Tasks are the individual pieces of work in a project — the things your team picks up, works on, reviews, and completes. This guide explains how to create tasks, stories, and subtasks, find and edit them, move them through review, track the time spent on them, and archive them, all from the Tasks tab of a project.

Who can create and manage tasks?

What you can do with tasks depends on the permissions your role has in Settings → Roles & Permissions, under the Tasks group:

  • Create Tasks — create tasks, stories, and subtasks
  • View Tasks — open tasks and see their details
  • View All Tasks — see every task in a project, not only the ones assigned to you
  • Edit Tasks — change a task’s details, link tasks, and upload files
  • Assign Tasks — choose who a task is assigned to
  • Change Status — move tasks from one status to another
  • Delete Tasks — archive tasks

Important: Two rules apply regardless of permissions. Only the person a task is assigned to can track time on it, and only Testers and Project Managers can move a task out of Under Review. Both are explained below.

Before you begin

Make sure you have:

  • Access to the project you want to add tasks to
  • The people who will work on the tasks added to the project team (only project team members can be assigned)
  • A Tester on the project team, if the task should be reviewed
  • Any epic or sprint you want to link the task to, already created in the project

Step 1: Open the Tasks tab

Open your project, then go to Execution → Tasks. Summary cards at the top show the project’s Total Tasks, Open Tasks, In Progress, Review Queue, Completed (with the completion percentage), and Avg Completion time in days.

Below the cards you can:

  • Search for tasks using the Search tasks… box
  • Filter by type (Task or Story), assignee, priority, status, or sprint
  • Sort the list by Due Date

Each row shows the task’s code (for example, PRJ1234-T-012), its title, the story it belongs to, and its assignee, priority, due date, and status. The ⋯ menu at the end of each row offers View Task, Generate Test Cases with AI, and Archive Task.

Step 2: Choose how to view tasks

Select View as to switch between three views:

  • List — a table of tasks
  • Board — one column per status. Drag a card to another column to change the task’s status.
  • Timeline — tasks laid out on a calendar by their dates, grouped by assignee

DeskFactor remembers the view you chose the next time you open the tab in the same browser.

Step 3: Create a task

Select New Task. The Add New Task panel opens with its fields grouped into sections. Only Title and Type are required; you can fill in everything else now or later.

Task Basics

  • Title * — 9 to 127 characters. Required.
  • Description — what the task is about, with basic formatting such as bold, italic, and lists. Up to 5,000 characters.
  • Acceptance Criteria — what must be true for the task to count as done. Up to 5,000 characters.
  • Type * — Task or Story. Defaults to Task. Stories are covered in Step 4.
  • Priority — Low, Medium, High, or Critical. Defaults to Low.

Assignment & Scheduling

  • Assigned To — the team member who will do the work. Only members of the project team are listed, and you need the Assign Tasks permission to choose someone.
  • Reviewer — the Tester who will review the work. Only Testers on the project team are listed.
  • Start Date — when work begins. It can’t be earlier than the project’s start date.
  • Due Date — becomes available once you pick a start date, and must be on or after it.

Associations

  • Epic — the epic this task belongs to
  • Sprint — the sprint the task is planned for
  • Story — the story this task is part of
  • Parent Task — makes this task a subtask of another task

Estimation, Tags, and Advanced Options

These sections start collapsed. Select a section’s name to open it.

  • Estimated Hours — how long the work should take, for example 8.5
  • Story Points — a whole number
  • Tags — up to 10 labels to help you group and find tasks
  • Custom Fields — your own name and value pairs for anything else you want to record
  • Dependencies — links to other tasks: Blocked By, Related To, or Duplicates

Select Create Task to save. A “Task created successfully” message appears, and the task is added to the list with its own code.

Tip: Press Enter to create the task, Esc to close the panel, or Shift+Enter for a new line in a text field. If you close the panel with unsaved changes, DeskFactor asks before discarding them. To add many tasks at once, use Bulk Upload on the Tasks tab to import them from a CSV or Excel file.

