A duration is how long you expect a task to take. It is what turns a task from a point on the calendar into a block with a size.
Duration is not a reminder
They answer different questions.
- A reminder asks when should I be told about this?
- A duration asks how much of my day does this need?
A task can have both, and they do not interfere with each other.
Setting a duration
In the task itself. Open the task and use the Duration field. Pick one of the presets or enter your own number of minutes.
The field is only available once the task has a time. A duration with no start time has nowhere to sit on the calendar, so setting one before then would not show you anything.
While typing. Add for and a length to the end of a quick add:
Draft the report tomorrow 9am for 1h30mStandup every monday at 16:00 for 15mReview the deck friday 2pm for 45 minutes
h is hours and m is minutes, and they combine. for 1.5h works too.
A bare number such as for 90 is ignored, because there is no way to tell minutes from hours, and for is a common enough word in a task name that guessing would do more harm than good.
On the calendar. Drag the bottom edge of a block. A label shows the new start and end time as you drag. Release to keep it, or press Escape to abandon the change.
Resizing is available on desktop. On a phone, edit the duration in the task itself instead.
Limits
- The longest duration is 24 hours.
- A duration cannot span more than one day. For work spread across several days, use a repeating task instead.
- The shortest is 15 minutes.
Clearing a duration
Removing a task's time also removes its duration, because the duration has nothing to attach to without one. Switching a task to all-day does the same.
Seeing durations elsewhere
Where a task has both a time and a duration, your lists show the full span, for example 09:00 - 10:30, rather than just the start.