Working With Tasks¶
In this chapter, you will be introduced to the Task Management application which allows you to manage all collaborative activities under tasks. This application is aimed at improving the way that a team focuses their efforts on a project and communicates to get work done.
In this chapter:
New Tasks Application¶
Note
At the moment of writing this documentation, tasks and new tasks applications cohabit and each of them could be used. However, the new tasks app still missing some features which exist in the tasks app.
With eXo Platform 6.1, Tasks application has been made a new skin for more confortable and user-friendly usage. Discover what’s new in Tasks application in the following sections.
My Tasks¶
TASKS tab is where you can find the tasks assigned to you and tasks where you are set as coworker.
The list of my tasks could be displayed in two views: List or Cards.
The LIST view displays in a list form the tasks I created either in a project or not, my assigned tasks and those I am set as coworker.
CARDS view of my tasks displays the same tasks in a different view. Each task is represented by a card.
Both views, i.e. list and cards display the same details:
Task’s title
Task’s ID
Task’s project if it belongs to a project, otherwise display the label ‘No project’
The avatars of participants to the project i.e. the assignee and coworkers if they exist
The number of associated labels if they exist otherwise, display the label ‘No label’
The number of comments and attachments
The task’s status in its project, otherwise display the label ‘No status’
The task’s due date if it is set, otherwise display the label ‘No due date’
When a task has many coworkers, you just need to click on the +x label over the avatar to open a drawer with the whole list of assignee and coworkers.
My projects¶
PROJECTS tab is where you can find your projects i.e. those you are the manger and those you are participant in.
With the new tasks application, projects are represented in CARDS forms.
A project’s CARD displays the following details:
The project’s name
An information icon
3 dots icon displaying the possible actions I can make on the project
The project’s description , if it exists, otherwise display ‘No description’ label
Space’s avatar and name if the project belongs to a space, otherwise, ‘No space’ label with an empty icon is displayed
The project’s managers avatars
Star button allowing to favorite a project
Clicking on the information icon flips the project’s card to display a pie chart with statistics about the project’s tasks.
Add a new project¶
A button is displayed in the top-left “Add project” which opens a drawer allowing to add a new project
A project is defined by these properties:
A title, mandatory to set
At least one Manager, set by default to the project’s creator but could be edited
At least one participant, which could be a user or a group
A description which is not mandatory
How to search for a project?¶
You can find a project through the filter field by entering a keyword contained in the project title or description.
How to access a project’s tasks?¶
To access the list of tasks in a project, just click the project title on the CARD. Two views are available for tasks : BOARD and LIST. By default, tasks are displayed in the BOARD.
How to add a new task?¶
You can add a task either in your Tasks list (i.e. under TASKS tab) or under a project in which you are already a participant or manager.
Click on “Add Task” button 
.
A drawer opens allowing you to fill in the task’s fields.
Tip
Only the title field is mandatory to save a task.
Note
The differences between a task added under TASKS tab and under a project:
In TASKS tab, the task is pre-assigned to you by default.
Within a project, the project field is pre-filled with this project.
You can edit a task by clicking on its title which opens the “Edit task” drawer.
How to search for a task?¶
Searching for a task works the same within the TASKS tab and within a project.
To quickly find a task, you can use the filter field, to filter based on the list of tasks displayed. But for more advanced cases, you can use the filter button to select multiple criteria as well as grouping and sorting options.
Finding a task using the Filter field¶
To use the first alternative .i.e. the filter field, you just need to type a keyword in the field. The returned results correspond to tasks containing the keyword in their title or description.
Finding a task using the Filter button¶
The filter button opens a drawer with more advanced criteria, grouping and sorting options.
Group and Sort tab¶
The group and sort tab allows you to group and/or sort tasks according to the selected choices.
The “Group by” option groups the resulting tasks by a common criteria such as due date, assignee, etc. It’s very useful to review the project from a certain angle.
The “Sort by” options allows to sort tasks in an order according to a criteria. For example when sorting by priority, tasks with the highest priority appear first within their group.
Note
Note that some criteria in the “Group and Sort” tab differ between project’s tasks and TASKS tab. For example, grouping the tasks of a project by project does not make sense, so that option is not offered.
Filter tab¶
The “Filter” lets you run a custom search based on multiple criteria combined with a logical “AND”.
Contains: Enter any keyword in that field to match tasks that contain these words in their title or description. It works exactly like the filter field when it is the only filled criteria.
