User manual

Everything you need to know about Sortomate: from your first task to your daily workflow.

Sortomate is also available on the web at sortomate.app.

Quick start

New to Sortomate? You can be up and running in under two minutes.

1. Open the app and tap the + button: the floating button, or the + in the side rail on wider screens. A New task sheet slides up.

2. Type what needs to be done in the Task field: a single line describing the task.

3. Rate it on three factors. Each has five tap-cells, top = strongest:

   Factor	Top (1)	Bottom (5)
   Importance	Critical	Trivial
   Urgency	Today	Someday
   Effort	Seconds	Weeks

   Scoring is optional. You can skip it and score the task later.

4. Tap Add. The task lands in your ranked list.

5. Look at the top of the list. That is your next action.

That is the full loop. The sections below explain the details.

How scoring works

Sortomate is a personal priority tool: it helps you decide your next action. It is not a delegation or assignment tool: there are no assignees, no shared inboxes, no handoffs. Every task in the list belongs to one person deciding what to do next for themselves.

Sortomate ranks every task using a single transparent formula:

rating = 4 × (6 − importance)² / (urgency × effort)

Each factor is an integer from 1 (strongest) to 5 (weakest). A higher rating means higher priority. The maximum rating is 100, which a task scored Critical / Today / Seconds achieves.

• Importance is squared, so it dominates the ranking. A critical task outranks a high-importance one by a wide margin, even when urgency and effort are equal.
• Urgency reflects how soon the window closes. By default there are no due dates in Sortomate, only urgency windows (Today → Someday) that you pick yourself. A task can also carry an optional hard deadline (see below), which derives urgency automatically instead.
• Effort acts as a divider: quick tasks (Seconds) score higher than equivalent long ones (Weeks), because they deliver the same importance faster. Seconds means under two minutes: just do it.

The math is free and open: you can check any task's score at a glance. "Why is this next?" always has a plain, hand-verifiable answer.

Sortomate uses AI as a suggesting assistant (the Decompose feature proposes subtasks; you decide which ones to keep). It does not use AI to rank your work. Ranking is deterministic and fully explained by the formula above. The goal is a glass-box tool where you stay in control of every priority decision.

Ranking order

Tasks are sorted by rating, highest first. When two tasks share the same rating, Sortomate breaks the tie in a fixed order: first your own manual arrangement, then time-pressure (how far each task is through its urgency window), then age, with older tasks first. Tasks with different ratings are never reordered by hand; only tied-rating tasks can be dragged into your own order (see "Reorder ties" under the task list).

Score display

Scores can be shown in three ways (configurable under Settings → Display):

• 0–10: the square root of the raw score, shown on a 0–10 scale (default). A score of 10.0 is the maximum.
• Raw: the formula output directly (roughly 0.16 up to 100.0).
• Off: numbers are hidden; only the rank order is visible.

Unscored tasks

A task without all three scores sorts to the bottom of the ranked list and also surfaces in the triage section of the attention strip (described below, under "The task list"), oldest first, so a freshly captured task stays in view until you rate it. Tap its Score pill there for the quick three-tap scorer, or tap the task to score it in the full editor.

Quick-add shorthand

The same Task field also accepts inline tokens that set a task's scores as you type, so a routine capture never has to leave the keyboard for the tap-cells:

• ! sets importance: a label prefix (!crit for Critical) or a bare digit 1–5.
• * sets urgency the same way (*tod for Today, or a digit). A date-shaped value after * instead pins a hard deadline (see below).
• ~ sets effort the same way (~quick is a shortcut for Seconds, or use a digit).
• #111 (three digits 1–5, in Importance-Urgency-Effort order) sets all three scores in one token. Anything after # that is not exactly three 1–5 digits is a tag instead (see Tags).

Matching is case-insensitive and by prefix, so a few letters are enough. Tokens stay visible in the field while you type and are stripped from the task name only when you save; an unrecognised token (a bare ! with no word after it, for example) is left as ordinary text instead of erroring. This works anywhere the Task field appears: the New task sheet and the full task editor alike.

