To-Dos and Lists

Your team knows what to do, but they need to see the way forward. Break down your team's work into manageable tasks and subtasks with to-do lists. They're great for work that can be planned, assigned, and completed step by step. They’re built for checklist-style work - clear tasks, clear owners, and clear progress from start to finish.

For more visual, status-based workflows, use the Card Table.

Jump to:

• Creating to-dos
• Creating a to-do list
• Importing to-dos
• Adding and managing to-dos
• Assigning and scheduling
• Subtasks
• Recurring to-dos
• Working with multiple to-dos
• Grouping to-dos
• Notifications
• Viewing your tasks

To access To-dos, open a project and click To-dos.

Creating to-dos

Click Add a to-do to create a new item. Give it a title, then add notes, assign it, add subtasks, and set a due date.

You can leave to-dos ungrouped for now, or organize them into lists later.

Creating a to-do list

To organize your work, create a to-do list.

Click + Make a list to create a new list. Give it a title, and add a description if needed.

Add notes, files, or links to the description.

A progress pie chart at the top of each list shows how many to-dos have been completed.

When a project has completed to-do lists, use the Show completed lists toggle to show or hide them from the page.

You can also use a template to create a new list, or track the list on a Hill Chart.

Importing to-dos

Import to-dos from a Markdown or text file by dropping a .md , .markdown , or .txt  file onto the To-dos tool card, a To-dos page, a to-do list, or a to-do group.

Basecamp uses the formatting in your file to create the list:

• Bullets become to-dos
• Indented bullets become subtasks of the to-do above them
• Headings become lists when you drop the file on a To-dos page
• Headings become groups when you drop the file on a To-do list
• Checked boxes mark to-dos as completed

For bullets, you can use - , * , + , • , – , or — .

Use checked boxes like [x] , [✓] , [✔] , and [✅] to import completed to-dos. Basecamp also recognizes [X] , [☑] , [√] , [✗] , [✘] , [❌]. Spaces inside brackets like [ ✘ ] will work too. To leave a to-do open, use [ ]  or [] .

Basecamp checks the file before importing anything. If something needs fixing, you’ll see an error that points to the line to update. Files can be up to 100 KB and include up to 500 to-dos and subtasks.

Adding and managing to-dos

Once you’ve created a list, start adding to-dos. Click Add a to-do to create a new item.

Give your to-do a title, then add notes, assign it, add subtasks, and set a due date.

Click a to-do or list title to edit it.

You can drag and drop to-dos within a list or move them between lists. Entire lists can be reordered the same way.

Assigning and scheduling

Assign to-dos to clarify responsibilities and keep work moving.

Start typing a name in the Assigned to field and select from the list.

When assigned, the person will be notified and can mark the to-do complete when finished.

Set a due date or date range to keep work on track.

Assigned to-dos appear on a person’s Assignments page. To-dos with due dates appear on your Calendar, as well as in your My Tasks, and can send “Due soon” reminders.

Subtasks

Use subtasks to break a to-do into smaller pieces.

Subtasks can be assigned to a person and given a due date.

Each subtask can be completed independently without affecting the overall to-do, so work can move forward as needed.

Recurring to-dos

Set a to-do to repeat automatically on a schedule.

When creating a dated to-do, choose how often it should repeat - daily, weekly, monthly, or custom intervals.

Recurring to-dos create a series:

• The primary to-do (🔄) controls the schedule
• Individual instances (🗓️) are created automatically

If a to-do isn’t completed before the next one is created, it becomes overdue.

To update all future to-dos, edit the primary to-do. To change just one occurrence, edit an individual instance.

Deleting or archiving the primary to-do stops future to-dos from being created.

Working with multiple to-dos

Select multiple to-dos in the same list to make changes in bulk.

Click the ⋮ menu next to a to-do, then hold Command (Mac) or Control (Windows/Linux) and click additional to-dos to select more.

To select a range of to-dos, hold Shift.

From there, you can:

• Assign multiple to-dos
• Change due dates
• Shift dates forward
• Move or copy to another location
• Archive or delete to-dos
• Group to-dos

Grouping to-dos

Use groups to organize to-dos within a list.

Groups help organize work by phase, team, category, or any other structure you need.

To create a group, select multiple to-dos, click the ⋮ menu, then choose Group them...

You can drag to-dos between groups and reorder groups as needed.

If a group grows into something larger, turn it into its own list using New list from group from the group’s ⋮ menu.

Notifications

Stay updated when new to-dos are added to a list.

Open a to-do list, click the ••• menu, then select Notify me when new to-dos are added.

You’ll receive notifications when new to-dos are added to that list. These are personal settings - others need to opt in separately.

Turn notifications off the same way.

To follow activity on a specific to-do, open it and click Notify me at the bottom. Once subscribed, you’ll receive updates when someone comments on or completes that to-do.

Viewing your tasks

See your assigned work and what’s due today from anywhere in Basecamp.

To open your tasks, press Shift + T, or select My Tasks from the bottom bar. To move a task to Up Next from your My Tasks page, hover over a task and click the ↑ to move it. To remove a task from Up Next, click the ↓ to put it back in the original list.  

Tasks due today appear in the Due Today section of My bar. Press Shift + V or select Due Today from the bottom bar to see everything that needs attention across your projects.