Managing tasks

The Tasks module helps you manage your tasks so that you can work with others in your team to achieve a common goal.

The Task window

The main tasks interface is the task window, which shows all the information about a task. Users with edit rights may edit a task from the task window.

Listed below are the key task fields:

• Title - a free text field which is used to identify tasks in different views and notifications
• Task ID - a unique incremental value. Tasks may have duplicate titles, so the ID is useful for identifying specific tasks when importing or bulk updating tasks, creating dependencies and adding sub-tasks
• Status - shows the current status of the task and the drop-down menu shows available statuses. Click Add new status to create a new status option. A task becomes overdue if the due date has passed and the task is incomplete
• List - set up lists to categorise tasks for navigation and to manage task permissions 
• Priority - high, medium or low, this can be used for sorting tasks
• Start date - this is available when the timeline view is enabled, a start date can have a dependency on another task's start or due date. Reminders can be set against the start date
• Duration - this is available if Timeline View is enabled and the task has a dependency on another task. This will automatically calculate the start or due date, whichever doesn't have the dependency
• Due date - due dates are used to calculate when a task becomes overdue. It is possible to set up a task’s due date to be dependent on another task date. Reminders can be set against the task due date
• Assignees - a task may be assigned to one or more site users or to site groups. Assignees will receive notifications and reminders 
• Description - click the Edit icon to open a text box where you can enter a description of the task
• Sub-tasks - you can add up to 20 sub-tasks per task. Sub-tasks have all the same fields as a parent task
• Reminders - reminders may be used to email the assignee with a reminder to pick up the work on a date calculated from the start or the due date of a task 
• Tags - tags enable searching across all content types
• Attachments - attach files to a task
  • If a document is attached to a task, the window also includes document status
• Comments - if the Site Administrator enabled comments for the Tasks module, then the comments section will be displayed, along with any comments that have been added previously 

Use the Tasks admin page to configure the Tasks module, including views, the default appearance, lists and statuses.

Document status in the task window

If a document is attached to a task, a panel displays information about the document.

As of September 2023, key information about the document from other HighQ modules is included in the Task window for quick reference.

The attachment panel includes:

• Basic document information and a link
• Document version
• Tags to show document status

The document status tags can include:

• Document review status
• Approval status
• Signature status
• Doc Auto / Contract Express status
• AI status
• Checked in or out status

Add a task

There are a number of ways to add a new task.

From the Tasks module

You can add a task by clicking the Add button in the Tasks module.

This will open up the Add task window. A task title is needed to save the task, and you can also enter any other task details such as sub-tasks and/or attachments as needed. 

If you are adding multiple tasks at once, tick the Add another task checkbox before clicking Add. This will create the task, and open up a new task window pre-populated with the same Assignee, List and Status as the previous task, which you can edit before saving.

Once a task is created, the assignee will receive an email and a system notification.  If no task list was set when adding the task, the task will default to the list titled None.

From Card View

You can add a new task into a list directly via Card View by clicking either the Add task link at the bottom of each column or use More actions > Add task as shown in the image below. 

Add a personal task

You can create personal tasks that are only visible to you. 

Navigate to the Tasks section on the dashboard. Click the plus icon in the top right corner of the section to add a new task by entering the task title and the due date (optional). Once you hit enter, the task is created. 

Personal tasks are given a priority of Normal and a status of Not started by default. You can edit the task information by clicking the task title, which will open up the task in My tasks.

Please note that tasks created from the dashboard will not be associated with a site, and personal tasks may not be assigned to another user.

From My tasks

You can create personal tasks, or add new tasks to any site that you are a member of (depending on your permissions), by clicking Add on the My tasks page.

My site is selected as the default site, which creates a personal task that cannot be assigned to another user.

If another site is selected, the task lists from that site will be made available for selection. The task is assigned to you by default. 

Import tasks 

It is possible to import a task list to add tasks in bulk.

Using a workflow rule

Using the workflow automation engine, you can create business rules to automatically add a task. See this section for more information. 

Via the document review workflow

This is a pre-configured system workflow which enables you to assign review tasks directly from the files index.

Add files as attachments

When you upload a task, by default it is stored in the Attachments section in the Files module.

Select the Attachments tab:

Either drag the file or files to the Add task window or click Browse... to find the file on your computer.

You can access and manage the attached file directly from the task.

