Finding & sorting tasks
Your tasks in todo.vu are organised in a simple Kanban-style task dashboard, allowing for a more visual – and agile – way to manage your work and collaborate with your team.
However, as your task list grows, the conventional Kanban’s “one-size-fits-all” style can quickly become limiting, and it can become difficult to find and sort your tasks.
That’s why todo.vu was designed differently. Thanks to our unique context filter, you can easily see, track and manage every task for every client, project and more – all in the one place.
See what your team is up to at a glance and ensure no task falls through the cracks.
Find & sort tasks with todo.vu’s context filter
todo.vu’s comprehensive context filter powers an exceptionally organised, customised and interactive experience in todo.vu, no matter how many Tasks, Clients, Projects or staff(Users) you have.
And, it is exceptionally simple to use.
Just place your cursor in the search bar at the top of your workspace’s Task Dashboard view (or use our handy [Ctrl+F] keyboard shortcut from your Dashboard) and type in whatever context you wish to view all tasks for.
Your context might be a specific:
or a combination of any of these.
If you type in a specific Client, for example, todo.vu will organise your Task Dashboard to display all tasks ‘Snoozed’, ‘To do’ and ‘Done’ for that particular Client. If you type in a specific Project, you would see all tasks of all Workflow states for that specific Project, and so on.
In this way, todo.vu’s Task Dashboard becomes one simple, centralised, flexible platform for as many different dashboards as you need. Simply update the context, and you’ll see all tasks ‘Snoozed’, ‘To do’, and ‘Done’ for that specific context.
You can even search by keyword if you need; todo.vu will search Project, User and Client names as well as Task titles, descriptions and even comments to find the best results that match your query.
TIP: FAVOURITES
Save your context filter views! Simply click the star icon at the right-hand side of your the search bar after you have filtered for that view, and give that view a name. This way, you can quickly navigate to different views with a click of your mouse.
Click the star icon to search for and navigate to your favourited views.
TIP! – If you type a number into the context filter, and that number matches an existing task ID, then you will be taken directly to that task.
Find tasks by user actions
Now that you know how to filter for tasks according to a specific context, you can take the context filter function to another level of detail.
You can choose to view all tasks ‘Snoozed’, ‘To do’ and ‘Done’ for your specific context, but you can also choose to view these tasks as they relate to a specific user action.
To do this, click on ‘Everyone’ at the top left-hand side of your Task Dashboard. Then, choose the User that you would like to view all tasks related to, or select your own avatar to view your own tasks.
Once you have typed in or selected your chosen user from the pop-up window, the Task Dashboard will update to show only that user’s tasks. Then, from the drop-down list underneath your selected user’s name, you can choose to see all tasks as they relate to that team member, including:
- Tasks assigned to them
- Tasks requested by them
- Tasks followed by them.
Note that the user action filter is persistent; once you choose it, it remains fixed until you change it again. This means that if you use the context filter after the user actions filter, you will see all tasks related to this specific user and user action for that context.
To reset, change your view back to ‘Everyone’ by clicking on your selected user’s avatar (that is, their profile picture or icon) once more, and hitting the (x) on their name in the pop-up window.
TIP! If you choose to view your own tasks, you will see an additional option in this drop-down list to view your Personal tasks. The tasks you create in your Personal view will be private to you and won’t be searchable by anybody else.
Search tasks & add details on the fly
When you press the icon inside of the context filter bar, you can search for tasks:
- by client and project
- by user interaction
- by label.
Once you click on any of these options, a pop-up window will appear, where you can either select your Client, Project, User or Label — or create one.
You can always add new clients, projects and labels, and invite new staff, from within this pop-up window. If you don’t see what you’re looking for, simply add it!
Sorting tasks
You can sort tasks only from within the ‘To do’ column on your Task Dashboard, unless you are moving tasks between columns with the drag n’ drop function.
To sort tasks within the ‘To do’ column, however, it will need to be in the middle of the Task Dashboard’s three columns. If it isn’t, hover your cursor over the ‘To do’ column header until a chevron (< or > ) appears, or until your cursor is replaced with an arrow, and then select this to move your ‘To do’ column into the middle.
Now, select the ellipses on the top right of your ‘To do’ column to see the options for sorting your tasks within this column.
These are:
1. Show at the top
You can enable tasks to appear at the top of your ‘To do list’ when the tasks:
- are Urgent
- are marked as Important
- are Unread or
- have a Due Date.
