The Tasks Grid
The Tasks grid is the Tasks screen in the left-hand navigation. It lists one row per task across every checklist you can see, plus the standalone tasks on your team, and it is where most people work from day to day.
Everything on the screen narrows the same list: the view selector at the top left, the three filters beside it, and the search box above the grid.
Columns
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Open | The chevron that opens the task in the side panel. Click it again to close. Empty on a task you cannot work on. |
| Task | A checkbox that completes or uncompletes the task where it sits — see Completing a Task From the Grid — then the task name, with a snooze icon that appears when you hover over the row. |
| Status | The task's current status. See the status table below. |
| Due | The due date and time, in your own time zone. Empty when the task has no due date. |
| Checklist | The checklist the task belongs to, linking through to it. Empty for an unattached standalone task. |
| Template | The template that checklist came from, linking through to it. Empty for an unattached standalone task. |
| Assignees | An avatar per assignee, and a reassign icon. Empty when nobody is assigned. |
| Comments | The number of comments on the task. Empty when there are none. |
| Tags | The tags on the task, one label each. Empty when the task has none. |
Drag a column heading sideways to reorder the columns. The order is for the current session only — it is not kept when you reload, and a saved view does not record it.
Statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Incomplete | Open, with no due date. |
| Due In Future | Open, due after the end of today. |
| Due Today | Open, due before the end of today — your own day, in the time zone set on your profile, not the server's. |
| Overdue | Open, and past its due date. |
| Complete | Completed. |
| Not Applicable | Marked not applicable. |
| Snoozed | You have snoozed it. Hover for the time it comes back, or click to end the snooze. |
| Halted | Blocked behind a halt task earlier in the same checklist that is not yet complete. |
A task has exactly one status, worked out from the bottom of that table up: Halted wins over everything, then a snooze, then Not Applicable, then Complete, then the three due-date states, and a task with no due date is Incomplete. A standalone task is never halted, attached or not — a halt only ever holds up a checklist's own tasks.
Filters
| Filter | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Templates / Tasks | One filter with two tabs. On the Templates tab, which templates' tasks are listed. On the Tasks tab, which of the templates' tasks are listed, whatever template they come from. Show Standalone Tasks sits at the top of both tabs and adds the standalone tasks. |
| Assignees | Which people and groups a task must be assigned to, plus Show Unassigned Tasks, which adds tasks nobody is assigned to. |
| Statuses | Which of the eight statuses a task may hold to be listed. |
Each filter is a multi-select with a search box and Select All / Deselect All. The grid reloads when you close a filter, not as you tick each entry.
Filtering by Template or by Task
The first filter narrows the grid one of two ways, and the tabs at the top of its list choose which:
- Templates lists the templates you can run. Tick a template and every task of every checklist run from it is listed.
- Tasks lists those same templates' tasks, grouped under the template each belongs to. Tick a task and that task is listed from every checklist run from its template — Sign off the invoice across every run of Month End, say — and nothing else from those checklists is.
Only the tab that is open when you close the filter applies. The other tab keeps whatever you ticked on it, but has no say in what the grid shows until you switch back to it. The filter's button reads All Templates or 3 Templates on one tab and All Tasks or 3 Tasks on the other, so it always says which filter is in force.
Show Standalone Tasks is the same option on both tabs, and ticking it on one ticks it on the other. A standalone task has no template task behind it, so on the Tasks tab it is this option alone that lists standalone tasks, attached to a checklist or not.
A task ticked on the Tasks tab is listed only from checklists you can see under Checklist Permissions, the same as on the Templates tab. The Tasks tab lists the tasks of each template's latest version, and a task keeps its place in the list through new versions of its template, so a task you have ticked stays ticked when the template is published again. A template you can no longer run, or one that has been archived, drops out of both tabs.
The Statuses filter offers the eight statuses from the table above, and a task is listed only when the status it holds is one you have ticked. Because a task holds exactly one status, the ticks never overlap: unticking Overdue takes the overdue tasks out and leaves everything else where it was, and unticking all eight leaves the grid empty. Due Today is measured against your own day, so a colleague in another time zone can see the same task under Due In Future while you see it under Due Today.
The filter keeps applying as work goes on. A task whose status changes to one you have not ticked leaves the grid where it stands — see Live Updates.
Search, Sorting and Paging
- Type in the Search box above the grid to narrow the rows to those matching the text. It searches every column shown, and the cross clears it.
