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Dictate tasks into Todoist on a Mac: Quick Add by voice, with dates and projects

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To dictate a task into Todoist on a Mac, open Quick Add, click into the task name, and say the task the way you would type it: "call the dentist tomorrow at 4 PM". Todoist's help says Quick Add reads dates like that, a project after #, a priority such as p1 and a label after %, all from the task name. So dictating into Todoist comes down to one thing: getting those words to land exactly as Todoist expects them.

Apple Dictation, built into macOS, types into Quick Add like anywhere else you can type. YapToText, the free app I built, types there too, runs Whisper on your Mac, and its Raw Transcription mode keeps your words exactly as spoken. Todoist also has a voice feature of its own, Ramble. I built YapToText because my hands make typing difficult, and I dictate every day, but I have not tested it in Todoist, so where something depends on Todoist, I point to Todoist's own help. If a task already landed wrong, the fixes are further down.

Download YapToText on the Mac App StoreDownload for free. No account, nothing locked, macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon. Source on GitHub.

On this page: 11 sections
  1. Steps
  2. How Quick Add reads a task line
  3. Dictate a task with YapToText
    1. Step 1: Open Quick Add
    2. Step 2: Tap Right Command, press 2, and say the task
    3. Step 3: Tap it again, then read what Todoist picked out
    4. Why Raw Transcription for a task line
  4. Say projects, priorities and labels
    1. Projects: insert hashtag
    2. Priorities and labels: make snippets
  5. Add several tasks in one dictation
  6. Use Apple Dictation in Quick Add
  7. Todoist's own voice feature: Ramble
  8. If a task lands wrong
  9. What each one cannot do
  10. The short version
  11. Questions

Steps

  1. Open Todoist Quick Add with Q, or with Option Space from another app, and click into the task name.
  2. Tap Right Command and press 2 for Raw Transcription.
  3. Say the task with its date, and say insert hashtag before a project name.
  4. Tap Right Command again, and the task is typed into Quick Add.
  5. Check what Quick Add highlighted as the date and project, then press Enter.

How Quick Add reads a task line

Todoist's help describes Quick Add as smart: it picks details out of the task name as you type. Quick Add parses the words, so a dictation tool only has to type them exactly.

  • Opening it. Todoist's keyboard shortcuts page lists Q to open Quick Add. Its Quick Add help gives Option Space as the default global shortcut on a Mac, which opens Quick Add while the app is minimized, and you can change it in Todoist's Settings, on the Desktop tab.
  • Dates. Natural language such as "tomorrow at 4 PM", or a recurring date such as "every other Tuesday starting March 3".
  • A word that is not a date. If Todoist highlights a word you meant as part of the name, like "monthly" in "Create monthly report", click the highlighted word, or press Delete or Backspace right after it is highlighted, and it stays part of the task name.
  • Saving. The shortcuts page lists Enter to save a newly created task.

Checked October 5, 2026, on Todoist's own help pages. Features change, so check before you rely on one.

DetailWhat Todoist reads in the task nameHow to say it with YapToText
Date and timeNatural language, like tomorrow at 4 PMJust say it; dates are words already
Project# followed straight away by the project name, like #Workinsert hashtag work, or a snippet for the exact name
Priorityp1, p2 or p3A snippet that types p1
Label% followed by the label, like %email; @ still works for nowA snippet that types %email

Todoist's help now uses % for labels and says adding a label with @ is planned to be retired by the end of 2026.

Dictate a task with YapToText

YapToText is free on the Mac App Store for an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 14 or later, with no account. It types into the app in front, at the cursor, so Quick Add is one more text field to it. Press 2 while you talk, and the task is typed exactly as you said it.

Step 1: Open Quick Add

  • You: In Todoist, press Q, or press Option Space from another app, and click into the task name if the cursor is not already there.
  • Todoist: Opens Quick Add with an empty task name.
  • Check: The cursor is blinking in the task name, not in a search field.

Step 2: Tap Right Command, press 2, and say the task

  • You: Tap Right Command, press 2 for Raw Transcription, in the default order of modes, and say the task with its date: "renew the passport next Friday".
  • YapToText: Opens the floating panel with your voice as a wave and your words as they form. With Auto mode on, the pick lasts for this one dictation.
  • Check: The wave moves when you speak. If it stays flat, the app is not hearing your microphone yet.

