Uncomplete a Task
Uncompleting a task returns a task that has already been completed to the Incomplete status. The task becomes actionable again, and the checklist treats it exactly as it did before it was completed.
Every task in a checklist holds one of three statuses — Incomplete, Complete or Not Applicable. Uncompleting is the way back from Complete to Incomplete. To move a task out of the way without doing the work, see Mark a Task Not Applicable instead.
When to Uncomplete a Task
Typical reasons to uncomplete a task:
- The wrong task was ticked off.
- The work was signed off too early and something still needs doing.
- Information captured on the task has changed, and the step has to be repeated.
- A reviewer has rejected the work and is sending it back.
Who Can Uncomplete a Task
No permission is required. Any team member who can open the checklist can uncomplete any task in it, including a task that somebody else completed. There is no user permission that governs task status.
| Role | What they can uncomplete |
|---|---|
| Administrator | Any task in any checklist. |
| Member | Any task in any checklist they can open. Not restricted to tasks they completed, nor to tasks assigned to them. |
| Guest | Tasks that are assigned to them. A guest must be an assignee of the checklist to open it at all, and only sees the content of the tasks they are assigned to. |
Two permissions that sound as though they might apply do not:
- Checklist.Menu plays no part. It controls only the checklist menu on the right-hand side — Complete All Tasks, Mark Completed, Print Checklist, Delete Checklist, View Template, Custom Notifications and Activity.
- The checklist permission level plays no part either. It controls whether a template appears in the Create Checklist and Scheduling pickers, and whether you must be an assignee to open an existing checklist. View But Not Run means you cannot start a new checklist from that template — it does not stop you uncompleting a task in a checklist you can already see.
A greyed-out task cannot be unticked. That happens when the task is assigned exclusively to other users, or when it sits behind an incomplete halt task. Both restrictions are applied in the interface rather than by a permission.
How to Uncomplete a Task
Open the checklist and untick the task's checkbox in the tasks list. That is the whole gesture — there is no confirmation prompt.
The Complete Task button does not turn into an Uncomplete Task button. It is hidden once the task is complete, so the checkbox is the only route.
You can uncomplete a task from several places:
| Where | Notes |
|---|---|
| The checklist page | Untick the checkbox in the tasks list. |
| A shared checklist | Works the same way for anyone with the link. |
| The tasks list | Untick the task in the grid. |
| A tag page | Expand a checklist and untick the task. |
| The Library | Expand a template's checklist runs and untick the task. |
| The REST API | Send a status of Incomplete to Update Task Status. |
You cannot change task status from Reports. Task status is shown there as read-only icons.
Note that ticking or unticking a task from the tasks list, a tag page or the Library always clears the Not Applicable status as well, because those routes set the task's applicability at the same time.
What Is Recorded
Uncompleting a task is written to the activity feed as an uncompleted task '<task name>' entry, showing who did it and when. The entry appears in both the task-level feed and the checklist-level feed.
The original completion entry is not removed. The feed is an audit trail, so a task that is completed, uncompleted and completed again carries all three entries in sequence.
Returning a task from Not Applicable to Incomplete records the same uncompleted task entry — there is no separate "made applicable" entry type.
Effect on the Rest of the Checklist
Custom notifications. Uncompleting a task fires any custom notification anchored to that task with a trigger of Is Uncompleted or Status Is Changed. If the Slack integration is connected and configured to post when a task is uncompleted, a message is sent there too.
Conditional logic. Conditional logic rules trigger on the values entered into controls, not on task status, so uncompleting a task does not by itself show or hide anything.
Halt tasks. If the task you uncomplete is a halt task, every task after it is disabled again immediately. Halt state is recalculated on each status change rather than only when the checklist is created.
A task after the halt that had already been completed stays completed. Its completion is not reverted. It becomes greyed out with its checkbox disabled, so it cannot be unticked until the halt task is completed again — but it still counts towards the progress bar and towards Analytics.
Checklist status. A checklist that had been Completed returns to In Progress automatically, as a direct consequence of uncompleting the task. You do not have to uncomplete the checklist separately.
Checklist status is not stored — it is worked out from the tasks each time the checklist is loaded. Uncompleting a task drops the completed count below the total, which clears the checklist's completion timestamp. That in turn fires the checklist-level Is Uncompleted notification trigger and the Slack checklist is uncompleted event.
This is distinct from the checklist menu's Mark Completed, which stamps the checklist as complete without completing any tasks, and Complete All Tasks, which completes every outstanding task in turn.
In Reports and Analytics
Once uncompleted, the task is reported as Incomplete again and appears under that status in report columns, report filters and Analytics. If it has a due date that has since passed, it is shown as Overdue.
Uncompleting a task erases the original completion rather than preserving it as history. Both the completion timestamp and the record of who completed it are cleared, and Analytics recalculates from those columns every time it runs.
The task therefore drops out of Tasks Completed, Completed Late and Avg Turnaround entirely, as though it had never been completed. The only permanent trace is the activity feed entry, which Analytics does not read.
Related Pages
- Complete a Task — the forward direction.
- Mark a Task Not Applicable — which shares the uncompleted activity entry.
- Activity Feed — what is recorded when you reverse a completion.