Reminders User Guide
- Reminders App Apple
- Apple Reminders App Mac
- Apple Mac Reminders App Sync
- Apple Mac Reminders App Download
- Work Reminders App Mac
- Apple Mac Reminders App Windows 10
- Apple Mac Reminders App Downloads
Reminders App Apple
If you keep your reminders in internet accounts—for example, iCloud, Exchange, Yahoo, or AOL—you can use the accounts in Reminders on your Mac, and access all your reminders in one place. Set up your iOS devices to use the same account, so that your reminders stay up to date across all your devices.
Your guide for how to use Reminders on Mac. Hopefully this user guide for how to use Apple Reminders on Mac will help you get off to a terrific start with the app. And for Notes, check out our user guide for the Notes app on Mac too. Let us know if you’re going to begin using Reminders on your Mac now. The Reminders app is super simple to use and because it syncs across both OS X and iOS platforms, if you add a reminder on your Mac, you’ll be able to see it on your iPhone or iPad, and vice-versa. It seamlessly syncs everything to iCloud so you never need to replicate your efforts. For the record, while Apple includes their own Reminders app on all devices (iPhone, iPad, and Mac), it's still pretty barebones when you stack it against the competition. Here are our top picks for reminder apps in 2019.
If you use only one account with the Reminders app on Mac, the title of the account in the sidebar is “My Lists.” If you use multiple accounts, the title of each account is the provider name (for example, iCloud or Yahoo) or the the description in the account details.
Note: All Reminders features described in this guide are available when using upgraded iCloud reminders. Some features aren’t available when using accounts from other providers.
Add your iCloud reminders
- On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Apple ID, select iCloud in the sidebar, then select Reminders in the list of apps.
- In the Reminders app on your Mac, click Upgrade.
Add other reminder accounts
Use this method to add a reminder account from other providers that offer reminders, such as Yahoo.
- On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Internet Accounts .
- In the list of accounts on the left, select the account you want to use.If you haven’t already added the account, click the account provider, then follow the onscreen instructions.
- In the list of features on the right, select Reminders.If you don’t see Reminders in the list, the provider doesn’t doesn’t offer a reminders feature.
Each account you add is listed separately in the sidebar. If the sidebar isn’t showing, choose View > Show Sidebar.
Stop using an account for Reminders
You can stop using an account so that its reminder lists and reminders no longer appear in Reminders on your Mac.
- On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Internet Accounts .
- In the list of accounts on the left, select the account.
- In the list of features on the right, deselect Reminders.
To use the account again with Reminders, select the Reminders checkbox. The account’s reminder lists and reminders reappear.
You can view, add, and modify reminders in the Reminders app on all your devices that use the same accounts. You can also view, add, and modify your iCloud reminders on iCloud.com. Changes you make show up everywhere, so you always have your most current reminders at hand. Reminder notifications also appear on your Mac and other devices that use the same accounts.
If you use Handoff, you can switch between your Mac and other devices while viewing reminders. To open a reminder list handed off to your Mac, click the Handoff Reminders icon that appears at the left side of the Dock.
See alsoSet up iCloud features on MacShare a reminder list on MacAdd dates or locations to reminders on MacAdd, change, or delete reminders on MacApple Support article: If your iCloud Contacts, Calendars, or Reminders won’t sync
I’ve been remiss in keeping up with my Bad Apple column, which exists to document aspects of the Apple experience that are incontrovertibly wrong and have an obvious solution. But it’s time for another one because I’ve just figured out one of the reasons that Apple’s Reminders app has been getting on my nerves lately: the silly thing still can’t sort list items to save its life. Bad Apple!
Reminders originated with iOS 5 and OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, when Apple split iCal into Calendar and Reminders. It was a simple app then, and it has remained so across years of iOS and macOS updates. Unfortunately, when it comes to sorting list items in Reminders, “simple” seems to mean “embarrassingly underpowered.”
Only Manual Sorting in Reminders in iOS
In the iOS version of Reminders, eight major updates later, you still cannot sort Reminders lists in any way other than manually. And even that feature doesn’t merit a mention in Apple’s documentation of Reminders. Bad Apple!
