Write it down. Plan it when you want.
Press ⇧⌘A over any app and type. Each paragraph becomes a task, “friday 4pm” becomes its reminder, and the week board is there when you feel like planning.
Opens over any app · Works offline · A week board when you want one
01 / The pad
No fields. Just a page.
The first line is the task, the lines under it are its notes, and a blank line starts the next one.
Dates in plain words
Type “tomorrow 4pm” or “next friday” and the day and the reminder are read as you write.
Tags and projects
#home tags a task, and +kitchen files it under a project, making the project if it is new.
Formatting
Bold, italic, underline, and bulleted, numbered or checklist lists.
Later, and done
A task dated later waits in Coming up until its day. Done keeps what you finished, by the day you finished it.
02 / Auto-clean
It asks before it piles up.
A task left alone for a day asks “Still on this?”, and one you don't answer moves itself to next week.
Keep, Done or Next week
One click answers it, and editing the task counts as a yes.
Spread over the week
Moved tasks land on next week's Monday to Thursday, each on the least busy day, so they don't come back as one pile.
Nothing moves in secret
A toast says what moved, and the task's History records that Diurnal moved it.
Your numbers
Ask after 1 to 14 days, move after 1 to 7 more, or set either to Never.
03 / Voice
Or say it out loud.
Hold ⇧⌘L and talk; one breath can hold several tasks, each with its day, time and tag.
You check first
Nothing is filed until you have looked over the list and pressed Return.
Your voice
It goes to Apple's speech engine, never to Diurnal's servers.
With Apple Intelligence
When it is on, rambling speech is tidied into tasks on your Mac.
04 / The week
Seven days you can drag around.
Weekly shows the next seven days as columns, plus Any day for the week's loose ends.
Overview
Today's tasks beside today's meetings, with a line to add more.
All time
Everything open, grouped by tag, for the things without a day.
Move to
⌘M sends a task to tomorrow, next week, next month, a date you pick, or All time.
Projects
A project's deadline shows on its day, and its tasks carry its progress pie.
05 / Reminders
A time on a task is a reminder.
Pick the sound, get a heads-up before meetings, and repeat a task on the days you choose.
Sounds
14 notification sounds, or an alarm tone that rings for up to a minute.
Before meetings
A heads-up 1 to 60 minutes before each calendar event, 10 unless you change it.
Repeats
Every day, weekdays, or the days of the week you pick. Clearing one day skips only that day.
06 / Questions
About writing and planning.
What people ask before they start typing.
Do I have to plan?
No. The pad works on its own, and Plan shows the same tasks when you want to arrange them.
Can I write notes that aren't tasks?
Every paragraph on the pad is a task. The lines under its first line are its notes, so longer thoughts fit inside one.
Is it AI turning my writing into tasks?
Not on the pad. A blank line ends a task, and Diurnal's own date reader picks out the day and time.