- Click a column heading to sort by it, and again to reverse the sort. Hovering over a heading says which column and which direction the next click will give you, so what it says changes as the sort does.
- The grid opens on the sort the current view was saved with. The built-in views are saved sorted by Due, soonest first, which is what they are for.
- A task with no due date has no place in a run of dates, so undated rows are held at the bottom of a date column whichever way it is sorted.
- Display n tasks per page below the grid offers 25, 50, 100, 250 and All. The default is 100, and your choice is remembered in the browser you set it in.
- Copy and CSV above the grid export what is currently listed, respecting the filters, the search text and the column order.
Completing a Task From the Grid
Every row carries a checkbox at the start of the Task column. Tick it to complete the task, and untick it to uncomplete the task again, without opening anything. It is the quickest way through a run of simple tasks — the ones that only need ticking off.
The checkbox does exactly what Complete Task in the side panel does, checked by the server in the same way:
- Required controls are enforced. If the task has a required control that is not yet answered, the checkbox goes back to unticked, a message says One or more required fields within this task have not been completed, and the task opens in the side panel so you can answer the control and complete it from there.
- Exclusive assignment is enforced. A task with Only Assignees Can Complete This Task set is refused for anybody but its assignees and Administrators, with the same message the side panel gives.
- Everything completion causes still happens. The assignees are notified, a dynamic due date counted from the task is worked out, and completing a halt task releases the tasks held up behind it. Everyone else's grid and checklist page update as they would from the side panel.
- The row follows your status filter. Complete a task on a view that does not list Complete tasks and its row leaves the grid at once, as it would from the side panel. Untick a completed task and it comes back to any view that lists its new status.
The checkbox is greyed and cannot be clicked on a row you cannot work on — see Tasks You Cannot Work On — and while the server is answering a click, so a task is never asked twice. A task marked Not Applicable shows a dash in the box rather than a tick and cannot be changed from the grid: open the task and click Mark Applicable in the side panel.
If somebody else completed the task a moment before you clicked, the row reloads to show what they did and nothing else changes. If the task is open in the side panel when you tick its row, the panel's Complete Task and Uncomplete Task buttons swap to match.
Working a Task in the Side Panel
Click the chevron in the Open column and the task opens in a panel on the right without leaving the grid. The panel holds the task name, its checklist if it has one, its assignees, its due date, its controls, its Task Tags box and its comments and activity — the same task you would see inside the checklist.
From the panel you can:
- Answer the task's controls, including ticking off its sub-tasks.
- Click Complete Task, Uncomplete Task, Mark Not Applicable or Mark Applicable.
- Change the assignees and the due date.
- Tag the task, and take a tag off it.
- Add comments and attachments, and read the task's activity.
The row behind the panel updates as soon as you change anything, and a task that no longer matches your status filter drops out of the grid.
Controls That Reach Beyond the Task
The panel holds one task rather than the whole checklist, but the controls whose answers reach the rest of it still work from here. Answering one in the panel does what answering it on the checklist page does:
| Control | What answering it does from the panel |
|---|---|
| Drop-Down or Multi-Choice linked to a Data Set | Offers the same records as the checklist page, with the stored answer already selected, and fills in the fields bound to the record you pick wherever on the checklist they sit |
| Members | Works out the dynamic assignments that read it, so the tasks it decides change hands and the people it puts on them are notified |
| Date & Time | Counts the due date of every task whose dynamic due date is anchored to it |
| Mail-To | Send Email sends, after the same confirmation as the checklist page, attaching what its File Upload sources hold. In Plain Text mode, Create Draft Email opens the draft in your own mail client |
| Linked Checklist | Creates the child checklist, renders it once it exists, and lets you complete its tasks from the panel. One set to create automatically does so as soon as it is on screen |
| Short Text | Applies the control's own RegEx validation before saving, so the panel refuses what the checklist page would refuse |
Completing a task from the panel also does what completing it on the checklist page does to the rest of the checklist. A dynamic due date counted from a task being completed is worked out, and completing a halt task releases everything held up behind it — the tasks that come free are notified to their assignees and their linked checklists created. An attached task has no place in the checklist's running order, so neither of those reaches one. Emptying a required control uncompletes a task that can no longer meet its own completion rules.
If a comment or an attachment you add @mentions somebody who is not assigned to the task, the panel offers to assign them, so a task only its assignees can open is not naming a person who cannot read it. The offer belongs to the task it was made on: move the panel to another task without answering it and the offer is dropped rather than applied to the wrong task.
