Pro workbook: Tasks, Focus, Board, Setup, Formulas. Sample data, real formulas.
| Task checklist | |||||||||||
| Yellow cells are yours. Put a ✓ in Done and the row greys out; status, days left and the progress bar are calculated. | |||||||||||
| As of | 2026-09-14 | Tasks | Done | Overdue | Progress | ||||||
| Due soon within (days) | 7 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 21.4% | ||||||
| # | Task | Category | Priority | Due | Done | Status | Days left | Owner | Done on | overdue # | soon # |
| 1 | Send Q3 invoice to Harbor Ltd | Money | High | 2026-09-10 | ✓ | Done | Me | 2026-09-09 | |||
| 2 | Renew car insurance | Money | High | 2026-09-12 | Overdue | -2 | Me | 1 | |||
| 3 | Book dentist | Health | Medium | 2026-09-14 | Today | Sam | 1 | ||||
| 4 | Sprint review slides | Work | High | 2026-09-15 | Soon | 1 | Me | 2 | |||
| 5 | Fix the kitchen tap | Home | Low | 2026-09-16 | Soon | 2 | Sam | 3 | |||
| 6 | Return library books | Errands | Low | 2026-09-18 | Soon | 4 | Nora | 4 | |||
| 7 | Prepare 1:1 notes | Work | Medium | 2026-09-18 | ✓ | Done | Me | 2026-09-12 | |||
| 8 | Order printer toner | Errands | Low | 2026-09-11 | Overdue | -3 | Me | 2 | |||
| 9 | Write proposal for Grove | Work | High | 2026-09-22 | Open | 8 | Me | ||||
| 10 | Gym: 3 sessions this week | Health | Medium | 2026-09-20 | Soon | 6 | Me | 5 | |||
| 11 | Pay school trip fee | Money | Medium | 2026-09-25 | Open | 11 | Nora | ||||
| 12 | Plan October content | Work | Low | Open | Me | ||||||
| 13 | Clear the garage | Home | Low | 2026-10-03 | Open | 19 | Sam | ||||
| 14 | Passport renewal form | Errands | High | 2026-09-08 | ✓ | Done | Me | 2026-09-08 | |||
| Focus | ||||||||
| What needs attention as of the date on Setup: overdue first, then due today or within the horizon. | ||||||||
| Overdue | Due | Priority | Days | Due today or soon | Due | Priority | Days | |
| Renew car insurance | Sat 12 Sep | High | -2 | Book dentist | Mon 14 Sep | Medium | 0 | |
| Order printer toner | Fri 11 Sep | Low | -3 | Sprint review slides | Tue 15 Sep | High | 1 | |
| Fix the kitchen tap | Wed 16 Sep | Low | 2 | |||||
| Return library books | Fri 18 Sep | Low | 4 | |||||
| Gym: 3 sessions this week | Sun 20 Sep | Medium | 6 | |||||
| Done in the last 7 days | 3 | |||||||
| Open with no due date | 1 | |||||||
| Ten rows per list. An eleventh overdue task is still counted on Tasks and Board — it just doesn't fit here. Widen the block by copying the last row down and changing the number in MATCH. |
| Board | |||||||
| Counts per category and status, progress per category and per person. | |||||||
| Category | Overdue | Today | Soon | Open | Done | Total | Progress |
| Work | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 25.0% | ||
| Home | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.0% | |||
| Money | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 33.3% | ||
| Health | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.0% | |||
| Errands | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 33.3% | ||
| All | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 14 | 21.4% |
| Person | Open | Overdue | Done | Progress | |||
| Me | 6 | 2 | 3 | 33.3% | |||
| Sam | 3 | 0.0% | |||||
| Nora | 2 | 0.0% | |||||
| Priority | Open | Overdue | Done | ||||
| High | 3 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Medium | 3 | 1 | |||||
| Low | 5 | 1 |
| Setup | |||
| The 'as of' date, the due-soon horizon, and the three dropdown lists. | |||
| As of | 2026-09-14 | Type =TODAY() to keep it live | |
| Due soon within (days) | 7 | ||
| Categories | Priorities | People | |
| Work | High | Me | |
| Home | Medium | Sam | |
| Money | Low | Nora | |
| Health | |||
| Errands | |||
| Twelve rows per list; blanks are skipped in the dropdowns. Board reads the first five categories and three people — copy its last row down for more. |
| How the formulas work | ||
| Every formula in this workbook, in plain words. Nothing is hidden and nothing needs a macro. Formulas are shown without the leading = sign. | ||
| Where | Formula | What it does |
| Tasks · Status | IF(B8="","",IF(F8<>"","Done",IF(E8="","Open",IF(E8<$C$3,"Overdue",IF(E8=$C$3,"Today",IF(E8<=$C$3+$C$4,"Soon","Open")))))) | Read left to right: no task → blank; ticked → Done; no due date → Open; then due against 'as of': before it → Overdue, equal → Today, within the horizon → Soon, else Open. |
| Tasks · Days left | IF(OR(B8="",E8="",F8<>""),0,E8-$C$3) | Due minus 'as of'. Negative when overdue. Zero for blank, undated and done rows — hidden by the number format 0;-0;;@ so the column stays numeric. |
| Tasks · Done | COUNTIF(G8:G157,"Done") | Counts the Status column. Any mark in Done makes a row Done — ✓ from the dropdown, or an x. |
| Tasks · Progress | IF(E4=0,0,F4/E4) | Done over total, with a data bar. Guarded against an empty list. |
| Tasks · overdue # | IF(G8="Overdue",COUNTIF(G$8:G8,"Overdue"),0) | Numbers the overdue tasks 1, 2, 3… in sheet order (a running COUNTIF from the top). Focus looks these numbers up. |
| Tasks · soon # | IF(OR(G8="Today",G8="Soon"),COUNTIF(G$8:G8,"Today")+COUNTIF(G$8:G8,"Soon"),0) | The same for Today and Soon together. |
| Tasks · greyed when done | Conditional format: =$G8="Done" | Grey strike-through across the row; stopIfTrue so the overdue/soon colours don't also apply. |
| Focus · k-th overdue task | IFERROR(INDEX(Tasks!$B$8:$B$157,MATCH(1,Tasks!$K$8:$K$157,0)),"") | Finds the row whose overdue number is 1 (then 2, 3 …) and reads the task. Blank when there is no such task. No array formulas, no FILTER — so Excel 2016 and Numbers are fine. |
| Focus · done in the last 7 days | COUNTIFS(Tasks!$J$8:$J$157,">"&Setup!$B$3-7,Tasks!$J$8:$J$157,"<="&Setup!$B$3) | Counts 'done on' dates in the seven days up to 'as of'. |
| Board · category × status | COUNTIFS(Tasks!$C$8:$C$157,$A5,Tasks!$G$8:$G$157,"Overdue") | One COUNTIFS per cell: category from column A, status from the header. |
| Board · progress | IF(G5=0,0,F5/G5) | Done over total per category, with a data bar. |
| Board · open per person | COUNTIF(Tasks!$I$8:$I$157,$A14)-COUNTIFS(Tasks!$I$8:$I$157,$A14,Tasks!$G$8:$G$157,"Done") | All of that person's tasks minus the done ones. Subtraction instead of a "<>Done" criterion: it behaves the same in every app. |