Capture a task from anywhere

Tasks live on the Tasks tab of Notes & Tasks. The capture card sits at the top of the list: one line until you touch it, then a card with a row of chips that decide where the task lands.

Add a task

To capture one:

1. Open Notes & Tasks, then Tasks.
2. Click the title box, or press the + beside it.
3. Type the task, such as call john tmr 3pm !high.
4. Press Enter.

The empty box reads Try "call john tmr 3pm !high". Inside a project it reads Add to and the project’s name instead, because that’s where the task will land.

A toast says Task added to the project, with an Open button that takes you straight into it. The card stays open and the cursor goes back to the title, so the next task is another sentence and Enter.

Discard throws away the title and every chip. The toast that follows carries Undo. Escape folds the card and keeps what you typed.

Let the tokens file it

Four characters file the task while you type. Type one and a list opens above the box, headed Priority, Labels, Project or teammate or Assign to.

• ! picks the priority.
• # picks a label, or makes one.
• @ picks a project.
• + hands it to a teammate.

Arrow up and down move through the list, Enter or Tab takes the highlighted row, and Escape closes the list without folding the card. Typing one more character brings it back.

Dates work the same way in plain words: tmr 3pm, by fri, every 2 weeks. A recurrence shows as a line under the box, such as Repeats every 2 weeks.

Set the rest with the chips

The chip row scrolls sideways. Left to right: the project, Date, Priority, Assign, Remind, Labels and Duration. A chip you touch beats the token you typed.

Remind reads Remind · needs a date until the task has a due date. Labels reads Labels · type #name until you have at least one label. Duration offers 15m, 30m, 45m, 1h, 1h 30m and 2h.

Type an explicit clock time and a 30 minute reminder is staged for you. It’s a default, not a rule, so Clear reminders takes it off.

Photograph a page of notes

The camera button reads Photo to task. Pick or snap a picture of written or printed notes and the first line becomes the title, the rest becomes the description, and the task opens for a read-through.

Note

The photo itself is attached to the task as well, as long as it’s under 15MB. The task is still made if the attach fails, and the tab says so.

Dictate a batch

The microphone button opens voice capture. Say everything you need to get done, confirm the lines it heard, and each one is filed as its own task. A toast counts them at the end.

The microphone is hidden in browsers with no speech recognition of their own.

Reuse a template

Templates lists the ones you’ve saved, under the line Saved tasks. Picking one creates it straight away. It means it: picking a template files the task rather than filling the card in. The close button on a row deletes that template.

Browse project templates, at the foot of the same menu, is the other kind: a whole project of tasks in one go, rather than one row.

On a phone

New task in the bottom bar opens the same card as a sheet above the keyboard. Everything is there, chip row and all. Close quick add folds the sheet away and keeps your draft.

From somewhere else in the app

Press ⌘K or Ctrl+K anywhere, type the task, then pick New task. What you typed in the search box becomes the title.

The timetable’s left rail carries the same capture card, so a task can be written and dropped onto a time without leaving the planner.

FAQ

Where does a task go when I don’t pick a project?

Inbox. It’s the unfiled list every account has, and it’s the first row of the Projects list in the rail.

I typed !high and also tapped the Priority chip. Which wins?

The chip. Every explicit chip choice beats the matching typed token. The Clear row at the bottom of the chip’s menu hands the decision back to what you typed.

Does the card lose what I typed if I leave the page?

No. The draft survives a reload, and the card comes back open with it.

Can I add several tasks without reopening the card?

Yes. Adding keeps the card open and puts the cursor back in the title box.