As of October 2023, a site admin can set where files are uploaded, either to the default Attachments section, a single folder for all attachments, or to a custom destination for each task list. 

If attachments are uploaded to a folder, then folder permissions apply, and attachments can trigger workflow rules.

Either return to the Details tab to finish creating the task or click Add to add the task.

Edit a task

Click on the title of the task you want to edit. The task window opens and you can edit the task details.

Once you have submitted the task edits, the assignee receives an email notification with a summary of the changes:

 

Each time the task is changed, an email alert is sent.

Delete a task

You can delete a task by clicking More actions > Delete in the task window. 

If a parent task is deleted, then all of its sub-tasks will also be deleted. Please note that this action is irreversible.

Sub-tasks

Sub-tasks are helpful when you need to break up a task into smaller parts and divide it up between different assignees. You can include the same types of information in a sub-task as a parent task. Each task can have a maximum of 20 sub-tasks.

 

 

Add or edit a sub-task

There are a number of ways to add or edit a sub-task:

• From the task window - Click +Add sub-task in the Sub-tasks section of a task window. Type the title of the sub-task and hit enter to add the sub-task. You can click the arrow to access and edit the sub-tasks information.

• From List View - You can add a sub-task to any task in List View by toggling open the task and clicking +Add sub-task. Hit enter to add the sub-task, and click into the title to access and edit the sub-tasks information.

• From Card View - If a task already has sub-tasks attached to it, toggle open the Sub-tasks section in a card and click +Add sub-task. Hit enter to add the sub-task, and click into the title to access and edit the sub-tasks information.

If a task doesn’t have any sub-tasks attached to it, click More Actions > Add sub-task to create a new sub-task. 

To turn off sub-tasks in a task metadata iSheet, please click here.

Track sub-tasks

You can view the number of sub-tasks in a given task from the top shortcut menu in a task window:

You can also track the number of sub-tasks that have been completed within a given task via the sub-task progress icon in List View and Card View.

Completing sub-tasks

When all sub-tasks are completed, you can choose to complete the parent task, and as of August 2023, when a task is completed, you can choose to complete all sub-tasks:

• When all sub-tasks are marked as Complete, you can choose to mark the parent task as Complete
• When the parent task is marked as Complete you can choose to mark all sub-tasks as Complete
• Also, if a sub-task is changed from Complete to In Progress, the parent task is also changed to In Progress

Task status

The default task statuses are Not Started, In Progress and Complete. It is possible to rename, reorder, colour-code and add custom statuses.

A fourth default status, Overdue, is a virtual status. A task becomes Overdue when it is not set to Complete and the due date has passed. Completed task titles are struck through and when a task is set to complete then it can no longer become Overdue.

Add a custom status

You can add custom task statuses that are colour-coded. These can be added by using the Add column button in Card View when grouped by Status.

You can also add custom task statuses in Admin > Tasks > Custom statuses:

A user can create their own custom status via the Add button and choose a name and background colour for that status from a list of predefined colours, or select their own custom background and text colour. Once a name and colour have been selected, click Add to add the new status.

Delete a custom status

To delete a custom status, click on More actions >  Edit within Admin > Tasks > Custom statuses. 

If a user attempts to delete a status that is associated with one or more tasks, the following dialogue will be displayed:

Here, you can either delete all of the associated tasks by clicking Delete All Items or you can select a new status within the New Status drop down menu and click Save to move them to the new status and to complete the delete process.

Task dependencies

When a task depends on the start or the completion of another task, you can use the Add dependency feature within the Start date and Due date fields in the task window to set this relationship.

 

 

This means that once a first task is started or completed, the assignee for a dependent task can be notified to start on their task.

A parent task can be dependent on the start or due date of any other parent task, but not a sub-task.

A sub-task can be dependent on the start or due date of its parent task, or any of the other sub-tasks it shares a parent task with, but not another parent task.

You can also set the start or due date of a task to be calculated a selected number of days before or after the reference date of a dependent task. For example, the due date for the task “Register security” can be set as 21 days after the due date of the task “Sign security agreement”.

Task lists

Users can now in-line edit status fields without viewing a task in full. This applies to the task list and the hierarchy view

Lists and sub-lists allow you to categorise tasks and sub-tasks for better project management. Lists can be used to describe the bigger workstreams, or phases, within a transaction or matter.

