List order not syncing between devices (To Do)

Question

List order not syncing between devices (To Do)

Mac Walsh 20

The order of items in a list is not syncing between iPhone, Android, and Windows 11. If that list is open on both devices, the re-order happens immediately. But if it's not open on one device, then the changed order is not syncing after hours.

John Velick 10 Reputation points

2025-11-01T07:19:01.9566667+00:00

Same issue. Been using the app for years including lists with other users, using manual ordering, and having the manual ordering be correct on each device for each shared user.

Only recently been having trouble with manual syncing showing correctly between my own devices (ToDo app on Windows 11 and Todo app on Samsung S25 android phone) and shared users devices. All apps are current versions.

Prior to recently, never had such issues with manual ordering syncing between devices.

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John Velick 10 Reputation points

2025-11-01T07:19:01.9566667+00:00

Same issue. Been using the app for years including lists with other users, using manual ordering, and having the manual ordering be correct on each device for each shared user.

Only recently been having trouble with manual syncing showing correctly between my own devices (ToDo app on Windows 11 and Todo app on Samsung S25 android phone) and shared users devices. All apps are current versions.

Prior to recently, never had such issues with manual ordering syncing between devices.

Answer 1

Kimberly Olaño 19,855 Independent Advisor

Hi! Mac. Thanks for the details. You described it exactly as it typically behaves when this issue occurs.

For best practices, if ordering is important, make all ordering changes on one “primary” device and open the list on others shortly afterward to refresh the order.

But here's the basic workaround:

Force a full sync on all devices

Sometimes the order has changed on the server, but the app hasn’t refreshed:

On each device:
- Go to the Settings → Sync and tap Sync now (on iOS/Android).
On Windows: Click the … menu → Refresh / Sync. Then fully close and reopen the app.

Just note, Microsoft To Do currently does not guarantee cross-device sync of manual order unless the list is open. It’s a known behavior, so it’s more of a sync design gap than a bug in some builds.

See if this helps. If you need further assistance, just let me know.

Best regards,

Kimberly

Mac Walsh 20 Reputation points

2025-10-07T15:14:05.1833333+00:00

The sync buttons are not working - having no effect on list order. Also, this is a new issue for us - list order used to automatically update within a few minutes. Is there any reason it just started now? We aren't doing anything different.

Yes, list order is important to us. We are temporarily having manually reorder on every device. Not a sustainable solution.
ouwensi 10 Reputation points

2025-11-04T13:11:00.4166667+00:00

This is as a workaround not practible, when you say

open the list on others shortly afterward to refresh the order.

I do not have all my three devices (Macos, Ios, Android) at the same place. I strongly hope ther will come an update bringing this funciotn back. I change the order in my lists mearly daily.
Chris M 10 Reputation points

2025-11-06T02:46:15.97+00:00

THIS IS A BUG. It was working fine about a few weeks ago.
Corey Smith 0 Reputation points

2025-12-13T19:27:54.34+00:00

I have 10 devices I use with to do for very important business purposes, where some of the devices are not always located in the same city. This inability to synchronize sorted lists, where a few hundred lists are involved, is an impossible obstacle. This is causing some of the largest destruction of our data integrity and scheduling that I could have imagined. It seems like a "fatal bug" - not simply a design gap. We were using Wunderlist without issues with several different users and many devices for years. But, Microsoft took it over and I have seen serious errors at several junctures from that point (this probably being the overall biggest obstacle).
Corey Smith 0 Reputation points

2025-12-13T21:52:12.5033333+00:00

OK, I did an experiment, and this is more serious than I realized. With all of my Android devices lined up in front of me, I manually sorted using one device... and that caused the others to create dramatically different versions of this sorted list, where the other devices then all matched, but the device with the now correctly sorted list no longer matched my other devices. This does not seem like a simple bug, but rather a full corruption of the programming. This started in the fall (2025), and we are 4 months or so into these very serious problems which did not exist up to that point.
Corey Smith 0 Reputation points

2025-12-13T22:05:39.25+00:00

I have a business operations and quality controls background. My suggestion would be to investigate how this issue was allowed to exist for this long. I would be concerned over any turning away of consumers that had reported this in recent months. The statement from the advisor above also did not seem to contemplate using this application in scenarios with multiple members, or multiple devices (possibly at different locations). The very purpose of the program is to synchronize data across platforms and devices.

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List order not syncing between devices (To Do)

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