Excel To Do List Template – 4 Examples (FREE Download)

You start your day. Plan some tasks. Write it down somewhere and start working on it.

When it’s way past your work time, you think about that to-do list (stare at it if you have it written) and curse the world for not having enough time in the day.

If you are nodding your heading in agreement, you – my friend, are suffering from an acute condition of expanding-to-do-list.

Well, I am neither a brain doctor nor a self-help guru. I can not help you in overcoming procrastination and getting your work done.

I can give you an Excel To Do List template that can handle your ever-expanding list (you will still have to make one and do all the work).

Jokes aside, I do believe it is helpful when you maintain a to-do list. I create one every morning, and on some lucky days, I also get the pleasure of checking off most (if not all) the items.

Excel To Do List Templates (Free Download)

Here are the four Excel To Do List templates you can download:

1. A Simple printable Excel To-do List.
2. To-do List with drop downs to mark a task as complete.
3. To-do List where you can check a box to mark a task as complete.
4. To-do List where you can simply double to mark the task as complete.

Excel To Do List Template #1 – Printable To Do List

This one is for people like me.

I like to print my to-do list and stick it right in front of my eyes and then work on the items on the list.

Here is a simple Excel template where you can fill the tasks and take a print-out. If you prefer writing the tasks yourselves, simply print it first and then fill in the tasks.

There is a separate column to mention date and comments (if any). If you don’t need it, delete these columns before printing.

Download simple printable to-do list template

Excel To Do List Template #2 – With Drop Down List

If you prefer making and maintaining the To Do list in Excel itself, you are in for a treat.

Here is an Excel To Do List template where you can:

• Enter key tasks to be completed.
• Assign priority to the tasks (High, Medium, Low).
• Mark a task as completed by selecting it from the drop-down list. As soon as you mark the task as completed:
  • The task gets crossed off (strike-through format is applied).
  • The row automatically gets shaded in green color.
  • The progress bar changes to show the % of tasks completed (based on the priority).

Additional Notes:

• The weights are given as follows (in the pic below). If you want to change the weights, you can easily do it by changing these values. In the download file, columns G to J are hidden. Unhide it to change the weights.
• To calculate progress using the progress bar, we calculate:
  • Total Score : Add all the weights for all the activities. For example, if there are 2 high priority tasks and 1 medium priority task, and 1 low priority task, the total score would be 14 (5+5+3+1).
  • Completed Score : Here we add all the weights for all the activities that are completed. For example, if out of 4 activities, 1 high priority activity has been completed, then the Completed Score would be 5.
  • % Completed : The value when we divide Completed Score with Total Score. For example, in the above case, it would be 35.7% (5/14).

Download to-do list with drop-downs

Excel To Do List Template #3 – With Check Boxes

This template is exactly like the one with drop downs, with a minor difference – it has checkboxes instead of the drop-down.

You can mark the task as complete by checking the checkbox. If not checked, it is considered incomplete.

Here is how you can use this Excel To Do List Template:

• Enter key tasks to be completed.
• Assign priority to the tasks (High, Medium, Low).
• Mark a task as completed by checking the checkbox. As soon as you check the box for a task:
  • The task gets crossed off (strike-through).
  • The row automatically gets shaded in green color.
  • The progress bar changes to show the % of tasks completed (based on the priority).

NOTE: Be careful while adding deleting rows. Deleting a row does not delete the checkbox.

Download to-do list template with checkboxes

Excel To Do List Template #4 – Double-click Enabled

I find this version of the template the best of all.

It uses a small VBA code to enable the double click event where you can mark a task as completed by simply double-clicking on it. As soon as you double click on the cell, it automatically inserts a checkmark in that cell.

NOTE: Since this contains a VBA code, it should be saved in .XLS or .XLSM format.

Here is how you can use this Excel To-do List Template:

• Enter key tasks to be completed.
• Assign priority to the tasks (High, Medium, Low).
• Mark a task as completed by checking the checkbox. As soon as you check the box for a task:
  • The task gets crossed off (strike-through).
  • The row automatically gets shaded in green color.
  • The progress bar changes to show the % of tasks completed (based on the priority).

Download Excel Template To Do List #4 – Double Click Enabled

NOTE: Since this template contains a VBA code, when you open it, Excel will show a prompt to enable content. You need to enable it for this to work.

So here are 4 Excel To-do list templates that I find useful and often use while planning my work.

Common Use Cases of Using these To-do list templates

While I have shown you the example of common daily tasks, you can use these to-do list templates in many different ways.

Here are some use cases that come to my mind:

1. Project Management Checklist: Since a project can have many moving parts to it, creating a daily or even weekly/monthly to-do lists can help you keep a tab on all the important stuff.
2. Client onboarding checklist: You can create a quick client onboarding checklist and hand it over to your sales/customer executives. This will make sure a client gets a seamless and complete onboarding experience.
3. Grocery checklist: While it may sound weird to create one in Excel, I have seen people do this. This has become more useful now that we can order stuff groceries online in a few minutes.
4. Event Management Checklist: Event management can get crazy and out of control if not planned well. A handy to-do list can save you (and others) a lot of time and money.
5. Travel Itinerary and Packing checklist: I love to keep my traveling hassle-free by having a to-do list of stuff that needs to be done (bookings, visa, tickets, etc). You can also create a packing list to make sure you don’t leave important stuff behind.
6. Blog Publishing Checklist: I have created a to-do list to make sure I don’t miss out on the important parts when publishing a blog post on this site. These tasks include doing grammar and spell-check, making sure titles are correct, images are present, tahs and categories are assigned, etc.

What goes into making the Excel TO DO List template?

There is no rocket science at play here. Simple Excel techniques come together to make it happen.

Here are the components that make these templates:

• Conditional formatting (to highlight a row in green when a task is marked as completed).
• Strikethrough Format (appears when a task is marked as completed).
• Excel Drop-down Lists (to show the status in the drop-down).
• Check Boxes (to mark a task as complete by checking it).
• VBA (to enable double click event).
• Excel Charting (to create the progress bar).

I hope these templates will help you become more productive and save some time.

I am sure you also have tons of To-do list success/failure stories and I would love to hear it. I am waiting in the comment section 🙂

Other Excel Templates You Might Like:

• To Do List template Integrated with Calendar in Excel
• Task Prioritization Matrix Template in Excel
• Shared Expense Calculator in Excel
• Employee Timesheet Calculator
• Vacation Itinerary and Packing List Template
• How to Make an Interactive Calendar in Excel?