A task is completed one at a time, from the checkbox in its row or from the panel. There is no bulk complete action, because completing a task can mean answering its controls first, and the checkbox sends you to the panel when it does.
A standalone task opens with an Edit / Delete button beside the panel's title, which swaps the panel for the task's own editor. See Edit and Delete a Standalone Task.
What the Grid Shows You
Which checklists' tasks you are shown is decided by the checklist permissions set on each template:
| Your permission on the template | Whose tasks are listed |
|---|---|
| Run and View | Every checklist created from the template |
| View But Not Run | Every checklist created from the template |
| Run and View Assigned To | Only checklists you have a task assigned to |
| View Assigned To But Not Run | Only checklists you have a task assigned to |
| Nothing set for you on the template | Treated as View Assigned To But Not Run |
One assigned task opens the whole checklist. If a checklist has work for you anywhere in it, every task on it is listed, not only the ones with your name on. An assignment through a group counts the same as one made to you directly, and so does an assignment on a task attached to the checklist.
- Administrators see everything. Checklist permissions do not narrow their grid.
- An attached task follows its checklist. A standalone task attached to a checklist you cannot see is not listed for you either.
- An unattached standalone task is visible to the whole team. It has no template behind it, so there is nothing to permission it by.
This is the same rule Reports applies, so the two screens agree about which checklists exist.
Tasks You Cannot Work On
Two things leave a task listed but inert: it belongs exclusively to somebody else, or its checklist is not ready for it. The row reads and behaves the same either way — drawn grey, with a no-entry cursor — and on both:
- The Open column is empty, so the side panel cannot be opened.
- The checkbox in the Task column is greyed and does nothing when clicked.
- The snooze icon and the reassign icon are not drawn.
- Clicking the row does not select it, and Select All passes over it, so no bulk action reaches it.
Hovering over the task name says which of the two applies. The rule is applied when the request reaches the server rather than only in the grid, so reaching the task another way is refused in the same way.
Assigned to Somebody Else
A task with Only Assignees Can Complete This Task set belongs to the people and groups assigned to it. Everybody else still sees the row, so the work stays visible and nothing goes missing from the counts, but cannot do anything with it. Hovering says: This task is assigned exclusively to another user and/or group. You do not have access to it.
Who you are decides what you get, so two people looking at the same row see different things:
- Administrators are never shut out. Every task listed is theirs to work.
- Assignees work the task as normal, whether they are named on it themselves or belong to a group that is.
- A task with the setting on and nobody assigned is nobody's exclusively, so anyone can work it.
It is the rule the checklist page has always applied to its own tasks — see Task Assignments.
Halted
A task held up by an unfinished halt task earlier in its checklist carries the Halted status, and there is nothing to do on it until the halt is cleared. Hovering says: This task is halted because one or more of the preceding tasks in its checklist is halted. Please complete all halted tasks first.
This one applies to everybody. A halt is about the checklist's order rather than about who the task belongs to, so a halted task is inert for its own assignees and for Administrators too. Halted tasks are only in the grid at all when Halted is one of the statuses your view asks for. Clear the halt and the task becomes workable where it stands, without moving.
Live Updates
The grid stays current while it is open. When somebody else completes a task, changes a due date, reassigns it, edits a standalone task, or adds a comment or a file, the affected row reloads on your screen without a refresh.
Whole checklists arrive the same way. A checklist started anywhere on the team — by a schedule, by a Linked Checklist control, through the API or from this grid's own side panel — puts its tasks into your grid without a reload. Your view's filters and your checklist permissions are applied first, so only the tasks that belong in your grid go into it.
A task that is not in your grid yet is added to it when a change brings it into scope — a task somebody creates into your view, one uncompleted after the grid had dropped it, or one reassigned to you. The view's own filters are applied before the row goes in, so a task your filters exclude stays out and nobody is told about work they are not meant to see.
Changes take rows away as well. A task that no longer matches your Statuses filter drops out of the grid, and the side panel closes if you had it open — which is what happens when somebody else's work puts a halt up in front of a task you were looking at, and Halted is not a status your view asks for. A task restricted to its assignees while you were looking at it stays where it is and turns grey — see Tasks You Cannot Work On.
Conditional logic is kept in step both ways. A rule that fires on somebody's checklist page shows or hides the same tasks and controls here, and a rule that fires from an answer given in this grid's side panel reaches the checklist pages other people have open. A task a rule reveals is notified to its assignees, the same way a task assigned by hand is. A halt travels the same road: complete a halt task in the panel and the tasks it was holding up come free on everybody's grid.