Your tasks are automatically flagged as ‘Urgent’ if they are due before the next business day. Your tasks are automatically flagged as ‘Unread’ if actions have occurred on the task since the last time you logged in, such as a task has been created or commented on by a colleague or client.
You can mark tasks as ‘Important’ either by clicking on the task from the Task Dashboard and marking it as such with the edit function (which we explain below), or within the task itself next to the task number, #.
And, you can give any task a due date when you open that task, or again by clicking on the task from the Task Dashboard and changing the due date with the edit function.
However, you will only see any tasks marked as such at the top of your task listing if you choose to by selecting from the ‘Show at the top’ options from the drop-down menu.
You will notice that if you choose to enable any of these options, a handy ‘Jump to’ feature appears at the top of your ‘To do’ column, which will take you to your chosen option when selected. You will also notice that any tasks without a specific marker are now grouped under the heading ‘Everything else.’
TIP! You can move tasks between these markers with the drag n’ drop function. For example, you could drag a task into ‘Important’ from ‘Everything else’, where it will automatically assume this marker.
However, be aware of todo.vu’s hierarchy for sorting tasks. A task can only ever appear under one of the markers – Urgent, Important, Unread or Due Date – regardless of how many markers you have enabled. Though an ‘Urgent’ task will have a due date, for instance, it will be prioritised under ‘Urgent’, rather than ‘Due Date’.
2. Last modified view
Underneath the ‘Show at the top’ options for sorting your tasks within the ‘To do’ column, you will see options for sorting tasks which are not marked according to a special state; that is, ‘Everything else’.
These options are:
- Manual sort
- Last modified.
By default, Manual sort is enabled, which means that you can drag and drop tasks as you please within your ‘To do’ column. If you select ‘Last modified’, you will not be able to move tasks within this column as they will be sorted by latest activity.
The Last modified view is handy for an admin overview of what is happening across your business, as the list acts like a timeline of activity within your entire workspace. However, if you have enabled Important, Urgent or Unread options, these will still show at the top, regardless of any task activity.
3. Show task IDs
For a cleaner, clearer overview of your workflow, you can choose to disable Task IDs from appearing in your dashboard. Flip the switch again to enable.
Sort & edit tasks
To sort (or edit) a task or multiple tasks at once, simply click the avatar on the task/s you wish to update. Then, you can choose from the options that now appear in the panel just above your Task Dashboard:
- Reassign the task/s to a different user
- Mark the task/s as important
- Edit the task/s label
- Change the task/s client or project
- Change the task/s workflow state
- Change the task/s due date
- Move the task/s to the top (Tasks will move to the top of their subgrouping or marker, for instance, to the top of ‘Important’ or ‘Everything else’)
- Mark task/s as read
- Mark task/s as unread
If you choose to mark tasks as Unread or Important, or apply a Due Date, these tasks will then be sorted to show at the top of your ‘To do’ column task listing, provided you have enabled the applicable settings to show tasks marked as such at the top of your listing.
Recent tasks
You can quickly find tasks in todo.vu which you have been recently working on or interacting with.
Simply select the arrow icon at the top right corner of your Workspace. This will trigger a sidebar to the right, within which you can easily see and open tasks you have recently viewed, tracked and logged time to, edited, commented on and so on.
This Recent Tasks list is personal to your own workspace.
Bookmarked tasks
You can bookmark tasks in todo.vu so that they can be easily found at a later date.
Just click on the ribbon on the top left-hand corner of the task you would like to bookmark; your task will need to be open. The ribbon icon will turn yellow once it has been selected and thus bookmarked.
Your bookmarked tasks are listed within one place on the Task Dashboard. Click the ribbon icon on the top right-hand corner of your workspace, next to the arrow (Recent tasks) icon. A sidebar will open to the right of your workspace, where you will see a list, and can open any, of your bookmarked tasks.
The Bookmarked tasks list is personal to your own workspace, and you can remove a task’s ‘Bookmarked’ status simply by clicking one again on the ribbon within the opened task.
You should know
Your settings are unique to your Task Dashboard view, no matter how many team members use that same workspace.
However, when you sort tasks within your dashboard’s column; i.e., with the drag n’ drop function, everyone collaborating in your workspace will actually see that same sort order.
There may be variations if you and your team members have enabled different settings as to which tasks are marked as Important or Unread.