I absolutely agree that this feature is required.

I am new here and have searched and see that this has been requested numerous times, but I too need to add my support to this idea.

I have "tasks" and I have "projects". I would really like to be able to list my tasks for each project in a nested list.

I know it has been suggested that I could use "lists" for the projects, but with the organizational system that I use, it just doesn't work out quite right.

Absolutely a must have.

You can grab a url for a smart list by going to the atom feed and changing the word 'atom' to 'home' in the url, but being able to automate this would be helpful.

This would be a great feature that I would love to have also

agree

I think it is so important, I would pay for a pro account for this feature

I also think this is a great idea. Essentially I have projects within projects, so I need lists within lists.

Still hoping for this.

Agreed. Perfect candidate for a Pro feature.

Vote for this!!

gotta say, much needed. I'm moving to MindMeister until RTM has sublists.

Well, considering the number of people requesting sublists, I'm surprised that most haven't realized that Firefox+GreaseMonkey already makes this possible.

My present tag cloud at work, where I have hidden the private tags:
[url removed]

The three projects at the bottom (p01, p02 and p03) all have sublists, works well.

When thinking smart(lists), sublists make a lot of sense
I've always thought how cool it would be to have dropdowns, but then these dropdowns could be lists themselves (the parent lists) and everyone would be pleased :)

For the simpler cases, rajjan, our pumped up tag cloud does fine, but when you talk smartlists there's nowhere to run.
Bottom line is, sublists are already a reality for tags, lists and locations, but not for smartlists (unless you could stick a smartlist to your tagcloud). And smartlists bring the indecent possibilities.

I have a tag cloud like Rajjan, but I'm still getting it all pimped out. I also use RTM Enhanced to reformat RTM so it's easier to use, and I use another script to keep the task cloud in view at all times.

I do agree that sublists are a good idea. I'd have to say that drag-and-drop reordering and dependent tasks are more important to me, though.

I would love to have sub-lists. Yeah, it's possible to use all sorts of crazy tasks and smart lists to do this, but when it comes down to it, sub-lists would just be easier!

Would definitely make implementing GTD easier for me, since I'm using a list name as a project name. If there are sub-lists, I can then create sub-projects easily.

+1

Another vote for this feature. I loved Todoist's nesting. I've tried multiple lists using RTM but I hate how rows of list tabs stack. If Im going to have tabs stack I'd rather have parent list tabs on top and sub list tabs on bottom.

One application of nested lists I like the most. A parent list of "Home" with nested lists for each room in the house ("Bedroom", "Living Room", etc.) and then tasks for each room within the room's list.

+1!

+1

++++

100% agree this is needed... if it wasn't for the increased google integration I'd stick with Todoist as I prefer the sub task design. If the integration increases I'm switching back. Keep the masses happy and sort this out.

I really need this feature. I think it is the base of the "next action" idea (of GTD)

+1 for the idea.

+1

As a consultant with mulitiple clients and often multiple projects for a single client I could definitely use this feature to keep the projects as sublists under a main client list - and if it was only available as a Pro feature I would upgrade.

I agree with this being a need that should be implimented as a high priority.

I'd like sublists, or something equivalent

Would love to see this feature as well!

+1

-1... Personally, I prefer tags. If this could be implemented without sacrificing simplicity, then that's one thing, but I would rather just not see it at all.

now that google tasks (otherwise inferior to RTM) comes with nested tasks RTM really need to take this request seriously. This could be a make or break feature. Please RTM reconsider!

Would it not be possible to make sublists an option to placate those of us who need them and those who want to maintain the simplicity of the interface?

I'll name my firstborn RTM if you add this function*.

*Not a legally binding contract.

Absolutely needed -_-

(don't really know if this thread is still followed tough)

I'm adding my +1. Is there a good reason this can't be added? If so, I'll stop asking or adding my +1 to these.

dan.julian,

Here are links to a few posts (please see emily's comments) as to why it may not be added (or at least why it may not be added in the next week/6 months/year/etc.):

http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/help/6751/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/1582/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/help/6629/

Hope that helps.

I wrote a ticketing system for my org and I created the ability for each ticket to have children. It's really very simple. Every ticket has a parent_id field. Every ticket can only have one parent, but in effect, each ticket can have unlimited children this way. It works great.

I would love to see this implemented.

I am really impressed by RTM. However, the lack of sublists is a great shame.

Sublists would be great

fully agreed

Agreed!

Hey rajjan,

could you share your RTM knowledge off Forum with me? I've come to a deadpoint in my rtm implementation even though I have set up my coloured task cloud and so on. Do you have by any chance a blog about your settings published somewhere in the net?