For example, in a litigation matter, you could set up a list for disclosure, one for witness statements, and one for expert reports. You can further break down individual lists into sub-lists to categorise the tasks within them. Within the "Witness statements" list, you can break that down and have a sub-list for "Drafting", one for "Information gathering", and one for "Interviews", and then allocate tasks within those sub-lists.

Lists and sub-lists are best viewed using the Hierarchy View, where the multi-level hierarchy is displayed in full.

All lists and sub-lists have a title and a position (with regard to other lists).

Add a list/sub-list

You can create up to five levels of lists (i.e. lists and sub-lists) and each level can have up to 20 sub-lists. 

Lists and sub-lists can be created in four ways:

1. From Tasks admin - Top-level lists can be created from Admin > Tasks > Lists. By default, there is a None list for any tasks that do not have an associated list. Type in the name of your list and hit enter to create the list.
2. From the Add task modal window  - When creating a task in the Add task modal window, if a list does not already exist, you can click Add new list and select where the new list/sub-list should be located for the new task to be added to it. 
3. From Hierarchy view - From the Add button in Hierarchy view, you can choose to add a list. An Add list modal window will open, where you can type in the list name and select its location to create a list/sub-list.
4. From Card View - When Card View > Group by: List is selected, you can click Add column to add a new top-level list. 

Once a list is created, you will be able to select it from the List field when adding or editing a task. If a top-level list is created, you will also be able to group together and view tasks belonging to this list in the different view settings.

Edit or reorder a list/sub-list

Lists can be edited or reordered via the following:

1. From Tasks admin - Top-level lists can be renamed and reordered from Admin > Tasks > Lists.
2. From Hierarchy View - You can edit a list/sub-list by clicking More Actions against the relevant list in Hierarchy View. The Edit list modal window will open, where the list name and its location can be changed.
3. From Card View - When Card View > Group by: List is selected, you can click More Actions > Rename against the relevant list title to rename it, or drag and drop a list column to reorder the lists.

Use the Tasks admin page to archive or delete lists and set list permissions.

 

Import, Export and Share tasks

Import tasks

Tasks can be imported from Excel, allowing you to quickly create or bulk update tasks.

Import tasks from Excel

If you already have a set of tasks in an Excel spreadsheet and you wish to import them into the site, first download a blank import template from the Tasks module via More actions > Export as template: 

Follow the instructions here to set out the details of your lists, sub-lists, tasks and sub-tasks in the correct format in the Excel template, then import the tasks following the steps below.

If you wish to import tasks from an existing site, you can either use the task templating method, or import tasks via Excel. To import tasks from Excel, first, export your tasks from an existing site using the Export as template function.

This will export and download the tasks to your machine. To prepare the Excel template for import into a new site, delete all the numbers in the ID column in the Excel Spreadsheet, as well as the None list:

If Timeline view is enabled within the existing site, the tasks will have both start dates and due dates. To import the dates into the new site, make sure that Enable Timeline view is selected in the Tasks admin section.

Once the Excel template is ready, in the Tasks module within the new site, click More actions > Import from Excel. The Import screen is displayed:

Browse your computer for the file to import, or drag and drop the file to the Import screen.

You may choose to import start and due dates and assignees, but assignees must first be a member of the site if this option is chosen. Click Next to import the files.

An Import screen is displayed, detailing the number of records that you will import, any new records to add, how many records to update and also any warnings or errors. Click Import to import the data.

Any custom lists and statuses will be automatically created as part of the import process if they do not already exist in that site.

 

Bulk editing tasks via Import from Excel

To bulk edit tasks using the Import from Excel function, navigate to More actions > Export as template:

This will open the tasks in the Excel template format.   

Make the changes you require in the Excel file – please follow the format documented here. Do not delete the IDs in the ID column if you are bulk editing as the system will use the ID to match the items be updated on import. Any line items without an ID will be treated as a new record on import. 

Please note that it is not possible to delete lists, sub-lists, tasks or sub-tasks using the Import from Excel method, so any deletions made in the Excel template will not be reflected on import. 

Once the changes are made, navigate to More actions > Import from Excel:

And select the file with the amendments to import. 

When tasks are updated in bulk using Import from Excel, the modified by and modified date for every task will be updated by the import. Please consider any workflow rules that may be triggered by these fields as well as any notification settings. 

