Sunsama

Guided daily planner that brings your calendar, email, and task tools together so you can choose a realistic plan for today and timebox it onto your schedule.

Last reviewed: 28 October 2026 · Applies to: Sunsama Web & Desktop App (Windows & macOS)

These instructions were checked against official product documentation on the review date. Menus, features and availability may change or vary by device, software version and subscription. If your screen looks different, check the official help links below or contact AAT Solutions.

Why guided daily planning helps

When your actions are split across flagged emails, Microsoft To Do, Microsoft Planner, Asana, and meeting notes, a traditional to-do list often grows until it is hard to know where to start.

Sunsama is built around choosing only what fits into today (press P to start Daily Planning). You set your own realistic daily workload threshold in Account Settings (including different limits for different days, with personal-context tasks excluded). Once you import your day's work meetings into Today (or enable meeting auto-sync in settings) and add planned durations to your tasks, Sunsama uses colour warnings to show when your planned day exceeds your chosen limit.

Getting started: connecting tools and planning your day

  1. Connect your calendar, import meetings, and add task apps: Use the right-hand integrations panel to pull in items from Outlook/Gmail, Microsoft To Do, Microsoft Planner, Asana, Trello, or Notion, and import your work meetings into your Today list (or configure meeting auto-sync) so they count toward your daily workload total. To connect Microsoft Teams, open the main top-left menu → Workspace Settings → Microsoft Teams (Teams is configured in Workspace Settings rather than the right-hand panel).
  2. Add a task and set its planned time (W or ~): Click + Add task (or press A inside Sunsama) and type the task title. You can include the planned duration inline using ~ (for example, Draft weekly update ~30m), or select a task and press W to set or edit its planned time (note: E edits actual time already spent, not the planned estimate). While typing a new task title, you can also use ! to set priority, @ to set a start date, or $ to link a Weekly Objective. With the Sunsama desktop app running, pressing Ctrl + Shift + A on Windows (Cmd + Shift + A on Mac) opens the global quick-add box from any app.
  3. Timebox tasks onto your calendar (X or drag): Drag a task from Today onto your calendar, or select the task and press X to auto-schedule it into the next suitable slot (note: P opens Daily Planning, whereas X auto-schedules the selected task). Check your Timeboxing settings: if you want colleagues to see that block as Busy, choose your connected work calendar (rather than only Sunsama's internal calendar) and check the busy/free setting.
  4. Work on one item at a time in Focus Mode (F): Select today's current task and press F to replace the multi-column board with a clean, single-task view and timer. Press Space to start or pause the timer.
  5. Open task notes and triage with keyboard shortcuts: Select a highlighted task and press Ctrl + Enter on Windows (Cmd + Enter on Mac) to open its task details and notes (Enter alone submits a new task title). With a task selected, press C to mark it complete, D to defer it to tomorrow, or Z to move it to the Backlog.

Common problems, and what to do

  • Today's column keeps growing past your capacity. Set a realistic daily workload threshold in Account Settings and import your day's meetings into Today so your true capacity is counted. When Sunsama warns that your planned hours exceed your limit, select lower-priority tasks and press D (defer to tomorrow) or Z (move to the Backlog).
  • Bringing in tasks from Microsoft Planner or Asana. Open the Planner or Asana integration in the right-hand panel and drag the task into Today, paste the task URL, or choose Add to today on the item you want to schedule.
  • Unfinished tasks at the end of the day. Incomplete tasks normally roll over at midnight, and you can also configure rollover options in your evening planning settings. Taking five minutes at the end of your workday to review what finished and move non-urgent items to tomorrow (D) or the Backlog (Z) may help keep the next morning's list manageable.

5-minute practice exercise

  1. Sign in to Sunsama with your calendar visible on the right-hand side.
  2. Press A to create a practice task in Today, type Draft weekly update ~30m, and press Enter (or select the task after creating it and press W to set its planned duration to 30m).
  3. Select the task and press Ctrl + Enter on Windows (Cmd + Enter on Mac) to open the task details window, add two bullet points in the notes area, and press Esc to close the window.
  4. Drag the task onto an open 30-minute slot on your calendar — or keep the task selected and press X to auto-schedule it — and check that it appears on your schedule.
  5. Select the task and press F to enter Focus Mode, then press C to mark the practice task complete.

Official Sunsama help links

Need more detailed guidance?

This quick guide covers the basics. Get hands-on training to set up daily planning and task workflows around your role.

View Tasks & Projects training →

Using this as part of a dyslexia or ADHD toolkit? See our dyslexia & ADHD training.

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