Thanks in advance,

+1

+100 ;)

+1

+100

Absolutely needed feature

Please!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!

and once again: yes!

I agree that sublists would make using RTM SOOOOO much more awesome. I use smartlists for that now, but it is certainly not ideal. But other things about RTM are so great, so hopefully if you add this it'll be simply perfect

+1

I'd like them too!

+1! Would be an awesome feature.

please add sublists! :)

I totally agree with adding sub-lists, however it should be an option that could be turned on or off, since some people dont particularly favor them. For my requirements, so far, tagging isn't enough.

++++1 Sublist

+1

+1

+1
I need it sooooo much. Or maybe project-oriented tasks.

+1

the tabbed lists interface gets cluttered fast!

Think of it as "files of lists" if you want to use a simple metaphor. That level of hierarchy I can even get using pen and paper. It is quite unintuitive that using a computer based system I loose that possibility.

+1

yes, please

+1

+ 1

I was a pro member once... but it's been over a year with some popular requests such as these, and I see no development or progress towards anything more than last years RTM.

Though RTM has a few functions I find very useful, particularly when used with a mobile device, ie syncing, smartlists, location/nearby, & smart task adding from many different sources and devices... imo it becomes very difficult to organize and keeping track of tasks and lists when you start having many tasks and lists over a longer period of time.

But RTM seems to have so much potential to be powerful and flexible for organizing all the tasks in my life.. but perhaps RTM really is just for...remembering tasks such as remember to buy the milk.

I need sublists,

and/or an easier way to make lists in general, maybe something right on the tasks page, instead of needing to go into settings each time to create, edit, or delete lists, maybe drag and drop too.

I completely agree the tabbed lists interface easily gets too cluttered. Really discourages me from using it at all in the long run...

Also maybe when you make a smartlist, it would pull the tasks out of the inbox, to keep the inbox uncluttered so that you can review and consider straggler tasks that don't belong in any grouping. As it is, when solely relying on smartlist, the inbox is exactly like the all tasks lists, and after a week of adding tasks to RTM, who really wants to go back through 200+ tasks in the inbox to make sure i've properly organized all my tasks... especially when making a list isn't even that easy to do. If you

+1

and again a +1 +1 from a newbie.

Hey! RTM! HOW can you not have sublists??? What, is it somehow impossible with your current design? Would you need to completely refactor the entire site? Did Bob T. Monkey have a bad experience with a sublist as a child?

WAKE UP! Implement sublists!

(please.)

This would be awesome - lots of lists are nice, but so often I have categories that need sublists and it would be so much cleaner to be able to do this.

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1!

Yes please! This would be so very useful. If a pro feature, I wouldn't hesitate for a second.

I absolutely agree that this feature is required. [+1]

Hey it's help a lot of! Sublists is better than puts the tags, and the preview would be more enjoyable.

Congratulations for your great work! I'm loving it!

+1

+1;
This is a better idea then subtasks to keep the interface clean.

+1
I agree... "this is a better idea then subtasks to keep the interface clean".

+ 1 . Agree as well, sublists before sub tasks.

+1

I cluster related lists by using prefixes for lists that are part of a bigger thing. Simple, and works on whatever device I'm using.

+1

Three years of people asking for the same thing? that is crazy

+1

+1. totally required

IMO sublists are one of the few features missing in an othwise awesome application. Sublists would expand the ability to use RTM for a much wider variety and number of more complex tasks

I'm trying to implement the getting thingy done method with rtm and this is the feature which I'm missing most. In gtd you make a lot of lists as you go so especially on the Droid things get really messy.

This is easily implementable with a tag. Please use tags.

+1

+1 sublists required

I just don't understand how sublists haven't been implemented yet. Seems like an obvious necessity.

Probably the biggest missing feature in RTM. Please implement and don't make seasoned "paying" RTM users feel that they are lacking this important capability.

sub-list is definitely needed. maybe as step 1, just allow a first level of sub list?
ideally, it could support n numbers of sublist

yes sublists would help a lot! Please implement it!

The lack of sublists is one of the things that keeps me from using RTM as my full-time Todo list application. I'll even get Premium for it, if I have to.

This will also be very useful as an alternative to listContains search operator:
https://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/5704/

The thing is that following the advice to apply GTD with RTM:
http://blog.rememberthemilk.com/2008/05/guest-post-advanced-gtd-with-remember.html

ends up in multiple lists that are related by prefix name (ps: personal, wk: work). However, if it could be possible to have a "Personal" folder and a "Work" folder it would be pretty easy to find all personal/work tasks that match a criteria looking into the folder (assuming that searching in a folder is the same as searching in all the lists that it includes).