Hard deadlines

Most tasks in Sortomate never get a due date: you pick urgency yourself, from Today to Someday. But when a task genuinely has one (a filing deadline, an event date), you can pin it and let Sortomate do the math.

• Setting one: open the task editor and tap the low-key Add hard deadline row below the score grid, then pick a date. You can also type it inline in the quick-add field: a date-shaped value after * (for example *2026-09-30, *sep30, or *30sep) pins a deadline, the same way #tag and #111 are recognised by shape. Either way, the deadline anchors to the end of the picked day (23:59:59 local time), so picking today means "due by the end of today", not instantly overdue.

• What changes: the 1–5 urgency selector is replaced by a single rectangle showing the derived urgency value and a small clock glyph (hover or long-press it for a reminder that the number changes as the deadline approaches). The date itself, and the × to unpin the deadline and return to picking urgency manually, sit just below the score grid.

• How urgency is derived ("start by"): Sortomate counts back your effort estimate from the deadline, so a bigger task starts looking urgent earlier:

  Effort	Counted back from the deadline
  Seconds	0 (no early start-by credit)
  Minutes	0 (no early start-by credit)
  Hours	1 day
  Days	1 week
  Weeks	1 month

  The remaining "start by" time is then placed on the same 1–5 curve as manual urgency: 1 day → 1, 1 week → 2, 1 month → 3, 1 quarter → 4, 1 year or more → 5 (continuous in between: 2.3 is a normal result, not a rounding artifact).

• Past the deadline: a dated task whose date has already passed does not get pinned to maximum urgency. Instead it drops into the attention strip with a Due pill: tap it (or the row) to do the task, reschedule it, or drop it. A decision point, not a false alarm.

• Recompute: urgency for a dated task recalculates automatically (on app open and once a day in the background) as the deadline approaches. This is silent and local to each device; it never counts as an edit.

No invented due dates: when the world gives you a real one, we do the math, not the guilt.

Share to Sortomate

Android only: send text into Sortomate straight from another app's Share action, without opening Sortomate first.

• Sharing: in any other app, share a note, a copied snippet, or selected text, and pick Sortomate from the share sheet.
• One task per line: each non-blank line of the shared text becomes its own task. A single line makes one task; a multi-line note makes one task per line.
• Same shorthand applies: each line is parsed exactly like the Task field (see "Quick-add shorthand" above), so !, *, ~, #111, and #tag tokens work the same way. A line with no recognised scores lands unscored in the attention strip's triage section, same as any other unscored task.
• Confirmation: Sortomate switches to Tasks and shows a snackbar summarising the result, for example "Added 3 tasks, 1 skipped". A line that was only tokens with nothing left to name the task (a bare #groceries, say) counts as skipped rather than silently vanishing.

The task list

The Tasks view shows your active tasks ranked by score, highest first. The top item is always your recommended next action.

• Tap any task to open the editor and change its name, scores, tags, or recurrence.
• Tap the circle on the left to mark a task complete (archive it), or swipe the row right to complete it without opening anything. If some of the task's subtasks are not shown in this view (hidden by the current tag filter, a search, or a score range), Sortomate asks first with a Complete task? dialog, naming how many it will archive too. A task whose subtasks are already all visible completes in the single tap, no dialog. This applies no matter which of the three completion affordances you use (circle, swipe, or the Complete task menu item below).
• Long-press a task (or right-click on desktop, or tap the ⋮ button at the end of the row) to open the task's actions menu. From there you can:
  • Why this rank?: see the formula explained in plain words for that task, including its rank among the tasks currently in view, for example "#3 of 27 in all tasks" (narrows to match whatever tag filter is active).
  • Complete task: archive the task immediately.
  • Add subtask: open a new subtask editor parented to this task.
  • Decompose: get AI-generated subtask suggestions (requires account + network).
  • Move to…: pick a new parent for the task, or promote it to top level.
  • Repeat after completion / Stop repeating: toggle recurring behaviour.
  • Promote task / Demote task: shift the task one level up or down in the hierarchy (shown only when the task is already nested).
• Attention strip: a bar at the bottom of the list that surfaces tasks without making you leave the ranked view, each with a small text pill on its left naming why it is there: Score (green, not yet scored; opens the quick three-tap scorer), Renew (a scored task past its urgency window and ranked too low to still be on screen; one tap restarts the window from now, with an Undo snackbar; your rank and score are never touched), Due (past its own hard deadline; opens the editor), and Split (a high-effort task worth breaking down; see "Decompose nudge" below). Tapping the circle on a strip row completes it the same way it does in Tasks; if that task has any subtasks, Sortomate asks first with the same Complete task? dialog, naming how many it will archive too (the strip is a flat row with no way to show or hide subtasks, so it always asks, not only when a filter is narrowing your view). The strip is the only attention surface. There is no separate Attention tab or filter. Set the row count to 0 in Settings → Display to hide it entirely.
• Reorder ties: tasks with the same score can be manually dragged to break the tie once Arrange tasks mode is on (tap the swap-vertical icon in the app bar, or Arrange tasks in the overflow menu on mobile, to reveal the drag handles; tap Stop arranging to hide them again). Tasks with different scores cannot be reordered.