Step 3: Tap it again, then read what Todoist picked out

  • You: Tap Right Command again.
  • YapToText: Finishes the transcript on your Mac, pastes it at the cursor and puts back whatever you had copied before.
  • Check: The task is in Quick Add. Look at what Todoist highlighted as the date, then press Enter yourself.

Why Raw Transcription for a task line

Raw Transcription is literal speech to text with basic punctuation, and no AI model touches the words. Auto mode, on by default, gives Todoist no lean: it leans only for the mail, chat and code apps it names, and Todoist is on none of those lists. Here is what that means for a task:

  • Short tasks are safe either way. Six words or fewer stay exactly as spoken under Auto.
  • Longer ones get a careful pass. It fixes misheard words, punctuation and capitalization and keeps your wording. That suits prose, but a task line is closer to a command for Quick Add, so I would rather nothing touched it.
  • An instruction at the end is read as one. Auto takes "as an email", "as a note" or "make it shorter" at the very end as an instruction to itself, so "send Dana the contract as an email" would be rewritten as an email, and the phrase never reaches Todoist. Press 2 and it is typed as you said it.

Whisper still punctuates in Raw Transcription, so a task may arrive with a capital letter, a final period, or a time written in a form you did not expect. I have not tested how Quick Add reads each of those, which is why the last check is the highlight. Auto cannot be switched off for one app: while Auto is on, it decides how each dictation is written, everywhere. If you turn Auto mode off, you can open Raw Transcription's editor on the Modes page and add Todoist under Apps that use this mode. The modes guide explains each mode, and the Auto mode guide lists every phrase Auto treats as an instruction.

The Switch Mode panel listing Auto, Raw Transcription, Clean Up, Note, Email, Message and Code Comment, numbered 1 to 7, each tagged AI cleanup or Verbatim.
Figure 1. Raw Transcription is number 2 in the default order and the one mode tagged Verbatim, so pressing 2 types a task exactly as you said it.

One more setting, with a caution. After a dictation lands, in Settings, Advanced, Text output, can press Return in an app the moment your words arrive, which in Quick Add would save the task without a key press. It is per app, so it would fire after every dictation in Todoist, comments included, without a look at the date. I have not tested it there, and I would leave it off.

Say projects, priorities and labels

Dates are ordinary words; #, % and p1 are not. Say insert hashtag before a project name, and save snippets for the priorities and labels you use every day.

Projects: insert hashtag

Say: In Quick Add, with Require the word insert before a command on, which is the default.

water the plants tomorrow insert hashtag home

What happens: YapToText types the task with #home at the end, because the number sign glues to the next word. By Todoist's rule, # followed straight away by a project name sets the project. I have not tested it in Todoist, so check that Quick Add shows the project before you press Enter.

Hashtag, hash sign, pound sign and number sign all type #, and with the insert switch on, hashtag said alone is typed as the word. Spoken marks work in every mode, Raw Transcription included. The spoken punctuation guide lists every name.

Priorities and labels: make snippets

A snippet types exactly the text you give it, and snippets go in after any AI cleanup, so a rewrite cannot drop or move them. That makes them the clean way to type p1 or %email, and the only way I would type a project whose name has a capital or more than one word.

  • You: On the Commands page, open the Snippets tab and press the Add button under the list. Type priority one under Say this and p1 under Inserts. Add one per label, such as email label for %email.
  • YapToText: Saves each as you type.
  • Check: In Quick Add, dictate a task ending with insert priority one, and p1 lands. Check the spacing around it the first time, and if the phrase is typed as words, History's Show pipeline details shows how Whisper wrote it, such as priority 1; add that spelling as another phrase on the row.
YapToText's Commands page: Enable voice commands on, Require the word insert before a command on, and the Snippets tab.
Figure 2. Snippets live on the Commands page. One for each priority and label you use turns a short spoken phrase into the exact text Quick Add reads.

Two cautions. At sign is a two-word name, and followed by a lowercase word it stays as words, so I would not rely on it for an @ label; a snippet that types the whole label is safer, and Todoist is moving labels to % anyway. And if a project or label name keeps coming out misspelled inside ordinary words, add it on the Dictionaries page, with what Whisper heard under Heard and your spelling under Replace with. The dictionaries guide shows how.

Add several tasks in one dictation

Sometimes the tasks come in a batch: the five things you remembered in the car. Say new line between tasks, and Todoist may offer to add each line as its own task.

