Tasks

Tasks are the unit of work in Truetask. Each task lives on a list inside a board. You can keep them simple (just a title) or fill them with structured detail — descriptions, checklists, attachments, custom fields, comments, and tracked time.

Creating a Task

Click + Add at the bottom of any list, type a title, and press Enter.

AI-assisted creation

If AI is enabled for your account, a small icon appears next to each new task. Click it to auto-generate a description, suggest a checklist breakdown, or tag the task based on its title. Configure which AI helpers run in Display Preferences → AI on the board toolbar.

Create as Draft

Below the Add Card input, a small Draft toggle (eye-slash icon) lets you create the task as a private draft. Drafts are visible only to you until you explicitly publish them — ideal for preparing a batch of tasks before a sprint, staging work-in-progress descriptions, or roughing out a plan without adding noise to the team's board.

See Draft Tasks below for the full workflow.

Opening a Task

Action	Opens…
Click a card (Kanban)	Side panel on the right
Double-click or Shift+Click	Floating, draggable window
Cmd/Ctrl+Click	Floating window at the click position
Click a row (List view)	Side panel
Shift+F on a row	Floating frame

Multi-frame mode

Enable Keep frames open in the board's Display Preferences → Behaviour to open multiple task windows at once — good for comparing two tasks side-by-side. Each frame is independently draggable and resizable.

The Task Detail View

Toolbar

At the top of the task detail, a toolbar provides quick actions:

Button	What it does
Checkbox	Mark complete (automatically moves to a done list if configured)
Favorite	Star the task — appears at the top of the Command Palette
Move	Move to another list or board
Color	Set the card's cover color
Copy link	Copy a direct URL to your clipboard
Archive	Remove from the board, preserve the data
Delete	Move to the board's trash (recoverable for a retention period)

Title

Click to edit inline. Changes save automatically when you click away or press Enter.

Description

The description field supports full Markdown:

• Bold, italic, strikethrough
• Headings, bullet and numbered lists
• inline code and fenced code blocks
• Links and inline images
• @mentions — reference a teammate and notify them
• #mentions — link to another task by typing # followed by its title

Descriptions are stored as Markdown, not HTML. The editor shows a live preview as you write.

While editing, Cmd/Ctrl + Enter saves and Esc cancels — same as the Cancel button — discarding any unsaved changes and returning to view mode.

Priority

Set a priority level — Low, Medium, High, or None. Priority can drive color, sort order in List view, and filter conditions.

Members

Click the members area to assign teammates:

• Search and toggle members on or off
• Assigned members appear as avatars on the card
• They're automatically notified and can watch the task for updates

Auto-assign

Turn on Auto-assign in Display Preferences → Behaviour to be added to every task you create.

Tags

Tags are board-scoped colored labels for categorization:

• Click the Tags area to add or remove tags
• Create new tags inline — type a name and pick a color
• Filter the whole board by tag to focus on a category
• Manage tags from the filter menu on the board toolbar

Dates

Two dates per task: Start (when work begins) and Due (the deadline). Either or both can be set.

• Overdue tasks show their due date in red on the card
• Tasks appear on the Calendar and Timeline views when dates are set
• Notifications can fire when a task becomes overdue, is due soon, or is upcoming

Checklists

Break a task into subtasks:

• Create multiple checklists per task, each with its own title
• Add items and check them off as they're completed
• Drag items to reorder within a checklist
• Drag a checklist between tasks to move it entirely
• Per-item members and due dates supported
• Progress is shown as a bar on the task card
• AI can generate a checklist from the task title when enabled

Pin to card preview

The board can hide descriptions and checklists on the card preview by default (Display Preferences → Layout) to keep cards compact. If a specific task needs its description or checklist visible regardless of that setting, click the pushpin icon in the section header (Description or Checklists) inside the task. A filled pushpin means the section is pinned and will always show on the card preview; an outlined pushpin means visibility follows the board setting.

Useful when a task carries critical context (a blocker, a deadline note, a "read me first" checklist) that the team should see at a glance without opening the task.

Attachments

Drag files onto the attachment area, or click to browse.