The Now tab

The Now tab shows the five highest-scored actionable leaves: a short, calm slice for when you want to be handed the next thing instead of scanning the whole backlog.

It is deliberately not the same list cut off at five. Now answers a narrower question, so it builds its own pool:

• Leaves only. A task that still has open subtasks of its own never appears here, because completing it would finish the whole subtree in one tap, not just the one action shown. Whether a task counts as a leaf is decided from all your tasks, not from whatever the current lens is showing, so a filter can never turn a parent into a fake leaf.
• Its own score, not an inherited one. In the Tasks list a parent is lifted to the score of its hottest descendant. Here every row is ranked by the score of the task you are actually being offered.
• Nothing past a hard deadline. A task whose deadline has already passed needs a decision in the attention strip, not a frozen spot at the top of Now.
• Ties break exactly the way they break in the ranked list, so the two surfaces never disagree about which of two equal-scoring tasks comes first.

Each row shows the task's ancestry above its name, in muted text, so you can see where the task sits without leaving the tab. Long chains collapse in the middle ("Beta launch > … > Restore polish") and the immediate parent is never dropped. The ancestry line is context only: tapping anywhere on the row opens the task editor. Tapping the circle completes the task, with the same Undo snackbar the list gives you. Completing a task whose subtasks are not part of what's currently on screen here works the same way it does in Tasks: Sortomate asks first with a Complete task? dialog, naming how many it will archive too.

Tapping a task's score opens the same Why this rank? sheet the Tasks list uses, but ranked against Now's own pool instead of the full list, for example "#1 of 6 in Now" rather than "#3 of 27 in all tasks".

Lenses

The chip row under the title is a lens: All, one chip per tag, and one per saved view. It is the same filter the Tasks list uses, so switching lens here switches it there too, and vice versa. Lenses never change any score or rank; they only decide which tasks are in the pool.

The lens always starts at All when you open the app. That is deliberate: a forgotten lens quietly hiding your real top task is the one failure this surface cannot afford, and re-applying a lens is one tap.

Selecting two or more tags reveals the same all/any match-mode line the Tasks list shows (see Filtering); it is the identical shared setting, so switching it here switches it there too. Now's pool already honours whichever mode is set; this line just makes that visible.

If a lens matches nothing, Now says so plainly and offers Clear filters to reset every filter axis at once. That is a different message from the one you get when there is genuinely nothing left to do.

A short, calm slice

The slice is fixed at your configured number, and there is no button to expand it in place. Completing a task promotes the next-ranked leaf into the freed spot automatically, so the slice never sits stale while there is more actionable work. Tasks on the bottom navigation is the way to see everything else beyond the slice.

When the pool holds more leaves than the slice shows, a small quiet mark sits below the last row so the ending reads as deliberate, not as the list running out mid-thought.

Settings

Settings → Display → Now has two rows:

• Show: how many rows are in the slice. Five by default.
• Open app on: whether opening the app, signing in, or continuing as a guest lands you on Now or Tasks. A deep link, or a settings page you left open, still wins over this.

