Start dates and deadlines

A task has two different date fields and they mean different things. Setting the wrong one is the most common source of confusion in Done Bear.

• Start date — when the task becomes relevant. This is what decides whether a task is in Today or Upcoming.
• Deadline — when it is actually due. It is independent of the view: a task can sit in Anytime with a deadline next month.

Which one to set

If you know when something is due, set a deadline. If you know when you want to start on it, set a start date. Plenty of tasks want both, and plenty want only one.

Scheduling a task for today sets a start date of today. It does not set a deadline — the task shows up in Today because you decided to work on it, not because anything is due.

The reverse also holds. A deadline on its own does not schedule the task; it stays wherever you put it until the deadline is today or overdue, at which point it appears in Today so you cannot miss it. If you set a deadline while capturing something new, and give it no other home, it waits in Anytime rather than landing on today's list.

Dates are whole days

Dates are calendar days. There is no time-of-day field on a task, so a task is due on a day rather than at an hour.

Clearing a date

Clearing a deadline leaves the task where it is — it only removes the due date. Clearing a start date is what moves the task back out of Today or Upcoming: it lands in Anytime, still something to do, just not on a day. In the app that is the Anytime button under the calendar in the date picker.

Repeating tasks

A repeating task is set up in the app, on the task itself. Repeats are a property of the task rather than something you approximate by making a series of dated copies.

You can open the next repeating copy in Upcoming to edit its description or checklist, or complete it early with its checkbox. A fixed schedule keeps its calendar dates; an after-completion schedule counts from the day you finish.

When you move a fixed repeating copy to another date in When, choose Make Exception to move only that copy, or to move the future schedule too. After-completion copies move directly. Custom and count-limited rules can still have exceptions; edit their pattern in Repeat.