Adding Tasks and Due Dates
Are you brand new to Google Tasks or perhaps you just want a refresher? Well, in this video, we're gonna look at both mobile and desktop and show you everything you need to know when it comes to using Google Tasks.
So let's get started right here within the Tasks mobile app. And you can see here when first starting Tasks, you'll have absolutely nothing here in your initial list.
In order to add a task, we want to select the plus button near the very bottom. And it's gonna open up a small dialogue so that we can start to add our first task.
Let's say I need to email Karen about oh, I don't know, about something. So I've entered in my task here.
Now what I could do is hit save immediately and add this task. Let's hit that and you can see that it is added at the top of the list, but we didn't add a due date.
Now here's the thing. We can open up this task and now start to add further details, but let me show you how you can add those details when first entering in that task.
So I'm just gonna say task number two, in this case, and instead of hitting save, I'm gonna hit these description lines here. This is gonna allow me to add a full description or add other details like don't forget to tell her about the meeting or something like that.
So I've added some details. I can add links. I can edit whatever I want here in the detail section, but I can also continue and add this next icon, which is gonna open up a calendar and allow me to add a due date.
So let's say I want to do it by next Tuesday. I'm gonna say the 11th. Now we're gonna come back to setting a time and repeating a task.
But in this case, I'm just gonna select done. There's no specific time, it's just gonna be due on that date and now I'm going to hit save.
So here you can see in our list view, we have a separation between those tasks that have an actual due date. In this case, we've just got the one and then the one that has no due date as well.
And sometimes this can be helpful because not every one of our tasks needs to have a due date so sometimes this can actually benefit your productivity, but let's say I want to go back to email Karen and add a due date and maybe some further details as well.
All I need to do is click on that task and now you can see I have access to the details area. I can now come back here and add a date and a time.
So let's say in this case, I want to make sure I do this by the end of the weekend here, I'm gonna say by the end of Saturday, and in this case, what I can do is select a particular time.
Now this can be important because Google Tasks integrates directly with your Google calendar so you can have all of your tasks here that have a due date or a due date and time have it appear on your Google calendar as well.
So I'm gonna say 10:30 AM and I'm gonna say okay, I'm brought back to this calendar screen here in case I want to make this a recurring event, but we're gonna come back to that in just a moment.
So I'm gonna say done in this case, there you can see the date and time, and now I don't have to hit save or anything like that, all I can do is go back to my list and now you can see I've got this little time icon which is beside it as well.
Let's add one more task here without a due date. I'm just gonna call it task number three in this case and I'm gonna hit save just so we can see that separation again because what I want to show you is how you can reorder.
Sorting Tasks by Due Date or Custom Order
Or view your tasks in a different order. So in the bottom right-hand corner, we can see these three little dots.
And the first option here we have is to sort our list in two different ways. By default, it's gonna sort by due date.
And that makes a lot of sense when you're managing a to-do list. But if I click on this, you can see that I can also choose my own order in this case, I'm gonna select my own order.
And what it's done now, it's actually just entered it in from the most recent first to the least recent at the bottom. You'll remember that email.
Karen was the first one, task two and task three is what I entered in later. But let's say that I want task number two to be at the forefront.
If I click and hold, if I'm just holding down with my thumb or with my finger, I can drag it to a new position. Even though that's not due next, it's actually due next week, I can put it at the forefront if I want.
So again, you can move any of your tasks around in the order that you like, but we can switch. We can go back to those three dots and say actually, on second thought, let's go back to date.
Now if I go back and switch again, what tasks will do is that it should return it to the order you last had previously. So it should remember your order, but keep in mind, if you're adding new tasks along the way, it's not gonna look quite that distinct.
Let's go back to the date order and the other thing I want to show you here in this menu is that you can rename your list as well. Here you can see that I've listed it as Scott's list.
What if I want to call this something more like maybe my work list or my business list, for example, so I can do that. I can rename it whatever I want.
And the reason why that's important is that we can be managing more than just one list. Let's go over to the bottom left-hand side of our screen, the little hamburger or sandwich menu here and here you can see we've got the work list listed.
That's what we're working in right now, but I can create a new list. So in this case, I'm gonna say that I want to create something that's maybe a personal list.
These are the things that I'm gonna be working on outside of work. I'm gonna hit done.
And you can see I'm brought to a new list, which is completely fresh. Same functionality is what we saw in the previous list.