Tags

Tags are optional labels that group tasks by situation, project, or energy level (for example #work, #home, or #high-energy). A task can carry many tags. Tags do not change a task's score or rank; they only filter the view.

Adding tags to a task

Inside the task editor, scroll to the TAGS · TAP TO ADD OR REMOVE section. Tap an existing chip to toggle it on or off, or tap New to create a tag on the spot.

You can also type #tagName directly in the task name field: Sortomate auto-assigns the matching tag on save, creating it if it does not exist yet. Tag names are space-free (use hyphens, e.g. #high-energy).

Managing tags

Open Manage tags from the navigation drawer (mobile), or the Edit action at the end of the tag chip bar, or the Tags destination on the bottom navigation bar / side rail: all three open the same screen. Tap a tag's row to apply it as your only active filter and jump straight to Tasks; use its Edit tag and Delete tag icons instead to rename or delete it. Deleting a tag does not delete its tasks; the tasks simply lose that tag.

Tags with the same name always merge. Creating a tag whose name already exists reuses the existing tag, and renaming a tag into an existing name (matching is case-insensitive) warns first, then merges: every task tagged with the old tag is re-tagged with the surviving one, and the old tag is removed.

When the Tag order setting (Settings → Display) is set to Manual (#588), each row here shows a drag handle so you can arrange tags into your own order; the arrangement syncs to your other devices.

Filtering

The chip bar at the top of the task list lets you filter by one or more tags and by a score range at the same time; when both are active, a task must match the tag filter and fall inside the score range to appear.

Tap All to clear the tag filter, or No tag to see only the tasks with no tags assigned. All clears tags only: it does not clear an active Score range and does not exit the Done view below, each of which has its own way to clear it.

Selecting two or more tags reveals a match-mode line below the chip bar: "N tasks matching all selected tags" or "N tasks matching any selected tag". all (the default) shows only tasks that carry every selected tag; any shows tasks carrying at least one of them. The count updates live and stays visible even at 0, so you always have a way back to a non-empty result. This mode is not saved; it resets to all the next time you open the app, and saved views do not capture it.

A Done chip sits right after No tag. Tap it to swap the list to your completed tasks, most-recently-completed first, without leaving the Tasks tab; tap it again to return to your active list. Tag, score, and search keep narrowing the view while Done is selected, the same way they do for your active tasks.

A Score chip sits near the end of the chip bar. Tap it to open a Score range picker: drag the slider to set a minimum and maximum, then tap Apply to filter the list to tasks whose score falls in that range. Tap the chip again to change the range, or open the picker and tap Clear to remove it; Cancel closes the picker without changing anything. The slider's values follow your score display setting (Settings → Display).

Saved views capture the full picture: your tags, No tag, the score range, and whether Done is showing, alongside your search (see Saved views). Only the all/any match mode above is session-only and never captured by a saved view.

Subtasks

Tasks can have subtasks, forming a tree. The parent task's score reflects its own ratings; each child is independently scored and ranked within its parent.

Adding a subtask

• From the task list: tap the ⋮ (more) button on the parent task's row, or long-press the task, to open its actions menu, then tap Add subtask. The editor opens titled New subtask.
• From an open task's editor: tap the small + on the SUBTASKS line (it is always there, even before the task has any subtasks yet).

Either way, fill in the subtask name and scores, then tap Add.

Expanding and collapsing

Tap the arrow on a parent task row to expand or collapse its children. The Expand all and Collapse all actions in the top-right menu apply to the whole list at once. Score chain, between them, collapses each root task down to only the descendant path that drives its score, a one-shot way to see why a task ranks where it does without hand-expanding the whole tree.

Decompose nudge

If you rate a leaf task as Days or Weeks of effort, Sortomate nudges you to break it down. Tap Suggest subtasks (requires an account and a network connection) to get AI-generated subtask suggestions via Google Gemini, or Add subtask offline to add one yourself. You select which AI suggestions to add; none are saved without your approval. The attention strip's own Split pill appears only for Weeks-effort leaves (offline, it opens Add subtask instead).