Assignee: Lets you filter tasks assigned to a specific user. Start typing a name to trigger a list of suggested assignees among the participants of this project.
Due: Let you filter tasks based on their due date. A dropdown menu offers shortcuts : All, Overdue, Today, Tomorrow, Upcoming.
Priority: Lets you filter tasks for a given priority. A dropdown menu offers the options : All, High, Normal, Low, None.
Show completed tasks: when turned on, this option lets you display completed tasks as well as the others.
At the bottom of the drawer, three actions are available :
Confirm: Validates the criteria and applies the filters to the current board/list of tasks.
Cancel: Dismisses the drawer without applying the filters.
Reset: Clears all criteria, resetting them to their default value.
Labels tab¶
The “Labels” tab allows you to filter tasks based on their labels.
Tip
Currently, labels are combined with a logical ‘AND’ meaning the filtered list/board will contain tasks that have all the selected labels.
Mark a task as completed¶
When you are done on a task and that you want to mark it as completed, you need simply to click on the radio button near the task’s title. The task will disappear from the list/board (unless you selected “Show completed tasks” option in the filter dropdown).
How to change the status of a task?¶
To reflect the progress of a task, you can change its status. There are two ways of doing it:
Edit the task to change it and select the corresponding status in its Status field.
Drag the task and drop it to the desired status column (BOARD view) or grouping (LIST view).
Note
The drag & drop option is inly available on projects views.
Task management overview¶
To use your Tasks management application effectively, there are some terms that you should be aware of:
Projects: Containers of tasks.
Management views: Two views (Board and List) that provide you with different ways to manipulate your tasks.
Project workflow: The list of statuses that tasks in a project can take. By default, a new project will have the following workflow: To Do, In Progress, Waiting On and Done. Alternatively, you can change the project workflow later in the Board view.
To Do: tasks which will be done in the future.
In Progress: tasks being handled at that time.
Waiting on: tasks waiting a decision or a validation i.e. awaiting a third party.
Done: tasks on which work is ended.
Note
Changing the default workflow for new projects is done only by the administrator, see this section for more details.
Sub-project: A project can have any number of sub-projects and a sub-project can also have an unlimited number of smaller sub-projects. These sub-projects will inherit permission and workflow from their parent project at the creation time and you can change them later.
Space project: For each new space, a project with the same name will be automatically created when the Tasks management application is added to the space.
The Tasks management overview is divided into three main areas, including left, central and right panes.
The left pane
This pane includes three sections:
Tasks: manages tasks individually by left filters. These filters are:
Incoming: filters tasks that are not yet assigned to a project. This filter also excludes completed tasks by default, but you can change this by using the top Filter feature.
All Tasks: shows unfiltered list of all tasks assigned to the current user.
Overdue: filters tasks with a past due date.
Today: filters tasks that are due today.
Tomorrow: filters tasks that are due tomorrow.
Upcoming: filters tasks that are due in future.
Projects: manages tasks by projects. Specifically, you can manage the workflow of tasks that are assigned to a project.
Labels: manages tasks by labels. You can set any label on a task to classify it for you to manage your tasks more easily.
The central pane
This pane is used to display tasks filtered via the left pane and top Filter. In case you are in a project, a Board view is provided so that you can manage the project’s tasks more easily.
The right pane
This pane displays details of the task that is selected from the central pane where you can modify any information of the task.
Note
Inside spaces, the Tasks management overview is similar as above, but the project list is filtered to display only projects that are accessible for the members of the spaces. Besides, there will be no Incoming filter on the left menu and clicking on a label will display only the tasks with the selected labels in the spaces’ projects.
Tasks permissions
Task Management application comes with different roles and permissions allowing users to better manage their tasks and projects:
The reporter: is the task’s creator, able to add, edit and comment any of his tasks.
The project participant: he maybe the task’s assignee or coworker, able to comment, edit add and delete tasks on the project. He can not delete tasks he not the creator.
The project manager: he could be the project creator, the space manager or the platform manager (i.e the super user root or from platform/adminstrators group). Users having this role have the same permissions as a project participants and they are also able to edit the workflow, create subprojects and also delete any task in the project.
The observer: is a user who have been mentioned in the task and is not a participant, is just able to view the task.
Note
In tasks application under a space, all space members get automatically the participant role.
Managing tasks¶
This part introduces you how to:
Creating a task¶
Note
Anyone can create personal tasks. In project’s frame, managers and participants are able to create tasks under their projects.
