Finalist Docs
For people who finish things. Start here.
Finalist helps you plan one day at a time, without the anxiety. These docs are organized so you can read a short path when you're new, and look things up forever after.
Don't have Finalist yet? You can still start anywhere. These guides show how it feels as well as how it works, and you can download Finalist on the App Store whenever you're ready to try it with your own day.
New here?
Ten minutes, three pages, and you'll have the whole idea:
- Welcome to Finalist: what Finalist is and why it works
- Setting Up: permissions, calendars, reminders (all optional)
- Your First Day: add, check off, flip, punt
In a hurry? Finalist in Two Minutes is the whole app in one skim.
The Finalist Way
The method behind the app, in short and opinionated reads:
- One Day at a Time: why a day page beats an infinite list
- The Art of Punting: rescheduling without guilt
- Plan Without Planning: capture first, structure later
- The Daily Rhythm: morning triage, evening close, Sunday preview
- Coming from Other Apps: mapping Things, Todoist, and GTD onto Finalist
- Tips & Best Practices: actionable tasks, master lists, a sane tag system
Everyday Finalist
The core of the app, in the order you'll meet it:
- Your Daily Page: the day page, catch-up, and the journal
- Lens: the pinwheel that shows how busy your day is and what the page shows
- The Five Kinds of Things: tasks vs. reminders vs. events vs. habits vs. notes
- Adding Tasks: quick entry, natural language times, voice
- Subtasks: break any task into steps
- Timeline & Time Blocking: the hourly grid, drag to reschedule, and planning in place
- Lists: divider tabs, pinning, list math
- Tags: highlighter colors for tasks, habits, and notes; focus the day on one
- Score: point values on tags, weekly goals, a tally that climbs as you complete
- Habits: streaks, heatmaps, snoozing
- Calendar & Reminders: all your commitments in one place
- The Planner: your week, month, or whole year, with color highlights
- Calendar Bookmarks: toggle calendars right from your day
- World Clock: your day in any timezone
- The Task Editor: dates, repeats, alerts, locations, and priorities
Notes
- Notebooks & Notes: a notes home inside your planner, with notes pinned to your day
- Writing in Markdown: the editor, toolbar, and keyboard shortcuts
- Connected Files & Obsidian: your vault's tasks, links, and tags in your planner
Everywhere
- Widgets & Live Activities: your day on the home screen and Dynamic Island
- Sync & Devices: iCloud sync and platform differences
- Automation: Shortcuts, the share extension, URL scheme
- Capture & Dictate: turn text, photos, and speech into tasks
- Plan My Day (Beta): AI-proposed schedules, penciled in around your meetings
Make It Yours
- Customize Your Daily: layouts, presets, and the Daybook and Broadsheet designs
- Themes & Appearance: palettes, custom colors, and QR theme sharing
Ways to Plan
- Just Do: just your tasks and a place to add the next one
- Ivy Lee: six tasks, chosen tonight and worked in order
- Time Blocking: give your tasks a place in the day
Need help?
Common Questions answers what people ask most: the pinwheel, a day that looks empty, where the week strip went. Can't find something there, or found a bug? Join the Discord community or email slaven at finalist.works to reach me directly.