Completing tasks

Tap the circle to the left of a task to mark it done (or open the task and use Complete task from its actions menu). If all of its subtasks are already visible in the current view, it archives and disappears from the active list immediately; a snackbar confirms the action and offers an Undo button. If some of its subtasks are hidden by the current tag filter, a search, or a score range, Sortomate asks first with a Complete task? dialog naming how many it will archive too (see The task list).

Archived tasks are still accessible. Tap the Done chip in the filter row above the task list to view them without leaving the Tasks tab (see Filtering), or open Completed tasks from the More options menu in the top-right app bar (narrow desktop windows), the overflow (⋮) menu (mobile), or the navigation drawer (mobile, tap the logo mark in the top-left to open it) for the dedicated screen.

Restoring a completed task

Tap Restore on a completed task's row, in either the Done chip view or the dedicated Completed tasks screen, to move it back to your active list; tapping the row's score ring does the same thing. If the task has subtasks you completed earlier, Sortomate asks whether to restore them too or just the task itself. A snackbar confirms the restore and offers its own Undo.

Undo & redo

Sortomate keeps a multi-level undo history for the current session. Completing, deleting, and editing a task are all undoable. After each action a snackbar appears for a few seconds with an Undo button; you can also tap the Undo icon in the toolbar (or the overflow menu on mobile).

Tap undo repeatedly to step back through your recent actions, one at a time, not only the most recent one. Tap Redo (next to Undo in the toolbar or overflow menu) to step forward again through anything you have undone. The history is held in memory for the current session only, so it clears when you restart the app.

To un-complete a task at any time, even after the session's undo history is gone, use Restore on its row instead (see Restoring a completed task). To recover a broader older state, restore a cloud backup (see below).

Recurring tasks

Turn on Repeat after completion in the task editor to make a task recur. When you complete a recurring task, Sortomate immediately creates a fresh copy of the whole task, including its subtasks (even ones you had already completed earlier in the cycle), notes, and tags. An undated task gets a new urgency window starting from now, with no fixed schedule. A task with a hard deadline instead rolls that deadline forward by the same number of days it originally had between creation and the deadline, counted from the moment you complete it.

Search & filter

Tap the search icon in the top bar to search across all task names. Results update shortly after you stop typing. Press Escape (desktop) or the close button to exit search.

Use the tag chips below the top bar to filter by tags, as described under Tags.

Saved views

A saved view is a named snapshot of your tag filter, score range, Done state, and search, so a slice you return to often (like your #ops tasks) is one tap away instead of rebuilt by hand each time.

Saving a view

With a tag filter and/or search active, tap Save current view (a toolbar icon on both wider screens and mobile, or inside the overflow (⋮) menu on mobile), name it, and tap Save. Saved views are hidden from all three locations while you are searching; stop searching first if you do not see the option.

Applying, renaming, and deleting

Tap the Views destination on the bottom navigation bar / side rail to open a dedicated list of every saved view, or tap Manage saved views (the same locations as Save current view) to open the same list in a Saved views sheet instead:

• Apply: tap a view's row to apply its filter and search. From the sheet this also closes it; from the Views tab it switches you to Tasks.
• Rename or delete: tap the ⋮ next to a view for Rename or Delete.

Saved views belong to your account and sync across your devices: save one on your phone and it is waiting on your laptop. They are also included in your backups, so a restore brings them back. In guest mode they stay on this device until you sign in, at which point they are claimed by your account like the rest of your data.

Sign-in & sync

Sortomate is offline-first. Every change is saved to a local database on your device immediately, before anything touches the network. You do not need an account to use the app.

Guest mode

Without signing in (tap Continue without an account on the sign-in screen), your tasks live only on the device you are using. They will not sync to other devices and will not appear in cloud backups.

Signing in

Tap Sign in with Google on the sign-in screen. After authenticating, your local tasks are claimed by your account and synced to the cloud. On subsequent opens, tasks sync automatically when you are online.

Email sign-in

You can also sign in with an email and password instead of Google. Enter your Email and Password on the sign-in screen and tap Sign in.