Creating a task in eXo Platform is designed as an effortless operation, so you just need to follow one of the following ways.
Via Tasks management overview
Click any items (except Overdue) under the Tasks, Projects or Labels sections.
Enter the task title into the single line text box under the New Task button:
Hit Enter key to create this task.
Note
If you choose to create the task in a filter, it will be put into
that filter and automatically assigned to the currently logged-in user. Note that for the Upcoming filter, the due date will be the next seven days, while for the Today and Tomorrow filters, the due date will be today and tomorrow respectively.
If you choose to create the task in a project or label, it will
belong to that project or labelled to that label. Besides, by default it will not be assigned to anyone.
Via Activity stream
You can even create a task outside the Tasks Management application by using the following syntaxes on the Activity stream:
Creating a task: ++task_title.
Setting priority: !task_priority. Recognized priorities include High, Medium and Low.
Assigning: @task_assignee @task_coworker_1 @task_coworker_2
Setting due date: ^due_date. Recognized syntaxes include Today, Tomorrow, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Next Week, Next Month and dd-mon (e.g 12-apr for 12th April).
Tag: #tag. The tag will be created if it does not exist.
See this example:
Or via comment:
You will see that there are two new tasks created as below:
Note
Anyone that has access permission to a task can do anything on the task.
By default, tasks inherit permissions from the project they are in. Therefore, all members and managers of the project are able to access these tasks. In case they are not assigned to any project, only the creator, assignee and coworkers are granted the access permission.
Editing a task¶
Note
Task’s edit permission is granted to:
The task’s creator
The project manager
The space manager (for space’s tasks application)
The platform manager (super user and platform/administrators members
The project participants
The task’s assignee
The task’s assignee cowroker
After creating a task, the right pane will be opened for you to edit the task directly (if you create the new task via the overview interface) or you can choose any other task from the central pane. The details of a task are as follows:
In which:
: the name of the project that the task belongs to. In case
the task is not assigned to any project, this field says “No
Project“.Note
To select a project for a task, you must have permission on
that project. Besides, a task should belong to only one project, so you should remove the existing project from the task before adding a new one.
If you move a task to another project, its status will be set to the same one in the new project workflow (statuses must match alphabetically to be considered the same). If no status matches in the new project workflow, the status is set to the first one in the new project workflow.
: the labels that are assigned to the task.
: the title of the task which should be from 1 to 250
characters.
: the due date of the task. You can choose among 4 options,
including None, Today, Tomorrow and Next Week or specify any
other due date.
: the assignee and co-workers that are assigned to the task.
Only one assignee is accepted, while you can add multiple co-workers.
: the status of the task in the project workflow. Note that
this information is available only for the tasks that are assigned to
a specific project.
: the task description.
: the schedule of the task. If no schedule is specified,
this field says “Unscheduled“. To remove the current schedule,
hover cursor over it and select the deletion icon that appears.
: the task priority. You can choose between 4 values,
including High, Normal, Low and None.
: the Comments tab allows people to discuss about the
task, while the Changes tab shows all changes history of the
task.
: the Mark as completed feature, clicking this icon will
mark the task as completed and it will disappear from the List and
Board views unless Filter is set to show completed
tasks.Note
A formatting toolbar appears once you click in the comment composer. It allows you to change the formatting of your message, attaching images and links and preview how it will look once posted. (like what we have for the activity stream composer)
To edit the task:
Hover cursor over any information and click it that you want to edit.
Make changes on the task, then hit Enter key or just click out the edited field.
Scheduling a task¶
After creating a task or being assigned one, you can schedule it by following these steps:
- : Select the list of tasks by clicking on All Tasks.
- : Select one of the assigned/created tasks.
- : Click on Unscheduled.
Two calendars appear to select From and To dates.
After saving the selected dates, a message is displayed under the task’s description indicating the time interval chosen with a note about the schedule:
If the To date is chosen after the due date, a message appears to warn that you may miss the deadline because you planned the work too late.
If the To date is chosen before the due date, the message that appears indicates that the work is planned between the chosen dates.
Note
When the today’s date is the task’s due date, a blue exclamation mark
precedes the task’s name in the list/board view.When the task’s due date has already expired, i.e. today’s date is after the due date and the task is not yet finished, it is preceded with a red exclamation mark:
Getting permalink of a task¶
Click the link icon at the top right corner of the task pane:
You will get the permalink to share the task.
