How to shut down your day in Dayplan
Select Shut down in the sidebar. Tick off anything you finished, drag each open task into Continue tomorrow or Send to Backlog (or leave it in Still open), write a note under Notes for today, and select Shut down.
Shut down is a short evening routine that gives your workday a clear end. You see what you finished, decide what happens to the work that's still open, and leave a note for tomorrow's planning. That way, open tasks don't follow you into the evening.
Before you start
Shut down is on by default. If it's missing from the sidebar, open Settings → My day and turn on Daily Shutdown ritual under Rituals.
The review covers tasks planned for today and tasks you completed today.
Start your shutdown
Select Shut down in the sidebar. The flow has three steps. Move between them with Next and the back arrow.
1. See how the day went
How did today go shows two columns: Done today and Still open. Below them, Total time adds up the time on your finished tasks, using tracked time where you have it and planned time otherwise.
Tick the checkbox on any task whose status is wrong. This is your last chance to mark finished work as done before deciding about the rest. There's no score and no completion percentage. The point is to see the day as it was, not to grade it.
2. Decide where the rest goes
On Where does the rest go?, drag each open task into one of three places:
- Continue tomorrow marks the task to look at again in tomorrow's Plan today.
- Send to Backlog takes it off the day and puts it in the Backlog.
- Still open leaves the task where it is, with no decision.
Important: Continue tomorrow isn't a booking for tomorrow. The task keeps today's date. Tomorrow's Plan today lists it under Didn't get to with a From yesterday badge, so you can decide with fresh context.
If something comes to mind, type it in Add task under Still open. It's added to today, ready to drag into a folder.
Dropped a task in the wrong place? Drag it back to Still open or into the other folder. Nothing is applied until you select Shut down on the last step. For what each choice means over the following days, see What happens to unfinished tasks.
3. Close out
Close out sums up the day in a sentence or two, for example "You wrapped up Draft the proposal, Call the bank and 3 more today." and "Continuing tomorrow: Plan the offsite."
Write anything worth remembering under Notes for today, then select Shut down. Dayplan saves your decisions and your note, then takes you back to Today.
Your note appears in the Journal, and tomorrow it shows at the top of Plan today's first step as "Yesterday:".
What makes a useful shutdown note
Keep it short and practical. Good subjects:
- A blocker that will still be there tomorrow.
- The first action that would make an open task easier to restart.
- A promise you made to someone.
- Something that worked well enough to repeat.
After you shut down
Today shows "You've shut down for today. See you tomorrow." You'll notice that new tasks you add there now go to your Inbox. That's because the day's plan is closed, so it doesn't quietly grow. Select Reopen in that banner if you want to keep working on today's plan.
Frequently asked questions
What if I don't want to decide about a task tonight?
Leave it in Still open. Dayplan doesn't move undecided work when you shut down. It stays on today, and tomorrow's Plan today shows it under Didn't get to.
Why isn't a carried-over task on tomorrow's list?
That's by design. Continue tomorrow marks the task for tomorrow's review; it doesn't give it a new date, so you decide in the morning with fresh context. Select Today on it in Plan today if it still belongs in the day.
Where do tasks I send to the Backlog go?
They leave the day and go to the Backlog. A task with no Backlog section yet goes to Next week or two, and comes back for a fresh decision after about two weeks. See How to use the Backlog.
I shut down too early. Can I keep working?
Yes. Select Reopen in the banner on Today to keep adding to today's plan. Without reopening, new tasks you capture there go to your Inbox.
Do I have to shut down every day?
No. If you skip it, nothing is lost: unfinished tasks stay on their day and show up in the next morning's review.
Verified October 19, 2026 · Reviewed by the Dayplan team
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