Noticed Reminders adding tags a bit too eagerly and all on its own? Find out here how to remove these unwanted tags in Apple Reminders for both Mac and iPhone (from URLs in notes, for example, and anywhere else a pound sign naturally occurs).
First, Canned Be Fish
If you have found a year, catch and brand of sardines you like, don’t eat them (just yet). Eat them later instead, preferably a lot later.
Much like wines, for instance, in bottles, sardines in cans get better with age. The flesh softens and assumes a greater richness in taste over years in (again like wine) cellars. The cans, of course, also come with beautifully crafted labels.
Now, while I contemplate the merits of Portuguese fisheries versus their Moroccan counterparts, how about getting rid of something you and I got for free but do not want to keep (for short or for long)?
How to Remove Unwanted Tags in Apple Reminders on a Mac
In Mac Reminders Using the Keyboard
Time needed: 1 minute
To remove a tag introduced haphazardly in Apple Reminders on a Mac (when you insert a link to a website that contains ‘#’, for instance):
- Notice Reminders turning innocent text into a tag.
Here’s how: The tag will appear in blue (in the reminder’s note, for example) or boldened (as part of a URL in a note or the reminder’s title).
Not yet a tag: A tag such created does not appear under Tags in Reminders until the reminder item itself is fully created.
- Press Backspace immediately after the tag.
Here’s what happens: The tag loses its formatting, and the last letter of the tag is not deleted.
Important: Do not delete the tag itself from Reminders (using Tags in the sidebar). This will leave the tag’s text in place, but remove the pound or hash sign ‘#’.
Want a notification instead of a tag? How to Get a Notification for a Task in Apple Reminders for Mac
Unwanted tasks, too? How to Delete All Completed Tasks in Apple Reminders for Mac
Remove an Unwanted Tag from a Reminder Using the Mouse
To delete a tag from a reminder on a Mac using the mouse or trackpad:
- Click on the tag with the right mouse button.
In a URL: Within a link, first click on the tag while you hold the Option key to select the link, then right-click. - Select Untag from the context menu that has appeared.
Caution: In a URL, this may remove the very much desired # character; if it does, undo the change and use the method using the keyboard above.
How to Remove Unwanted Tags in Apple Reminders on iPhone and iPad
To remove an unwanted tag from a reminder’s title or note in Reminders on iPhone or iPad:
- Note text turning into a tag haphazardly.
When it happens: URLs pasted from a browser are particularly prone to becoming tags when they include targets (such as headlines) on the page, indicated with the pound sign ’#’ like tags in Reminders are.
Example: https://ladedu.com/heinz-tschabitscher/#How-to-Contact-Heinz-Tschabitscher will turn into a link that contains the tag #How-to-Contact-Heinz-Tschabitscher.
- Position the text cursor right behind the unwanted tag.
One steps back: You can backspace to the end of the link after inserting a space to add it, of course. - Tap Backspace.
The link: This will remove the link formatting temporarily; it will return when you save the reminder.
“Untag”: If you highlight the tag in the reminder, its context menu will contain the item Untag. You can use this to remove a tag; do keep in mind, however, that this will also remove the pound sign (which, for URLs, you will want to keep).
(How to remove unwanted tags in Apple Reminders on Mac and iPhone tested with macOS Sequoia 15.1, Sonoma 14.1–14.3 and iOS 17–18; first published December 2023, last updated November 2024)