Create a task

What a task is

A task is a piece of follow-up work that you assign, schedule, and track separately from the business record it supports. Create one when someone needs a dated action, an owner, or a clear completion status. Tasks sit with activities as cross-cutting follow-up work.

Tasks use statuses such as Upcoming, Due, Overdue, In Progress, and Completed. The status controls available on a saved task depend on its current status and on whether you own it.

Before you start

Prerequisites

• You are signed in. The new-task route requires authentication.
• The Tasks subscription is included for your account.
• You have the task title, its priority, a start date, and a due date.
• You know who to assign the task to, if someone other than you owns it.
• You have the description ready if the task needs more context.
• You are creating a new task, or you own an existing task that you have accepted.

The form requires Priority, the task title, Start Date, and Due Date. Description and Assign To are available when you need them. The page protects unsaved changes when you leave it.

[!NOTE] A task owner can save a new task. An existing task can be saved by its owner after the task is accepted.

Find a task

Open the task-creation page when you are creating a task. Use the task list when you are locating work that already exists.

Prerequisites

• You are signed in and the Tasks subscription is included.

Steps

1. Choose the page that matches your job.

   If you need to…	Open
   Create a task	The task-creation page
   Locate an existing task	Manage tasks from My Desk

2. If you opened the task list, choose the list that answers your question.

   If you need to…	Select
   View all available task work	All
   View your task work	My Tasks
   Include completed task work	View completed tasks

3. Read the visible headers to identify the task you need.

   The task list can show Title, Owner, Start date, Due date, Status, and Importance. The list also provides icon buttons titled Refresh, Table Layout, and Settings.

Result: The new-task form is open and ready for Enter task details. If you located an existing task, open it and continue with Handle saved-task options.

Enter task details

The new-task form records the task's purpose, priority, description, dates, and assignment. Enter the dates carefully: the Due Date starts at the Start Date, so a task cannot be scheduled to finish before it starts.

Prerequisites

• The new-task form is open.
• You have the task title, priority, start date, and due date ready.

Steps

1. Open Priority.

2. Select a priority value.

3. Enter the task title in the large text area below Task Purpose.

4. Enter additional context in Description when the title alone does not explain the work.

5. Enter the date on which the task starts in Start Date.

6. Enter a date on or after Start Date in Due Date.

7. Choose the person responsible for the task in Assign To when the task belongs to someone else.

The new-task form shows Owner and Tags as readouts on arrival. Task Progress is not shown on the live create surface. The task title, Priority, Start Date, and Due Date are required by the form. The validation messages are Priority is required, Title is required, Start Date is required, and Due Date is required.

Follow is not available on the live create form. After the task is saved, Reminder becomes available on the saved task.

Result: The task details are entered, with Start Date and Due Date set in the correct order and Assign To set when another person owns the work.

Save the task

Save keeps you in the task flow after creating the task. Save and Close saves the task and leaves the form. Both controls are available for a new task owner; on an existing task, they are available to the owner after the task is accepted.

Prerequisites

• The task form contains valid values for its required fields.
• You are the task owner, or you are saving an existing task that you have accepted.

Steps

1. Choose the save action that matches what you want to do next.

   If you need to…	Select
   Continue working with the saved task	Save
   Save the task and leave the form	Save and Close

2. Check for the success message Data saved Successfully.

3. Continue from the page that matches your save choice.

   If you selected…	Then
   Save	Open the saved task.
   Save and Close	Return to the page that opened the task form.

Result: The task is saved. Save takes you to the saved task; Save and Close leaves the form.

Handle saved-task options

A saved task exposes follow-up actions according to its owner, status, branch, and task level. These options let you respond to an assignment, change completion status, and keep related work with the task.

Prerequisites

• The task is saved and open.
• You know whether you own the task and whether it is accepted, Overdue, Due, Completed, or still active.
• For sub-tasks and activities, you belong to the same branch as the task.

Steps

1. Choose the saved-task action that matches the task state.

   If the task is…	Control	Resulting message
   Assigned to you but not accepted	Accept	You accepted the assigned task
   Assigned to you but not accepted	Decline	You declined the assigned task
   Overdue or Due	Consider As Complete
   Completed	Consider As Not Completed
   A top-level task and you need a child task	Sub-tasks, then the add action
   An active task and you need a related activity	Activities, then the add action

2. Use the saved-task tabs to open the related work you need.

   If you need to…	Select
   Review child tasks	Sub-tasks
   Review or add activities	Activities
   Read or add discussion	Comments
   Review attached files	Attachment
   Review recorded changes	Last Modifications

3. In Activities, select the plus icon to open the activity menu.

4. Choose an activity.

   Activity control
   Meeting
   Visit
   Call

Result: The selected saved-task panel or follow-up action is open for the task. Accepting or declining changes the assignment response; the activity choices open the corresponding activity form.

Fix task-entry problems

Use the message on screen to choose the correction. Required-field messages appear when a required value is missing. Ownership and save messages appear when the selected action is not allowed or the save cannot complete.

Keep Due Date on or after Start Date. The form defines Start Date as the minimum for Due Date. The available values in Priority and Assign To depend on the lists shown when you open those controls.

Result: The task form is ready for a valid save, or the task owner has the information needed to complete the restricted action.

Continue after saving

After a non-closing save, continue with the saved task. The saved task is where its status, child tasks, activities, comments, attachments, and modification history can be continued.

Prerequisites

• You selected Save, or you located the task from Manage tasks from My Desk.

Steps

1. Open the saved task after selecting Save.

2. Select the saved-task tab that matches the next piece of work: Sub-tasks, Activities, Comments, Attachment, or Last Modifications.

3. For broader workspace task work, open Manage tasks from My Desk.

4. For task-related activity work, open Record activities from My Desk or Create an activity.

Result: You are at the saved task or at the sibling page that owns the next follow-up job.