Subtasks How & When to Use

Could someone please tell me about Subtasks as far as How & When to Use Them?

Thanks in Advance

Hi @terryzx.

On a task, if you can break it down to things that's simply linear, you can use subtasks to track it and get it done quickly.

If you need to make an alert or date for each of them, using normal task will be better.

Using subtasks is simple. On a task, swipe to right-most subtask view and add them. Tap the circle to complete each. There are 2 buttons at the bottom right of subtasks. Circle one shows/hides completed subtasks. Clipboard button will add subtasks from text on clipboard (line break separates subtasks).

Thanks!

Thanks Much...that gives me an idea what to us it for

Speaking of this I would love to see a URL scheme which would allow me to add a subtask to a particular task. I am keeping an agenda task for each key person/team I work with. Would love to use LCP to quickly add an agenda item.

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I agree that would be very useful

I'll keep it on the list to consider. :slight_smile:

Hey there,

I would like to know how you use subtasks right in general.

E.g. I create a task with several subtasks, and the task has a reminder for date X. On day X I complete subtask 1 but not subtask 2 and 3. If I tap the circle of subtask 1 it shows it as completed. However, the whole Task stays as not completed (which is ok since there are two subtasks left to complete) and it will be displayed tomorrow as overdue.

Is there a possibility to have dates (deadlines / reminder dates? I don't get the difference to be honest) for the subtasks, too? What if it is intended that I finish the first subtask on day X and the other two on day Y? How could I have the whole task not displayed as unfinished after I finished my first subtask on day X?

Maybe I'm just using it wrong and it would be better to create a separate task for each subtask?

How do you guys solve this?

Thank you very much in advance for every hint / tip and sorry for my bad English.

Hi @tasksome, thanks for the feedback. With the new quick actions, you can use 'Proceed' action to keep completed subtasks on completed task and make a new task with incomplete subtasks only. By doing it, you can move on with the ones left.

Thanks!

Hi @GoodTask, thank you for your answer/help!

If I klick on "proceed", it will then enter it in the report, right?
I have tested it and it seems to work, thank you. What I don't understand yet: it opened a popup with the title of the task and a field where I can write a text or something into it. I wrote "test" in it but I don't see it anywhere in the "new" task. What's the usage of this field?

You may have added 'Proceed+' which adds other actions with Proceed action.

Proceed action itself only makes completed task with completed subtasks and make a new task with incomplete subtasks.

You may want to check below page for more details. Thanks!

https://forum.goodtaskapp.com/t/goodtask-v6-2-release-note

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I think this would go great with my suggestion of exposing task IDs – I'd proposed it for the purpose of opening the app to a particular task, but it would be useful for unambiguously specifying a task to add subtasks to as well.

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I'd love to see a feature like what Things 3 has where you could convert a Task with subtasks into a List with Tasks. It helps facilitate using subtasks, but if suddenly you find its grown into a larger thing, it makes it easy to convert it into a more traditional project structure.

Hi @buffaloseven, thanks for the feedback. You can tap 3-dot more button on top right inside a task to make a list like you're expecting it to be. Thanks!

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Oh! Great! Thanks :slight_smile:

"Proceed" is a really useful new quick action.

Just to add, on the point of being able to set deadlines and alerts for sub-tasks: a few thoughts:

  • sometimes I'll make a note of the final deadline for the main reminder in its note field, then use the deadline date to track the deadline for the next time-sensitive sub-task.
  • more and more, I'm making use of shortcodes— unique phrases or identifiers that are shared between related reminders.

To explain that second point a little further: let's say you have a reminder titled "service the car", and let's say there are two more associated tasks: research/select a service centre, and schedule an appointment. Scheduling the appointment might be simple enough, but researching a service centre might have a few of its own steps— it'd be useful to track that as its own reminder. To do this, I'd add a shortcode to the title of the main reminder, so it might look something like "STC-21: service the car". I'd then paste the same shortcode into the notes of each of the other two reminders. When I come to deal with the main task, the fact that its title begins with a shortcode lets me know that there are probably other related tasks. If I search for that shortcode, all of the appropriate tasks show up in a search list— basically an on-the-fly smartlist for all the related items.

It's a little bit of a hack, but it's been working well for me, to the extent that one of my reminders lists is now just a list of projects— reminders that depend on series of other reminders in order to be completed. The way I've described the workflow here is pretty manual, but I actually use Shortcuts and URL schemes to automate a lot of it (perhaps the subject of another post...:wink: ).

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I love the surprises in GoodTask, like the above lesson on how to convert a task with sub tasks into its own list. I come to this forum to learn from others.

My simplest use is for a camping trip, packing task has all of the items that need to be packed, camping supplies has all of the items to buy in. Tick them off and then untick them next time you go.......is there away to untick all the sub tasks in one go like a reset sub tasks ?

Hi @Themikeyd, there is no direct way to uncheck all subtasks. Maybe using templates for tasks that occur frequently could be a good way. Or keep a task and duplicate when needed.

Thanks!

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Brilliant idea thank you !