Are these to-do list templates free?

Yes. All three are free PDFs, and there is no email signup, account, or watermark. Click the download link and the file opens. You can print them as many times as you like, including for a team or a classroom.

What size paper do these print on?

They are laid out for US Letter (8.5 x 11 inches) in portrait. They print correctly on A4 as well if you set your printer to 'fit to page' or 'scale to fit' — the margins are generous enough that nothing important gets clipped. They use hairline rules and no heavy fills, so they are cheap on ink and readable from a black-and-white office printer.

Which to-do list template should I use?

If you routinely plan more than you finish, use Three Things Today — it forces the decision at the start of the day rather than at 4pm. If your work sits in progress for days and you want to see what is actually in flight, use the WIP-limited list, which is a personal kanban with the middle column capped at three. If you just want a clean checklist and already have a sense of priority, use the simple list; it still asks you to mark three first.

Why do these templates limit how many tasks I can write?

Because an uncapped list is the thing that stopped working. A template with forty blank rows is very good at collecting tasks and does nothing to help you finish them, so it fills up, and the fuller it gets the less you want to look at it. Capping what is active does two useful things: it forces the prioritising decision while you still have the energy to make it, and it keeps the page small enough to stay honest. Everything you are not doing today still gets written down — it goes in the parking lot, which is what makes the limit survivable.

Can I edit these templates in Word, Excel, or Google Docs?

Not directly — these are print-first PDFs, designed to be filled in by hand, because writing tasks out by hand is part of why the limit sticks. If you want an editable digital version, the honest answer is that a spreadsheet re-creates the uncapped-list problem, and you are better off with an app that enforces the cap for you.

Free printable to-do list templates — that cap the list.

Three PDFs, no email, no watermark. They are deliberately not the usual forty blank rows: each one has a limit built into it, because a to-do list template that is very good at collecting tasks and useless at finishing them is how you ended up looking for a new one.

Three Things Today

Three task slots, each with a line for the first physical step, and a parking lot underneath for everything that is not today. The daily one. Start here if you consistently plan more than you finish.

PDF · US Letter · 1 page

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WIP-limited to-do list

To do, Doing, Done — with the middle column capped at three physical slots. A personal kanban on one page. Use this when work sits half-finished for days and you want to see what is actually in flight.

PDF · US Letter · 1 page

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Simple to-do list

A clean checklist, with three marked out at the top before the rest. The least opinionated of the three — the one to print if you already know your priorities and just want somewhere to put them.

PDF · US Letter · 1 page

Download PDF →

Why a to-do list template with a limit

The standard printable to-do list is a column of empty rows. It is a capture tool, and it is good at that — but capture was never the hard part. The hard part is that everything you capture stays on the page, in full view, forever, and each unfinished line quietly asks to be dealt with every time you look.

So the list grows. And a list that grows faster than you finish stops being a plan and starts being a record of everything you are behind on. At that point most people do the reasonable thing and stop looking at it.

A limit changes what the page is for. When there are three slots, filling them is a decision, and you make that decision in the morning when you can still think clearly rather than at 4pm when you are picking whatever is loudest. The tasks you did not pick are not lost — they go in the parking lot, which is the part that makes the limit bearable. You are not pretending they do not exist. You are saying they are not today.

How to use them

Write the parking lot first. Empty your head onto the bottom half of the page before you pick anything. You cannot choose the three that matter while you are still trying to remember the other twelve.
Then pick three. Not five. Three is small enough that you will finish them, and finishing is the thing that makes you trust the list tomorrow.
Write the first physical step. "Do taxes" does not start. "Find last year's return" starts. The slot has a second line for exactly this reason.
When a fourth thing arrives, trade. Something comes off before anything goes on. This is the entire discipline, and it is also the only rule people break.

Frequently asked

Are these free?

Yes — free PDFs, no email signup, no account, no watermark. Print them as often as you want, including for a team or a classroom.

What paper size?

Laid out for US Letter (8.5 × 11in), portrait. They print fine on A4 with "fit to page" set — the margins are generous. Hairline rules and no heavy fills, so they are cheap on ink and survive a black-and-white office printer.

Can I edit these in Word or Google Docs?

No — they are print-first PDFs meant to be filled in by hand, and the handwriting is part of why the limit sticks. If you want an editable version, be warned that a spreadsheet re-creates the uncapped-list problem almost immediately.

What if three is too few?

It usually is not, but the honest test is empirical: run it for a week and count how often you finished all three. If you finished all three every day, add a fourth slot by hand. Most people discover the opposite.

Paper works. Until it doesn't.

The limit is the useful part, and paper enforces it honestly — you run out of boxes. What paper cannot do is carry yesterday forward, tell you a task has been sitting for eleven days, or stop you quietly starting a fourth thing. Zoro is a single-player kanban for iPhone and Mac built on the same idea: a cap on what's active, tasks sized to be startable, one thing that's #1, and a weekly review where deleting is winning. No streaks, no confetti. Free with unlimited tasks and iCloud sync; Pro is $2.99/mo, $19.99/yr, or $59.99 once.

Download on the App Store →