How to Automatically Apply Labels to New Todoist Tasks in a Project

Todoist doesn’t offer any functionality for automatically applying labels to tasks as they’re created. Sure, you can use the `@` keyboard shortcut, which does help to an extent, but what would be nicer is not having to worry about adding labels at all and having them automatically apply to your tasks as needed.

So, in this post we’re going to look at how we can implement that exact functionality using Doify rules. By the end of this post, you’ll be able to automatically apply labels whenever you create a new task in a project within Todoist.

Why Todoist Can’t Automatically Apply Labels to Tasks

Todoist doesn’t support performing actions like applying labels automatically. This forces users to either change their workflows to fit what Todoist currently supports or perform a series of manual updates every time.

Now, neither of these solutions is ideal, and wanting automation inside Todoist isn’t a niche request either. In fact, it’s one of the most frequently asked questions in the Todoist community, with people asking for this feature for years. And, unfortunately, the answer has always been the same; it’s not supported natively.

If you search for a solution to this problem, you’ll find documentation about applying labels manually, or you’ll likely come across general-purpose automation platforms like IFTTT, Zapier, or Make. These can all be connected to Todoist and configured to apply labels, but they’re expensive tools built for broad automation workflows.

Secondly, when it comes to these platforms, the pricing and complexity can be overkill for something as specific as applying a label to a new task in Todoist. So, you could end up paying for a tool that costs more than Todoist itself and that’s designed to connect hundreds of different apps together, just to solve one specific Todoist problem.

This is where Doify can help.

How to Automatically Apply Labels to New Todoist Tasks via Doify

Doify allows you to listen to events that happen in your Todoist account and then perform actions in response to them. We call these triggers and actions and rules are how you pair them together to create automations. In this case, we can use the Task is created trigger paired with the Add label action to automatically apply a label to any newly created task in the specified project. Let’s look at how to configure this rule for yourself in Doify.

How to Configure This Rule

1. Sign up to Doify . The free plan is fine for this guide.
2. Once you’re signed in, navigate to the rules page and create a new rule .
3. Choose the Task is created trigger.
4. Choose a target project for the rule to monitor. If you’re on the Pro plan , you can choose to target all projects with a single rule instead.
5. Choose the Add label action.
6. Choose the label you want to automatically apply to newly created tasks.
7. Create the rule.

With the rule active, any new task you create in the monitored project will have the label applied automatically.

Recap

So, to recap, in this post we’ve looked at why Todoist doesn’t support automatic label application natively, why general-purpose automation tools are an unnecessarily expensive and complex way to solve this issue, and how you can configure a Doify rule in minutes using the Task is created trigger and Add label action to handle this automation for you.

If you want to explore other Todoist automations you can set up with Doify, take a look at how to automatically reschedule overdue tasks to today or how to automatically move completed tasks to a different section .

If you have any questions about Doify or this workflow, get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.

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FAQs

Can Todoist Automatically Apply a Label to a Task When It Is Created?

Todoist cannot natively do this type of automation. However, you can create a Doify rule using the Add label action that will do this for you automatically whenever a new task is created in a project.

How Can You Apply Labels to New Tasks in a Specific Todoist Project?

You cannot natively automate this in Todoist. But, with Doify you can scope a rule to a target project. When you pair that with the Add label action and the Task is created trigger, you have a rule that automatically applies labels to newly created tasks within that specific project.

Can You Automatically Apply Labels to Any Newly Created Task in Todoist?

Not natively in Todoist, but Doify Pro users can create a single rule that automatically applies a target label to any task created in any project.

How Do You Automatically Apply Todoist Labels on iOS?

Todoist doesn’t support label automation of this kind on iOS or any other platform so you’d need an external tool like Doify. This is because Doify runs independently from your Todoist application, it applies automations based on what happens in your account regardless of the device or platform you used to perform the triggering action, making this level of automation possible.