Cloning a task¶
1. Click the down arrow at the top right corner of the task pane, a drop-down menu will appear as follows:
2. Select Clone to clone the task. The cloned task will have the same name with the original task and be prefixed by “Copy of“.
Deleting a task¶
Note
You can delete a task only if you have one of these roles:
The task’s creator
The project manager or the space manager (for tasks application under a space)
The platform manager (the super userand platform/administrators members)
Select Delete from the dropdown menu:
Click OK in the confirmation message to delete the task.
Note
This action is available to the task creator and the project manager only.
Filtering tasks¶
The central pane by default will list all the tasks depending on which task filter, project or label is selected. This could be difficult for you if there are too many tasks available. The Tasks management application offers you a useful tool to narrow these tasks by specific information.
1. Click the filter icon 
at the top right corner of
the central pane.
- The Filter form will be shown on the right pane.
In which:
Contains: filters tasks that have the title or description matching the input text.
Labels: filters tasks that contain the input labels.
Due: filters tasks by due date.
Priority: filters tasks that have the selected priority.
Show completed tasks: filters tasks that are completed. Unchecking this box will show uncompleted tasks.
Note
Depending on the view you select from the left pane such as Task filters, Projects or Labels views, some of the options above may be disabled.
2. Change any information above. The central panel will reflect instantly to list only the matched tasks.
3. A Close icon 
on top-right corner of the filter panel closes
it. But the values are remembered and filter remains active.
The filter icon has two statuses:
It turns blue
when it is activated which means that the
central panel is filtered.It is grey
when it is inactive which means that the central
panel is not filtered.
Managing projects¶
This part introduces you how to:
Creating a project/sub-project¶
1. Click the plus sign icon on the Projects section, a pop-up menu will appear as below:
Alternatively, you can hover cursor over any project under the Projects section, then click the right arrow that appears:
2. Select Add Project, a pop-up form will appear for you to enter your project information.
3. Change the parent project if needed, by clicking the parent project field:
Select a project from the drop-down list:
Fill in the name and description of the project, for instance:
If you wish this project and its tasks to be displayed and synchronized in the Calendar application, check the box that says “Enable Calendar Integration“.
Note
The length of project name should be less than 100 characters.
Sub-projects DO NOT inherit the task calendar from their parent. Instead, they come with their own calendar if the Calendar integration is enabled.
Click Save to finish creating your project.
Editing a project¶
1. Hover cursor over the project that you want to edit, then click the right arrow. A dropdown menu will appear as follows:
Click Edit to view its details.
3. Change any information by clicking it, except the manager of the project that can not be modified.
Note
For a space project, by default the manager of the project and its space is the same.
Click Save button to save your changes.
Sharing a project¶
Select Share from the dropdown menu:
A pop-up will appear as below:
In which, you can choose to share your project to others via Manager and Participant permissions.
Participant permission: allows to add, edit, view and comment on tasks of the project.
Manager permission: in addition to the Participant permission, allows to edit, delete and share workflow of the project.
Click
corresponding to each permission to add more users.
Note
Space members automatically get Participant permission to space projects.
Space managers automatically get Manager permission to space projects.
In case a user has share permission on a sub-project but does not have permission on the parent, the parent is still visible in the project list on the left pane but it is impossible to see in details.
Click Close button to close the pop-up.
Changing project color¶
To easily distinguish between your projects, you can color them by a vertical bar on the left. For instance:
To do this, just simply select the desired color from the dropdown menu:
Cloning a project¶
Select Clone from the dropdown menu:
A confirmation pop-up will be displayed as follows:
Tick the checkbox that says “also clone uncompleted tasks.” if you want to clone all uncompleted tasks of the project as well.
Click Clone to finish cloning the project. The cloned project will have the same name with the original one and be prefixed by “Copy of“.
Note
A cloned project inherits the workflow, permission, description, color, due date and parent project of the original one.
Showing/Hiding a project¶
To hide a project, simply select Hide from the dropdown menu:
This project and its sub-projects will disappear from the left menu.
Note
Hiding projects is just a personal display setting, therefore it is not applied for other users.
To show hidden projects, click the plus sign icon on the Projects pane, then choose Show Hidden Projects:
You will see all hidden projects like this:
From here, you will be able to show these projects again by clicking Show from the dropdown menu:
Note
To show a hidden sub-project, you should show its parent first.
Deleting a project¶
Click Delete button from the dropdown menu:
A confirmation pop-up will appear as follows:
2. Tick the checkbox that says “also delete all sub-projects.” if you want to delete all sub-projects or untick it to move all sub-projects to the grandparent project.
