Tips

Packlist PRO has a lot of small features that make trip planning faster. Here are the ones travelers find most useful — sorted by area of the site.

New here? About covers what the site does. Help covers what to do when something goes wrong.

Getting started

Try before signing up. Visit Home as an anonymous user and you'll see a fully populated demo trip. Click around — the demo is read-only, but everything else works.
Install it like an app. On phone or desktop, use your browser's “Install” or “Add to Home Screen” option. Packlist PRO is a Progressive Web App (PWA), so installed copies launch full-screen and work offline.
One free account, unlimited trips. Create an account — no payment, no ads, no upsells. You can make as many trips as you want.
Pick your detail level. See the Modes & detail levels section below. You can switch any time from Preferences.

Duplicate, don't restart. On My Trips, duplicate a similar past trip rather than building a new packlist from scratch — items, tasks, and tags carry over. Dates and descriptions reset so you can fill them in fresh.
Use BACKUP and TEMPLATE in trip names. Trip names containing BACKUP or TEMPLATE sort to the bottom of your trip list automatically, so your current trips stay on top.
Trip Dashboard is your home base. Trip Dashboard shows packing progress, upcoming tasks, and recent notes for the selected trip on one page.
Your last trip is remembered. The trip you last viewed is restored automatically the next time you log in — even after you log out and back in.

Mark items “Always bring.” From the Configure Items page, tick Always bring for items you take on every trip. They'll be added automatically when you duplicate a trip or quick-start a new one.
High-importance items glow yellow. Items flagged as high importance show a bright yellow checkbox so you can't miss them in a long list.
Tag-based suggestions. Add a trip tag like Beach or International and the relevant items appear automatically — sunblock, passport, adapters, and so on.
The ⋮ menu has the hidden options. Each item row has a kebab menu with quantity steppers, alternate quantities (bringing / packed / buy / requested), and a remove-from-trip option.
Quick-add at the bottom of each group. Type a new item name in the quick-add box at the bottom of any group to add a custom item directly to your trip.
Email yourself the list. The print view of your packlist can be emailed to yourself or a co-traveler — useful if you're packing in a different room from your laptop.

Schedule by timing, not by date. Tasks are organized by weeks before, day before, day-of, when you arrive, and when you return — so the same template works for every trip.
Mark tasks “Always do.” Like packlist items, you can flag tasks you do for every trip (refill prescriptions, hold mail, set out-of-office) so they auto-add when you start a new trip.
Strike-through shows what's done. Completed tasks stay visible with a line through them so you can see progress without losing the full list.
Sort and group different ways. Group by timing or importance, sort A–Z or by importance — your preference is remembered per device.

Attach a date to a note. Use the date field for itinerary items like “Tuesday: 6pm dinner at Joe's, confirmation 4837.” Dated notes show a badge so they're easy to find.
Share notes with co-travelers. Mark a note as Shared so anyone who has the trip's share link can see it — useful for joint packing lists or shared confirmations.
Don't lose work. If you've edited a note and navigate away without saving, your browser warns you so you can save first.
Print or email a full notes packet. The print view of your notes bundles them in one document, perfect for printing or sending to yourself before a flight.

Each trip has a share link. From Edit Trip, you can enable read-only or edit access on the packlist, tasklist, and notes — share the link with whoever's traveling with you.
Granular per-area sharing. Share just the packlist (read-only), or share packlist + tasklist with edit access — it's a separate toggle for each.
Invite a friend. My Account > Invite a Friend sends a personal invite link from your email — great for getting a co-traveler onto the site.

Simple — the bare-minimum checklist. Best for weekend trips and travelers who want one page and no clutter.
Standard — the everyday default. Quantities, descriptions, and common items by category.
Ludicrous — every option exposed: weight, volume, alternates, products, brands. For multi-week expeditions and gear nerds.
Switch any time from Preferences. Each user picks their own default — one mode for you, another for your partner.

Dark mode. Toggle dark/light in Preferences. The site remembers your choice across devices.
Font size. Small / medium / large is a one-click change in Preferences. Especially useful on small phones or for older eyes.

Works offline. Once a page loads, you can keep using it without a connection — checking off items in the airport, reviewing notes in a basement hotel, or planning on a plane. A red banner appears when you go offline so you know your changes will be queued.
Install to home screen. Use your browser's “Install” or “Add to Home Screen” option. The installed app launches full-screen without browser chrome.
Push notifications (opt-in). If you opt in via Notifications, your browser gets enrolled for push notifications. Scheduled trip-reminder pushes are on the roadmap; for now opting in just confirms delivery works on your device.
Designed for thumbs. Every tap target is at least 44×44 pixels. Long dropdowns stay within the viewport on small screens.

Back-to-top button. A small ↑ button appears in the bottom-right once you scroll down. One tap and you're back at the page header.
Clearable search. The X button inside search boxes clears the input in one tap — faster than backspacing.
Tips remember their state. Click the ⓘ button on any page to open its tips card; click X to close. The site remembers your choice per page.
Sessions last a year. You stay logged in across browser restarts and idle periods — no need to log in every visit. If your session ever does expire, the site offers to re-authenticate without losing your work.
Quicklist for browsing. Quicklist lets you browse the full catalog of items by tag without attaching them to a specific trip — useful for research or building a personal master list.

Forgot password? Use the Forgot Login page. We send a recovery link or temporary password to the email or phone on file.
We never sell or share your data. See Security & Privacy for the full breakdown of what we store and why.
Track your support submissions. My Submissions shows the status of every bug report or feature request you've sent us.

A guided tour of Packlist PRO — pick the one that matches your Site Mode.

Simple Mode Standard Mode Ludicrous Mode