Todoist CSV export: check active work and historical evidence separately

SOURCE-BASED ANALYSIS · NO HANDS-ON RATING

Define what the file must prove

Todoist's project CSV export does not include completed tasks. Its documentation also warns that the start portion of a recurring date is not retained. That makes an active-project copy a different deliverable from a completion archive. Decide which you need before treating the download as a finished handover.

Example: handing over a small event project

Imagine an organizer has 18 open tasks, 32 completed tasks and one annually repeating preparation task. A useful working copy should reconcile the 18 open tasks. It cannot, by itself, prove that all 50 tasks existed or that last year's work happened. These are invented planning numbers, not a claim about an account.

Write two acceptance columns: operational continuity and historical evidence. The first checks who does the remaining work and when. The second checks which record proves approvals or completed outcomes. An identical task title in both places is not sufficient evidence that they represent the same occurrence.

Inspect the exported content

1. Record the project name, export date and current open-task count.
2. Download its CSV through Manage data in the web project.
3. Open the file with an application that preserves encoding and quoted fields.
4. Reconcile a normal task, a nested task and a recurring task against the source project.
5. Where continuity matters, import a copy into a separately named rehearsal project and inspect its next dates.

Resolve missing history without guessing

If completion evidence is required, select an appropriate history or reporting method and validate its fields independently. The documented Google Sheets export option can include completed tasks but has its own omissions. Do not silently combine differently scoped files and call the result a full backup.

In our example, a handover note might state that the CSV covers current work while an agreed evidence folder contains historical approvals. Name who owns each deliverable and how the receiving team confirms it. Avoid putting sensitive approval documents in a broadly shared project merely to make the export feel complete.

Acceptance decision

Accept the transfer only when the recipient can find every remaining obligation and understands what is absent. Keep the original workspace available until that review finishes. If recurring dates have changed, repair the intended future schedule before making the imported version authoritative. The right success condition is a usable continuation of the work, with explicit historical boundaries, rather than a file that opens without an error.

For the complete learning path, visit the Todoist practical guide hub.