Behaviour and Validation Rules
- Which tasks you see. Checklist tasks appear only from checklists you are allowed to see under Checklist Permissions. Administrators see them all. Standalone and attached tasks belong to the team rather than to a template, so everyone on the team sees them.
- Archived checklists are excluded, along with their tasks. Archiving a checklist also takes its attached tasks out of the grid, and restoring it brings them back.
- Deleting a checklist does not delete its attached tasks. They lose the attachment and carry on in the grid as unattached standalone tasks, with empty Checklist and Template columns.
- Hidden tasks are excluded. A task hidden by conditional logic is not listed, and neither are headings, which are not tasks.
- Snoozes are personal. A task you have snoozed is hidden from your grid only. Everyone else still sees it.
- Exclusive assignment is enforced, not decorated. A task restricted to its assignees is listed for everybody but can only be opened, completed, snoozed or reassigned by an assignee or an Administrator. See Tasks You Cannot Work On.
- The row checkbox is checked on the server. Ticking it asks for the same completion the side panel asks for, so a required control that is empty, or an exclusive assignment to somebody else, refuses it in the same way. See Completing a Task From the Grid.
- Template and task filters are either/or. Only the tab open when the filter closes narrows the grid; the other tab's ticks are kept for when you switch back. See Filtering by Template or by Task.
- A halted task is listed but inert, for everybody including Administrators, until the halt in front of it is cleared.
- Checklist permissions decide which tasks are listed. An attached task is judged on the checklist it is attached to, not waved through as standalone. See What the Grid Shows You.
- A standalone task's tags are its own. They are held against the task rather than against a checklist, so attaching it to a checklist or detaching it from one leaves its tags where they are. A checklist task's tags belong to that checklist.
- Times are local. Due dates and snooze times are stored in UTC and shown in the time zone set on your profile, and Due Today is worked out against the end of the day in that zone.
Limits
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Tasks per page | 25, 50, 100, 250, or all of them |
| Default page size | 100 |
| Rows per export | Everything currently listed |
| Saved views per team | No fixed limit |
Cross-Feature Support
| Feature | Supported |
|---|---|
| Tags | Partly — the Tags column lists a task's tags and the side panel tags it, but there is no tag filter and no bulk tag action |
| Reports | Separate. Reports lists checklists; this grid lists tasks |
| Analytics | Yes — standalone tasks are included, under their own heading |
| API | Yes — the v3 API reads the grid of the member a key acts as, manages saved views and snoozes tasks in bulk |
| Guest access | No — Guests are sent to their own dashboard |
Examples
Everything overdue in one team's work. Open the Assignees filter, deselect all, tick the group, and sort by Due, oldest first. Save it as a view called Group Backlog so you can come back to it.
Only the one-off jobs. Open the Templates filter, click Deselect All, then tick Show Standalone Tasks on its own. The grid lists standalone tasks and nothing else.
One step, across every run. Open the Templates filter and click the Tasks tab, click Deselect All, then find the task under its template and tick it. The grid lists that task from every checklist run from the template, and you can tick each one off from its row as it is done. Save it as a view to come back to.
What nobody has picked up. Open the Assignees filter, click Deselect All, then tick Show Unassigned Tasks.
Who Can Do What
| Action | Required permission |
|---|---|
| Open the Tasks grid | Administrator or Member |
| See a given checklist's tasks on it | Decided by Checklist Permissions — see What the Grid Shows You |
| Complete, snooze or reassign a task listed on it, from its row or from the side panel | Anyone who can see the task. Where Only Assignees Can Complete This Task is set, its assignees and Administrators only |
| Tag a task from the side panel, or take a tag off it | Anyone who can work the task |
| Edit or delete a standalone task from the side panel | Administrator, or the Member with Task.Creator who created it |
| Save a private view | Administrator or Member |
| Share a view with users, groups or the whole team | Administrator, or Member with Tasks.View.Creator |
| Create a standalone task from the + menu | Administrator, or Member with Task.Creator |
| Attach a task to a checklist from the side panel editor, or detach it | Administrator, or Member with Task.Creator and Task.Attacher |
Related Pages
- Tasks Grid Views — saving the filters on this page and setting one as your default.
- Snoozing Tasks — hiding a task from your own grid until you want it back.
- Bulk Actions — selecting several rows and acting on all of them.
- Tasks Overview — the three kinds of task the grid brings together.
- Reports — the equivalent grid for whole checklists.