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Your Apple Notes to-do list, grown up.

Keep writing the way you do in Notes. Diurnal turns what you write into tasks, reads the dates in your words, and rings when they come due.

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For Mac · macOS 15 or later · Paste your list straight in

01 / Just write

It still writes like a note.

No title field, no date picker and no list to pick, just a page.

  1. 1

    The first line is the task

    Write it how you would say it. A day or a time in it becomes the task's date.

  2. 2

    The lines under it are its notes

    Details, links you pasted, the thing to remember when you get there.

  3. 3

    Checklists still work

    So do bulleted and numbered lists, bold, italic and underline.

  4. 4

    A blank line starts the next task

    No button to press. Keep writing and the page keeps up.

02 / Where a note stops

What a Notes checklist leaves to you.

Four things a to-do list needs, and how each of the two handles them.

You wantIn a Notes checklistIn Diurnal
A date on one itemApple's Notes guide doesn't describe dates on checklist items.Write “friday 4pm” and that item has a day and a time.
A reminder that ringsShare the whole note to Reminders, then set it there.The time on a task is its reminder, as a Mac notification.
Items you stopped doingChecked items can sort to the bottom. The rest stay where they are.Untouched tasks ask if you're still on them, and silence moves them to next week.
Planning the weekOne note, in the order you wrote it.Drag tasks onto the next seven days, or leave them on the page.

Keep your reminders in Apple Reminders instead? Read Diurnal and Reminders.

03 / Questions

If you're coming from Notes.

What moving a to-do list out of a note actually involves.

Can I import my notes from Apple Notes?

Not directly; there is no import. Copy your list and paste it into Diurnal. Put a blank line between items and each one becomes its own task, and the lines under a task stay with it as its notes.

Do I have to stop using Apple Notes?

No. Keep Notes for the writing you keep: recipes, ideas, things to read later. Diurnal is for the lines that are really things to do.

Can I still make checklists?

Yes. A task's notes can hold a checklist, a bulleted or numbered list, and bold, italic and underlined text, so a task can carry its own small list of steps.

Is it on my iPhone, like Notes is?

No. Diurnal is a Mac app only. If you need your to-do list on your phone, that is the one thing Notes will do better.

Do I need an account?

Yes. You sign in with Google or an email address, which is what lets your tasks sync between your Macs.

Keep the blank page

Write your list like a note. Let it act like a to-do list.

Get it for MacTry it in your browser