Printable To-Do List Templates

One capture list, several action views

Start by collecting every open loop. Then move tasks into the sheet that helps decide what happens next.

The six layouts, box by box

The simple checklist has three areas: Today, Later and Notes. Must, should and could do sorts tasks by how much they matter. The weekly list pairs the days, Monday with Tuesday and Wednesday with Thursday, and gives Friday its own box together with the weekend. The project action list has space for two projects plus a column of next actions. The urgent and important matrix is a four-square grid, and the home and work list splits jobs into home, work and errands.

Use priorities sparingly

If everything is urgent, the labels have stopped helping. Keep the must-do section short enough to finish.

When does the urgent and important matrix beat a plain list?

Reach for the matrix on days when the list is long and you feel pulled in every direction. Sorting each task into one of the four squares shows which jobs can wait, which can go to someone else and which can be dropped. For a short, ordinary day, the simple checklist is quicker and does the job.

Who prints these

Students with coursework from three subjects. A parent with a school form, a car service and a birthday to organize in the same week. Small business owners who keep the home and work list by the till so personal errands stop leaking into the shop day. Each layout is a single page in its own design, Minimalist for the checklist and Vintage for the project list among them. Print a few at once on US Letter, or on A4 with fit to page, and keep them on a clipboard. Cross a task out with one line instead of scribbling over it; at the end of the week, the struck lines show how much got done.

Put recurring work elsewhere

A to-do list is for finite actions. Repeating household jobs fit the chore chart, while appointments belong on the weekly calendar. Tasks with a fixed hour are easier to see on a printable daily planner.