones you rated highest to the top, and date created shows what has been sitting there longest.

None of those sorts throws away your own order. When you have finished looking, choose Back to my order and the list returns to the arrangement you made by hand.

Habits that keep the order useful

Put the next thing you will actually do at the top. A list in your own order works best as a queue: the top task is what you start now, the second is what comes after. When you finish one, tick it, and the next is already waiting.

Use importance at the list level rather than inside one list. Lists themselves have an importance from Critical to Someday, and the sidebar shows the highest first. Tasks inside a list can then be ordered by sense rather than by rank.

Let the smart views handle dates. Today, Overdue and Next 7 days gather tasks from every list on the fly, so you do not need to drag a task to the top just because it is due. Keep your manual order for priorities that dates cannot express.

Slips to watch for

Dragging a task onto the wrong list in the sidebar is the most common slip. Ctrl+Z undoes moves, along with deletes, completions and clears, for up to 50 steps, so put it right straight away. And if a list suddenly looks shuffled, check whether another sort is switched on before you start dragging things back by hand.