Todoist's help on adding multiple tasks says that when you paste a list into the task name field in Quick Add, a pop-up asks "Add X tasks?", and selecting it adds each item as a task. YapToText delivers a dictation by pasting it at the cursor, and saying new line where each task ends puts a line break there, swallowing the spaces on both sides. New line fires at the end of a clause; followed by a lowercase word, it stays as words, so pause after it and let the next task start a new sentence. So a dictation like this one should look to Quick Add like a pasted list:

Say: In Quick Add, after pressing 2 for Raw Transcription, with a short pause after each new line.

book the car service friday new line (pause) pay the water bill monday new line (pause) call grandma sunday

What happens: Three lines are pasted into the task name. If Quick Add treats them as a pasted list, it asks whether to add three tasks. I have not tested this in Todoist, so read the pop-up before you accept it.

A spoken mark fires only when Whisper writes its exact words, so if a line break is missing, History's Show pipeline details shows what Whisper heard. The guide to speech to text in Notes covers lists you said into a recording instead.

Use Apple Dictation in Quick Add

Apple Dictation is free and already on your Mac, and Apple says it works anywhere you can type, so it types into Quick Add like any text field. For a quick task, Apple Dictation is enough; keep it to one task per dictation.

  • You: Turn Dictation on once in System Settings, Keyboard, Dictation. Then open Quick Add, press the Microphone key or your Dictation shortcut, and say the task.
  • macOS: Highlights the cursor and makes it pulse, or plays a tone, when it is ready.
  • Check: The words appear as you speak. Press Esc, the Microphone key or the shortcut to stop, then check the highlight and press Enter.

Apple says the spoken "new line" works like pressing Return once, and in Quick Add, Enter saves the task. I have not tested whether a spoken new line saves a half-said task early, so I would say one task per dictation with Apple's tool. It also stops after 30 seconds without speech; the 30-second limit page explains why. The text below Dictation in Keyboard settings says whether your voice is processed on your Mac or sent to Siri servers.

Todoist's own voice feature: Ramble

Todoist has a voice feature of its own, and it does a different job from dictation. Ramble interprets what you say into tasks; dictation types the words you said. I have not tested Ramble, so this is Todoist's description, not my review:

  • Starting it. Click the waveform icon in Quick Add or the sidebar, and speak freely. Ramble shows the tasks it captures in a preview as you talk.
  • What it picks up. Todoist says it can set a project, date, time, recurrence, duration, deadline, priority, labels and description while you speak, from however you naturally describe the task. On the Beginner plan, its help says a dictated deadline or duration is ignored when the tasks are added.
  • Editing as you go. Say "Actually, I meant..." to change a task or "Remove that" to delete a suggested one, and end with "that's all" or by clicking Add tasks in the preview.
  • Limits. Todoist's help says the free or Beginner plan gets up to 10 sessions a month, reset on the 1st (UTC), and Pro and Business get unlimited sessions, though rate limits may apply. The count is shared across web, desktop and mobile.
  • Your audio. Todoist says large language models transcribe your speech and interpret the details, and that your audio is processed securely and is not stored or used for training.

Checked October 5, 2026, on Apple's and Todoist's own help pages. Plans and features change, so check before you rely on one.

Apple DictationTodoist RambleYapToText
What it doesTypes your wordsTurns speech into tasks with detailsTypes your words, exactly with Raw Transcription
Where it worksAnywhere you can typeTodoistAny app you can type in
Where your voice goesOn the Mac or to Siri servers; Keyboard settings says whichProcessed by Todoist; not stored or used for training, per its helpStays on your Mac
Dates, projects, labelsQuick Add reads what you typedRamble works them outQuick Add reads what you typed; snippets help
LimitsStops after 30 seconds of silence10 sessions a month on the free or Beginner planNo silence timeout by default
CostFree, built into macOSAll plans, with that free-plan limitFree, no paid tier

To ramble and let software decide what the tasks are, use Ramble. For a task that says exactly what you said, use dictation. The guide to dictating into any app on a Mac compares other apps' voice features.