Preview-supported types include images, PDFs, video, and audio. Click any attachment to open the File Viewer:

• Navigate between files with ← / →
• Thumbnail strip along the bottom for multi-file tasks
• Download or open-in-new-tab from the toolbar
• Metadata (size, upload date, uploader) in the info panel

Custom Fields

Boards can define custom fields that appear on every task — text, number, date, select, multi-select, URL, or checkbox. See Custom Fields for the full guide.

Comments and Activity

Two tabs at the bottom of the task detail:

Tab	Content
Comments	Discussion thread with Markdown, @mentions, replies, and file attachments
Activity	Chronological log of every change — assignments, status transitions, field updates, etc.

Time Tracking

Start and stop a timer directly from the task toolbar, or log time manually from the activity feed. See Time Tracking for details.

Everyday Actions

Completing

Toggle the checkbox on the card or in the detail view. If the board has a done list configured, checking the box automatically moves the task there.

Moving

Method	How
Drag and drop	Between lists in Kanban view
Move button	In the task toolbar — pick a target list or board
Right-click	Context menu on any card
Bulk move	Select multiple tasks in List view, then use the bulk action bar

Copying Links

Click Copy link in the task toolbar to put a permanent URL on your clipboard. Paste it into a comment, chat, or email and anyone with access to the task can open it.

Archiving and Deleting

Action	What happens
Archive	Task disappears from the board but is kept indefinitely. Restore from the board title menu → Archive & Trash.
Delete	Task is moved to the board's Trash, where it stays for a retention period (30 days by default) before being permanently removed. Restore any time before then.

Both live in the same dialog — open it from the board title menu → Archive & Trash. It has two tabs:

• Archived — tasks you explicitly set aside. No time limit. Click Restore to bring them back.
• Trash — tasks you deleted. Each row shows the countdown to auto-purge. Click Restore to recover, or (board admins only) the red bin icon to purge immediately.

Board admins can also click Empty Trash to permanently delete everything in the Trash at once. Non-admins can restore but cannot permanently delete.

Retention is configurable

The default retention is 30 days. Site admins can change it in Settings → General → Retention. After the retention window expires, trashed tasks are permanently removed by a nightly cleanup job.

Favorites

Star a task with the Favorite button in its toolbar. Favorites appear at the top of the Command Palette (Cmd/Ctrl+K), making them instantly jumpable from anywhere.

Draft Tasks

Drafts are tasks that exist on a board but are visible only to their creator until explicitly published. Think of them as notes you're staging for later.

Why use drafts

• Prepare a batch of sprint cards and publish them all at once during planning
• Rough out a task description before sharing with the team
• Stage cards with incomplete details without cluttering the board
• Plan ahead without stealing focus from ongoing work

Creating a draft

1. Click + Add on a list to open the add-card input
2. Click the Draft toggle below the input (eye-slash icon) — it turns amber when active
3. Type the title and press Enter

The toggle resets after each submission, so your next card is published by default unless you toggle it on again.

Recognizing a draft

Draft tasks have distinct visual treatment:

View	Treatment
Kanban	Dashed amber border around the card + small "DRAFT" badge above the title
List	Amber left border + faint background tint + "DRAFT" badge next to the title
My Tasks	Same badge + border treatment (only your own drafts appear)

Publishing a draft

Open the draft's detail view — in the toolbar, an amber Publish button appears (only the draft's creator sees it). Click it to publish: the card becomes visible to all board members immediately.

Publishing does not re-trigger "Card Created" automations (the card was created earlier as a draft). Automations triggered by updates — tags, priority, movement — will fire normally once the card is published.

What's filtered

Other members' drafts are invisible to you everywhere:

• Kanban, List, Calendar, Timeline views
• Global search (Cmd/Ctrl+K)
• My Tasks page
• Board stats and counts
• Archive / Trash dialogs
• Bulk actions (bulk tag, bulk move, bulk complete, etc. never touch other members' drafts)

Editing a draft

While a task is a draft, you can edit everything — title, description, members, tags, dates, checklists, attachments, custom fields — and the changes stay private to you. This is the whole point: iterate freely before exposing the task.

Draft cards don't notify

Drafts don't trigger due date, overdue, or assignment notifications. Once published, normal notification behavior applies.

Drafts and automations

Draft cards are invisible to the automation engine. "Card Created" automations do not fire when a draft is created, and no other automations see drafts while they're in draft state. The moment a draft is published, it becomes a regular card and is visible to all update-based automation triggers.