Steps and subtasks

The difference is the date. When to use each, and how a step becomes a subtask.

Inside a task you can break the work into smaller items. Those items have two states, and one thing separates them: having a date or not.

Step — a checklist item. It lives inside the task, has no date, priority, or category of its own, and never shows up anywhere alone.
Subtask — a step that got a date. It takes on a life of its own: it appears in your list, enters the calendar, and accepts a priority, a category, and tags.

How to add a step

Open the task and find the Steps and subtasks section.
Click + item.
Type the text in the New step… field and confirm.

An expanded task showing its steps and, at the end, a subtask that got a date.

Turning a step into a subtask

Open the step's menu.
Choose Set date and pick the day.

That is it: the item becomes a subtask and starts appearing in your task list, labelled in {task name} so you do not lose track of where it came from.

The way back exists: Remove date returns the subtask to being a step.

Where it lives

The Tasks screen, inside each task. The counter next to the title — 1/4, for instance — counts steps and subtasks together.

Limits and plans

Steps and subtasks together go up to 50 per task, on any plan. It is a sanity ceiling against lists nobody can read, not a commercial limit: hitting it does not open an upgrade offer.

I completed the task and it had open subtasks. What happens? The app asks. You choose between Complete all, Keep them open, or Reschedule to tomorrow — and you can tick Remember my choice so it stops asking.

I deleted the task. Do the items go too? Steps always go along — they do not exist outside the task. For subtasks the app asks whether you want Only the task or Delete all.

Can I nest a subtask inside a subtask? No. The hierarchy is one level deep on purpose: more depth turns a task list into an org chart.