Finished work shouldn’t stay visible forever and distract you. TandemLoop offers two concepts that build on each other: completing (a status change) and archiving (automatically moving items out after a configurable period).
Completing
You set a task, milestone, or project to Completed or Dropped by changing the status in the Inspector or in the context menu. You can also check off tasks with the circle in front of the title, with Mark as Completed (⌘ + K), or on iPad and iPhone with a swipe to the right. When you switch to Completed, the app automatically sets the completion date to the current time.
Completed vs. Dropped—Completed means the work is done. Dropped means you’ve decided not to do it anymore. Both statuses are final—completed and dropped items no longer count as active tasks.
By default, completed and dropped items stay visible—they’re shown struck through and dimmed so they stand out clearly from active work.
Archiving
Archiving clears completed items out of your active data folder and stores them in a parallel structure—they disappear from the sidebar and views but remain in the data folder. It runs automatically only once you turn on Auto-archive in Settings › Archiving; Archive automatically at launch also archives every time the app starts.
To configure the rules:
Settings › Archiving
You set a separate rule for each item type:
| Item type | Possible rules |
|---|---|
| Tasks | Never, Immediately After Completion, Period After Completion, Inactive for a Period (Completed) |
| Milestones | Same as tasks |
| Projects | Never, Immediately After Completion, Period After Completion, When Everything in It Is Completed |
Default: Tasks and milestones are archived 7 days after completion; projects when all the tasks and milestones they contain are finished.
Archive Run
To start an archive run, use the archive box icon at the bottom of the sidebar or Archive Now in the settings. It first shows you a preview: which items would be archived under the current rules—without changing anything yet. Only after you confirm does it move these items into the archive. When a project is archived, all its milestones and tasks move along with it automatically.
The archive isn’t the Trash. With Browse Archive (Settings › Archiving), you can see archived items, but you can’t bring them back. The files are in the data folder’s archive folder, and you can move them back from there by hand.
Tip—Start an archive run now and then and look at the preview to check whether your rules do what you expect. Especially with the rule When Everything in It Is Completed for projects, it can be surprising what would already be archived.