Create a task

A task tracks a piece of work and who owns it. Tasks live on their own page and can be connected to a canvas so work sits next to the data it relates to. This page covers creating a task, setting its properties, assigning it, editing it, attaching files to it, moving it through its statuses, and following it with comments and its activity.

Create a task

1. Open the Ecosystem tab of the sidebar (⌘⇧E on a Mac, Ctrl+Shift+E elsewhere) and click Tasks. The Ecosystem page lists Tasks under Features too.
2. Click New at the top right.
3. In the New task dialog, type a name in the Title field.
4. Optionally add detail in the Description field. Enter starts a new line there; the description is kept as Markdown, so a list or a heading you type reads as one on the task.
5. Click Create, or press ⌘↵ (Ctrl+↵ on Windows) from the title or the description.

Create stays disabled until the task has a title.

If the list you are on is filtered, the dialog starts from those filters: open New on a view filtered to the NAV label, and the new task arrives with that label set. Change a pre-filled value and the task may no longer match the view; SPARK then says Task created and It doesn't match this view's filters, so it isn't shown here.

Set properties before creating

The create dialog shows a row of property chips below the description. Set any of them now, or leave them and adjust later from the task:

• Status and Priority are workspace-defined values; each defaults to the first value configured in your workspace.
• Assignees picks one or more workspace members.
• Labels tags the task so you can filter by it.
• Due date opens a calendar; the chip reads Due date until you choose one. The task is due on exactly the day you pick, whatever your time zone.

Any field your workspace has added to Tasks appears in the dialog too, so a task can be complete on creation. See Task fields.

Read the task list

Each row reads the way an issue tracker lists an issue. On the left: the task's priority, its status as an icon, its title, and the start of its description in whatever room the title leaves. On the right, each in a column of its own: its labels, its assignees, a comment count when anyone has commented, and its due date.

The list has no header row, since each value says what it is; a view that shows a field of your own, or Created At, gets a header naming just those columns. Hover a row and a checkbox takes the place of its priority, and its ⋯ menu appears over the due date.

Assign the task

Assign from the Assignees chip in the create dialog, or later from the task's Properties:

1. Click the assignees chip (it shows a person icon until someone is assigned).
2. In Set assignees, find a member by name or email.
3. Click a member to add them; click again to remove.

You can add several assignees. There is no one-click self-assign, so add yourself the same way, by selecting your own name. Hover a member in the picker to preview their user card.

Each person you assign hears about it: the bell beside Search lights up, and their Notifications page lists who assigned them what, for example Claire Martin assigned you Review the Kestrel Euro Bond fee accruals. See Notifications.

Open and edit a task

Click a task's row to open it on its own page, or Ctrl/Cmd+click it to open the task in a new browser tab and keep your place in the list. The header reads Task, with a pin that keeps the task in the sidebar's Pinned. The page has two parts: the main column holds the task itself, and its Properties sit on the right.

The main column reads top to bottom:

• The title, edited in place (it shows Task Title when empty). It wraps onto more lines as it needs.
• The description. Click it to edit it where you clicked (it shows Add description... when empty). It is written in Markdown: headings, lists, checklists, quotes, code, tables, bold, italic, strikethrough and links render as you type or paste them. Select words for the formatting toolbar, or type / for a menu of blocks. The Copy as Markdown button under it copies the whole description as Markdown. A task an agent or a workflow writes arrives formatted the same way, since agents write descriptions in Markdown.
• An Explanation, on a task raised by the Exception Framework, once an agent has explained it. It sits under the description.
• Three tabs: Files, the files on the task (below); Widgets, the task's own canvas widgets; and Canvas, the shared canvas the task links. Each tab names what it holds, for example Files (2) or Canvas (Portfolio Overview). They start folded when a task opens: click a tab, or the chevron at the end of their row, to unfold them, and adding something to a tab unfolds it too. See Attach a canvas.
• Activity, the task's comments and its history in one timeline (below).

Edits to the title and the description wait for you. As soon as either changes, Discard and Save appear in the header: Save (or ⌘↵, Ctrl+↵ on Windows, from either field) saves both at once, and Discard puts both back. They stay until you click one of them. Leaving the task with unsaved changes asks first: The task has changes that are not saved. Leave without them? On a phone, and when a task opens beside a thread, the two buttons sit in an Unsaved changes row across the top of the task instead.

