· Tutorial · 5 min read
Getting started with Super Productivity
Learn how to use Super Productivity effectively with this comprehensive guide covering task management, time tracking, and productivity techniques.
Super Productivity is an advanced open source To-Do list app with integrated Timeboxing and time tracking capabilities. While the app won’t magically solve all your productivity, time management and procrastination issues, the combination of planning ahead and quickly re-planning whenever necessary, breaking tasks down into smaller bits and doing a bit of timeboxing can be a surprisingly powerful combination.
The following article will introduce the basic features of the app. Since quickest way to do things in Super Productvity, is to use keyboard shortcuts, I will be focussing on using the most important ones in this tutorial.
Plan your tasks and break them down
Adding new tasks
First thing you want to do when starting the app is to create a task. When there are no tasks the app should greet you with an input box to do so. If you already created some you can use the ”+” button in the top right or the keyboard shortcut Shift+A
to do so. You can close the add task overlay by pressing escape.
Below the input where you enter the task title you can see a little info text which introduces the short syntax. Using the short syntax you can quickly add and edit the time estimated and spent for a task (and also the project and tags assigned to it).
In addition to those you can expand the section and add additional information. Most interestingly for starting out there are the option to quickly add sub-tasks or a note. Sub-tasks don’t support all the features main tasks have (they can’t have their own sub-tasks, for instance) and they are usually intended to break down bigger tasks into smaller bites or to provide the detailed steps of their parent task.
A simple example
As an example we want to add the task “Write article about Super Productivity” with the estimate that it will take 45 minutes. To do so we enter the following:
Write article about Super Productivity 45m
Confirm the task creation by pressing enter.
After that the task is created and you will see it in your task list. You can expand the task by clicking on it to see more details and to add sub-tasks or notes.
Using sub-tasks effectively
Let’s add some sub-tasks to break down our article writing task:
- Click on the task to expand it
- Find the “Add Sub Task” button or press
Shift+Alt+A
- Add sub-tasks like:
- “Research key features to highlight”
- “Write introduction”
- “Create screenshots”
- “Proofread and edit”
Sub-tasks help you track progress on larger tasks and make complex projects feel more manageable.
Time tracking and Pomodoro
Starting time tracking
To start tracking time for a task, simply click the play button next to it or select the task and press Shift+X
. The timer will start running and you’ll see the time accumulating in real-time.
Using the Pomodoro technique
Super Productivity has built-in support for the Pomodoro technique:
- Go to Settings → Pomodoro
- Enable the Pomodoro timer
- Configure your work and break intervals
- When you start a task, it will automatically start a Pomodoro session
The app will notify you when it’s time to take a break and when to resume work.
Organize with projects and tags
Creating projects
Projects allow you to group related tasks together:
- Click the menu icon (three lines) in the top left
- Select “Projects”
- Click “Create Project”
- Give your project a name and optionally a color
You can then assign tasks to projects using the short syntax:
Task title +ProjectName
Using tags
Tags provide another way to categorize tasks:
Task title #important #urgent
Tags are great for cross-project categorization like priority levels, contexts (work, home, errands), or task types.
Daily planning and time boxing
The daily summary
At the start of each day (or when you configure it), Super Productivity will show you a daily summary. This helps you:
- Review what you accomplished yesterday
- Plan what you want to achieve today
- Estimate how much time you have available
Time boxing your day
Time boxing is one of Super Productivity’s most powerful features:
- Add time estimates to all your tasks
- The app will calculate if you have enough time in your day
- If you’re overbooked, it will warn you
- You can then adjust estimates or move tasks to another day
Keyboard shortcuts
Here are the most important keyboard shortcuts to master:
Shift+A
- Add new taskShift+X
- Start/stop time tracking for selected taskD
- Mark task as doneBackspace
- Delete selected taskE
- Edit selected taskShift+Alt+A
- Add sub-taskSpace
- Expand/collapse task details
Tips for success
Start small: Don’t try to use every feature at once. Start with basic task creation and time tracking.
Be realistic with estimates: It’s better to overestimate at first. You’ll get better at estimating with practice.
Review regularly: Use the daily summary to reflect on your progress and adjust your approach.
Break down big tasks: If a task feels overwhelming, it probably needs to be broken down into sub-tasks.
Use the short syntax: It’s much faster than clicking through menus once you get used to it.
Next steps
This guide covers the basics, but Super Productivity has many more features to explore:
- Jira, GitHub, and GitLab integration
- Repeating tasks
- Advanced time tracking reports
- Custom themes
- Data sync across devices
Check out the documentation for more advanced features and tips!