Overview

The Task Editor window allows new tasks to be defined or existing tasks modified. When you create a new task, the following window will be displayed. The initial/default values will be different, based on your options, the Task Calendar Properties, and the active task calendar name. This window will also be displayed when opening an existing task, allowing you to view or modify any of the task's parameters. Tabs are displayed allowing modification to the task reminder, details, file attachments, and links to other items. If any data or settings have been entered on a tab, the tab's name will be bold to indicate data is present. Tasks are displayed in the Task List and Desktop Calendar. They can also be displayed in the Calendar View when the View menu option to show tasks is enabled.

Task Information

Task Title

• This is a short title or description of the task. There is no limit to the length.
• If tasks are displayed in the Calendar View, they will be titled with the text entered here.
• This title will be displayed in the Task List and Calendar View to identify the task.

Calendar

• The task will belong to the specified calendar.
• Clicking the drop-down arrow will display a list of all task calendars.
• You can type a different calendar name to add the task to a new calendar. The calendar will be created after closing the Task Editor window.
• When opening an existing task, you can use the Calendar field to reassign the task to a different calendar.
• When reassigning an task to a different calendar, a window will be displayed asking if the default properties of the destination calendar, such as the category and reminder settings, should be applied to the task.

Category

• Tasks can be assigned to one or more categories. The Task List can display task categories in a column, and this column can be sorted or filtered.
• To assign categories, place checkmarks in the desired categories, accessed from the Category drop-down list.
• You can also create, delete, or rename categories by clicking the "..." button. This will open the Category Editor window.

Priority

• Tasks can be assigned a priority.
• To select a priority, click the drop-down arrow and pick a priority name from the list. If a priority is not desired, select "None".
• The list of defined priorities can be modified by clicking the "..." button. This will open the Priority Editor window. Up to 10 priority types can be defined.

Due Date

• This is the date that the task is due. If the task is not repeating and doesn't have a due date, you can uncheck the "Has due date" box.
• A date can be typed in or selected from a drop-down calendar. The drop-down calendar will show color-coding for each day, similar to the Month Navigation Pane. Also, you can see what activities occur on a date by hovering the cursor over the date for about a second.
• If the task repeats, this will be the next due date.

Completed

• Check this box to mark the task as being completed.
• This check box is displayed only when the task is not repeating. Repeating tasks can't be marked as completed on the Task Editor. Instead, the next due date can be modified.

Start Time

• If you'd like to set a starting time and expected duration for the task, check the "Has start time" box.
• Any time or duration value can be typed in using the keyboard. You can also select from a list of pre-defined values by clicking the drop-down button.

Repeating Tasks

• Tasks can be marked as repeating by checking the "Repeats" box and entering an interval.
• You can use repeating tasks to keep track of things that need to be done periodically, such as changing the furnace filter or replacing smoke detector batteries.
• The task can be set up to repeat any number of days, weeks, months, or years. This value will be used to calculate the next due date when an instance of a repeating task is marked as completed.

Calculate Next Date Using

• When a task is configured to repeat, you can specify whether the next due date should be calculated based on the previous completion date or the previous due date.

Toolbar Commands

A toolbar appears at the top of the Task Editor, providing a number of commands.

From left, to right, the commands are defined below:

• Save And Close - Saves the task and closes the editor window. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+S.
• Save - Saves the task but leaves the editor window open.
• Save and New Task - Saves the task and creates a new task in the same editor window. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+N.
• Delete - Deletes the task and closes the editor window. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+D.
• Print - Prints the task details. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+P.
• Email - Initiates a new email using your default email program. The body of the email is initialized from the current task. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+E.
• Defaults - Expands in to a submenu for saving the current task data as the default for new tasks belonging to the same calendar, or loading the associated task calendar's defaults, which will override the current settings.
• Previous/Next Task - Saves the current task and opens the previous or next task in the same editor window. The next or previous task is found by using the date and time of the current task and searching backward or forward in time until another task is found. The keyboards shortcut are Alt+UpArrow and Alt+DownArrow.
• Close - Closes the editor window. If there are unsaved changes, a message will appear asking if those changes should be saved first. The keyboard shortcut is Alt+F4.
• Help - Displays this documentation. The keyboard shortcut is F1.

Task Defaults

The "Task Defaults" button allows the currently specified reminder settings, as well as the details and other basic information, to be saved as the default for any new task that are created belonging to the same calendar. This is equivalent to modifying the task defaults in the Task Calendar Properties, but is a convenient shortcut. You can also load the default settings and assign them to the current task.

Details

The task details can be entered on the Details tab using a full-featured WYSIWYG editor.

• If a popup reminder is configured to show the task's details, this text will appear in the reminder window.
• If an email reminder is sent, the details will be included in the email.
• The details will also appear in the Details Pane when the task is selected, as well as the task's tooltip balloon when hovering the mouse over the task in the Calendar View.
• If the details contain links to web pages or files, those links will be clickable in the Details Pane. You can also hold the Ctrl key while clicking a link in the text editor to open the link.
• The editor also supports drag-and-drop, so you can drag files or pictures from Windows Explorer into the Details tab.

Reminder

A list of available actions is shown on the Action tab of the Task Editor window. Actions can be enable or disabled using the associated checkbox. Actions that have already been performed will be indicated with gray checkmarks.

When a reminder is enabled, additional options will be displayed to allow the reminder's settings to be viewed or modified. A task can have one or more of the following reminder types:

• Show a popup reminder
• Show a desktop alert
• Send an email reminder
• Send a text message reminder
• Call phone with voice reminder
• Run a program

Files

Any number of file can be attached to the task (as links), using the Files tab. If a popup reminder is configured to show the task details, linked filenames will appear in the reminder window. The files will also appear in the Details Pane when the task is selected. Files can be opened from the Files tab by double-clicking or using the Open command on the toolbar and right-click context menu. More information can be found here.

Links

Tasks can be linked with other tasks, events, notes, or contacts by using the Links tab. When a link is created, it becomes 2-directional, meaning a backlink to the task will be automatically added to the linked item. Linked item details will be shown on the Links tab. For example, when a task is linked to a contact, the Links tab will show the associated contact's email address and phone number. More information can be found here.

 

 

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