Tasks and projects in Eklo: list, board, stages and subtasks

Eklo Tasks is where church staff keep track of work: each project holds tasks, with assignees, due dates and subtasks, shown as a list or as a board of stages.

Open Tasks in the left rail. The sidebar has:

• My Work
  • My Tasks: everything open that's assigned to you, grouped into Overdue, Today, This week (the next six days), Later and No date. Overdue and Today start open; click a group to open or close it. The row of counts at the top jumps to each group.
  • Created by me: tasks you created, whoever they're assigned to.
  • Templates: your task templates.
• My Projects: your personal projects, projects you were added to, and your teams' projects. The number is how many tasks are still open, not counting subtasks: the same number as beside the project's name.
• Approvals: requests waiting on you. See Approvals.

The number on Tasks in the rail, or in the bar along the bottom on a phone, is how many approvals are waiting on you.

Search tasks at the top of the sidebar finds tasks by their title or description. From inside a project it looks in that project; click All projects to search everywhere.

ProjectsCopy Anchor Link

A project is either:

• Shared: belongs to a team. Everyone on the team can see it and work in it.
• Personal: yours. Other members don't see it. Workspace owners and admins can see every project, including personal ones.

Owners and admins see every project in the workspace. Members also see the projects of teams anyone can join.

Create a projectCopy Anchor Link

On a team's page, open the Projects tab and click New project. Give it a Name and a Color, then click Create project. This is for the team's team admins and the workspace's owners and admins.

If you have no projects yet, Tasks also shows a New project button. There you can choose Shared (pick the Team) or Personal.

Project names can be up to 120 characters, and need at least three letters or numbers.

Set up stages for the boardCopy Anchor Link

Stages are the columns of a project's board, like "Planning", "Booked" and "Done". A new project starts with three: To do, In progress and Done. To change them:

1. Open the project and click the gear icon (Project settings).
2. Under Stages, click Add stage. Name the stage and set its type: To do, In progress or Done. Use the arrows to reorder them.

Changes save as you make them. Changing a stage's type changes the status of the tasks in it, and a message says how many.

A project can have up to 50 stages, and needs at least one. Deleting a stage doesn't delete its tasks: they move to an Unstaged column on the board until you move them somewhere else. If the stage has tasks, Eklo says how many and asks first. An empty stage goes straight away, with Undo to bring it back.

Create a taskCopy Anchor Link

Press c anywhere in Eklo (outside a text box), or click New task at the top of any task list: a project, My Tasks, Created by me, a team or campus, or your direct reports. On a phone it's the + button.

1. Pick the Project. It defaults to the one you're looking at.
2. Optionally pick a template under Start from.
3. Type the Title (up to 500 characters).
4. Optionally choose the Assignee, the Priority, when it's Due (Today, This Sunday, Next week or any date) and whether it should Repeat. The assignee is you unless you pick someone who can see the project, or No one.
5. Press Enter, or click Create task. Tick Create another first to keep the window open for the next one, with the same project and assignee.

The person you assign it to gets a notification. Click Open in the message at the bottom of the screen to go to the new task.

To add several tasks quickly, click Add task at the bottom of the list, or the + at the top of a board column, type a title and press Enter. Press Esc to stop. Those tasks are assigned to you.

Work on a taskCopy Anchor Link

Click a task to open it. From there you can:

• Click the title to rename it.
• Set the Stage: the column it's in on the project's board, like "Planning" or "Pastoral review". The stage decides the status, so moving a task to a Done stage marks it done. Each move shows in the task's activity; nobody gets a notification for it.
• Set the Priority (Low, Medium, High).
• Under Assignee, click Change (or Assign someone) to choose who's doing it. A task has one assignee. Choosing someone else takes it off the previous person's My Tasks, and both of them get a notification unless they made the change. To keep someone else informed, click Loop someone in instead: they're added as a watcher and hear about new comments.
• Under Watching, click Watch (or Watching, if you already are) to see who's watching, start or stop watching yourself, or add someone. Watchers hear about new comments.
• Set a Due date.
• Set how it Repeats: every day, every week or two, every month, or under Custom… any number of days, weeks or months. See Repeating tasks.
• Click the description to write one. It saves when you click away.
• Fill in Properties, if the project uses custom fields.
• See the Linked request, if a form's workflow made the task. Its status stays current. If the request is declined, the task says Request declined at the top, so you can undo what you've done for it and close the task. See Approvals.
• Click Add subtask to break it down. The task shows how many of its subtasks are done. Subtasks can't have subtasks of their own.
• Leave a comment at the bottom. Type @, or click the @ button, to mention someone who can see the project: they start watching the task and get a notification that opens it at your comment.
• Click Add file to attach a file, up to 25 MB. Each file is checked for viruses and other harmful content before anyone can open it: until then it shows Still checking this file, usually for a few seconds (reopen the task to see it once it's ready). A file the check finds harmful shows Removed: may be harmful and can't be opened, and whoever attached it, and the church's owners and admins, get a notification.
• Click Share to post it to a channel or person. See Chat.
• Click the circle beside the title (Mark done) when it's finished: it turns green. Click it again (Reopen) to undo that.

