Notes, subtasks and dependencies
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In the task panel, Notes sits under the title. Below the property chips are the Subtasks as a checklist, with an Add subtask… line under them, the Attach action (the list of files appears with the first one; you can also paste or drop files on the panel, see Attachments), and the Comments, Activity and History tabs. The comment box stays at the bottom of the panel while Comments is shown. Activity starts with when the task was created and completed.
Write notes#
The notes field formats as you type. Start a line with - for a bullet list, 1. for a numbered list, [ ] for a checklist or # for a heading. Select text and press Ctrl+B for bold or Ctrl+K for a link (⌘ on a Mac). If two of your devices edit the same note at the same time, both sets of changes are kept.
Break a task into subtasks#
Big tasks are easier as a few small steps. To add one:
- open the task and type in Add subtask, or
- select the task in the list and press a.
Subtasks appear indented under their parent, and the parent shows your progress, like 1/3. You can nest subtasks inside subtasks.
To turn an existing task into a subtask, select it and press Tab: it moves under the task above it. Shift+Tab moves it back out. You can also pick a Parent task in the panel. Use ← and → to fold and unfold a parent's subtasks.
Completing a parent completes all its open subtasks too. When you tick off the last open subtask, OpenTodo asks whether to complete the parent as well; press Enter for yes.
Wait for another task#
Some tasks can't start until another is done: you can't book flights before the dates are confirmed. Open the task, choose Add › Blocked by (or select it in a list and press b) and pick the tasks it waits for. The list offers open tasks you can link: the task itself, tasks that already wait for it and tasks shared differently are left out, so you can't make two tasks wait for each other.
While at least one of those tasks is open, the task is blocked: its row is dimmed and shows a lock with the number it's waiting for, on boards too, and in Today it moves to a folded Blocked group at the end. As soon as the last one is completed (or deleted), the task is ready again, on every device. You can still open, edit and complete a blocked task; completing it doesn't touch the tasks it waited for. A repeating task keeps blocking until its series ends, and Blocked by says "repeats" next to it.
Blocks in the panel counts the open tasks waiting for this one; open the chip to see them and select one to open it. In a shared project, blockers are tasks of the same project, and the person a blocked task is assigned to gets a notification when it's ready to start. Filter for blocked or unblocked to list them (see Labels and filters).