Task Solutions | Product Support

You can download Checklist from the Task Solutions website at: http://www.tasksolutions.com/Downloads.html. Once you have downloaded the installation file to your hard disk, simply run the file to enter the setup wizard. Once setup is complete you will have 15 days to evaluate the software, after which you must purchase the software and enter a registration code.

Registration

You can purchase the software from: http://www.tasksolutions.com/Purchase.html. When you purchase the software, a registration code is emailed to you that will allow you to unlock the 15 day trial period. We are partnered with a secure 3rd Party e-commerce solution called Plimus who does our e-commerce and registration. When you first complete the installation of our software you are presented with a dialog that asks if you wish to "Try it", "Buy it" or "Enter Registration Code".

Try it can be used only during your initial 15-day trial period so that you can try out the software.
Buy it will open a web browser to our purchase page and allow you to buy our software.
Enter Registration Code allows you to enter in the registration code that was emailed to you when you purchased the software. It is recommended that you cut and paste the code from your email to the registration dialog to minimize any chance of mis-typing it.

Upgrades

Checklist upgrades are free of charge. To upgrade the software, download the latest installation and run it. You will not have to re-enter your registration information but in most cases Checklist will require you to uninstall your previous version before upgrading to the new one.

Checklist Files

You can organize your task lists into separate files. Checklist files can be created, opened and saved using standard Windows menu commands. When moving between several Checklist files, it is helpful to use the most recently used files list in the File menu.

It is important to note that whenever you exit the program or open a new file, your current file is automatically saved. When the program is restarted, it will automatically find and run the last Checklist file that was previously loaded.

Active and Archive Lists

When using Checklist, you will no doubt create multiple task list items and, over time, complete them. In order to keep these completed tasks from cluttering up your running list, task column headings are neatly positioned on top of the task display list. The Active or "to do list" section is the working area where you will insert, edit and ultimately check off your task items. After a task and all of its related sub-tasks (ie: a task tree) is completed, it can be moved from the Active list to the Archive list section. In the "Archive" section, all task trees are sorted by their completion date and are separated into groups based on their completion day. The Archive serves as an effective daily work log of completed tasks. To toggle between the Active and Archive lists, simply use the drop down selector located in the Checklist taskbar. In order to move completed tasks from the Active list to the Archive, you must invoke the menu item Edit->Move Completed Task Trees To Archive. Note that only task trees where the top or root node of the tree is completed will be able to be moved to the archive. Technical Note: Every Checklist file is actually stored as pair of files. The Active list is stored in a file with a .todo extension and the Archive list is stored in file with a .done extension.

Task Trees

Within each category you can create task lists and organize them into hierarchical structures called task trees. These are essentially main tasks and the related sub-tasks required to complete them. For example, you might have a main task entitled Sales Calls, followed by a sub-listing of each potential client you are going to phone. To create a task tree, follow these steps:

Right click anywhere on the list viewing area and select "Append New Task" from the menu.
Enter a title and description for the item in the dialog box that appears and press the "Add and Exit" button.
Right click on the task item that you just added to the list window and select "Insert Sub-Task".
Enter in a title and description for the sub-task and press the 'Add and Exit" button.

This will create a task tree. The top-line item is a "parent" and the second sub-item is its "child". The Parent items will show the priority of a task. The first item can also be referred to as a "root" element since it does not have a "parent" itself. Finally if two sub-items have the same "parent", they are called "siblings" as they are on the same level of hierarchy. It is possible to show or hide the children of a parent element by clicking on the small box in front of it and changing it from a '+' sign to a '-' sign.

Organization of Checklists

Categories, files and task trees can be used to subdivide your lists into the organizational groups that make the most sense for you. For example if you are working on three different projects, you could create one task list file per project and in each file, create one or more categories that correspond to the major groupings within that project (for example "Artwork", "Design", "Documentation", "Computer Coding", "Legal" etc). Within each category you can create task trees of items to be completed. Your choice of the root element within each task tree is important since a tree can only be sent to the "Done" section when the entire tree structure has been completed. If you create a tree whose top element will last the length of the project then you should probably consider making its root element a Category instead.

List Viewing Area

The large area positioned in the middle of the Checklist window is called the list viewing area. It is in this area that your task trees are displayed. It is possible to select any task item shown in this window by clicking the left mouse button on it. Selected items will be shown with a blue background. If you click the right mouse button in the list viewing area, a menu will appear that will allow you to do things such as add new task items, delete tasks, edit tasks, change tasks priority, denote a task as "Due Today" or set a task as "working" (note that a task must be selected for many of these options to be available). This menu will be more limited when looking at Archive or using certain filters, as not all functionality is relevant in those sections.