The Properties hold the selectors from the create dialog, Status, Priority, Assignees, Labels and Due date, so you can change any of them at any time; each saves as you pick. Any field your workspace has added to Tasks appears below them, with the editor its type calls for: a text or number box, a calendar, a true/false picker, a record or user selector, or a file picker. A Manage fields link under the last field opens the task field settings in a new tab. See Task fields.

Drag the edge between the two parts to widen or narrow the properties. On a phone, and when a task opens beside a thread, the properties move under the description and everything reads as one column.

If you opened the task from a canvas, a Back to canvas link at the top returns you there.

Attach files to a task

A task holds files of its own, on its Files tab:

1. Open the Files tab, then click its + (Add files) at the end of the tabs' row.
2. Choose Upload files to send files from your computer, or Choose from Files to pick files already in the workspace.

You can also drop files anywhere on the task: they upload into its Files, and the tab opens to show them arrive. A file dropped on the comment box lands there too, and the comment names it.

Each file shows as a chip with its type and name. Click a chip to preview the file; its × (Remove from task) takes it off the task. Files stay on the Files page either way: one uploaded into a task is labelled Uploaded in Tasks there, and taking it off the task leaves it in place. See Organize files.

Act on several tasks at once

Select tasks with the checkboxes at the left of the list (a row's checkbox takes the place of its priority icon while you hover the row). The checkbox beside the task count selects everything on the page, and if more tasks match your filters a prompt offers to Select all N matching your filters.

An action bar then takes the toolbar's place with everything you can do to the selection:

When you have chosen to select every task matching your filters, Add comment, Status, Priority and Assignees are not offered, since they act on tasks one by one; Labels, Export, Archive and Delete still are. With an archived task in the selection, the field editors are hidden and Add comment is disabled, since archived tasks are read-only.

You can also edit tasks in bulk from a Tasks widget on a canvas, against exactly the rows the widget shows. See Tasks widget.

Comment on several tasks at once

Add comment opens a dialog where you write once and post to the whole selection: The same comment will be posted on each selected task. It's the quickest way to tell a batch of tasks apart from the outside, for example noting which quarter's review they belong to, or asking the same question of every owner.

Each task gets its own comment in its own thread, so replies stay with the task they belong to.

Move a task through its statuses

Statuses and priorities are workspace-defined, so the exact names come from your setup rather than a fixed list. Change one wherever it's handiest:

• On the list, right-click a task row (or open its ⋯) and open the Status submenu, then pick a value.
• On the task, open the Status selector in its Properties.

The same applies to Priority, from the row menu or the Properties. To keep finished work off a list, use the view's Completed tasks option; see Task views.

Comment on a task

Comments live in the task's Activity section, mixed in time order with the task's history, so a discussion reads alongside what changed.

• Type in the Leave a comment... box at the bottom of Activity and press Enter, or click the send button. Shift+Enter starts a new line.
• Reply to a comment from Leave a reply... under it. Replies stay with their comment.
• Edit or Remove your own comment from its ⋯ menu (also on right-click of its author line). Editing opens the text with Save and Cancel; an edited comment is marked (edited). Only your own comments offer the menu.
• Each comment shows how long ago it was posted; hover the time for the exact Created and, if edited, Edited times.
• Drop a file on the comment box to attach it to the task: it goes into the task's Files, and the comment names it.

The number of comments on a task shows on its row in the list, and a task export includes every comment, oldest first, with its author and date. See Export the list.

Follow changes in the activity timeline

The same Activity section records changes to the task over time, starting with its creation. Each entry names who made the change, what they changed and when, for example changed the status to In Progress, updated the description or set the due date to Nov 20, so you can read a task's history at a glance. A status change shows the new status's mark in place of the person's picture. A long run of changes between two comments folds into one row, for example changed status, priority, and labels, with its first and last entries shown; click it to see the rest.

The section's heading counts everything in it, comments and replies included, and folds away from its heading.

Other ways tasks are created

Not every task starts in the New task dialog:

• From a workflow: the Create Task step creates a task with its assignee, status and due date, which is how an automated process hands work back to people. See Build a workflow.
• From the Exception Framework: each exception it raises is kept as a task, with its canvas filtered to it. See Exceptions are tasks.
• From an agent: an agent given the Spark Create Task tool can create one for you. See Tools.

Where to go next

• Shape the task list: Task views
• Connect a task to its data: Attach a canvas
• Build a place for the numbers: Build a canvas
• Track your own properties: Task fields
• See what's been assigned to you: Notifications