If a task lands wrong

History shows exactly what Whisper heard, so start there when a date or a project is missed. Climb this ladder, smallest step first:

  1. If the words go to the clipboard. On YapToText's Home page, press Grant next to Accessibility and switch the app on in System Settings, Privacy & Security, Accessibility. Without it, every dictation is copied to the clipboard instead of typed, so press Command V in Quick Add and nothing is lost.
  2. If the date is not picked up. Open History and click Show pipeline details on that dictation to see how Whisper wrote it. Todoist's help says smart date recognition is on when you create your account and can be turned off in Settings, General, so check that switch too.
  3. If a word turned into a date. Click the highlighted word, or press Backspace right after Todoist highlights it, and it stays in the task name.
  4. If the project came out as a word. Put insert in front of hashtag while the insert switch is on, or use a snippet.
  5. If the wording changed. Press 2 for Raw Transcription while you talk, so no AI model touches the task.
  6. If Todoist beeps. Intelligent Insert reads the text around your cursor with a few invisible keystrokes, and some apps answer one with the alert sound. With Todoist open, go to the Dictation page, choose Turn off in another app in the Delivery card and pick Todoist, or lower Alert volume in System Settings, Sound.
  7. If pasting misbehaves. With Todoist open, choose Add App Override under Per-app method in Settings, Advanced, pick Todoist and keep Type character-by-character.
  8. If a take was wrong. Within 30 seconds, say scratch that as its own dictation to remove it, or replace, the wrong word, with, the right word.
YapToText's Dictation settings page on a Mac: the Keys, Recording, Microphone and Delivery cards.
Figure 3. The Delivery card on the Dictation page holds the list of apps where Intelligent Insert is off, where Todoist can go if it beeps.

The troubleshooting guide covers the rest, and the Mac dictation not working guide covers Apple Dictation.

What each one cannot do

  • Apple Dictation. It stops after 30 seconds of silence, it is not available while Voice Control is on, and whether your voice leaves the Mac depends on what Keyboard settings says.
  • Todoist Ramble. It works inside Todoist only, and the free or Beginner plan has a monthly session limit.
  • YapToText. It types text: it does not create, schedule or complete tasks, and it does not read dates. Quick Add does that from what lands. Its spoken commands are punctuation, emoji and snippets, and its behavior in Todoist is untested. Auto mode's careful pass needs a cleanup model, which the App Store build includes and the Homebrew build leaves for you to download; Raw Transcription needs none. It needs an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 14 or later, and nothing is claimed for Intel Macs.

It gets the words in exactly; Todoist decides what they mean.

The short version

  • Open Quick Add. Q in Todoist, or Option Space from anywhere, per Todoist's help.
  • Keep it exact. Tap Right Command, press 2 for Raw Transcription, say the task, tap again.
  • Say the symbols. insert hashtag before a project, and snippets for p1 and your % labels.
  • Check, then save. Look at what Quick Add highlighted, then press Enter yourself.

Say the task the way you would type it, and let Quick Add do the parsing.

Other apps take dictation a little differently, and the Bear guide covers the same # question for tags. If something here does not match what you see in Todoist, open an issue on GitHub. Every one gets read.

Download YapToText on the Mac App StoreDownload for free. No account, nothing locked, macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon. Source on GitHub.

About the author. Ryleigh Newman is a developer whose hands make typing difficult and who dictates every day with YapToText, the app this site describes. Facts about other apps come from their own sites, with the date they were read. More about the project.

Sources

Questions

Can I use voice input in Todoist on a Mac?

Yes. Open Quick Add and use Apple Dictation, or a dictation app such as YapToText, which types at the cursor. Todoist also has its own voice feature, Ramble, which turns what you say into tasks.

Does Todoist have speech to text?

Todoist's Ramble listens and creates tasks with dates, projects, priorities and labels from what you say. Todoist's help says the free or Beginner plan gets up to 10 sessions a month, and Pro and Business get unlimited sessions.

How do I add a project by voice in Todoist?

With YapToText, say insert hashtag and then the project name, and it types the # glued to the word, which Quick Add reads as a project. For names with capitals or several words, save a snippet that types the exact text.

Why did Todoist not pick up my dictated date?

Check how the words landed: History in YapToText shows what Whisper heard. Todoist's smart date recognition can be switched off in Settings, General, so check that it is on.

Which YapToText mode is best for Todoist tasks?

Raw Transcription, number 2 in the default order. No AI model touches the words, so the date, the # and p1 land exactly as you said them for Quick Add to read.

Should I use @ or % for labels in Todoist?

Todoist's help uses % for labels and says adding labels with @ is planned to be retired by the end of 2026. A YapToText snippet can type the % label for you.