You may have noticed a new link in the left sidebar of your Gmail account recently. Tasks is a relatively new-from-GMail-Labs feature that pulls together Gmail and Google Calendar to help you create and manage “to do” lists.
This isn’t a tool for the true productivity wonk, but it does offer
a quick and convenient way to get a task into your calendar from email.
You can also access Tasks on your mobile phone at mail.google.com/tasks, and view multiple lists by adding a gadget for each to your personal iGoogle page.
Gmail Tasks and Task Lists
Click on the Gmail “Tasks” link and a Tasks panel pops up in the
lower right of your screen.
From here you can type in a new task, set a
due date, add notes about the task, add it to an existing list, or
create a new list of tasks.
- Reorder your tasks using the keyboard or the mouse:
- Ctrl+Up moves a task up the list.
- Ctrl+Down move it down.
- Drag and drop them using the drag handle on the left of each task.
- You can organize your tasks by indenting them too — just hit Tab to indent and Shift+Tab to un-indent.
- To view the detailed information associated with a task, click on the > symbol to the right of the task, or hit Shift+Enter.
Alternatively, you can create a task directly from any email message. In Gmail’s “More Actions” menu, click “Add To Tasks.”
Gmail Tasks and Google Calendar:
Now, here’s where Gmail Tasks gets really useful. Go into your Google Calendar,
and click the “Tasks” link on the left-hand side of the window. A new
Tasks sidebar pops up on the right, with all your tasks synced from
Gmail, and a new “Tasks” calendar will be added to your list of
calendars. Any tasks for which you have set a due date will now show up
in the “All Day” section of your Calendar. And conversely, any tasks
you add to that calendar will appear in your GMail Tasks.