The Scenario
You are a consultant onboarding a new client. They have a specific taxonomy of work categories, and you need 15 custom Todoist labels created from a label list in a Google Sheet, then those labels applied to 80 pre-existing tasks — the task IDs and their correct label assignments are in a separate sheet tab.
The bad version of this afternoon:
- You open Todoist, go to Labels, create each label one by one — fifteen separate form submissions
- Then you open each of the eighty tasks and apply the label from a dropdown
- Some tasks need two labels. Some need three
- Around task forty your mouse hand gives out and you start making mistakes
- You finish label assignment around 5 PM with seventeen tasks still showing no labels and one task with the wrong label on it.
The fast version is one prompt.
The Easy Way: One Prompt in SheetXAI
SheetXAI is an AI agent inside your spreadsheet that reads your label list, creates all fifteen labels in Todoist, then reads the task assignment tab and applies the right labels to every task in one pass.
Open the SheetXAI sidebar and type:
Create a new Todoist label for each entry in the 'Label Name' column of my 'Labels' tab. Then go to the 'Tasks' tab and update each task with the ID in column A to include the label or labels listed in column C (comma-separated). Write 'Done' or the error into column D of the 'Tasks' tab.
SheetXAI creates all fifteen labels in Todoist, then works through the eighty task rows and applies each task's assigned labels.
What You Get
All labels created and applied in one pass:
- 15 labels created — from your label taxonomy sheet, with the exact names you specified
- 80 tasks updated — each with the correct label or labels applied
- Multi-label support — tasks with comma-separated labels in column C get all of them applied
- Status column — column D shows 'Done' or the error message for every task row
Labels are created before any task assignment runs, so you will never hit a "label not found" error mid-way through the assignment pass.
What If the Data Is Not Quite Ready
Label taxonomy sheets and task assignment sheets are rarely in perfect sync on day one.
When some label names in the sheet already exist in Todoist
You are onboarding a client who already has a partial label set.
Check which labels in the 'Label Name' column of the 'Labels' tab already exist in Todoist. Write 'Exists' into column B for those and 'Created' for newly created ones. Then apply labels to all tasks in the 'Tasks' tab using column A (task ID) and column C (label names), regardless of whether the label was pre-existing or new.
When task label assignments use inconsistent label names
The 'Tasks' tab has some labels spelled differently from the 'Labels' tab (e.g., "client-work" vs "Client Work").
Before assigning labels, normalize the label names in column C of the 'Tasks' tab to match the canonical names in the 'Labels' tab. Use a fuzzy match: 'Client Work', 'client-work', and 'clientwork' should all map to whatever the canonical name is in the 'Labels' tab. Then apply the normalized labels to each task.
When you want to report which labels were applied to the most tasks
After completing the assignment, you need a label usage summary for the client kickoff doc.
Create all labels in the 'Labels' tab and apply them to all tasks in the 'Tasks' tab as described. Write status into column D. Then in the 'Summary' tab, write one row per label showing: label name, number of tasks it was applied to, sorted by most-used to least-used.
When the entire setup — labels, tasks, sections, and assignments — needs to happen in one shot
You are onboarding a client from scratch: labels from the 'Labels' tab, a new project from the 'Project' tab, tasks from the 'Tasks' tab, and label assignments all in one operation.
Do the following in order: (1) Create all labels in the 'Labels' tab. (2) Create a new Todoist project named 'Client Onboarding — Acme' with sections from the 'Sections' tab. (3) Create all tasks from the 'Tasks' tab in their correct sections, using columns for task name, due date, and section. (4) Apply labels from column D (comma-separated) to each task. Write 'Done' or the error into column E of the 'Tasks' tab for each row.
The pattern: the taxonomy lives in the sheet. SheetXAI reads it, creates everything in the right order, and applies every assignment without you touching the Todoist UI.
Try It
Get the 7-day free trial of SheetXAI and open any label taxonomy sheet or task import sheet, then ask it to create the labels and apply them all in one prompt. The Todoist integration is included in every SheetXAI plan. For related workflows, see how to create a sectioned project from a structured sheet or the Todoist in Google Sheets overview.