Repeating tasksCopy Anchor Link

For work that comes round again, like printing the bulletins every week, set Repeats on the task, or Repeat in New task. A weekly task says which day it falls on, like "Every week (Sundays)", from its due date. A repeating task shows a repeat icon beside its due date in lists and on the board.

When you mark it done, Eklo adds the next one a few seconds later, due that much later, and the message says when, like "Next one due Sun, Nov 8". It counts from the due date, or from the day you mark it done if it has none. The repeat moves to the new task, so the finished one stops repeating, and its Repeats can't be changed until you reopen it. The next one has the same title, description, assignee and priority, and the same subtasks, all to do again. A subtask with a due date is due that much later too.

Changed your mind? Click Undo, or reopen the task later. If nobody has started on the next one or changed it (it and its subtasks are still to do, never edited, with no comments or files and nobody else watching, and nobody has added a subtask), it goes away with its subtasks and the repeat comes back to this task. If someone has, it stays, and keeps the repeat.

Delete a taskCopy Anchor Link

Open the task, click ⋯ (More actions) at the top, then Delete task. Deleting a task also deletes its subtasks, comments and files, and the confirmation says how many. A request linked to the task stays open.

The task leaves the list straight away. Click Undo in the message at the bottom of the screen to bring it back. The message stays for 8 seconds, and waits while you point at it or move to it with the keyboard. After that the task is gone for good.

You can delete a task you created or one assigned to you. Owners and admins, the owner of a personal project and the team's team admins can delete any task in the project. Guests can delete only tasks they created. If a subtask belongs to someone else, only those people can delete the task.

List and board viewsCopy Anchor Link

Open a project from My Projects, then switch between List and Board. Beside the project's name is how many of its tasks are open, and how many are done. Subtasks count only while Show subtasks is on.

• List: click a column heading (Task, Priority, Assignee, Due, Updated) to sort, and again to reverse or clear it. On a phone they're in the Sort row above the tasks. Updated says how long ago each task last changed, when the window is wide enough to show it. A due date reads Today, Tomorrow or "Due Apr 4" here and on the board. A late one says Overdue and how many days for its first week, like "Overdue · 3d", then the day it was due, like "Overdue · Apr 4". Click the circle at the start of a row to mark it done. It stays in the list, crossed out, while Marked done shows at the bottom of the screen; click Undo there within 8 seconds to put it back. After that it moves to Completed at the end of the list, which stays closed until you click it. A row shows its stage when it's one you named, like "Pastoral review".
• Board: drag a card between columns to change its stage, or open the task and choose its Stage, which also works on a phone and from the keyboard. Moving a card into a Done column marks the task done, and moving it out reopens it. A Done column shows the 10 tasks finished most recently; click Show more for the rest.
• Filter narrows the project by Assignee (tick Me, Unassigned or anyone with tasks there) and by Due: Overdue, Due this week (today and the six days after) or No due date. Subtasks are hidden unless you tick Show subtasks. Each filter shows under the project's name; click its × to remove it. Filters are part of the page's address, so they stay after a reload and come with a link you share.

Change several tasks at onceCopy Anchor Link

On My Tasks, click Select, then tick tasks, or tick Select all at the top of a group such as Overdue. Then:

• Mark done finishes them all.
• Reschedule moves them to Today, This Sunday or Next week, or takes their due date off.

Either way, click Undo in the message within 8 seconds to put them back. If some can't be changed, the message says why and those stay ticked so you can try again.

In Created by me and search results, Select offers Set status and Set priority instead.

Project settingsCopy Anchor Link

Open a project and click the gear icon.

Who can change them: the workspace's owners and admins, the owner of a personal project, and members of the project's team. Everyone else sees the settings but can't change them.

Changes save as you make them; each section says Saving…, then Saved.

• General: the project's name and color. An empty name isn't saved.
• Members: click Add member to add someone from outside the team. Click the × beside someone to remove them, and Undo in the message within 8 seconds if you didn't mean to. Team members already have access. Only owners and admins can add guests.
• Stages: see Set up stages.
• Custom fields: turn on workspace-wide fields for this project, or click Add field to create one just for it. Creating, changing and deleting fields is for owners and admins. See Workspace settings.

Archive a projectCopy Anchor Link

When a project is over, like Easter or VBS, archive it: open Project settings, then under Danger zone click Archive and confirm. The project leaves My Projects, and its tasks leave My Tasks and search. Nothing is deleted.

Archived projects are under Archived at the bottom of the Tasks sidebar. Open one to see its tasks, read-only: nobody can add, change, comment on or delete them until it's restored. A form workflow that would add a task to an archived project stops, and the request shows why. Click Restore to bring the project back.

Owners and admins, the owner of a personal project and the team's team admins can archive and restore a project. Members see the archived projects they could open before; owners and admins see them all. Projects can't be deleted.

Keyboard shortcutsCopy Anchor Link