Let me rectify that omission. When in a list, you can tap Edit and then drag reminders around by their handles to rearrange them.
It’s not as though the concept of sorting is foreign to iOS. In the Settings app, both Contacts and Notes offer sort options, and when you’re in the Music app’s Library, you can sort within the lists of albums, playlists, and songs.
The only justification I can imagine is that Apple doesn’t think anyone will use Reminders to store so many items that sorting would become useful. It’s true—if you never put more than about ten items in a Reminders list, you can probably see them all on one screen without scrolling.
Single List Sorting in Reminders in macOS
Although Reminders predates the so-called “Marzipan” apps that Apple ported from iOS to macOS in macOS 10.14 Mojave (News, Home, Voice Memos, and Stocks), we should have realized that it foreshadowed just how lousy those apps would be.
The Mac version of Reminders is more capable than the iOS version—not that it’s a high bar—and notably, it does allow some sorting. Choose View > Sort By, and you’re presented with five options: Manual, Due Date, Priority, Creation Date, and Title. That’s good, right?
Apple Reminders App Mac
Not so fast. As a Mac user, I naturally assumed that each list in Reminders had its own sort order. If I have a to-do list where I’m prioritizing tasks, I’d want to sort by Priority. And if I have a list of article ideas, I’d want to sort them by Title. Manual would be useful for a process list, where I want to go through a particular set of tasks in order. Due Date is obviously what I’d want for a task list where the completion date is paramount, and I’m sure there are uses for Creation Date even if none spring to mind at the moment.
But no, Reminders supports only a single sort order that applies to every one of your lists. This is what threw me since I’d be in a list and notice it wasn’t sorted in a useful manner, so I’d change the sort order. Then, sometime later I’d be in a different list and notice that it too was sorted wrong. Since I have a variety of list types, any change I made to the sort order for one list was bound to mess up another list. Bad Apple!
At least Apple acknowledges in its documentation for the Mac version of Reminders that sorting is possible, and while the company doesn’t cop to the fact that the sorting applies to all lists, it does warn that, unlike the reminders and lists themselves, whatever sort order you set will not sync to any other Macs or iOS devices where you use Reminders.
Alternatives to Reminders
Apple Mac Reminders App Sync
There’s only one reason I actually like Reminders: its Siri integration (when it works—see “Bad Apple #3: Reminders Doesn’t Listen to Siri,” 6 April 2018). Things to do pop into my head throughout the day, and if I can use Siri to make myself a reminder, they’ll get done.
Apple Mac Reminders App Download
Given Apple’s recent financial woes (only $11.56 billion in profit last quarter—see “iPhone Sales Kept Sinking in Apple’s Q2 2019,” 30 April 2019), I worry that the company lacks the necessary resources or fortitude to find a student from Cupertino High School to add per-list sorting to Reminders. Syncing such sort orders through iCloud is undoubtedly even harder, but maybe Apple already has an undergraduate intern who could puzzle through CloudKit to add such a feature. Apple’s professional programmers haven’t figured this out in nearly 8 years, but I’ll bet a few kids could do it in a weekend. It’s sorting, not rocket science.
Work Reminders App Mac
Until Apple gets its act together, I’m going to look for alternative apps that tap into the Reminders database. That way I can continue to use Siri to create reminders without suffering with the actual Reminders app. Both BusyCal and Fantastical can access and display the contents of Reminders, let you choose which Reminders lists to show, and try to sort intelligently (with dated items sorted by date and undated items sorted by title). Fantastical even lets you show reminders in its menu bar-based window, which you can tear off and position anywhere onscreen. But neither is really focused on reminders, so I’ll have to see if their approaches work for me.
Apple Mac Reminders App Windows 10
As far as standalone apps go, the three I’ve found so far that run on both the Mac and iOS and that connect to the Reminders database are 2Do, GoodTask, and Memento. 2Do is free for iOS with a variety of in-app purchases; its Mac version costs $49.99. GoodTask is free for iOS and costs $19.99 on the Mac. And Memento costs $3.99 for iOS and offers only a 0.1 beta of a Mac version so far. I haven’t tried any of them yet.
Apple Mac Reminders App Downloads
Have you run across any other task-management apps that either sync with Reminders or offer standalone Siri support?