Google Tasks Gets an Upgrade

I did a happy dance last week when Google announced they were adding some additional functionality to their Tasks App. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but I am not a list maker. It’s not that I don’t make lists. I do. But I don’t use them daily to organize my time. Making lists is really more of a technique for me to brainstorm things I need to get done. Instead of using a list to organize my day, I use my calendar. If I need to do a task, like writing this blog, I block off time on my calendar to accomplish that task.

A New Feature of the Tasks App

This is why, up until now, I rarely used the Tasks App in G Suite. Before this week, the Tasks list has been just a list. You could assign a date to a specific task, but not a specific time. This meant the task would be viewed in the small space at the top of your Google calendar if you had your Task Calendar turned on. However, you could not assign a specific time of the day to work on the task. Now you can! Let me show you how.

Steps in Using the New Tasks Feature

You can get to your Tasks in your G Suite Apps such as Gmail, Drive, Slides, and Calendar. They are located in a small pane on the right-hand side of the app.

You want to click on the Tasks icon to open up the side panel to add a Tasks list.  Then click on Add a task.

This opens up the panel for you to add or edit a task.

The next step is pretty simple.

You can even set this task to repeat from this window. This would be useful if it was a task you had to do every week or month at the same time.

The only thing I have left to show you is where to find this on your calendar. You may not realize this, but you have a Tasks Calendar. You must turn it on in order for you to be able to see your tasks in your calendar.

Once the Tasks calendar is made visible, you can now see your tasks on your Google Calendar. The entries in purple are on my Tasks calendar. You can click on the small entry in your calendar to see the details of the task.

Remember, anytime you want to edit a task, hover over it and click on the pencil.

A Needed Tasks Feature

Now, I do have one more thing to ask Google. Please add the ability to designate an end time for the task. This would allow me to have the best of both worlds. I can create a list when I am brainstorming what I need to get accomplished and, at the same time, schedule my time using the Task list. I love that I can designate a time to begin the task, but I want the ability to also designate the time I should finish the task. If for some reason I am not finished with the task, I can go back into the task and edit the time and date so I can schedule another block of time to work on the task. Thanks, Google, for making my day, but I’m counting on you to finish the task!