How to add a to-do list to Slack

How do you add a to-do list to Slack? I get asked this a lot, and it never fails to disappoint when I have to answer that the feature isn’t built into the service. However, there are third-party apps that can be added to your Slack Workspaces to bring to-do lists into the picture. One such app, called Simple Todo List, is easy to use, handy to have, and simple to install.

There are, of course, a couple of caveats to this. First, you must be authorized to add third-party apps to your Slack workspace. You’ll have to ask your Slack admin to add the app if you’re not authorized. Second, this third-party app isn’t free. However, it does offer a 14-day trial. Once that trial expires, you’ll have to pay either $3.99/month or $39.99/year for the app. Given what you get for this, it’s a pretty sweet deal.

With that said, let’s install Simple Todo and see how it works. 

Also: How to use Slack’s ‘Saved items’ feature (and why you should)

Installing Simple Todo List

What you’ll need: To add this to-do list app to Slack, you’ll need a valid Slack account, the Slack app installed, and a Workspace that allows you to install apps. 

Also: How to locate entries for specific dates in a Slack thread

Also: How to schedule Slack messages (and why you might want to)

Using Simple Todo List

Using Simple Todo List is very easy. The one thing you must understand about this app is it doesn’t allow you to create multiple to-do lists. You get one list and you can add as many items to it as you need.

1. Add an item to your to-do list

Let’s say you want to add “Call Boss” to your to-do list. For that, go to any Slack channel and type the following in the Message section:

Now, let’s add some more items with the slash commands:

/todo Finish Project X
/todo Buy gift for Olivia
/todo Email contributors
/todo Dance it out

2. View your to-do list

After you’ve added items to your list, you can view it with the slash command:

You should see all of your to-do items (Figure 2).

3. Marking to-do items

If you click the … button associated with an item, you’ll see that you can either mark that item as Complete or delete the task (Figure 3).

And that, my fellow Slackers, is how you can add a very simple-to-use to-do list to Slack. Give this app a try and see if you don’t find it worth the purchase price.

Also: Slack’s new Canvas feature may help bring order to the channel chaos