Tasks Overview
A task is one completable step of work. It has a status, optional assignees, an optional due date, and a set of controls holding its instructions and its answers.
Most tasks arrive through a process. Running a checklist creates one task for every task defined on its template. A standalone task is different: you raise it on its own, with no template and no checklist behind it, for work that does not belong to a process. A standalone task can also be attached to a checklist that is already running, so a one-off piece of work sits with the checklist it relates to.
All three kinds appear together on the Tasks screen — the Tasks grid — which is where you see everything outstanding across your team in one place.
Why Use Standalone Tasks?
Not every piece of work is a process. Before standalone tasks, giving someone a one-off job in CheckFlow meant building a template for it and running a checklist from that template, which left a single-task template in your template list for something that happens once.
With standalone tasks:
- You raise the task directly from the + menu, in one dialog, without touching the template list.
- The task behaves like any other task — it takes assignees, a due date, comments, attachments and activity, and it chases people when it goes overdue.
- It appears in the Tasks grid alongside checklist tasks, so people have one list to work from rather than two.
- You can attach it to a running checklist when the work does belong to a process, without changing the template that checklist came from.
Key Concepts
| Concept | Description |
|---|---|
| Task | One completable step. Has a status, optional assignees and due date, and contains controls. |
| Checklist task | A task created by running a checklist. Defined on the template and reproduced in every run. |
| Standalone task | A task raised on its own, with no template and no checklist. See Create a Standalone Task. |
| Attached task | A standalone task linked to a running checklist, listed under Attached Tasks at the bottom of it. See Attach a Task to a Checklist. |
| Tasks grid | The Tasks screen. One row per task, with filters, views and bulk actions. See The Tasks Grid. |
| View | A saved combination of filters, columns and sort order on the Tasks grid. See Tasks Grid Views. |
| Snooze | Hiding a task from your own grid until a time you choose. See Snoozing Tasks. |
How It Fits Together
- Raise the task from the + menu in the navigation bar — see Create a Standalone Task.
- Attach it to a checklist, either while creating it or from the checklist itself — see Attach a Task to a Checklist.
- Work the task from the Tasks grid, which opens it in a side panel where you complete it, answer its controls, add comments and — on a standalone task — edit or delete it.
- Save the filters you use most as a view, and set one as your default — see Tasks Grid Views.
- Clear a backlog by snoozing, reassigning or deleting several tasks at once — see Snoozing Tasks and Bulk Actions.
What a Standalone Task Can Contain
A checklist task can hold any of the 19 controls. A standalone task is deliberately narrower, because it has no template designer behind it. The create dialog offers three things, and each can appear once:
| Part of the dialog | Control it creates | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Task Description | Text | Rich text. Leave it empty and the task has no description. |
| Subtasks | Sub-Tasks | A checklist within the task. All items must be ticked before the task can be completed. |
| Files | File | Files you attach for the assignee to read. Read-only to whoever works the task. |
Conditional logic, dynamic values, template parameters and halt tasks are template features, so none of them apply to a standalone task.
The dialog's Tags field is not content. It tags the task once it has been made, and those tags stay with the task whether or not it is later attached to a checklist.
Standalone, Attached and Checklist Tasks Compared
The difference that matters is what the task belongs to, and it changes how the task is reported and where it can be edited.
| Checklist task | Attached task | Unattached standalone task | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Created by | Running a checklist | Raising a standalone task and attaching it | Raising a standalone task |
| Appears in the checklist | In the task list | Under Attached Tasks at the bottom | No |
| Appears in the Tasks grid | For the people its checklist's permissions admit | The same, while its checklist exists and is not archived | For everybody, when Show Standalone Tasks is selected |
| Checklist and Template columns | Filled in | Filled in from the attached checklist | Empty |
| Counted in Analytics as | Its template | Its checklist's template | A standalone task |
| Counts towards the checklist's progress | Yes | Yes | No checklist to count towards |
| Edited from | The template it came from | The Tasks grid side panel, or the checklist page | The Tasks grid side panel |
| Tags are held against | The checklist it is in | The task itself, so attaching and detaching leave them alone | The task itself |
task_completed webhook | Reports its checklist | Reports its checklist | Reports "checklist": null |
Attaching a task does not move it onto the template. The task is still a standalone task — it is edited from its own editor, and the template it now shows is not one it came from. What attaching changes is where it is worked, where it is counted and who can see it: on the checklist, under that checklist's template in Analytics, and only for the people that checklist's permissions admit.
Who Can Do What
| Action | Required permission |
|---|---|
| Open the Tasks grid | Administrator or Member. Guests are sent to their own dashboard instead. |
| Create a standalone task | Administrator, or Member with Task.Creator |
| Edit or delete a standalone task | Administrator, or the Member with Task.Creator who created it |
| Attach a task to a checklist, move it or detach it | Administrator, or Member with Task.Creator and Task.Attacher, on a template with Tasks Can Be Attached switched on |
| Turn Tasks Can Be Attached on for a template | Administrator, or Member with Template.Creator |
| Complete, snooze or reassign a task | Anyone who can see it. Where Only Assignees Can Complete This Task is set, its assignees and Administrators only — see Tasks You Cannot Work On |
| Save a private view | Administrator or Member |
| Share a view with users, groups or the whole team | Administrator, or Member with Tasks.View.Creator |
A standalone task is created with Only Assignees Can Complete This Task already set, so assigning one to somebody hands it to them alone until you untick the box. See Create a Standalone Task.
Which tasks you see is separate from what you can do. The grid shows you the tasks of the checklists you are allowed to see, under Checklist Permissions, and an attached task follows the checklist it is attached to — so it is withheld along with it. Only an unattached standalone task is visible to the whole team, whatever anybody's permissions. See What the Grid Shows You.
Limits
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Standalone tasks per team | No fixed limit |
| Task Description controls per standalone task | 1 |
| Subtasks controls per standalone task | 1 |
| Files controls per standalone task | 1 |
| Saved views per team | No fixed limit |
Related Pages
- Create a Standalone Task — the dialog that raises one, field by field.
- The Tasks Grid — the columns, filters and side panel you work tasks from.
- User Permissions — what Task.Creator, Task.Attacher and Tasks.View.Creator grant.
- Task Assignments — how assignment works on a checklist task, which a standalone task follows.
- Analytics Breakdowns — where standalone tasks land in your reporting.