Tasks¶

This page is for everyone at the firm with work to keep track of: attorneys, paralegals and office staff. It covers how to add tasks, find them, change them one at a time or several at once, and attach a checklist. If you are new to Kosmos, read Getting started first.

What a task is¶

A task is one thing to do, assigned to one user. It has a description, an importance, a status and, usually, a due date. Most tasks belong to a matter. A task with no matter is shown as Admin: use it for office work that is not for a client. Tasks appear in four places:

• Tasks in the sidebar: the firm's list, across all matters.
• A matter's Tasks tab: the tasks on that matter.
• A matter's Overview: every task on the matter that is not Complete, earliest due date first.
• The daily digest email. See The daily digest.

The tasks list¶

Click Tasks in the sidebar. The first time, the list opens on your own tasks that are not Complete and are due today or earlier. After that it keeps your filters and sort order until you change them or sign out. It shows 20 tasks to a page, with the page controls under the list. Overdue tasks are highlighted and completed tasks are struck through.

Click the sort button beside Matter, Description, Status, User or Due to sort by that column, and click it again to reverse the order. The flag button does the same for importance. The list starts sorted by Due: earliest first, then highest importance, with undated tasks last. Sorted by Status, the statuses run in alphabetical order. Sorted any other way, tasks are grouped by status first (Pending, On hold, In progress, Complete) and sorted inside each group.

A matter's Tasks tab has the same columns and controls. It starts on everyone's tasks that are not Complete, with no date limit. Each matter's tab keeps its own filters.

The board¶

On the Tasks page, the two buttons at the right end of the toolbar switch between the list and a board. The board has a column for each status (Pending, In progress, Complete, On hold) with a count of its tasks. It always shows all four statuses. Your other filters still apply. A column shows 20 cards until you click the button under it ("Show 12 more", for example).

• Click a card to open Edit Task. Drag it to another column to change its status.
• Drag a card up or down inside a column to put the column in your own order. This is the only place tasks can be ordered by hand.
• Hold Shift and click cards to select them. Drag one and the rest follow.

Add a task¶

Type it in the quick-add box¶

On the Tasks page, in the list, the box at the left of the toolbar reads Matter - Description.

1. Type the start of the matter name, a dash, and the task, for example "Rivera - Call the adjuster". Type "Admin - Order toner" for a task with no matter.
2. Press Enter.

The task appears at the top of the list, highlighted. It is Pending, due today, of Normal importance, and assigned to the user whose chip is selected (to you, if All is selected). Kosmos matches what you typed against the words in the names of Pending and Open matters. If it matches none, or more than one, the task is filed under Admin and a message says so. With no dash, the task goes on the same matter as your previous quick task.

On a matter's Tasks tab the box reads + Quick Task: everything you type is the description, and the task goes on that matter.

In both boxes the task must be 4 to 200 characters long, not counting the matter name and the dash. Outside those limits nothing is added, your text stays in the box, and a message says why, for example "A task description needs 4 or more characters. This one has 3. Add to it and press Enter again." or "A task description is limited to 200 characters. This one has 212. Shorten it and press Enter again."

Good to know:

• Without AI entry, the first dash in the line always ends the matter name. "Follow-up with client" is read as a matter called "Follow" and filed under Admin with a warning. Leave dashes out of the task.

Use the full form¶

1. Open Add Task. On a matter, click the plus button on the Tasks tab or beside Tasks on the Overview. On the board, click the plus button at the top of a column. Anywhere else, press Space, then n, and choose Task (see Keyboard shortcuts).
2. Choose the Matter and type the Task.
3. Check User, Importance and Date due, and click Submit.

The form closes and the new task is at the top of the list.

Good to know:

• A task added from the plus button on a board column starts with that column's status in Status. Choose another status there and the task is saved with the one you chose.

Change a task¶

• Edit it. Click the description. Edit Task has the same fields as Add Task. Click Submit. On a matter's Tasks tab the matter cannot be changed: to move a task to another matter, edit it on the Tasks page.
• Change one thing. In the list, click the importance icon, the status, the user or the due date and pick the new value.
• Complete it. Set the status to Complete. Kosmos records today as the date completed, and the task leaves the list, which hides completed tasks until you tick Complete in Filter. Setting any other status reopens the task and clears the date completed.
• Delete it. Open Edit Task, click Delete and confirm. The task's notes and checklist are deleted with it. There is no undo.

To keep notes on a task, click the note icon after its description. Click + Note, fill in Date, Time and Details (300 characters at most) and click Submit. Click a note's date to edit or delete it. The icon is highlighted when a colleague has added a note since you last looked.

Find tasks¶

Tasks have no search box, and Search in the sidebar does not look at tasks. Use the three filters in the toolbar. The date button shows the current choice. Click it and pick another.

The user chips beside it filter by person. Click All for everyone's tasks, or a chip (a user's initials) for one person's. On the Tasks page, [ and ] step to the previous and next user. In a firm of up to five users, everyone has a chip. In a larger firm, click the chip with three dots: click a name to filter by that user, or the pin beside it to keep that user as a chip. You can pin five, and the same chips appear on the Activity tabs.

Filter opens Filter Tasks for everything else. Click Apply to use it. Restore Defaults returns to your own open tasks due today or earlier. (On a matter's Tasks tab, Restore Defaults returns that tab to everyone's tasks that are not Complete, with no date limit.)

Change several at once¶

1. Click the box at the left of each task. The box in the column heading selects every task on the page. On the board, hold Shift and click.
2. Choose an action from the toolbar, which now shows the number selected.

The tasks change and the selection is cleared. To clear it yourself, click the number. Until then the selection survives paging and filter changes, so it can include tasks you no longer see. Check the number before you delete.

Checklists¶

A checklist is a list of steps attached to one task, copied from a checklist template. A task has at most one. Templates are kept under Settings → Checklists, which every user can open (see Settings). To make one:

1. Click the plus button at the right of the toolbar. Enter a Name and click Submit. Edit Checklist Template opens.
2. Under Items, type a step in Add item... and click the plus button. The button beside it adds the text as a section heading. Drag an item by its handle to reorder it, and use the arrows to indent it.
3. Click Submit.

To attach one, click the checklist icon after a task's description. In Attach Checklist, type in Search checklists... and click the template. (The plus button at the top makes a new template instead.) The checklist opens. Click the box beside a step to tick it. The buttons at the top reload the steps from the template (every tick is lost), edit the template, and remove the checklist from the task.

Good to know:

• A task cannot be made Complete while its checklist has unticked steps. Kosmos says "Please complete all checklist items before marking this task as done." When Bulk Update Tasks sets several tasks to Complete, it leaves such a task unchanged and reports the number, for example "2 task(s) skipped. Complete their checklists first."
• Changing or deleting a template leaves attached checklists as they are.

The daily digest¶

The digest is one email a day. Switch it on under Settings → Notifications (see Make it yours). Under Overdue, Today and Next 3 Days it lists every task you can see that is not Complete, not only your own, each with the assigned user's initials and the matter.

Who sees which tasks¶

A task follows its matter. If you can see every matter, the Tasks page shows you every task in the firm. It opens on your own tasks only because your chip is selected. Anyone who can see a task can edit, reassign, complete or delete it.

If your administrator has limited you to assigned matters (see Who can see a matter), you see the tasks on your matters and the Admin tasks, and no others: in the list, on the board and in your digest. The matter lists in Add Task, Filter Tasks and Bulk Update Tasks show only your matters, and the quick-add box matches only their names. The other matters stay closed to you: their Tasks tab and Overview show "You don't have permission to access this page."