Click Delete button to finish deleting this project or Cancel to skip this.
Managing labels¶
The Task Management application provides you with another tool to classify tasks on your own, which is called Labels. You will be able to personally label your tasks and this will not affect other users as well as noone can see them but you.
This part introduces you how to:
Creating a label/sub-label¶
Click the plus sign icon on the Labels section, then select Add Label:
Alternatively, you can click the right arrow corresponding to any label under the Labels section, then select Add Label:
Note
In the second way, the created label will be a sub-label under the corresponding label.
2 Fill the label name in the text box that appears, for instance:
3. Press Enter key or just click out the box, you will see the newly created label.
Editing a label¶
1. Click the arrow corresponding to the label that you want to edit, then select Edit from the dropdown menu:
A pop-up form will appear as follows:
2. Change the parent and/or name of the label. Note that the label name should be less than 100 characters.
Click Save button to save your changes or Cancel to skip this.
Showing/Hiding a label¶
To hide a label, simply select Hide from the drop-down menu:
This label and its sub-labels will disappear from the left menu.
To show hidden labels, click the plus sign icon in the Labels section, then choose Show Hidden Labels:
You will see all hidden labels like this:
From here, you will be able to show these labels again by clicking Show from the dropdown menu:
Note
To show a hidden sub-label, you should show its parent first.
Changing a label color¶
To easily distinguish between your labels, you can color them by a vertical bar on the left. For instance:
To do this, just simply select the desired color from the drop-down menu:
Deleting a label¶
Click Delete button from the drop-down menu:
A confirmation pop-up will appear as follows:
Click Delete button to finish deleting this label and its sub-labels or Cancel to skip this.
Managing views¶
eXo Platform supports two views which are:
list View¶
By default, when you access any item on the left pane, the corresponding tasks in the central pane will be displayed in a simple list like this:
In which:
The ! symbol in red indicates overdue tasks that have not been completed on time.
The ! symbol in blue indicates tasks that need to be done today.
In this view, you can do the followings:
Hover cursor over the task that you want to mark it as completed and click the tick icon that appears:
The task will disappear from the List view unless Filter is set to show completed tasks.
At the top right corner of the central pane, there are two options under the top filter that help you to sort and group tasks in categories.
You can arrange these tasks by the following options:
Created Date: sorts by the created date of tasks, with the most recent tasks on top.
Due Date: sorts by the due date of tasks, with the oldest tasks on top.
Title: sorts by the task titles in alphabetical order.
Priority: sorts by the task priority, with the highest on top.
Rank: sorts by the task rank.
In addition to sorting tasks by the above options, you can also group the tasks by:
Assignee: groups by the tasks’ assignee.
Label: groups by the tasks’ label.
Due Date: groups by the tasks’ due date.
Project: groups by projects.
Status: groups by the tasks’s status in a project.
None: ungroups tasks.
Note
Depending on the view you select from the left pane, such as Task filters, Projects or Labels views, some of the options above may be disabled.
Board view¶
This view is designed only for projects, therefore you need to go to a specific project to see this view. In this view, you can manage tasks as well as the project workflow:
In which:
Each column corresponds to a status of the project workflow.
The color of a task card depends on its priority: High - Light Red, Medium/Normal - Light Orange, Low - Light Green, None priority - Light Gray.
The number of tasks in a column is displayed next to the status name.
In addition to creating new tasks by this way, you can quickly do this via the Board view as follows:
1. Hover cursor over the last task of a column (or grouping), an editable field will appear:
2. Type the task title in this field, then press Enter key. Your new task will be created immediately in the corresponding column.
You can sort these tasks by the Due Date, Priority and Rank options as well as group them by the Assignee, Label and None options as in this view.
You can drag/drop tasks back and forth between assignees, labels and statuses.
Between statuses:
Between assignees:
Between labels:
By default, your project will have a workflow with four statuses including To Do - In Progress - Waiting On - Done and you can change it on your own.
To modify a status, double-click the status name in the Board view, and type the new name in the editable field that appears:
Press Enter key to finish updating.
To delete a status, hover cursor over the status name in the Board view, and select the delete icon that appears:
Note
All tasks assigned to the deleted status are affected to the previous status (the column on the left in the Board view).
If the status is the first of the list (the first column in the Board view), the tasks will be assigned to the next status (the next column on the right in the Board view).
The last status cannot be deleted.