Note that since lists are being created/archived/deleted as small projects start/finish, it's a little bit painful to keep the search criteria up-to-date for all the smartlists while this folder idea will make things much easier (even if only one level is allowed, that is, folders can only include lists, not other folders).

+1 pleeeeaseeee!

+1

Sublists or Sub tasks, need drag and drop orginization

+1

+1 Please allow manual ordering of list and sub-list.

Also ability to hide sub-lists.

+1 I'm starting with RTM and I'm not sure to get THE tool because I don't have this sub list feature.
It's important for me to be able organize my lists (personal ones, work, context for meeting preparation, sub projects, ...)

Would love to see nest/sub list support.

Love the idea of nest/ sub lists

+1 sublist is a must!!

+ 1

+1
This would make RTM better!

Sublist would increase the flexibility of a very flexible product.

I don't see that this has been created yet. I also need sublists. Thanks!

Very needed!

Another vote for sublists - IMHO, a very necessary feature for serious organizers. This feature has been requested by users for over 7 years now . . . is there a reason why it hasn't yet been added? Is it difficult to implement from a technical perspective?

Some sort of answer would be useful from the good folks at RTM. I'm a Pro user, but beginning to look for alternatives to RTM that have this ability.

Come on, Bob the Monkey - you can do this! ;-)

For example, check out workflowy.com. Simple, intuitive and easy to use . . . and, with sublists !!

+1, if you cant pick up the rythm, - sorry to say - but I'll change to Todoist

Yes this feature is missing for a good project management. A huge missing feature.
Tanks Bob !

I want sublists too!

You could call it folders for lists to, as long as there is a way of putting multiple lists into a group

Yes. I find that the more I use RTM, the more unwieldy the sidebar becomes and I really want to clean it up by grouping sublists into lists.

Essential. When I used RTM way back in 2009 I requested this feature. It's bizarre with the new version they neglected to include sub folders.

Anywho +1

Adding my voice to this too. I have around 50 lists and a lot of them are commons groups. I could get around this by using Tasks & Subtasks but with Smart Lists, you can't group by parent task so the subtasks don't show up clearly as to what project they're in.

Sublists seems like such an easy addition!

That's definitely a must have. For my GTD workflow all tasks that need more than 1 step will be put on a seperate project list. Lot's of lists will clutter the Sidebar if there's no possibility to group them in folders.

+1
I'm just searching a new tool (like todoist) only because RTM does not have sub-lists.

Have the same problem and same idea about lists of lists :-) Or maybe categorisation of lists.

Yes, Yes Yes! I need nested lists/sublists too!

I love RTM but this may be a factor in me looking for a new program.

Yes, I've considered going to other services for this very feature.

I see the TickTick model (when lists go to folders which are not lists themselves but allow for comfortable grouping and easy list selecting in mobile apps) better than the Todoist model (when general lists just can contain other lists). Please, consider it when developing.

Yes, I would like to have sub lists too. It could be tricky to add them and keep the UI simple, but I think it's worth the effort.

P.S. Wow, the original request is from 2007. Are there not enough people who want it?

Right now I use leading spaces/characers in the list names. It works really well visually, but obviously it would be better if they also behaved as sublists, and also if they were collapsable. Another workaround I've tried is using a #project tag, but this is also not ideal because then I have tasks that are not really tasks, like "Chores" and "Groceries".

I agree that this is a needed feature. It's pretty obvious what we want. Todoist has it and so does TickTick.

Much needed feature, indeed.

Another vote for sublists please!

+1 - I've just given up on Todoist and come to you. And one of the best things Todoist had going for it was that I could nest my lists and separate work and home.

Agree - this is the issue most preventing me from leaving todoist.

+9000

10 years waiting and counting...just saying :)

Hahaha @mackar - Well it's kind of a testament to how awesome RTM is otherwise that we're sticking around so long with "pro" next to our names. :-)

I foolishly dismissed this feature idea for years, thinking either that it complicated things too much or that it was resolved with sub-tasks. I just gave this thread a read and it got my vote.

I'm willing to wait ten more years, Bob. (If you're there...)

I'm also in between todoist and RTM. I'd really like to see nested/sub lists with each parent list having an aggregated view on all children.

RTM is one step away from perfection for me, and that step is sublists. Please! I can't list each and every of my 100+ projects as individual lists. They need to be sublists under my list of Projects. And they are sublists, not tasks. It is confusing and uncomfortable to have them be tasks in a list. They're titles, not tasks. Please get this feature! Thank you!

