Tasks and repeating work

To-dos for you and your team, on their own or about an order, quote or customer, and tasks, quotes and orders that come round again.

Tasks are to-dos for you and your team, such as "Ring to check the delivery date" or "Order more black ink". A task can stand on its own or be about an order, quote or customer. Repeats make a task, a draft quote or an order for you on a schedule, for example a school's uniform every summer.

Click Tasks in the sidebar. Everyone on your team can use tasks.

The Tasks page

Tab	What's in it
Mine	Open tasks given to you, and ones you made for nobody in particular. The number counts these.
Everyone's	Every open task, whoever it's for.
Done	Tasks that have been ticked off, the most recent first.
Repeats	Everything that repeats. See Repeats below.

Open tasks are listed by due date, soonest first, with undated ones at the end. Each one shows its due date, who it's for (or Not given to anyone) and a link to the order, quote or customer it's about. Tasks made by a repeat are marked Repeats.

Adding a task

On the Tasks page, fill in New task on the right:

Enter the Task: what needs doing.
Choose a Due date if it has one.
Under For, choose who does it. It's you to start with. Choose Nobody yet to leave it open.
Add Notes if you like, and click Add task.

Create (+) > Task, at the top of every page, takes you straight there.

A task about an order, quote or customer

Order, quote and customer pages each have a Tasks panel. Click Add a task, fill in Task, Due and For, and click Add task. The task links back to that page.

A task about an order or quote also shows in its customer's Tasks panel, so the customer's page has everything still to do for them.

Giving a task to someone

When you choose someone under For, they get a notification saying "Task for you", with the due date, what it's about and the notes. You aren't notified about tasks you give yourself. Each person chooses how they hear about this with A task is given to you, or one of yours is due. See Notifications and browser alerts.

Due dates and reminders

Once a task is past its due date, it shows Overdue, was due and the date, in magenta.

Each morning, people get a reminder for their tasks that are due that day ("Due today") or already overdue ("Overdue"). Each task gets one reminder, and another if its due date changes or it's given to someone else. Tasks given to nobody don't get reminders.

Ticking off, reopening and editing

Click the circle next to a task to mark it as done. It moves to Done, showing who did it and when.
To reopen a task, click its tick on the Done tab, or in the Tasks panel of an order or quote.
Click Edit to change the task, its due date, who it's for or the notes, then click Save. If you give it to someone else, they're notified.
Click the x to delete a task.

Your tasks on the dashboard

The number next to Tasks in the sidebar is how many tasks given to you are due today or overdue.

The dashboard's Your tasks card shows up to 8 open tasks given to you: overdue ones, ones due in the next 3 days, and ones with no due date. Click the circle to tick one off, or All tasks to open the Tasks page.

Repeats

There are three kinds of repeat:

A repeating task: a reminder that comes round again, like "Check the van insurance".
Repeat this quote: each time, a new draft quote is copied from the quote, with the prices as they are on it, and someone gets a task to check and send it.
Repeat this order: each time, a new order is made with the same products, reusing the approved designs, and someone gets a task to check it.

Each morning, ArtworkDesk makes whatever is due that day.

What you fill in

Field	What it's for
Name	For example "PE kit for September". It's shown in the list of repeats and in the tasks it makes.
Every	A number and week(s), month(s) or year(s), for example every 1 year.
First date	The date of the first one. A repeating task is due on this date. For a quote it becomes the needed-by date, and for an order the due date.
Make it this many days before	Quotes and orders only. How many days before the date the quote or order is made, so there's time to send it and make it. It's 21 to start with.
Stop after (optional)	The last date. Once the next date would be after this, the repeat stops and shows as Paused.
Task for or Who checks it	Who gets the task each time. It's you to start with.
Notes	For a repeating task, these go on each task it makes.

A repeating task

On the Tasks page, open New repeating task on the right, fill it in and click Save repeat. Each time it comes round, the task is made on its date and the person it's for is notified.

Repeating a quote

Open the quote and open Repeat this quote.
Fill in the details and click Save repeat.

Each time, a new draft quote is made the set number of days before the date, with the date as its needed-by date. The person under Who checks it gets a task to check and send it, due that day. Nothing is sent to the customer until you send the quote yourself.

Repeating an order

Open the order and open Repeat this order. You need the Orders and design permission.
Fill in the details and click Save repeat.

Each time, a new order is made the set number of days before the date, with the same products, quantities and sizes, and the date as its due date. Lines with an approved design reuse it and go straight into the production queue. Lines without one wait for artwork, and the customer isn't emailed. The person under Who checks it gets a task to check the order, due that day.

Once a quote or order repeats, its Repeat this quote or Repeat this order panel shows the schedule and the next date, with Change it to open the list of repeats. The customer's page lists their repeats under Repeats.

Changing, pausing and deleting repeats

The Repeats tab on the Tasks page lists every repeat with what it makes, the customer, the schedule and the next date. Underneath, it shows what happened last time, for example "Last: Order JOB-1042 made". If something couldn't be made, for example because the quote it copies has been deleted, the reason shows here.

Make it now makes the next one straight away and moves the schedule on to the one after.
Edit lets you change the details, including the Next date. Click Save.
To pause a repeat, click Edit, untick Repeating (untick to pause it) and click Save. It shows Paused and makes nothing until you tick it again.
The x deletes the repeat. Anything it has already made is kept.

Still need help? Email [email protected] with your business's address and what you were trying to do.