• Creating an account: tap Create account to switch to the sign-up form, fill in Email, Password, and Confirm password (must match), then tap Create account again to submit. If email confirmation is required, check your inbox for a confirmation link before signing in. If it has not arrived, try signing in anyway; the message that follows includes a Resend action to send a new confirmation email.
• Forgot your password?: tap Forgot password? on the sign-in screen (email + password mode) to send a password-reset link to the address you entered. Opening the link takes you to Set a new password, where you choose a new one; on Android or Windows, the link opens in your browser first, showing the web version of Sortomate, not the installed app. After you set the new password, you're signed out and returned to the sign-in screen to sign in with it. If the link has expired or was already used, you'll see a This link has expired. Request a new one. message instead; send yourself a new one and try again.
• Changing your password: once signed in, go to Settings > Change password, enter a new password twice, and tap Set password.

Sync status

The cloud icon in the top bar shows the current sync state:

• Cloud with a check: all changes synced.
• Spinning indicator: sync in progress.
• Cloud-off icon: offline or sync error while signed in. Changes are saved locally and will sync when connectivity returns.
• Cloud-off icon, labelled Local only, sign in for backup: guest mode (not signed in), so there is no cloud account yet to sync to. Tap the icon and then Sign in to enable cloud sync and backups.
• Small red dot on the icon: your last automatic backup failed. This dot appears on top of whichever state the icon is showing (signed in only). Tap the icon for details and a Backup now action to retry.

Backup & restore

Cloud backups require a signed-in account and an active connection. Go to Settings → Backups.

Automated backups

With Automated cloud backups enabled (the default), Sortomate creates backups on a GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son) rotation: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly snapshots. Old snapshots in each tier are replaced automatically, so storage stays bounded.

Manual backup

Tap Create manual backup now to take a snapshot at any time, for example, before a large edit.

Restoring a backup

Choose a backup from the list and restore it. Before anything is overwritten, Sortomate automatically creates a pre-restore snapshot of your current data. If the restore does not go as expected, you can restore that snapshot to return to the state you were in.

Restoring replaces your data on this device and, once it syncs, on every other device signed in to your account, not just the device you restore from.

A backup written by an older version of Sortomate after the effort-scale change is refused rather than restored, with an explanation on screen; choose a newer backup, or one from before the change, instead.

Note: Backups are compressed and then encrypted on your device (AES-GCM-256) before they are uploaded, so they are opaque at rest in Supabase Storage. The encryption key is kept in your account (escrowed), so this is not zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption: in principle the service operator could decrypt a backup. Passphrase-based end-to-end encryption is planned for a later release.

Settings

Open Settings from the bottom navigation bar (or side rail) to reach each subsection described below. When you are signed in, a Log out row sits just above About.

Display

Display is where score presentation, task-list appearance, and tag-filter behaviour all live (#489).

Score. Sets how the priority number appears next to each task. The ranking order is always the same regardless of this setting.

• 0–10 (default): the square root of the raw score, on a 0–10 scale. Easier to read at a glance; the maximum is 10.
• Raw: the exact formula output (roughly 0.16–100). Shows the full range and is the number used internally for ranking.
• Off: hides the number entirely. The rank order and score ring are still visible; only the digit is hidden.

Below the score picker, a Scoring explained link opens this manual at How scoring works, where the formula, the 0–10 conversion, the ranking order, and hard deadlines are all explained in full. This setting is kept per device, not synced live to your other devices, but Sortomate does store an encrypted backup of it in your account, and a reinstall on the same platform picks it up automatically.

Task list. Adjusts how the task list looks on this device.

• Text size: font size for task names in the list (8–24 sp). Default 14.
• Line spacing: vertical padding between rows (0–20 dp). Default 8 on mobile, 4 on desktop/web. Setting it to 0 gives flush rows; higher values add breathing room.
• Wrap long task names: when on, long names wrap to multiple lines instead of truncating with an ellipsis. Off by default.
• Attention strip rows: how many attention-strip rows show before scrolling (0-8). Default 3. Set it to 0 and the strip reads Hidden and disappears entirely. This one control replaces the old show/hide toggle.

