Search your tasks and see your streak in Task List

Ctrl+F opens search in Task List by Zaweba, and it looks in more places than you might expect: task titles, notes, checklist items, tags and reminders. It covers completed work too, so a phone number you jotted in a task's notes months ago, or a checklist item from last year's tax return, can still be found long after the task was ticked off.

Beside search, the sidebar keeps three small numbers that tell you how things are going: done this week, overdue now, and your streak of days with something done.

Searching well

Press Ctrl+F and type a word. Results come from every list, open or finished, and from reminders. That breadth is the point. People use a to-do list as a memory as much as a plan, and the details end up in notes and checklists rather than titles.

Try searching for a person's name to see everything involving them, a supplier to find the order you placed, or a place to find the task with the address in its notes. Searching a tag's name finds tasks with that tag, which is handy when you cannot remember which list something went into.

Because reminders are included, search answers questions such as when is the insurance renewal, or did I set a reminder for the dentist, without opening the reminders section.

Writing tasks you can find later

Search only finds what you wrote, so a little care when adding tasks pays off. Put the key name in the title: Call Sam about the boiler is easier to find than Call back. Use notes for the details you will want again, such as reference numbers, phone numbers and what was agreed. Use the same tag names consistently, and keep their number small enough to remember.

Ticking tasks done, rather than deleting them, keeps them searchable. Completed tasks stay until you choose Clear completed, so your record grows into a useful archive.

The three numbers in the sidebar

Done this week counts tasks you ticked since the week began. It is a fair measure of output, and it is cheering on a week that felt slow.

Overdue now counts open tasks past their due date. It is the one to watch. A rising number usually means dates were too hopeful, and a weekly look at the Overdue view will bring it down.

The streak counts days in a row with at least one task done. It rewards the habit of finishing something every day, even something small. On a difficult day, ticking one easy job keeps the streak going, and that small win often gets the next one started.

Using the stats without being ruled by them

The numbers are there to inform, not to nag. A low done count in a week spent on one large task is fine. The streak is a nudge, not a contract. What matters is whether the lists match what you are actually doing.

Pairing search with backups

If you clear completed tasks to keep things tidy, they leave search too. Before a big clear out, consider File, then Export a full backup, which saves everything as JSON, or Export tasks as CSV for a spreadsheet record. The database is also copied automatically every day, with the newest 14 copies kept.