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Help & Knowledge Base

Everything you need to know about using octo.do effectively.

Keyboard Shortcuts & Gestures

octo.do is designed to be fully keyboard-steerable. Here are all available shortcuts and touch gestures.

EnterSubmit task title / confirm edit
EscapeCancel edit / close panel
Click textEdit task title inline
Click ⓘOpen WSJF edit panel
Long-pressEdit task title (mobile)
Swipe ←Delete task (mobile)
Swipe →Complete task (mobile)
Drag & DropMove tasks between Today / Next / Someday

Text Logic & Title System

octo.do supports a unique title splitting system that lets you organize information within task names.

The split character (default: /) separates your task title into segments.

Title emphasis controls which segment gets visual weight: first, middle, or last.

With 'first' emphasis, 'Work' is bold. With 'last', 'Q1' is bold.
Work/Ship landing page/Q1
Work/Ship landing page/Q1

Configure both in Settings under 'Split character' and 'Title emphasis'.

WSJF Scoring

Every task is scored using the Weighted Shortest Job First formula to determine priority.

WSJF = (Business Value + Time Criticality + Risk Reduction) ÷ Job Size
Business Value (1-10): How much direct impact does this task have?
Time Criticality (1-10): How much value is lost if delayed?
Risk Reduction (1-10): How much risk does completing this remove?
Job Size: Estimated effort, set via duration picker.
Duration mapping: 5min=1, 15min=2, 30min=3, 1h=5, 2h=8, 4h=13, 1d=21

Tasks are automatically ranked by WSJF score. Higher scores appear first in your Today list.

Task Lifecycle

How tasks flow through octo.do from creation to completion.

1

Quick Add: Capture a task with title, optional category, and duration estimate.

2

Auto-assign: If enabled, tasks are automatically distributed to Today and Next based on WSJF score.

3

Work: Focus on your top-ranked tasks in Today. Click to adjust WSJF parameters if priorities change.

4

Complete: Check off a task to archive it. The next highest-scored task from Next fills the gap.

5

Daily reset: Unchecked tasks return to the ranking pool each morning. WSJF re-ranks everything fresh.