Task-list settings are kept per device the same way: not synced live to your other devices, but backed up encrypted to your account so a same-platform reinstall picks them up automatically.

Filtering by a tag always shows the subtasks of matching tasks too, even if those subtasks have no tag set of their own, so you keep the full context of a filtered task.

Tags. Tag order sets how tags are sorted everywhere they appear (the filter chip bar, Manage tags, and the task editor's tag picker). Like the other Display settings above, the chosen mode itself is per-device and does not sync.

• Recent (default): tags on the most recently updated tasks appear first.
• Most used: tags applied to the most tasks appear first, all-time.
• A to Z: tags are listed alphabetically.
• Manual: your own drag order. Switch to Manual and the Tags tab (Manage tags) shows a drag handle on every row so you can arrange them by hand; unlike the mode setting itself, this drag arrangement DOES sync to your other devices (#588). Switching to another order and back always restores your last manual arrangement; it is never lost.

Android widget

Android widget (Android only) configures the home-screen widget that shows your top tasks without opening the app.

• Widget filter: which tasks the widget shows. Show all (default) applies no filter; Follow the app mirrors the app's current tag filter; Saved view applies one of your saved views, though only its tag filter (a saved view's score range and Done state are not applied to the widget); Tag shows only tasks carrying a specific tag; Score range shows only tasks whose score falls in a range you pick.
• Content: All tasks shows every matching task; Score chain (default) collapses each root task down to the descendant path that drives its score, the same view as the in-app Score chain action (see Subtasks); Top-level only shows just root tasks.
• Show score: adds each task's score next to its name. Off by default.
• Text size: font size for task names in the widget (8–24 sp).
• Line spacing: vertical padding between widget rows (0–20 dp).
• Wrap long task names: same as the in-app setting, but for the widget.

Backups

Backups manages cloud snapshots of your data. Requires a signed-in account and an active connection.

• Automated cloud backups: when on (default), Sortomate creates backups on a GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son) rotation: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly. Old snapshots in each tier are replaced automatically, so storage stays bounded.
• Create manual backup now: take a snapshot immediately, useful before a large reorganisation.

Restoring a backup is described in the Backup & restore section above.

At the bottom of this screen, two separate reset actions restore different scopes of settings to their defaults, each behind its own confirmation:

• Reset settings: restores this device's own settings to their defaults, covering both display and widget preferences (text size, line spacing, wrap, attention strip row count, score display mode, tag sort order, the Android widget's own settings, and other display preferences) and usage analytics, turned back off if you've enabled it. Your tasks and account are not affected, and other signed-in devices keep their own settings unchanged.
• Reset account settings: restores your account-level settings (CSV import mode, automated cloud backups, AI decompose consent, and related account preferences) to their defaults on every device signed in to your account. Your tasks are not affected.

Import & Export

Import & Export moves tasks in and out of Sortomate via CSV. See the Import & Export section below and the CSV file format appendix for column details.

Help

Help opens this manual for offline reading, right where you are, without needing a network connection. Tap the keyboard icon in the top bar to open the Keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet.

Report a problem

Report a problem sends a bug report or piece of feedback straight from the app. Signed in only, for now. Describe what happened in the text box (up to 2000 characters) and tap Submit. Sortomate automatically attaches your app version, platform, and OS version so it doesn't have to be explained separately, and shows exactly what it will attach before you send. Sortomate adds no task text, notes, or tags; a report contains only what you type. It is stored as plain text, not encrypted, tied to your account id, and readable by Sortomate's system administrator. Above the text box, the screen states that what you type is stored unencrypted and tied to your account. Written offline, a report is queued on your device and sent automatically the next time you're back online.

Privacy & data

Privacy & data explains how Sortomate handles your data during the beta, including the uploads a signed-in account makes (backups, a snapshot of this device's settings, and any problem reports you send), holds the opt-in toggle for usage analytics, and (for a signed-in account) the self-serve Delete account button.

