Task Panel

The Task Panel is where you work on a single task. It shows everything about the task, from its description and files to its comments, time and history, and it holds every action you can take on it.

Opening the Task Panel

Click a task almost anywhere in AbleTime to open its panel:

On the Flow Board, click a card.
On the Timeline, click the dots on a task's bar.
On the Epics tab and an Epic's page, click a task.
On the Ledger, click a dependency link. A task's Ref, and the View icon, open the task on a page of its own instead (see The task's own page, below).
In Tracking Time, click the task icon on a time entry. In the Time Entry Form, click Task info.
In the Productivity Drawer, click a task on the Timer, Project Manager or Review Drafts tab.
In Progress Reports and Delivery Reports, click a task.

The panel opened from a report, or from an archived card on the Flow Board, is read-only: you can read everything but change nothing, apart from unarchiving the task if your role allows it. The panel opened from the Time Entry Form leaves out Enter Time and Start Timer, since you are already entering time.

A blocked task's panel has a red border.

The header

The top of the panel shows the task's reference and title. When the task belongs to an Epic, the Epic's reference comes first, in the Epic's colour: EP1-AP-12. Next to the title is where the task stands: its stage when it has one, otherwise its state (Backlog, Todo, Doing, Done or Archived). The line below shows the task's category and when it was created.

On the right of the header are:

Edit, which opens the Edit Task form (see Tasks). It is not offered on a done task.
Task Actions (the three dots), the menu of everything you can do to the task.
Enter Time (the calendar), which opens the time entry form already filled in with this task's project, category and task.
Start Timer, which starts a timer on this task. It is not offered on a backlog task.
Close (X), which closes the panel.

Enter Time and Start Timer are not shown once a task is done or archived. If a timer is already running when you click Start Timer, AbleTime asks first: if it is running on another task, Switch Timer moves it to this one; if it is running on this task, Stop Timer stops it.

The info bar

Under the header, the info bar sums up the task at a glance:

Who it is assigned to, or Unassigned.
Its start and end dates, such as 5 Jan–12 Jan, when it has them.
Its priority: Critical, High, Medium or Low.
Its estimate, such as 8h est. The chip turns red once the time logged passes the estimate.
The total time logged, such as 3h 30m total. When some of that time was logged while the task was in backlog, active and backlog chips split it.

Click any time chip to open the Work Log. On a narrow screen the chips show only their numbers; hover over one to see what it is.

The three dots in the header open the Task Actions menu. It only offers what makes sense for the task as it stands:

Move to To-Do and Move to Backlog move a task between backlog and todo.
Mark as Done finishes a task in doing that has time logged against it.
Close finishes a task that has no time of its own, because the work was logged against another task (see Closing a task by another task, below).
Reopen returns a done task to doing. Owners, admins and managers can reopen.
Mark Blocked and Unblock flag a task as blocked, with a reason, and clear the flag (see Blocking a task, below).
Merge and Split Task combine two tasks or split one in two. They are offered in the panel opened from the Flow Board, Timeline, Ledger or Epics tab, on a task that is not done; splitting needs the task to have dates. See Splitting and Merging Tasks.
Promote to Epic turns a backlog task into an Epic (see Promoting a task to an Epic, below).
Remove from Flow Board takes a task that has not started off the board, clearing its dates and its dependency.
Copy Link copies a link to the task's own page.
Delete deletes a task in backlog or todo that has no time logged.
Archive takes the task out of the active views.
Unarchive brings an archived task back: to doing if it has time logged, or to todo if it has none. Owners, admins and managers can unarchive.

Mark as Done, Reopen, Unblock, Remove from Flow Board, Delete, Archive and Unarchive each ask you to confirm first. A deleted task cannot be brought back.

Description

The description shows the task's rich text, with its images, PDF links, mentions and task references. Click an image to see it full size, a PDF link to open the PDF, and a task reference to open that task.

A long description is folded to a few lines. Click the chevron at the bottom, or press D, to unfold or fold it.

Below the description, a bar shows how many related tasks, files and comments the task has, and its tags. Click a count to open or close that section; collapse closes them all. The panel remembers which sections you leave open, from task to task and from one visit to the next. Tags are shown here but edited in the Edit Task form; when a task has more than two, click + to see the rest.

