---
title: "Defer date"
description: "A date that hides a task until it arrives, rather than only scheduling it. Also called a start date. Most task apps do not have one, and several say so plainly."
canonical: https://taskpocket.io/glossary/defer-date/
lastUpdated: 2026-09-01
---
1. [Home](https://taskpocket.io/)
2. [Glossary](https://taskpocket.io/glossary/)
3. Defer date

# Defer date

A defer date keeps a task out of sight until the day you named. It is the same idea as a start date, and the opposite of a due date, which says when something must be finished.

By [Bohdan Stefaniuk](https://taskpocket.io/about/) Last updated 2026-09-01

## Defer, start, due — three different jobs

A due date says when something must be finished. A start date says when you intend to begin. A defer date adds one behaviour to the second: until it arrives, the task is not shown to you at all.

The word comes from OmniFocus. Most apps that have the behaviour call it a start date instead, which is why the two terms are usually interchangeable in practice. See [start date](https://taskpocket.io/glossary/start-date/).

## Why it only matters at scale

With forty tasks you can see everything and skim, so hiding is pointless. With four hundred, a list that shows you March in January is a list you stop reading — and a list you have stopped reading is worse than no list, because you still believe it.

That is the failure people are trying to fix when they search for this. Todoist is unusually direct about not having it: it “does not support start dates that hide your tasks until their start date is due”, and its help centre offers six workarounds instead.

## How TaskPocket does it

The start date is the defer date — one field, and a task does not appear in Today until its day. It is filed rather than hidden: Upcoming groups everything ahead by day, so it is one click away rather than in front of you. See [start dates and deadlines](https://taskpocket.io/features/start-dates-and-deadlines/).

## Sources

1. [Todoist — Does Todoist support start dates? The clearest statement by a major app that it has no defer behaviour](https://www.todoist.com/help/articles/does-todoist-support-start-dates-qhqlgZhk) checked 2026-09-01

## Related reading

- [Start date](https://taskpocket.io/glossary/start-date/) — The day you intend to begin something, as opposed to the day it is due. In apps that defer, it also decides when the task becomes visible at all.
- [Start dates and deadlines — two dates, two questions](https://taskpocket.io/features/start-dates-and-deadlines/) — When you plan to start and when it is actually due are different questions. Here is how the two dates work in TaskPocket, and which apps have both.
- [Does Todoist have a start date?](https://taskpocket.io/guides/does-todoist-have-a-start-date/) — No — Todoist says so itself. Here are the six workarounds its help centre suggests, what each one costs you, and what a real start date does instead.