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Help! My reminders automatically indent to other reminders whenever I sort them on macOS Catalina

Problem Solved. This is a continuation of the same question that appeared in January of 2020. To stop reminders from automatically indenting when you move them the solution was posted as having "to click and drag from the checkbox itself".


This too is misleading because if you click on the check box you can't move the reminder. To move the reminder without it automatically indenting you need to click to the left of the check box and then drag.


Here are the actions in sort by "manual" mode from the View menu:


  1. click to the left of the check box and drag automatically outdents
  2. click on the check box marks the reminder as complete
  3. click on the text to edit the text
  4. click to the right of the text to move the reminder which willl then automatically indent to the reminder above where you moved it. That reminder will then become parent of the reminder you moved and any others that are indented below it. You can individually mark indented reminders complete however marking the parent complete moves all the indented reminders to the completed.


Not intuitive AT ALL. If you're also wondering where your completed reminders go and frustrated that you can't see the completed reminders here's how you do that. Place your cursor in the reminders window, where all of your reminders in the list are, anywhere from the top reminder in the list to the area below the list and then scroll your mouse up and down. Under the title of your list you will see the number of completed reminders pop up and "show" to the right under the number of incomplete reminders in the list.


Why Apple hides this away is anyone's guess.


Posted on Jan 27, 2021 5:46 AM

Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 27, 2021 6:27 AM

The issue that isn't obvious is you have to place the cursor where you want to drop the item.

If you grab the item at the far right, you have to unnaturally move the proxy icon of the item way to the left in order to put the cursor to the outside of the list of items.

Grabbing close to the check box makes it easier to move the cursor to the outside of the list, getting the insertion point to be at the top level of the list.

Another issue is once the insertion point indents, you can't just drag it left to outdent. You have to move up/down in the list to get it to bounce outward.


They have "fixed" it in Big Sur. The proxy icon is just a small "note card," and you drop it onto another item to indent. So, the insertion point only pops up when you are in-between items.

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 27, 2021 6:27 AM in response to AltiusArchitecture

The issue that isn't obvious is you have to place the cursor where you want to drop the item.

If you grab the item at the far right, you have to unnaturally move the proxy icon of the item way to the left in order to put the cursor to the outside of the list of items.

Grabbing close to the check box makes it easier to move the cursor to the outside of the list, getting the insertion point to be at the top level of the list.

Another issue is once the insertion point indents, you can't just drag it left to outdent. You have to move up/down in the list to get it to bounce outward.


They have "fixed" it in Big Sur. The proxy icon is just a small "note card," and you drop it onto another item to indent. So, the insertion point only pops up when you are in-between items.

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Help! My reminders automatically indent to other reminders whenever I sort them on macOS Catalina

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