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Using BusyCal with Todoist

Todoist is a popular task management offering by Doist. The BusyCal Todoist integration lets you add your Todoist account to BusyCal and manage all your task lists and calendar items in one place. You can view and manage your Todoist tasks alongside your calendar events, creating a comprehensive productivity system. Changes made in BusyCal will sync to Todoist and all other devices running Todoist and vice versa.

Syncing with Todoist

To sync BusyCal with Todoist, do the following:

note

BusyCal currently supports a single Todoist account. You can add one Todoist account to BusyCal at a time.

  1. Choose BusyCal > Settings > Accounts.
  2. Click the + (plus) button to add a new account.
  3. Choose Todoist from the Server Type pop-up menu, and click OK.

Troubleshooting

Update BusyCal first if Todoist sync reports errors

If Todoist sync shows errors such as Failed to get content, API errors, connectivity errors, metadata errors, or a red exclamation point next to the Todoist account, make sure you are running the very latest version of BusyCal before trying deeper troubleshooting.

Todoist has changed and retired parts of its APIs over time. Older BusyCal builds may no longer be able to communicate with Todoist reliably, even if they worked previously. In some cases, BusyCal versions from only a few months ago may not work with Todoist's current APIs.

To update BusyCal for Mac:

  1. Open BusyCal.
  2. Choose BusyCal > Check for Updates.
  3. Install the latest update.
  4. Quit and reopen BusyCal.
  5. Try syncing Todoist again.

If you installed BusyCal through Setapp or the Mac App Store, update BusyCal through that app instead.

Quota Limits

Todoist enforces request limits. BusyCal’s Todoist sync happens in multiple steps (for example: checking for changes, then syncing lists, labels, reminders, and tasks). Some actions can trigger extra checks/updates (including handling completed tasks), so making lots of changes in a short time can use up your quota quickly.

If sync pauses due to Todoist quota limits, you’ll need to wait a bit and let it resume. For current limits, see Todoist’s “Request Limits / Rate Limiting” documentation: https://developer.todoist.com/sync/v9/

Known Limitations

BusyCal attempts to sync all the information retrieved from Todoist, including projects (calendars in BusyCal), task dates, notes, URL, reminders, labels etc, however the following limitations apply:

  • Labels can currently only be created and managed from your Todoist account. These changes automatically sync with BusyCal.
  • Some properties are not available: Attachments, Graphics, Locations, Location URLs, Private Flag.
  • Location based reminders sync from Todoist → BusyCal, however you cannot currently create one from within BusyCal.
  • Assigning "My Alarm", "My Notes", "My Tag" or "Contact" to a Task will not sync across multiple devices running BusyCal as Todoist does not support syncing 3rd party app meta-data.
  • Rich-text notes will not sync across multiple devices running BusyCal.
  • Snoozing or dismissing alarms on one device does not sync the snooze / dismissal across other devices running BusyCal.

Note that any limits that apply to your Todoist subscription plan also apply from within BusyCal. For instance, non-premium features such as adding an alarm to a task will not be available on a free account.