• Share usage data: off by default. When on, Sortomate counts how often you use features like capture, scoring, filters, saved views, and AI decompose, along with how often you use quick tokens like !, *, ~, and #. Only totals leave your device, together with your app version and platform; each upload is tied to your account id, so the counts are per-account, not anonymous. Your task names, notes, and tags are never collected for this, whether the toggle is on or off.
• Delete account: signed-in only. Permanently deletes your tasks, tags, saved views, settings, every cloud backup, and the encryption key that protects them, from Sortomate's servers. Type DELETE to confirm; this cannot be undone. Other devices you are signed in on are signed out, but keep their local copy of your tasks until you clear it on that device (log out there, or delete the app's data). A guest ("Continue without an account") has no account on Sortomate's servers, so this section shows the hello@sortomate.com contact fallback instead.
• Tap Read the full privacy policy for the complete document.

About

About shows your installed version and build number, so you have them ready for a bug report; the build's commit is shown too when available. Tap Open-source licences to see the licences for the open-source packages Sortomate uses.

Import & Export

Go to Settings → Import & Export to move tasks in or out of Sortomate via CSV.

• Export all (Backup CSV): downloads every task you have, active and completed, with every column Sortomate stores. This is the full-fidelity format to keep for a later re-import.
• Export user-friendly CSV: downloads a CSV with the columns you are likely to edit (name, importance, urgency, effort, tags, and more). Completed tasks are included by default; turn off Include completed tasks in user export to export only your active tasks. Sortomate adds a leading apostrophe to any task text that starts with a formula character (=, +, -, or @) as a spreadsheet injection guard; that apostrophe is stripped automatically on import, so a round-trip leaves your text unchanged.
• Import: reads a CSV file and, for each row, either adds a new task or overwrites an existing one, depending on the Import mode you pick above the Import tasks (CSV) button:
  • Add (the default): every row becomes a new task.
  • Overwrite: a row with no id that matches exactly one of your existing active tasks by name updates that task in place instead of creating a new one, rewriting its scores, tags, notes, and deadline. A name that matches more than one task is skipped and reported as a warning. Before writing anything, Sortomate shows a preview with the row count and the active mode and asks you to confirm. The import mode you choose is saved to your account, not just this device, so it carries over to every device you sign in to.

CSV file format

Sortomate produces two CSV flavours from Settings → Import & Export.

Friendly export

The readable format (Export user-friendly CSV). Headers:

Backup export

The full-fidelity format (Export all (Backup CSV)). Includes all columns from the friendly export plus:

Import contract

• CSV only: JSON backups are encrypted blobs and cannot be imported via this screen.
• Import mode: Add creates a new task for every row, even if a task with the same name already exists. Overwrite instead updates an existing active task in place when a row with no id uniquely matches it by name (ambiguous matches are skipped, not overwritten). Overwrite is destructive to the tasks it matches, so use it deliberately. The mode is stored on your account, not the device, so it applies on every device you sign in to.
• Exact snake_case headers required: task_text, urgency_score, etc. Friendly single-word aliases (Task, Urgency, Importance, Effort, Duration) are also accepted, but the snake_case names take priority.
• calculated_rating is not imported: Sortomate recomputes the rating from the three score columns on import. Any calculated_rating column in the file is silently ignored.
• Unknown tags auto-create: if an imported row names a tag that does not exist yet, Sortomate creates it. Every unique new tag name in the file is created; there is no per-import cap. A row whose parent_task_text or parent_id cannot be matched to an existing task is placed at the root instead, with a warning in the import report; parents are never created.
• Score values must be numeric and in the 1.0–5.0 range; a non-numeric or out-of-range value is treated as unscored, and the import report shows a count for each dropped/defaulted category (e.g. "3 rows had an unreadable score value").
• Injection-guard apostrophes: task text starting with =, +, -, or @ has a leading apostrophe added on export and stripped on import; a round-trip leaves the text unchanged.
• Size limits: a CSV over 10 MB, a file with more than 50,000 data rows, or an import that would push your total task count over 10,000 is rejected outright; nothing is imported.

Questions? Reach us at hello@sortomate.com.