I definitely want sub-tasks, and to show in printing please. When you procrastinate big jobs, you want the small sub-tasks to show, as it can get you working on an otherwise daunting project.

Agree with all of the above. This has been on the feature
request list for a decade now. Sublists are a necessity for some of us. Please consider adding this feature as a matter of priority. Thanks!

ANother loud shout for sub-list.. please. why was this left out of the revamp and recode.. really guys? really? I mean come on now.. this is so frigging basic.. SMDH

It's weird how a thread that's been open for over a decade, describing an idea that has been backed by thousands of users, doesn't even seem to warrant any kind of response from staff, let alone concrete plans for implementation...

How is "Grouping lists into folders" (which would suffice for most of us, judging by all the comments here and in other threads) still a missing feature?

+1 Would like an official response.

+1 yes - i come from wunderlist and sublists were wonderful. It would be a great feature for the rtm

Since it has been another 6 months I thought I'd give everyone some kind of "update". When I got annoyed at the lack of an official response to this feature request, I decided to contact rtm directly. I did recieve an immediate, promising reply - but haven't heard anything (or seen any changes in forum engagement or feature delivery) since then.

This here is the email conversation I had with a staff member in July 2018:


---- My Initial mail: Dealing with feature requests
[9th of July 2018]

Hi,

so after realising that rtm lacks features that seem rather "basic" to me (grouping lists and smart lists into folders or categories, live filtering my lists with additional filters, going back to my 5 most recent searches), I decided to head to the idea forums. As I expected, all of the features above have already been requested there - some of them have been on the forums for over a decade (compare: https://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/3289/) - without prompting an implementation or even just an answer from rtm staff.

This - in itself - is quite discouraging. But for sport, I decided to scan through the "newest" ideas, clicking on "next" until I found the youngest idea tagged "answered". And - behold - it only took 42 (fortytwo!) pages to find a thread that had been answered - 7 (seven!) years ago.

Now, this of course makes me wonder whether you value user feedback at all (and why you encourage people to waste their time giving thumbs-ups to feature requests you never react to). Because if you do value user input, it's high time that you react to the forums (and I don't mean copy&paste tips and tricks for your weekly blog posts) or find a more suitable system. It's also high time that you implement list-grouping, because - come on - it just makes sense (and also, because a few thousand of your users say so...)
Regards,
#########################################


---- First response by RTM staff member

Thanks for getting in touch. We appreciate your feedback on our feedback system. :)

We don't generally comment on unreleased features, but we've had lots of great ideas from users, and certainly encourage feedback!

You can also see answered/launched ideas in the respective sections, for example here for answered ideas:

https://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/?s=answered

More "addressed" features were marked "launched" since "answered" means we answered but did not launch a specific answer.

The rest are still "open", so to speak, so we encourage feedback and votes as we work to improve Remember The Milk with future features.

Regarding list grouping, we don't currently offer that but it would be possible to group lists in the left navigation bar with manual sorting:

https://www.rememberthemilk.com/help/answer/basics-lists-changeorder

Let us know if we can ever help with anything else!
#########################################


---- My response to that

thanks for your reply. Obviously I'm not saying that there's no progress on RTM - I really liked the 2016 Update and enjoy using RTM a lot (else, I wouldn't be a Pro subscriber, obviously). I also understand that you don't want to publish a roadmap or make any kind of promises.
Nonetheless, I think you should "engage" a little more in the ideas forums. Sticking with the aforementioned thread concerning grouping of lists, I really think it is a bad signal to keep such a request in a seemingly "ignored" state. Again, we are talking about more than a decade worth of comments and endorsements.