So here, I'm just gonna say that this is a family task. Maybe it's a family-related task and I'm going to hit save.
So there I've got one task in my personal list. If I come down to the left-hand side, I can toggle and switch between these two lists.
I can view my work list and I can view my personal list. Now it's important to know is that you cannot have a task that is listed in more than one list.
It is a one-to-one relationship. So I can't have this family task be displayed nor can I see all of my tasks at once.
Now, some of you may think that this is a drawback that I can't just see a master list of all of my tasks. However, I would argue that in some cases, this is a benefit.
Let's just take a look at the example I have here. Things that are relating to work versus things that are relating to my family or things outside of work.
What can be so confusing and distracting is if you have all of these things listed in the same place because usually one of them is winning out or vying for your attention more than anything else.
But let me show you how this can work together. Let's say this task number three here is actually something that was meant for my personal list, but I created it here within my work list.
All I need to do is click on that task where I can see the further details and you can see near the top, we actually have a little blue dropdown.
It's in my work list at the moment, but I can come up here and say move it to my personal list. So now this task is within my personal list.
If I come back out, I am still in my work list because that's where I was before I selected that task, but if we switched to my personal list, now you can see that task three resides there.
So you can easily and quickly move your tasks back and forth between these lists. Let's go back to the work list for just an example and let's take a look at some of the other things that we can do within a task.
Creating Repeating Tasks
So for example, I'm gonna open up task number two and let's talk about repeating or a recurring task. So in this case, if we need to edit the due date at any time, we just click on the date itself and it's gonna open up this calendar view.
So in this case, let's say that this is a task that I want to occur on a regular basis. It's something that I want to have happen maybe every day at a certain time.
So I'm gonna say I want it to start… I'm gonna change the date to the Monday. And I'm gonna say I want this to happen every day at let's say 2:00 PM in the afternoon.
So I've got my due date, I've got my due time. It's actually not repeating yet. For that, we need to select this repeat option down below.
And so here we can choose from a few different options here. I said I want it to happen every day so I'm gonna select this dropdown and say every day.
I want it to start on May 10th and yes, I want it to happen at 2:00 PM. So I am going to hit done at this time.
So now we have our repeat on here. Now if I go back to my master list, we can see we now have another icon.
We've got that repeat icon, those two little arrows showing me that it is a recurring task. So this is something that's gonna be very helpful.
Now, one thing to note is that as we check off this particular task, it actually is not going to appear again until the next time that it needs to be repeated, but let's talk about checking things off.
I'm gonna add another task here as well. Let's just keep with our number system task four and maybe task five in this case.
Completing and Reviving Tasks
So we've got a few more tasks here. So once you've completed a particular item, all you need to do is either check off the little circle to the left of it.
Here you can see one completed, I can undo it if I need to. And where that task goes is to the very bottom of the list under this completed section.
Let me check off task number four as well. So now I can see that I have two in parentheses that are completed.
Now, if I want to see specifically what those tasks are, I can just choose the little dropdown arrow here and it can show those tasks that are crossed out.
I can even click on them if I want to go into and review the detail. I haven't revived it yet.
At the very bottom, I can choose to mark it as uncompleted, but at this case, maybe I just wanted to review that task. Now at any time if I want to, I can come down here and I can say, you know what?
I prematurely completed this task so let's say mark it uncomplete. And now what we'll see is that task four is now in the upper portion again so we have that task ready and available for us to do.
Now at any time if you want to get rid of all of the tasks in this completed section, you could either do it one by one, but I would recommend you come back down to these three little dots in the bottom right-hand corner.
Here, we have a choice to delete all completed tasks. So in my example, I only have one, but you may have a dozen or many, many more.
If you never want to see them again, all you need to do is say delete all completed tasks. You will get a warning saying if you want to delete it permanently, I'm gonna say yes, and now you can see I have nothing left in my completed area.
Now, the other way in which you can complete a task is simply by swiping to the right. Here, you can see that I'm using my finger to swipe to the right and if I continue that all the way to the right, it is now brought that task down to the completed area as well.
Let's take a look at another piece of functionality here.
Adding and Managing Sub-Tasks
Which can be very, very helpful and that is using sub tasks here within Google Tasks. So I'm gonna add what I'm gonna call a master task in this case so this is the high-level task.
Maybe it's a project that's gonna take me a couple of weeks to accomplish. So let's say I'm gonna make a master task here and I'm going to hit save.
But now what I can do is I can open up this task and you can see at the very bottom, there's an area called add sub tasks because maybe there's a few different things I need to do in order to accomplish this bigger or larger master task.
So I'm gonna select sub tasks in this case and I'm just gonna say sub one. I can hit enter and add another one.
Hit sub two, in fact, you don't have to hit enter. You can just click on add sub tasks to quickly and easily add more sub tasks.
So now I've got my three sub tasks here as well. Now you'll notice at this stage, I cannot add a due date to these sub tasks, but don't worry.
We can still give them all their own unique due dates depending on where you need to accomplish them within this larger task.
So at this case, if I come back out to my master list, you can see that we have the master task and we also have our sub tasks as well.
Now, the nice thing is that if I go back to reordering, let's say if I don't want to order it by due date, I want to go by my own order, you can see that those sub tasks are actually indented which is nice and easy to see.
And if I click and drag and want to move the master task around, it will keep the sub tasks with them which really only makes sense, but I just want to make sure that you're familiar with how that works.
So if I want to drag it back to the top, those sub tasks are going to remain with it. But let's say I want to give those sub tasks their own individual due dates.
All I need to do is click on them and now you can see that they really behave and look just like any other regular task. I can come in here and I can say well, this one is gonna be due on the 11th and then sub task number two is gonna be due on the 13th.
And then sub task three is going to be due a little bit later on on the 17th or something along those lines. So here we go.
Now I've got all of them with their own unique due dates. Now that we're familiar with using Google Tasks on mobile,
Using Tasks within Google Calendar
Let's jump over to Google calendar and show you how it looks like over there. Here within my Google calendar, you can see we have that Saturday event, email Karen about something.
It's showing here on my Google calendar. To make sure that your tasks appear here also, just click the sandwich menu on the top left-hand corner and make sure that you have tasks selected so that you can see your tasks on your calendar.
So not only will you be able to view them here within Google calendar, but I can actually click and drag and move it and of course, that's going to sync directly with my Google Tasks as well.
If I click on it, I can see the details if we had added further details to this. In the bottom right-hand corner, I can mark it as complete and I can even hit the edit button and start to edit things here as well.
I can see which work list it is listed under. I can change it to an all-day task as well. So you can do all the same things or most of the same things that you would find in Google Tasks.
The other thing that is good to know that here within Google calendar, we can also add tasks directly. So you don't always have to be going back to the Tasks app itself.
In the bottom right-hand corner, if we hit this plus button, you're probably used to adding a new event or possibly a reminder here within Google calendar, but you can see just above event, we have the option to add a task.
So if I select this, I'm gonna say task in calendar just so we know which one it is. And I'm going to say that this is not gonna be an all-day event, I want it to be on the Saturday at 10:00 AM and I'm going to hit save.
So here you can see that we have the task in calendar. It's going to appear here on this date exactly where I want it, but if I go back to Google Tasks here as well under my work list, you can see there it is under tomorrow task and calendar at 10:00 AM.
So a great way to be extra efficient while working in mobile. Now let's jump over to our desktop computer.
Using Tasks on Desktop Computer
To show you where you can manage Google Tasks there. First, you're gonna want to go to Google calendar.
Why, because that's probably where you're going to be dealing with most of your task, but note you can access tasks in both Gmail and Google Drive as well. Here on the right-hand side, there is a Google side panel and you should be able to see the tasks view here.
If you don't see the Tasks icon, come all the way down to the right, and you should see a little arrow which will expand this side panel.
By selecting Google Tasks, you can see that we have the exact same menu and the exact same functionality that we had on the mobile view. So here we have the tasks that we created earlier and if we look on our calendar, we can see them listed here as well.
Make sure to remember that you have tasks visible on the Google calendar that you are using so that you can see them here right in your calendar.
But when it comes to working with your different lists, for example, you can do so right here. When it comes to editing and adding sub tasks, et cetera, you can do so as well.
The one nice advantage is that the desktop version does allow you to access some of that functionality directly. So for example, if I have over a master task and hit these three dots, I can add a sub task, indent, delete or change it to a list right here without first having to open up the task itself.
Now if you have some specific questions about how to use Google Tasks, be sure to let me know in the comments down below.
We also have a large number of Tasks experts right here in this Simpletivity community and I'm sure that they'd be happy to give you some additional answers as well.
Thank you so much for watching this video and remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.
