One to-do list for work and family — without mixing them
Two lists mean two places to check. The pricing slides live in one app, the dentist appointment in another, and the one you didn’t open today is the one that slips. Put everything in your team’s tool instead, and your teammates scroll past your errands.
SwitchDesk takes a third route: one list on your Mac, split into categories, with sharing switched on one category at a time. Here’s how Sam Rivera, who runs Fernhill and sells mugs through his Pottery Shop on the side, sets it up.
Give each part of your life a category
Sam has four categories: Fernhill for work, Personal, Family and Pottery Shop. Each one has a one-line bio, and the bio is what SwitchDesk reads when it decides where a new to-do goes.
| Category | Sam’s bio |
|---|---|
| Fernhill | “Work at Fernhill: clients Lumora and Marlow & Finch, pilots, pricing, proposals, hiring” |
| Personal | “Me: errands, car, health, admin” |
| Family | “Home, Theo, appointments, weekends” |
| Pottery Shop | “The side hustle: glazes, mugs, kiln, market stall” |
Hold Globe, say “add a todo prep pricing slides for Thursday”, and let go. It lands under Fernhill. Type “book Theo’s dentist appointment” into the to-do window’s chat box, and it lands under Family, because Family’s bio mentions Theo and appointments.
Write bios like a note to an assistant. Fernhill’s names the clients, Lumora and Marlow & Finch, so a to-do that mentions either lands under work without you saying “Fernhill”. A one-word bio such as “Work” leaves SwitchDesk guessing from the title.
Plan the day across categories in Today’s Todo
“Today’s Todo” is the built-in section at the top of the list. Pull any row into it, and the row keeps its home category: a small tag reads Family, Pottery Shop or Fernhill. Sam’s Wednesday is four rows from three categories, in the order he’ll do them.
Sam’s to-do list: Today’s Todo with four rows from three categories, then Fernhill, Personal, Family and Pottery Shop, and the chat box.
The rest of the week works the same way in This Week. Turn on “Organize by day” in Settings → To-Do List and each weekday gets its own heading, with a “Week Backlog” for the rows that don’t have a day yet. At 3 AM, unfinished rows move to the new day, so a late evening still counts as today. Switch on “Roll today into Today’s Todo” and each day’s rows move into Today’s Todo then.
Share your work category, and only that one
Open Settings → Teams, pick your team and switch on the categories it should see. Sam switches on Fernhill and leaves the other three off. The panel says it in the app’s own words: “Categories you toggle on are visible to teammates. Untoggled categories stay private.”
Maya Chen and Daniel Ortiz now see Sam’s Fernhill to-dos in their own windows, under “Sam Rivera’s Fernhill”. They also see the Fernhill rows Sam pulled into Today, under “Sam Rivera’s Today’s Todo”, so the team can see what he’s working on today. They don’t see Theo’s dentist appointment or the glaze mugs.
Shared with team
Categories you toggle on are visible to teammates. Untoggled categories stay private.
Maya Chen’s to-do list: her own Today’s Todo and Fernhill, plus Sam Rivera’s Today’s Todo and Sam Rivera’s Fernhill, holding only Fernhill rows.
Sharing also works the other way. Daniel shares his Fernhill too, so when he leaves a Fernhill to-do in his backlog, Sam can right-click it and choose “Take & Assign to Me”. It moves into Sam’s list, still in the backlog under Fernhill.
Maya’s “Sam Rivera’s Today’s Todo” holds only his Fernhill rows; Family rows he pulls into Today stay his. To see everyone’s day at once, open the team menu and choose “Show Team Side by Side”.
Sharing works with one team per person today. Whatever you share goes to everyone on your team, so sharing Family with a partner today would show it to Maya and Daniel too. Keep Family private and share only work.
Each person needs their own SwitchDesk account today. A teammate who joins your team signs in on their own Mac and sees what you share in their own list.
Set it up in four steps
Make a category for each part of your life
In
Settings → Categories, give each one a one-line bio that names its people and projects.Plan the week by day, if you like
In
Settings → To-Do List, turn on “Organize by day”.Create your team
In
Settings → Teams, create a team and send the invite code. It’s eight letters and digits, single-use, and it expires in 48 hours. Teammates choose “Join via code”. Sharing is in both plans, and every member has their own.Share the work category
Under “Shared with team”, switch on the work category. Leave the rest off.
From then on, say to-dos as they come. The pricing slides land where Maya and Daniel can see them; the dentist appointment stays with you.
See how the voice to-do list files things →See what a shared category looks like to your team →
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