Archive

Purpose

Prevent your task list from getting cluttered with stale tasks that keep rolling over.

Walkthrough

How to use

Introduction · 0:00

Tasks end up in the archive because they have rolled over as incomplete several consecutive days in a row. If a task has been captured by the archive, you'll see:

a "N tasks moved to archive" callout at the bottom of your task list
a number badge on the archive icon (crescent moon) in the right hand panel.

Accessing the archive · 1:16

Open your archive by:

Clicking the "moon icon" in the right hand panel
Use the keyboard shortcuts Shift A
Use the command palette
Clicking the callout at the bottom of your task list if it's showing.

Changing your archive setting · 1:28

You can disable auto-archiving by clicking the toggle switch at the top of the archive panel
You can change when things move into the archive by clicking the "N consecutive days" dropdown at the top of the archive panel.

Triaging your archive · 2:30

When tasks roll into the archive, it's a good time to consider why they ended up there and remedy it. Tasks typically show up in the archive because:

They're not actually that important and don't need to be worked on anytime soon, in which case you may delete the task or move it to the backlog.
Your day has more tasks than you can reasonably accomplish and there's no room for it, in which case you may need to try to plan less work going forward.
The task is important but you are procrastinating working on it, in which case you should move it back into a task list, and make sure you block off time to work on it.

Best practices

If you're not sure where a task went, check your archive. You'll see a badge next to the archive icon whenever a new task is archived.
If you notice important tasks are getting archived, consider expanding the archive threshold from four days or disabling auto-archive entirely.
Consider creating a recurring task called "Review Archive" to remind you to check your archive so you don't lose sight of tasks that end up there.