Step 4: Create stories and subtasks

Stories

A story groups related tasks around one larger piece of work. To create one, select New Task and change Type to Story. The panel becomes Add New Story, and fields that don’t apply to stories (Story, Parent Task, Estimated Hours, and Advanced Options) are hidden. Select Create Story to save.

To add tasks to a story, either:

  • Choose the story in the Story field when you create or edit a task, or
  • Open the story, go to its Tasks tab, and select Add Task

The story’s Tasks tab lists its tasks with their status, priority, and assignee, and shows how many are complete (for example, “2 of 5 Tasks completed”).

Note: A story’s status doesn’t change by itself when its tasks are finished. Update the story’s status when the work is complete.

Subtasks

To break a task into smaller steps, open the task, go to the Related tab, and select Create Subtask. The Add Subtask panel opens with the parent task already set. Fill it in and select Create Subtask.

You can also turn any task into a subtask by choosing a Parent Task when you create or edit it. A subtask shows its parent’s code at the top of its panel.

Step 5: Open and edit a task

Select a task in the list, or select View Task from its ⋯ menu, to open it. The top of the panel shows the task’s type, code, status, and priority, along with these buttons:

  • AI Actions — generate test cases for the task
  • Copy task link — copy a direct link to the task to share with others
  • Archive Task — see Step 9

Under the title, counters show how many comments, attachments, subtasks, linked tasks, linked bugs, and test cases the task has. The panel has four tabs:

  • Overview — the Description and Acceptance Criteria, plus recent comments and attachments. Select either field to edit it, then select Done.
  • Related — the task’s epic, story, and sprint, and its subtasks, linked tasks, linked bugs, linked test cases, and attachments
  • Comments — the task’s discussion
  • Activity — a history of every change made to the task

On the right, Task Details lets you change the Status, Priority, Assignee, Sprint, Epic, Reviewer, Story, and Parent. Below that you’ll find:

  • Dates & Effort — Start, Due, Story Pts, and Est. Hrs (select a value to change it), plus the Actual hours logged, the Remaining hours, and a Progress bar
  • Tags and Custom Fields
  • Metadata — who created the task and when

To rename a task, select its title, type the new name, and confirm with the check mark.

Important: Changes in the task panel aren’t saved until you select Save Changes at the bottom of the panel. A “Task updated successfully” message confirms the save. The only exception is Reviewer, which is saved as soon as you pick someone.

Step 6: Move a task through its workflow

Each project has its own list of statuses, typically To Do, In Progress, Ready For Review, Under Review, and Done. To change a task’s status, pick a new one in the Status field and select Save Changes, or drag the task’s card to another column in Board view.

Review is optional. A task can go straight from In Progress to Done, or it can be reviewed first:

  1. Set a reviewer. Pick a Tester in the Reviewer field. Testers can also claim tasks that need a reviewer from My Work → Available to Review. Once a reviewer is set, only a Tester or Project Manager can change it.
  2. Send it for review. Move the task to Ready For Review when the work is finished. The Tester moves it to Under Review while checking it.
  3. Approve or reopen it. If the work passes, the Tester moves the task to Done. If it doesn’t, they move it back to To Do and enter a reason for reopening (10 to 500 characters). The task returns to its assignee, and a Reopened count appears in its details.

Important: While a task is Under Review, it’s locked. Only Testers and Project Managers can change its status, and only Project Managers can edit its other fields.

Moving a task from Done back to To Do doesn’t ask for a reason.

Step 7: Link related work, add files, and comment

Link related tasks

In the Related tab, select Link Task. Choose a Relationship, search for the other task by its code or title, then select Link Task:

  • Related To — the two tasks are connected
  • Blocked By — this task is waiting on the other task
  • Duplicates — this task repeats the other task

Linked tasks are listed under Blocks, Blocked By, Related To, and Duplicates. Bugs and test cases linked to the task appear under Linked Bugs and Linked Test Cases.

Note: Blocked By is for information only. It doesn’t stop anyone from changing the task’s status.

Attach files

In the Related tab, under Attachments, select Upload, choose a file, then confirm with Upload.

Comment

In the Comments tab, type your comment (up to 2,000 characters). Type @ to mention a teammate. Press Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on a Mac) or select the send button to post it.

