Adding tasks in Productive is a straightforward process that helps keep your projects organized.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to create and manage tasks efficiently!

1) Adding a New Task

+ Task

To create a new task, navigate to your project and click on the "+ Task" button in the upper right.

Title and Description

Enter a title for your task and add a description detailing what needs to be done. This description will also be the first comment on your task.

Text Formatting

Use text formatting tools (bold, italic, code, bullet list, numbered list, quotes, code snippets, links) to enhance the task description.
You can also use Productive AI (same as in Docs for text editing) to help you draft the description.

📌 Tip: Type / to open the text formatting options shortcut. The options include writing with AI, bullet and number lists, tables, code blocks, quotes, and adding images.

📌 Example: Adding tables or images to your task description.

To add a table, type / and select the table option to insert a table into your description. You can also copy and paste an existing table directly into the description field.
To add an image, Type / and select the image option to upload an image to your description.

Attachments

If the task requires additional files, click the "Add attachments" button or drag and drop files into the text input section.

📌 Note: You can add task dependencies, subtasks or to-dos after saving the task.

2) Mentions

Use the "@" symbol to mention team members, hyperlink other tasks, or link Docs.

Mentioned users will receive a notification, directing their attention to the task.

Use the All, Person, Task, and Docs tabs to quickly find what or whom you want to mention.
Note: The person, task, or Doc must be part of the project to be shown as an option.

3) Choose the Task Status

Based on the chosen task workflow, set the task status.
By default, you'll have two statuses available: Open and Closed.

4) Choose a Task List

Assign your task to a task list:

Select a task list from the dropdown menu. The list will be located within a folder (marked by the folder icon 📂).

5) Assign the Task to People

You can assign tasks to a team member directly:

Use the dropdown menu to select a single assignee.
The person you assign must be a project member.

📌 Tip: Quick Task Assignment

Within a project, assign tasks on the fly by @mentioning a team member directly in the task title, speeding up the process without entering the full task details.
Note: This is possible in the Board and List layouts only.

6) Set the Date

Set a due date, and the assignee will receive a notification 24 hours before the task is due. It will also appear in their "My overdue tasks" section. Setting a due date opens a new "Due time" dropdown.
Set a start date, making sure your task has a duration.
Set the task as a repeating task.

7) Add Initial Estimate

If tracking time on tasks is enabled, you can add the initial time-to-complete estimate in hours or minutes.
When creating a task, you'll enter an Initial estimate, which changes to "Time to complete" once the task is created.

8) Using Tags

Tags can help categorize and filter tasks:

Add Tags: Tags like "Design" or "Sprint W2" can help organize tasks.
Project-Specific: Tags are saved at the project level, meaning tags created in one project won't be available in another.

9) Using Custom Fields

Add task custom fields to your project and use them for tasks, helping you organize and categorize your tasks better.
You can create project-specific task custom fields here or use fields from your task custom field library, making them available across multiple projects as needed.