Related lists the tasks this one is connected to: tasks mentioned in its description, the task it depends on, and the tasks that depend on it. Each has its own icon. Click one to open it. See Dependencies.

Files

Files lists everything attached to the task, whether it was dropped into the description or into a comment. Click an image to see it full size; any other file opens in a new tab.

Comments

The comments section has three tabs, Comments, Work Log and History. The panel opens on whichever tab you used last.

To comment, click Add comment..., write your note and click Send, or press Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on a Mac). In a comment you can:

Format text with the toolbar: bold, italic, code, headings, lists, quotes and code blocks.
Type @ to mention someone on the project. They get a notification.
Type # to reference another task. Suggestions come from every active project you can see, not only this one.
Drag or paste in images (JPEG, PNG or WebP) and PDFs. Images are compressed as they upload; a PDF can be up to 5 MB.

The task's assignee is notified of every new comment, unless they wrote it or were already mentioned in it. If you cancel a comment you have started, AbleTime asks whether to keep editing or discard it.

You can edit or delete your own comments with the pencil and bin icons. While editing, Ctrl+Enter saves and Esc cancels. A comment that records why the task was blocked is shown in red, headed Blocked by and the person's name; it loses the red once the task is unblocked.

Work Log

The Work Log lists the time logged against the task, grouped by day with the newest first. Each day shows its total, and each entry shows when it started, who logged it, its description and how long it was. Entries logged while the task was in backlog carry a Backlog tag. The overall total is at the top.

History

History lists every change made to the task, newest first and grouped by day. Each change shows when it happened and who made it. When a change came from logging time, or from another task's change rippling along a dependency chain, it says so instead. Each line names a field and the value it had before the change, so you can see what the task looked like earlier. Changes caused by a merge or split carry a chip naming the other task. Click Load more at the bottom to go further back.

When the description was edited, the change carries a description changed link. It opens a word-by-word comparison, with additions highlighted and removals struck through. Older descriptions are not kept forever; for an expired one, the comparison says so.

The rail

The rail on the right of the panel holds the task's working settings. Each change saves as soon as you make it:

Transition To moves the task between the stages of its state. It appears for backlog and doing tasks when the project has stages for that state. Choose the plain state name to take the task out of its stage. See Lanes.
Assigned To sets who owns the task.
Priority sets how urgent it is, or None.
Dependency sets the task this one waits on. It can only be changed while the task is in backlog or todo. See Dependencies.
Locked stops the task from being dragged or resized on the Timeline, and from moving when the dependency chain it belongs to shifts.

On a done or archived task, these are fixed. Click collapse at the top of the rail to hide it, and status at the end of the info bar to bring it back. On a narrow screen the rail starts hidden.

Blocking a task

When something outside the task is holding it up, mark it blocked so everyone can see:

Choose Mark Blocked in the Task Actions menu. A Mark Blocked panel takes the place of the rail.
Write the reason. You can mention people with @.
Click Block Task.

The reason is saved as a comment, and the panel's border turns red. To clear it, choose Unblock in the Task Actions menu and confirm.

Closing a task by another task

Sometimes the work for a task gets logged against a different task in the same project. The task with no time of its own can still be finished:

Choose Close in the Task Actions menu. It is offered on a backlog, todo or doing task with no time entries. A Close Task panel takes the place of the rail.
Under Closed By, choose the task that carried the work. Only tasks in the same project with time logged are listed.
Write a note saying why, and click Close Task.

The task moves to done, and your note is saved as a comment on it.

Promoting a task to an Epic

When a task turns out to be a body of work in its own right, promote it. Promote to Epic is offered on a backlog task with no time logged that is not already in an Epic, when Epics are turned on. It opens the Epic form filled in from the task's title, description and external reference. Adjust it and click Promote. The new Epic is created and the original task is deleted. See Epics.

The task's own page

A task can also be opened on a page of its own, from its Ref in the Ledger or from a link made with Copy Link. The page holds the same panel. The arrows at the top step to the previous and next task in the project, by reference, and the back arrow returns you to the Ledger, the Epic or Project Manager, depending on where you came from. Clicking a related or referenced task opens its page.

Keyboard shortcuts

D folds or unfolds a long description, when you are not typing.
Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on a Mac) sends a comment, or saves one you are editing.
Esc cancels a comment you are editing, and closes the Task Actions menu.
@ mentions someone and # references a task, in any comment.