Export tasks

There are 3 ways to export tasks: 

1. Export to PDF: this function is available in List view and Card view via More actions > Export to PDF. Exporting to PDF will display tasks as individual cards in the PDF, with sub-tasks displayed within them. Any filters applied to the view at the point of export will apply. 

2. Export to Excel: this function is available in all views via More actions > Export to Excel. Exporting to Excel will display tasks and sub-tasks as line items in an Excel spreadsheet. Any filters applied to the view at the point of export will apply. 

3. Export as template: this function is available in all views via More actions > Export as template. See below for more information. 

 

Export as template

The Export as template function allows you to export all lists, sub-lists, tasks and sub-tasks, including any data hidden from an applied filter, into an Excel template. This template can be used to import the tasks into a new site or bulk edit tasks in the current site. To export tasks as a template, navigate to More actions > Export as template:

The lists, sub-lists, tasks and sub-tasks will be displayed as they are shown in Hierarchy view, with outline numbers governing the hierarchy of lists and sub-lists. 

Please note that if you wish to edit tasks using the Export as template method, do not delete the IDs in the ID column as the system will use the ID to match the items be updated on import

 

The columns in the Excel template should be completed as follows (* denotes a required field): 

• Index* - this manages the hierarchy and relationship between lists, sub-lists, tasks and sub-tasks. The outline numbering system is used to specify different levels, with integers always representing lists

• Title* - this is the title of the list, sub-list, task or sub-task

• Type* - this is where you specify if the line item is a list, sub-list, tasks or sub-task

• Task description - this field is only applicable to tasks and sub-tasks. You can fill in a description of the task and include any hyperlinks if required

• Priority - this field is only applicable to tasks and sub-tasks. You can set the priority as High, Medium or Low

• Assignees - this field is only applicable to tasks and sub-tasks. Enter the email address of an assignee, or the name of a site group followed by “[Site group]”

• Status – this field is only applicable to tasks and sub-tasks. You can use the default statuses of Not started, In progress or Complete, or you can set custom statuses in the template, which will create the status when the template is used in a site

• Start date – this field is only applicable to tasks and sub-tasks. If start dates are used in the template, then Timeline view must be enabled for the start dates to be included when using the template. You can specify actual dates in the template. You can also set a task’s start date to be dependent on another task’s start or due date. To set a start date dependency, specify the Index number of the task which it is dependent on in the cell (e.g. 1.3.2)  

• Due date – this field is only applicable to tasks and sub-tasks. You can specify actual dates in the template. You can also set a task’s due date to be dependent on another task’s start or due date. To set a due date dependency, specify the Index number of the task which it is dependent on in the cell (e.g. 1.3.2)​​​​ 

• Dependent on – this field is only applicable to tasks and sub-tasks. If a dependency to another task is set in the start or due date field, you will need to specify whether it is dependent on the other task’s start date (input “startdate”) or due date (input “duedate”) 

• Days from dependent – this field is only applicable to tasks and sub-tasks. If a dependency to another task is set in the start or due date field, you can set the start or due date to be a specified number of days before or after that reference task. For example, for 5 days before the reference task, input “-5”; for 10 days after the reference task, input “10”

• IgnoreWeekend – this field is only applicable to tasks and sub-tasks. The duration calculation (see “Duration” below) can be set to ignore weekends (input “Yes”) or not (input “No”)

• Duration - this field is only applicable to tasks and sub-tasks. If a dependency to another task is set in the start or due date field, you can specify the duration of the task for the system to calculate the corresponding start or due date. Input whole numbers for the duration of the task

• ID – this is a system-generated field. Do not delete the ID if you wish to edit the template as the system will use the ID to locate the list/sub-list/task/sub-task to be updated on import

Share tasks

You can share your tasks the same way you would as if you were in Card view or List view. Navigate to More actions > Share:

The Share screen is displayed:

From this screen, you can share via Email, Link, Message and Microblog. Enter the recipients and the optional message and click Send. 

Printing and Print preview

You can print an individual task. Navigate to print preview by clicking More actions > Print preview in the task window:

You can print the individual task from the print preview:

You can also print all of the tasks shown in Card View or List View by clicking More actions > Print preview. This prints tasks shown with the selected filters or grouping. 

As of November 2023, links in the print preview open the original URL defined in the task.