Find anything
The Lists view
Every list you own, in whichever layout suits how many you have.
Why you'd care
Past about twenty lists, how this view is arranged stops being cosmetic. Rows are dense and readable, cards show more context, and gallery is best when your lists carry cover photos.
The layouts
| Layout | Good for |
|---|---|
| Rows | Many lists, quick scanning |
| Cards | Fewer lists, more context each |
| Gallery | Lists with cover photos |
This switcher is free and applies to the view, unlike per-list layouts which are a Plus feature. See List, Gallery and Board.
The filters
A row of pills above the lists narrows what you are looking at. This is the fastest way to answer a specific question about your lists rather than scrolling all of them.
| Filter | Shows |
|---|---|
| All | Every list, which is the default |
| Days | Your day lists only |
| Top Level | Lists that are not a sublist of another list. A list nested only under a day still counts as top level |
| Tag lists | Dynamic lists built from a tag query |
| Tagged | Lists that carry a tag themselves |
| Bookmarked | Your bookmarked lists |
| Collab | Lists you actually collaborate on, with someone at view, edit, admin or owner |
| Published | Lists shown on your profile |
| Public | Lists with a share link, whether or not they are on your profile |
| Templates | Your templates |
| Saved | Public lists you saved from someone else, where you are not a collaborator |
| Archive | Your archived lists |
| Trash | Deleted lists, recoverable from Trash |
Two of these are easy to mix up. Published and Public are different: a public list has a link that works, and a published one is additionally listed on your profile. Collab and Saved are also different: saving someone's public list does not make you a collaborator, so a saved list appears under Saved and not under Collab. See publishing a list.
Tag lists and Tagged are a third easy mix-up, and they are close enough to be worth reading twice. A tag list is a list whose CONTENTS come from a tag query. A tagged list is a list with a tag stuck on it. A list can be both, so the two overlap rather than split the set.
Tag lists and Tagged each appear only once you have at least one. Templates and Archive show a crown until you have those features.
Custom order
Set the sort to Custom and you can drag your lists into whatever order you like. It works in all three layouts, and dragging in any of them edits the same order, so rows, cards and gallery always agree.
Three things are worth knowing.
There is one order, not one per filter. Dragging inside a filter moves the list relative to the neighbours you can see, and leaves everything that filter is hiding where it was. So an order you arrange under Collab still makes sense when you switch back to All.
New lists go to the bottom. A list you have never dragged has no place in the order yet, so it sits after the ones you have, most recent first. Drag it once and it stays where you put it.
Days, Trash and Archive don't offer it. Day lists are chronological by definition, and nothing in the other two is worth arranging.
The side menu follows this too. Under Custom its list section shows the first ten of your order rather than the ten you opened most recently, and you can drag them there as well. That is the difference between a section that reshuffles itself as you work and one you can actually rely on. Bookmarks have had their own custom order for a while, and it works the same way.
Filters and sorts stay put
Every view that has a filter or a sort remembers the one you last chose, and it is still there when you come back. That is true here, and in To-dos and Stars, Things and Reminders.
It is deliberate: a filter you set is usually how you want to keep working. It is also the answer to "where did all my lists go", which is nearly always a filter left on from last time. Set it back to All.
Two caveats worth knowing. It is remembered per device rather than on your account, so your phone and your laptop each keep their own. And clearing your browser data on web resets it.
The Lists sort is the one exception: it syncs. A custom order is worth nothing if only the device you built it on shows it that way, so choosing Custom on your phone also switches your laptop.
Going further
Bookmarks sit at the top. Pinned lists are separated from the rest, which is what keeps the five you use from being lost among the thirty you own. See bookmarks.
Archived lists are not here. That is the point of archiving. See archive.
Web, Mac, Windows, and Linux
List tabs and the side panel. On a wide screen a list can be opened in a tab or in the right-hand panel, so you can work against two lists at once. ⇧ + click and ⌥ + click.
Tips
- If this view feels overwhelming, the answer is archiving, not a different layout.
- If a list you expected is missing, check the filter row before searching. A pill left on from last week explains it more often than anything else.
- Emoji do more for scanning than any layout choice. See emoji, colour and cover photo.