NewTwos

Lists

Sublists

iPhoneiPadAndroidWebMacWindowsLinuxWatchPlusUpdated 2026-08-18

A sublist is a list that lives inside another list, so one thing can hold a list of its own.

Sublists are part of NewTwos Plus. Plus

Why you'd care

Some things refuse to stay one line. "Book the trip" is one to-do until you realise it is flights, a hotel, a dog sitter and a passport check. You then have two bad options in most apps: let those four items clutter the list they landed on, or make a whole separate list and lose the connection to why it exists.

A sublist is the third option. The parent thing stays where it is and reads as one line, and the detail lives inside it.

The 60-second version

  1. 1

    Find the *thing* that outgrew itself

    Any thing can become a sublist. It keeps its text as the sublist's name.

  2. 2

    Promote it

    Press ⌘⇧K, or use the selection bar. It becomes a list, in place.

  3. 3

    Open it

    Press ⌘. or tap it, then write inside as you would in any list.

Pressing ⌘⇧K again on a sublist undoes the promotion and turns it back into an ordinary thing.

Step by step

Making one from several things

Select a run of things and promote them together. The first becomes the sublist's name and the rest become its contents, which is usually what you meant. See select many things at once.

Reading them without opening them

A sublist can show its contents inline underneath its name, so you can see what is inside without navigating. This is a per-list display choice, and it is what stops sublists from feeling like folders you have to dig through.

Nesting

A sublist can hold a sublist. This is genuinely useful two levels deep and almost never useful at four. If you are at four, what you want is probably a real list.

Getting back out

Web, Mac, Windows, and Linux

⌘⌥. goes up one level. ⌘⌥T expands or collapses every sublist on the page at once, which is the fastest way to see the shape of a big list.

iPhone, iPad, and Android

The back gesture returns you to the parent. Pull down to get back to Today from any depth.

Going further

A sublist is a real list. It can have its own emoji, colour, cover photo, sort order and layout. It can be shared on its own. It shows up in search as a list. The only difference from a top-level list is where it lives.

Sublists versus indenting. Indenting keeps things on the same page and is right for a couple of sub-items. A sublist is right when the detail deserves its own page and you want the parent to stay a single line. Rule of thumb: if the sub-items have sub-items, you want a sublist.

Sublists versus tags. A sublist is a place. A tag is a label that finds things across many places. If you are about to make the same sublist in five lists, you want a tag.

Settings that change this

Tips

  • Promote rather than plan. It is faster to write four lines on Today and promote them than to decide in advance that something needs a list.
  • The parent thing's text becomes the sublist name, so write it as a name you would want to see later.
  • Turn on inline display for lists you scan a lot, and leave it off for lists that are long.

If it's not working

The sublist option is greyed out. Sublists are a Plus feature. If you previously bought it with coins, you keep it, so check that you are signed into the right account.

Promoting swallowed the things under it. That is the multi-thing promotion working as designed: the first becomes the name and the rest go inside. Press ⌘⇧K again to undo it.

I cannot find a sublist I made. Search finds sublists by name like any other list. If you know the parent, open it and expand all sublists with ⌘⌥T.