What a list can do
Layouts, sorting and filters, the operator's help, and sharing a list.
A list can be laid out three ways, sorted and filtered, fed by the operator, shared with other people, and told how to treat what you add to it. Every list has the same page, the same settings and the same menu, your Tasks list included, so what you learn on one list works on all of them.
Three layouts
On the Mac and in the browser every list has a list layout, a board and a table. The list layout is rows with the values as pills. The board deals items into columns by a property you pick: a Status gives To do, In progress and Completed, a Select gives one column per option, and the Due date gives Overdue, Today, Tomorrow, This week, Later and No due date. The table is a grid with one column per property, where you edit values in place. On the iPhone every list shows as the list layout. List, board and table layouts shows each one.
Sort, filter, group and show
A list keeps one saved view that everyone looking at it shares: its layout, its sort, its filter, which properties are hidden, how the board groups, and whether completed tasks show. Sort by a property, by Date added or Last edited, or by hand: the Manual sort is the order you drag items into, and dragging under any other sort asks "Replace the sort?" before it takes your order. Filters narrow the rows by a property's value. Show completed is Always, Last day or Never on any list with a Status.
Rows come in two shapes, compact and full size, and that choice is yours per device.
What the operator does on a list
Tell the operator "add The Bear to my watchlist" and the item lands on the watchlist with its values filled: for a public thing like a film, a book, a restaurant or a product, one web search fills in the year, the author or the rating. A private list, like workouts or expenses, is never looked up.
On a list's page, you can ask the operator to plan it, add to it, fill in what is missing or say where it stands. It filters, counts and totals a list for you: "how many apartments have I visited?" or "what did I spend on groceries this month?".
Mara keeps a Gift ideas list with a Person (Select), a Price (Number) and a Link (URL). In December she asks "what have I got for Noor so far, and what is the total?" and gets the three items and the sum.
What happens to what you add
Two switches in Edit list decide how a list treats a new item. Clean up new items lets a quiet background pass tidy the title, read a due date out of the words where the list keeps one, and fill the list's properties from what you typed. Assist with new items lets the operator take a first turn on each new item: one question whose answer decides the next step, or an obvious first step done. Both are on by default and both are yours to switch off per list, so a list you add to fifty times a day stays quiet.
Sharing a list
A list can be shared by invitation or by link, with a role per person. People on a shared list see the same view, add and edit items, and edit the properties too, and the list has a conversation of its own that every member sees. Your Tasks list is the one list that cannot be shared. Share one of its items instead. Share a list walks through it, and working together on a shared list covers what each person sees.
Everything else on the list's menu
From the list's menu you add it to favorites, pin it to the sidebar beside Tasks, file it into a section, archive it, or delete it. Edit list holds the name, the icon, the properties, the two switches above and the instructions. A deleted list and its items stay recoverable for about 30 days. Sections, pins and favorites covers the sidebar.
Questions people ask
Can two people see the same list differently?
The saved view is shared, so a change to the layout or the sort reaches everyone. Your own reading of a shared list, the sort or filter you set for yourself, sits on top of it and changes nothing for anyone else.
Can I turn a list of items into tasks?
Yes. Give the list a Status and a Due date in Edit list and its items are tasks, with a status control and a due pill on each. Remove the two and they are plain items again.
Can I move a whole list into a section?
Yes. Sections are groups of lists in the sidebar. Create one from the sidebar, then drag a list into it or use Move to on the list's menu. A section is your own arrangement and means nothing to the operator.