How do I use expiry, snoozing and repeats?

Each task you create has 2 options, an expiry and a snooze. Here’s how they work:

Expiry

Every task must expire (see why), so the expiry field is not optional. When you first use Headscratch the default expiry will be set to 2 weeks. You can change that default in settings, as well as configure a default for each folder (e.g. maybe you want “Work” tasks to expire in a week or the next weekday). The expiry is the latest you want to have done the task by, so you can think of it like a “due date”.

• When a task expires you will get a notification that it has expired and it’s time to either do the task or dismiss it and let it expire and get moved to the trash.
• You can do the task before the expiry date, that is just the latest you want to have done the task by.
• Tasks marked as important (the star icon) have an expiry date, but they do not get moved to the trash when they expire. Use this for things that actually must be done or there are consequences. E.g. doing your taxes or paying bills.
• You can create your own expiry presets in settings e.g. “next Thursday at 6pm”, the “3rd Friday of the month”

Snooze

Snoozing is an optional part of each task. Snoozing can help you tidy up your todo list from tasks that you can’t do yet or don’t want to see. For example, I might have a task to take the bins out every week on Monday at 7pm. But it’s useless for me to see or be reminded about that task for the whole rest of the week. I can’t take the bins out on Wednesday. Snoozing is essentially the “earliest” I can do to the task. In the case of taking the bins out, that’s 1 day before.

Repeats

Repeats are for tasks that happen multiple times, based on an amount of time or specific day. E.g. I take the bins out every week, so the task has a repeat for every week on Monday. You can set it based on when the original task expiry is (e.g. 1 month from the last expiry), or from when you complete the task (e.g. every 4 days from last completion). When you set up a repeat on a task it will show a “Preview” of the next 2 dates that it will match just so it is doing what you expect.

Expiry, snoozing and repeats all work together to show you the tasks you want to see, when you want to see them. E.g. I could create a task that repeats on the 1st of every month to pay a bill. I could set it up like this:

• Expires 1st July
• Repeats monthly
• Snooze to 1 day before

With this setup my expiry date, when I want to do the task, will be the 1st of every month 1st July, 1st August etc… On that date I’ll get a notification telling me to do the task. When I mark it as done, it will disappear until the next time. The snoozing is because I don’t want to see that task until it is time to pay the bill. So it will only appear the day before the expiry date. E.g. the task will show on the 31st July, and then I’ll mark it as done on the 1st August. It will disappear again until the 31st August and I’ll mark it as done on the 1st September etc…