I really agree that something must be done about the invisible start dates and end dates for repeating tasks (i.e. their scheduled dates and deadline dates)

For me personally it would help a lot if these dates were always visible when looking at the Scheduled list. When the start date aka "scheduled" date finally arrives there is no problem. The task will appear in Today and I can easily enough move it to Next if that is more appropriate. By seeing them in Today first I get a useful indication that something "more" has now become available on my Next list. This is what I already do today. And the deadline is also visible.

But the problem for me is to review the Scheduled list, i.e. review the tasks that I cannot begin working on until some future date. I would like to see clearly both when the next instance of the task will become possible to work on and when it will be due - just as it is for non-repeating scheduled tasks.

@karlburkum Hi,there, you can see the detailed recurring task in the calendar view. But now the task will just turn up in "Today" and "Next" when it is time. If you want to be reminded earlier before the recurring task, you can set a reminder~

@Folke Hi there, you can set a reminder for your task~

@linjani

Thanks, I know. But that is not what I am talking about. (I use the reminder feature mainly for more exact "last-minute" warnings on the due date itself, but have no need for advance warnings of this kind.)

What I am talking about is the ability to scan my scheduled list to see when the various things will turn up next time. It is very troublesome to have to open each task to see the repeat pattern and then to manually calculate the date of the next occurance.

Cheers :-)

@Folke Hi, there. I understand your need now. We will see if it is most users' need and decide whether to add this function. Thanks for your advice.

@Linjiani

Many others have expressed this same need many times in the past, and most other apps display these dates in the same way for repeating tasks (check out Nirvana, Toodledo or any other competing app, if you like), so people take it almost for granted that they can see the scheduled date for all scheduled tasks.

I realize that you will need to consider what users in general want most, and that you have a large number of requests all in all for what could or should be improved in Doit. This may npt be the topmost wish, even for me. For me the topmost wishes are:

- implement the attention star properly, just as in any other app, in other words not move tasks from Next or Waiting or whatever just because you star them for Today. They should be visible in both places. This is really serious, and has been discussed in many other threads.

- implement meaningful features for Goals, such that they can actually be used constructively as a layer above projects. This has also been been discussed in many. many threads before - sorting and grouping and filtering by goal, showing all tasks from all projects in a goal, hide a goal from all views etc etc etc etc

And then, of course, there are many other possible improvement in other areas, for example regarding tags and contexts (visible tags, integration), automatic/manual sorting (automatic priority sorting with manual adjustment is preferred for Next and many other lists), and the simple request in in this particular thread to be able to always see the next scheduled date.

@Folke Thanks for your advice. We will see if they are worth developing. But we doubt your need for the tasks with attention stars exiting in both "Today" and other lists. The logic is that if you mark a task star, it is considered as something urgent which you must finish today. Now that you finish it today, it doesn't have to appear in other lists. Thanks.

@Linjiani

Now I recognize the "old" Doit spirit ;-)
This is what your colleagues have always been saying. And now you say so, too, Linjiani. But you yourself recently said the opposite - that this long requested change was already planned: http://help.doit.im/topics/6471#comment-17

Please bear in mind that EVERY other app I have ever seen does it the way I describe. (Check Google Drive, Gmail, Nirvana, GTDNext, Toodledo, Zendone ... and the list goes on). Only Doit does it in a "strange" and counterproductive way. I do not know why your team takes such an unusual view on what the Today list is for. You guys seem to take it as a final, irreversible decision to put things in Today, as if it is an absolute "must", whereas many of us others probably see it as a "hot possibility" worthy of our renewed attention later in the day, but not necessarily a final decision. If it really is an agreed "must" or an agreed appointment etc we would probably put it on the calendar or somehow mark it as "absolute" within the Today list. And in any event, if you consider GTD, a next action is a next action until it is done, regardless of what hopes or aims you may have for exactly when it may be completed. (The same goes for Waiting - other people's actions that you are awaiting a result from.)

@Folke

Hey there, my apology.

The previous answer was given by my colleague who has already left our company. We have added this new feature to the development department before. But this new feature was not one of the hottest need that users ask for. Therefore, right now this feature is not in our development plan. If you want the task with star appearing in both "Today" and other lists, I would suggest you copy the task to "Today" and star it. Thanks for you understanding.

@Linjiani

Copying tasks would make it even messier than it is, so for now I do it the hard way - one of the four hard ways, depending on my mood etc:

A. Choose actions via the Contexts in the left menu - then I see Today, Next and Waiting etc without switching pages, but I have to repeat this for every context

B. As A, but per project instead of per context - even worse

C. Move all Today items back to Next so that I can see them where they belong, and then select (perhaps reselect) the most suitable tasks again (Next list usually grouped by project, or sometimes by context).

D. Or the sloppy way - try to remember by heart what is on my Today list and then investigate my Next and Waiting lists - or flick back and forth between the lists like a yoyo

Are you aware how many people have complained about this on this forum during the past two years?
Are you aware how many brilliant forum contributors have left Doit because of this over these two years?

Are you aware how unusual and totally strange Doit is in this particular respect, where literally every other app has a "star" (icon) that just:
a) highlights a task (e.g. making a star yellow) so that it is easy to see it in its "home list" (e.g. Next)
b) shows it in both in the home list and in a "starred" list (often called "Today" list, "Focus" list etc)
c) changes absolutely nothing at all in the task (e.g. dates are left intact)

I would recommend that your developer team take a good look at Google Drive and Gmail (as good examples of hugely popular apps that have stars that work the "usual" way, showing starred items both in their home list and in the starred list), and also take a look at your direct GTD competitors, such as Nirvanahq and GTDNext who also do it just like Google.

(In case you are curious, after listening to my rant, why I am still here myself, the main reason is the beautiful combination of having the colored priority markers (very neat) AND having predefined Next, Waiting etc classifications - that combination is quite unique, still.)

Best of luck
Folke

@Folke Thanks for your continuous support and your valuable advice for Doit.im. We will do better!