The outliner has a toolbar pinned just above the editor — every common command is one click away, with its keyboard shortcut shown right on the button. Click anything; nothing breaks. Press the shortcut next time and you’re already faster.
You don't have to memorise anything
The shortcut is always visible on the button. Use the mouse for now — your fingers will pick up the keys on their own.
The buttons
Each button shows its label and its shortcut. Hover any button and a tooltip spells the shortcut out in full (“Cmd+Enter” rather than ”⌘↵”) — useful when you’re learning what each icon on your keyboard means.
| Group | What’s on the toolbar |
|---|---|
| Create | Add (new task below), Add Child (new subtask) |
| Edit | Done, Cancel |
| Move | Move↑, Move↓, Move← (outdent — one level up the hierarchy) |
| View | Fold (collapse subtasks), Focus In (zoom into a subtree) |
| Find & Start | Find (search), Start (timer on the focused task) |
| Bucket | @today, @next, @later |
| Other | Select All, Priority↑, Show all shortcuts |
The Move← button is “outdent” — it lifts the current task one level up the hierarchy. The matching “indent” action is plain Tab, which is intuitive enough that we don’t give it a button.
Adapts to your screen
The toolbar measures its own width and adjusts:
- Lots of room → every button sits inline.
- Less room (e.g. inside a Flow Mode panel) → the lowest-priority buttons collapse into a “More…” menu on the right. They reappear inline as soon as there’s space for them.
If you don’t see a button you expect, click More….
When you’re zoomed in
When you Focus Into a task (so the outliner only shows that task’s subtree), two buttons pin to the front of the toolbar and stay there at every width:
- Focus Out — back up one level
- Focus In — zoom further
This is the primary navigation when you’re working inside a subtree, so it never gets hidden.
Click and keyboard feel the same
A toolbar click runs the exact same command as pressing the shortcut — your cursor stays on the focused task, the editor stays focused, and the result is identical. There’s no “mouse mode” vs “keyboard mode”.
A few buttons require a task to be focused first — Done, Move↑/↓, Move←, Fold, Focus In, the bucket buttons, Priority↑, and Start. Click into the task you want first, then click the button. (Start additionally needs the task to be synced — wait for “Synced” in the bottom-right after typing.)
Where it doesn’t appear
The toolbar is hidden on mobile (both the native app and mobile browsers). Keyboard shortcuts aren’t useful without a hardware keyboard, and the buttons would crowd a small screen. Mobile users have dedicated bucket controls elsewhere in the app.
Related
- Task Outliner Shortcuts — the full keyboard reference, including shortcuts not on the toolbar.
- Task Trust System — what the @today / @next / @later buckets are for.
- Closing the Loop - From Done to Delivered — how Done and followups fit together.