Step 8: Track time on a task

Time tracking is available only to the person the task is assigned to. When you open a task assigned to you, a Time Tracking bar at the top shows the time you’ve logged today, and Start Timer, Add Time, and Logs appear under Dates & Effort.

Use the timer

  • Select Start Timer. The timer keeps running in the app header while you work elsewhere in DeskFactor.
  • When you’re done, select Stop Timer and confirm with Yes, Stop Timer. A Timer Stopped message shows how much time was logged. Select OK.
  • Only one timer can run at a time. Stop the current timer before you start another.
  • After an hour, DeskFactor pauses the timer, logs the time so far, and asks Still working? Select Continue Timer to keep tracking, or Stop Timer to finish. A paused timer can be continued later with Resume Timer on the task.

Add time manually

Select Add Time and fill in the Add Time Entry form:

  • Duration * — for example 30m, 1h, 1h 30m, or 2.5h
  • Date * — any day from the task’s start date (or the project’s start date, if the task has none) up to today
  • Work Notes — what you worked on. Optional, up to 1,000 characters.

Select Add Time Entry to save. A “Hours added successfully” message confirms it.

Important: One entry can be at most 24 hours, and you can log at most 24 hours per day in total across all your projects.

Review logged time

Select Logs to see every time entry and the total time logged on the task. The Actual, Remaining, and Progress values under Dates & Effort update as time is logged.

Step 9: Archive a task

When a task is no longer needed, select Archive Task from its ⋯ menu in the list, or the archive icon at the top of the task panel, then confirm. The task is removed from active views but stays in the project’s history.

A task can’t be archived while:

  • A timer is running on it
  • It has subtasks
  • It’s linked to other tasks

Stop the timer, or remove the subtasks or links, then try again. A story can be archived even if it has tasks; its tasks stay in the project but are no longer part of the story.

What happens after?

  • The task appears in the project’s Tasks list, and with its epic, story, and sprint if you linked them
  • The assignee sees the task in My Work
  • The task moves through your project’s statuses as work progresses, with an optional review step
  • Comments, files, links, logged time, and every change are recorded on the task, so its full history is in one place

Common Issues

“Title must be at least 9 characters”
Task titles must be 9 to 127 characters long. Make the title more descriptive, then select Create Task again.

Due Date can’t be selected
Pick a Start Date first. The due date must be on or after the start date.

Some start dates are greyed out
A task can’t start before its project’s start date.

Assigned To can’t be changed
Your role needs the Assign Tasks permission. Ask your Organization Administrator if you should have it.

The person I want isn’t listed under Assigned To or Reviewer
Only members of the project team can be assigned, and only Testers on the team can be reviewers. Add the person to the project team first.

I can’t change the reviewer
Once a reviewer is set, only a Tester or Project Manager can change it.

The task’s fields are locked
The task is Under Review. Only Testers and Project Managers can change its status, and only Project Managers can edit its other fields.

My changes weren’t saved
Edits in the task panel are saved only when you select Save Changes. Make your changes again and select Save Changes before closing the panel.

Start Timer, Add Time, or Logs is missing
Time tracking is available only to the task’s assignee.

Start Timer is greyed out
A timer is already running on another task or bug. Stop it first.

“You can’t log more than 24 hours on …”
You’ve reached the 24-hour daily limit for that date, which counts time across all your projects. Check the date you picked and the time you’ve already logged that day.

The date I need isn’t available in Add Time
Time can be logged from the task’s start date (or the project’s start date, if the task has none) up to today. Future dates can’t be selected.

A task can’t be archived
Stop any running timer, and remove the task’s subtasks and linked tasks, then try again.

A new task doesn’t appear in the list
Clear the search box and filters, then refresh the page.

Expected Result

  • The task, story, or subtask exists in the project with its title, type, priority, and code
  • Its assignee, reviewer, dates, epic, sprint, story, estimates, and tags are saved and shown when you reopen it
  • The task moves through the project’s statuses, including review when needed
  • Logged time, comments, files, and links are recorded on the task

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