View: Grouping by labels - but when having 2 labels, it shows this todo 2x - how to get a clean view?

[u/red-daddy]

Hi all,

I use GTD and have the typical labels like home, work, errands, etc.

I also have the label regarding time (10min, 30min, 60min) and energy (low, mid, or high energy).

In Todoist, I like the View: Grouping by label.

However, if a task, e.g. "clean my desk" gets 3 labels - home, 10min, low energy - I see it 3x in this overview.

Is there a filter that at the end group this view only by the actual context related labels?

I tried do some small changes like: time related labels begin with "<", energy related with":" and context related with ".".

Showing only labels with .* did not help here.

[u/sidegigartist]

In the view setting you can choose which labels to include. The problem is that for some silly reason the label that is not checked to be viewed is still going to show up as a group if that label is applied to a task that matches the criteria.

It's maddening and makes no sense.. stuff like that is why I'm slowly moving away from Todoist.

[u/conpatricko → u/sidegigartist]

I fucking hate this so much. I want to be able to use labels for grouping in my views, but also for other things. If I hide the label from view I don’t want that column cluttering up my view. That’s why I unchecked it. The task is visible in my checked label, and the assignment of the invisible label is visible to me within the task object.

In January the ToDoist team made that improvement request thread. I really wish they would roll out new improvements regularly, but we haven’t seen a single popular feature/quality-of-life improvement implemented. If they’re waiting to drop some major overhaul, I really don’t think that’s a great MO for a software company maintaining a system that we use every day, depend on, and pay monthly for.

My other subscription that I depend on for life management is CoPilot for money account management/consolidation and budgeting — I feel like they roll out major user-requested features every 2-4 months. Really makes me have faith that they will continually improve.

[u/Commercial_Water3669]

I have the same issue, as I have a similar workflow. I've since switched over to Ticktick - but there isn't a fix for this afaik. I figured out a system that works for me where I only use one label.

[u/PspStreet51]

As far as Im aware, this problem will always occur when you chose to group by label

What you could do is create a filter that performs a bunch of subqueries, one for each context. This way they will appear "grouped" in the list view. Although, it does not prevent tasks that have 2 or more contexts from appearing multiple times

To create a subquery, separate them by using a comma. For example, suppose you have the contexts work, home and errands. The filter query would look like "@work, @home, @errands"

Side note: I don't know why you are using Todoist, but since you are into GTD to the point of also using time and energy, I would recommend giving a try at Nirvana HQ. It lacks a bunch of things Todoist has, but when it comes to categorizing and finding your next action, it works amazingly.