I know that I can "group" the lists by sorting (I actually AM doing that, simply by giving each list a name with a grouping prefix and sorting alphabetically). But this way, I can't collapse the groups - and my navigation bar overflows with dozens of lists. [Side note: This could also become easier with a search history (so I could jump between my last 10 searches or my "most used" searches, eliminating the need for that many smart-lists. It would also become much easier if we could simply filter the currently viewed lists by clicking on a tag (expected behaviour: all tasks within the CURRENT lists that are tagged appropriately are shown, all others get hidden. Current behaviour: ALL tasks within the SYSTEM with the chosen tag are shown)]
If we look at what other users have suggested, some also ask for a sublist feature, rather than "only" grouping via collapsible folders. To me, that would also imply advanced behaviour like inheritance. I currently use Master-Smartlists to collect, for instance, all my "projects" (I'm using RTM fro GTD). Then, I have smartlists for each area of focus, that basically collect all the projects related to a certain AoF (list:Projects__Master AND ag:aof_fitness). The reason for that is that I'd like to be able to change how I search for active projects [maybe today I need (tag:project AND (NOT tag:someday)) - or how about (tag:project AND dueBefore:"1 month from now") instead?]. But I'd like to be able to adjust this behaviour without having to change each and every one of my AoF-Smartlists. Using the masterlist pattern, sadly, messes with project task creation, because tasks created while within the smartlist Projects_Fitness (list:Projects__Master AND tag:aof_fitness) will receive #aof_fitness but not #project.
Theses are just a few of the the problems I currently try to deal with - and my needs may be very different from other users'. But that's exactly why I think it is important for you to engage in discussions on the forums more - maybe asking for clarification, or making suggestions how one COULD implement such features, asking for feedback. You don't need to make promises, nor give any time estimates. But you COULD show that you are actually working with the user input (even when you are not currently working ON any of those requests per se).

I guess the current forum-based system is giving me a hard time exactly because I can't see which requests are "open" and which are "ignored" - sorry, I'm an open-source-github-kind-of-guy :P (I believe I share this fate with quite a large portion of your userbase. A todolist app with a scripting based query system and a powerful API tends to attract a certain kind of people) ;)

Regards,
#########################################

---- And their second reponse
Thanks for your continued feedback! I understand where you're coming from and have passed this on to the development team for review.

Feedback *about* feedback is a certain kind of special, so we really appreciate your ongoing thoughts about being a Remember The Milk user and interacting with the app and our team.

As always, let us know if we can help with anything else too!

+1: sublists, folders, some form of structure; the growing number of lists are making my list section unruly.

Yeah, this is honestly the #1 reason why I've switched almost entirely over to using Things. If really wish RTM would build the capability of grouping lists into larger "areas" or however they'd want to name them, but based on many of the timestamps in this thread and the number of limited number of new releases that have been coming out, I'm not getting my hopes up. :/

List groups - or nesting - would be wonderful.

My workaround is to use prefixes for related lists (as I see others have done in this thread), like so:
* Clients - Draconis Combine
* Clients - Dunder Mifflin
* Clients - Wayne Enterprises

I came from Wunderlist and used folders and sublists extensively. RTM is far superior to Wunderlist but I sure miss the folders/lists/sublists . At bare minimum I would like to see collapsible folders that would hold lists. (or smartlists). Simplified example. A collapsible folder that says Travel. Lists under travel that say France, Germany, Leland etc. Ideally The France list could have at least one layer of sublists such as Paris, Cannes, etc. Each sublist would include tasks. Would love the sublists but doesnt sound like that is going to happen anytime soon. I do use tags and smartlists to clumsily accommodate some of that. I would like the sublists but would be happy with at least collapsible folders to group lists. That might be an easier change.

Wow, im trying out RTM, coming from Todoist and this is a major blocker for me. RTM looks really good otherwise. A feature request 12 (!!!) years old still not implemented makes me wanna back out of here really quick...

I agree with @rtmpat: it would be great to have an extra organizational level with folders. RTM please...

100% agree with @ulf.lundh. I am in love with RTM's UI and nested lists are the only thing I'm missing! I could work around this with tags and smart lists, but frankly I am not willing to, because the dev team ignoring one of the most popular and old feature requests is not a good sign... :(

I don’t use sub-tasks, but I’m curious how this feature (https://www.rememberthemilk.com/help/answer/android-subtasks-whatare) varies from a nested list? I would have guessed this would do the trick, and am curious about what you seek in comparison.

@ranbarton
At least for me, I am probably biased by heavy usage of Things3, but I'd love to have nested lists for hierarchies in the form of Area -> Project -> Actionable Tasks, e.g. Work as research assistant -> Software Project A that is complex and maybe has a deadline but is not actionable in itself -> Numerous tasks required for completing A.
Seeing such large projects as tasks is discouraging (because I will never be able to simply complete that project) and a higher number of subtasks just looks cluttered. Also, what happens, if I'd want to break down a subtask even further? This frequently happens to tasks that emerge from working on a project...
I'm now actually using smart lists for grouping tasks into areas and tags for GTD-like contexts. Sorting the Today-view by these structures requires a pro account and I'm nearly willing to try it this way. If only the devs would be a tiny bit more responsive... *sigh*

Thank you for the explanation. I also use and enjoy Things, so that’s a helpful comparison.

I totally agree that we need multiple nested lists. It would be a wonderful tool. Very clumsy to accommodate with tags and subtasks