Check out thread:
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/2177/

Interesting debate there... :)

That's a really good idea. Or at least a hide option, for tasks that should get done, but I don't want them there for now, and I'll come look at it later.

A "Hide Until" feature is exactly what I'm looking for. There are a bunch of tasks that I have (including repeating ones) that cannot be completed before a certain date and I'd rather not see them until I can do them. I'm a strict follower of GTD and one of the GTD rules is to only have completable, tangible actions on the task list (also known as the 'next actions' list). Currently, I have to manage deferred tasks by keeping them in a tickler file and then entering them into RTM when they become do-able.

If you use a smartlist to manage your doable tasks, this particular idea from the previous forum may do what you need:

rajjan Pro says:

More ideas, sorry for multiple posts but this really solved a problem with RTM for me:
At work: location:@work AND NOT (dueAfter:today AND tag:zzz)
At home: location:@home AND NOT (dueAfter:"1 week of today" AND tag:zzz)
At cabin: location:@cabin AND NOT (dueAfter:"1 month of today" AND tag:zzz)

Following an idea started by lwallach I have refined this in a smartlist for sleeping tasks (called ¤zzz below)

list:Someday
OR (tag:zzz AND dueAfter:now)
OR (tag:z1d AND dueAfter:"1 day of now")
OR (tag:z1w AND dueAfter:"1 week of now")
OR (tag:z1m AND dueAfter:"1 month of now")

This way I can choose if I want a task to appear 1 month, 1 week, 1 day or immediately before the due date+time has passed. Of course it's possible to use even more tags like this: z2d, z3d, z2w etc.

I use this in my other smartlists in order to hide tasks I don't want to see yet:
At work: (location:@work OR location:@pc OR location:@phone) AND NOT list:¤zzz
(I use locations for context.)

This method is especially useful for recurring tasks where I really disliked that a completed task led to a new task being added immediately, "hey I just did this, don't remind me yet!"

Rajjan, well said. I'd love to have this suggestion "pinned" in some obvious place so that we could easily refer people to it and avoid the endless threads that rehash the start date/hide until issue. It's a recurring theme, and maybe Bob will code something to address it, but until he does, I'd love to see it not crop up in a new thread every week.

Please implement this! I'm waiting for this function since the first days of RTM and it would be VERY useful for me.

This would come for free with the start_date field suggested elsewhere.

I actually expected this to happen when I used "Repeat After". I was extremely confused that when I made a task which repeats after a year, and then completed it, it seemed to just sit there but with a changing due date. I didn't do ANYTHING with due dates on the task--and it was still sitting there, staring me in the face, even though I didn't need to think about it for another 365 days!

THIS IS IN FACT A START DATE, as discussed here:
https://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/2177/

IMPORTANT: we need also the Date when the task was created. A) to sort for it. B) to know how much time passed between start and due date (epsecially when postponed multiple times)

Please implement "Start date" AND "Created" field !

It was asked for already multiple times (MERGE THE VOTES?):

https://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/11229/
https://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/2177/
https://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/13150/

THANKS !

A creation date is the day a task is created. A notional start date is the day the user wishes to see the task in his or her list. They are not the same thing.

Furthermore, proper use of sleeper tags saves you from needing a start date, so you can start using that today and stop whining for the obviously-overwhelmed Bob T. Monkey to get around to this.

I really would like a simple "hide until" function as well!

same as adding start date feature
+1

Still waiting for a start date. Really poor idea to have a recurring task just appear on your list forever. I normally use a smart list to avoid this "feature", but some toold don't support smart lists, so it keeps coming back to bit me.

+2