App preferences
Open preferences from Settings → Preferences on desktop, or Settings on mobile. Changes take effect immediately.
Sidebar
Later
Later is an optional list that sits between Next and Someday — for things you intend to do but aren't yet committed to. It isn't part of the core GTD® workflow, but some users find it a useful middle ground. Off by default.
On Desktop
Go to Settings → Preferences → Sidebar and set Later to Enable.
On Mobile
Go to Settings and enable Later.
Waiting
Hides the Waiting list from the sidebar. Useful if you don't track delegation or waiting-for items.
On Desktop
Go to Settings → Preferences → Sidebar and set Waiting to Hide.
On Mobile
Go to Settings and disable Waiting.
Reference
Hides the Reference section from the sidebar. Useful if you store reference material elsewhere and want a simpler view.
On Desktop
Go to Settings → Preferences → Sidebar and set Reference to Hide.
On Mobile
Go to Settings and disable Reference.
Task counts
Shows a numeric count of items on each sidebar list. By default, only lists that need your attention show a count.
On Desktop
Go to Settings → Preferences → Sidebar → Task Counts and choose your preferred display.
On Mobile
Go to Settings and adjust Task Counts.
Projects
Sequential projects
When sequential projects are enabled, only the first incomplete Next Up action in a project surfaces in your Next list — all others are hidden until it's done. When disabled, all incomplete Next actions in every project show in your lists at once.
Nirvana defaults to parallel projects (sequential mode disabled). This setting exists for users who relied on sequential behaviour in earlier versions.
On Desktop
Go to Settings → Preferences → Sidebar → Sequential Projects and set it to Enable or Disable.
Good to know: To set sequential or parallel behaviour on a per-project basis, see Create a project.
New project default
Sets whether newly created projects default to Parallel or Sequential. Doesn't affect existing projects. Default is Parallel.
On Desktop
Go to Settings → Preferences → Sidebar → Projects and choose Parallel or Sequential.
Dates
Due date display
Controls how due dates appear on tasks — either as relative values ("Due in 2 days") or as a fixed date ("Apr 1"). Relative display is on by default.
On Desktop
Go to Settings → Preferences → Dates and choose your preferred display under Due Dates.
On Mobile
Go to Settings and adjust Due Dates.
First day of the week
Appearance
Appearance mode
Sets the colour scheme — Auto (follows your system setting), Light, or Dark.
On Desktop
Go to Settings → Preferences → Appearance.
On Mobile
Go to Settings → Appearance.
Theme
Selects the colour theme for the interface.
On Desktop
Go to Settings → Preferences → Appearance and choose a theme.
Related
Some preferences have their own pages: