Add, edit and complete a task
To add a new task, click on the New Task button, or on the + button if you are on your iPhone or iPad.This throws up a form for you to enter all the details of your new task.
There are a lot of fields on the form, because you can organize your task list in all kinds of ways. But for now, put in a title that says in a few words what you are going to do. Add a due date if there is a deadline for your task. And you're done.
The new task appears on your task list. Tap or double-click on it to pull up the edit form. Here you can make changes to what you put in before. Or add new properties to help with organising your to-do list. Update the note field to help you keep track of progress or link to relevant information on the web.
When your task is done, check its checkbox on the task list. You can choose to show completed tasks or hide them.
TaskAngel saves your information automatically. You don't have to remember to do it yourself.
Dates, reminders and repeats
If your task has a deadline, give it a due date. And a due time if necessary. Set a reminder if you want.
Many things we do don't have deadlines. For example "Buy more AA batteries". In this case, don't set a due date. If you do, it will eventually show up on your list of overdue tasks, and distract you from ones that are genuinely late.
Start dates give you another way of scheduling your tasks. You can use them to tell you when to start doing something, or even when to start thinking about doing it.
You can hide tasks with start dates in the future by unsetting 'Show Future Starts' in view settings. In this way, you can forget about a birthday until the month before, for example.
Reminders are tied only to due dates, not to start dates. TaskAngel doesn’t remind you when a start date comes around.
Any task can repeat. You can choose from a variety of repeat patterns. Tasks can be set to repeat regularly (e.g. every week), or to repeat on completion (e.g. repeat a week after I complete this task).
Priorities, stars, status and next action
Depending on how important a task is, give it a priority of Low, Medium, High, or Top. There is also a Negative priority. This is for tasks that you want to hide temporarily.
Use stars to highlight tasks on the task list. This can be another way of selecting important tasks, but you might want to use it in other ways, like "Tasks I want to talk to Derek about".
As you work through your tasks, use Status to keep track of progress. There are 10 different statuses - for example, Planning, Active, Waiting or Hold.
Next Action is a special status that you will find useful if you are using David Allen's Getting Things Done system (GTD for short). For each of your projects, think about which task you are going to do next, and give it the next action flag. It's a great cure for procrastination!
Notes and web links
Every task has a note field. It gives you another way of tracking progress or just collecting your thoughts. Notes can be formatted to make them easier to read when you're in a hurry. You can include links to web pages in your notes, then just click on the link to open the page.
The note list lets you keep notes independently of your tasks. This is useful for things that span a whole project rather than just one task.
Further reading
Are you a good project manager? Have a look at this article on how to break a project!
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