Creating and Managing Subtasks

Often, in order to accomplish a certain task, you first need to accomplish another, prerequisite task. GTG calls this prerequisite task a subtask. You can insert as many subtasks as you need for each task.

Create a New Subtask

To create a subtask for the task that is currently opened, you can perform one of the following actions:

  • Start a new line in the Task Editor window with a dash (-) and a space. Then, type the subtask's title.

  • Click the button in the Task Editor toolbar.

  • Use the Ctrl+Shift+N keyboard shortcut.

The subtask title displays with a check box and is underlined. Click the link to open the subtask in a separate Task Editor window. The parent task window closes after the subtask is opened.

When editing a subtask, you can click the Open Parent button in the Task Editor toolbar to view and edit the subtask's parent.

You can mark a subtask as complete while in the parent task by selecting the check box next to the subtask title. Finished subtasks are displayed with strikethrough text in the Task Editor.

Open Subtasks From Parent Task

You can reorganize tasks and subtasks by dragging and dropping tasks in the Task Browser to achieve the hierarchy and order that you require. Keep in mind that subtasks follow the below rules.

  • A subtask's due date can never be after its parent's due date. If a subtask's due date is changed to be a date after the parent task's due date, then the parent task's due date is updated to match the subtask.

  • Subtasks inherit start and due dates as well as any tags assigned to the parent task at the time that the subtask is created. You can individually edit these characteristics as well as make bulk updates for both tasks and subtasks.

  • When you mark a parent task as done, its subtasks will also be marked as done.

The number of subtasks that are associated with a parent task are listed next to the parent task in the Task Browser. You can also expand and collapse parent tasks to view associated subtasks in the Task Browser.

In the Task Browser, you also have the ability to add a parent task to an existing subtask by right-clicking that subtask and selecting Add a Parent task... from the context menu.

Editing, Dismissing, and Deleting Subtasks

Follow the same steps to edit, dismiss, and delete subtasks as done for parent tasks.