Task Colors & Fonts

Uncompleted tasks have bullets that are colored green, yellow or red, depending on how you choose to set their priority. Simply right click on a selected item to choose the high, medium or low priority at the bottom of the menu, or set the priority in the "Show Details" section of the "Append New Task" dialog box. Low priority green is the default color. Completed tasks are colored in grey. If you have networking enabled and someone sends you a new task from a remote computer, that task will be colored white and flash on and off until you click on it and select it for the first time. Users may choose any font desired for tasks in the User->Preferences dialog.

Shortcut Keys

Shortcut keys can be used to greatly increase your productivity with Checklist. A list of shortcut keys can be accessed from the Help menu.

Task Properties

Whenever you add a new task item, a dialog box appears that allows you to enter properties and data for that item. The main task properties you can add are: the name or title of the task, the category the task is in and a description. If you click the "Show Details" button, other advanced fields are available. These fields include: the priority of the task, who the task is assigned to, the due date, the estimated time required to complete the task and a textual status field (usually used to when a task cannot be completed immediately and you want to remember why it has been put on hold), task start time, task notes Note that you can only change the category of a task if it is a root level task. When you change the Category of a root level task, all of its children are changed as well.

Adding New Tasks

To append an item to the end of a task list, simply right click in the list viewing area to bring up the menu and select "Append New Task" (or select this option from the Edit menu). The task will be added to the end of the list you are currently viewing. If you currently have a task selected you can also use the right mouse button menu to insert tasks before, after or as sub-tasks of the selected item. When you are adding tasks, the task properties dialog box will allow you to either "Add & Cont" or "Add & Exit". If you "Add & Cont" you can continue to add several tasks in a row without having to leave the dialog box.

Editing Tasks

You can change a task's properties by double clicking on the task with the left mouse button or by selecting "Edit Task" from the right mouse button menu. Properties include: title, description, status, assigned to, priority, completion date, estimated time and working time.

Assigning Tasks

From the edit task dialog you can assign a particular person to complete a task. This is a free form entry field unless you are using TaskAnyone in which case it should be an email address.

Cutting and Pasting

You can cut (Ctrl-X), copy (Ctrl-C), or paste (Ctrl-V) tasks to and from the clipboard by using the standard shortcut keys or by invoking the right button menu.

When you cut or copy an task it affects all sub-tasks as well. This allows you to copy entire task trees.
You can copy and paste between categories.
You can copy and paste between the Active list and the Archive. (This allows you to retrieve items out of the archive for reuse).
You can even copy a task tree from one file and then open a new file and paste it into the new file.

Dragging and Dropping Tasks

If you click and hold the left mouse button on a task item, you can drag that item to a different place in the list. When you let go of the mouse button, a menu will pop up for you to specify how you would like the item to be inserted in a the new location: either insert before, insert after or insert as a sub-task. If you choose the sub-task option, the item will be inserted as a child of the task you have moved it to. When you move a task through this drag and drop method, all of its children are moved along with it. Note that dragging and dropping is not available when viewing the Archive section since those tasks are always sorted by the completion date of each task tree.

Deleting Tasks

If you want to delete a task, you can simply click on it with the left mouse button to select it and then either delete by using the right mouse button menu or by pressing the <del> shortcut key. Note that if you try to delete a parent task in a tree that has children, you will be prompted to delete all the children as well.

Separators

Separators are lines that you can insert into your list to create logical divisions within a category. Right click on the list viewing area and select "Insert Separator" from the menu. If you want to delete a separator you can simply click on it with the left mouse button to select it and then either delete by using the right mouse button menu or by pressing the <del> shortcut key. There are also some special seperators which can not be edited that are used under certain conditions. For example when viewing all categories at once, special category seperators are used to seperate the different categories. When viewing the Archive special date seperators are used to break up which tasks were completed on which day.

Completing Tasks

You can mark task items as completed from the right mouse button menu, by checking the box located next to each task, or the 'c' shortcut key. When a task is completed, it will be crossed off, displayed in green and checkmarked. If a parent task is marked as completed, all of its children will also be marked as completed. A filter option is available that can hide all completed items Using the right mouse button menu, it is also possible to "Complete with Comment", in which case a dialog box appears that allows you to edit the date of completion, the completion time (the total working time required to complete the task) and enter a brief closing note. It is possible to access the Completion Notes dialog box at any time after a task has been completed by selecting the completed task and using either the right mouse button menu or simply double clicking on it.

Description Boxes

If a task has a non-blank description or a status field, an arrow will appear to the right of the task title. Clicking on this arrow will allow you to minimize or maximize a "Description Box" underneath the task title. The Description Box will show the description and/or status of the task within the Checklist itself.

Task Filters

There are currently four different filters in the Checklist toolbar that can be used to hide some of the tasks that would appear in the task tree, in order to present a simpler targetted list. These filters are:

The Category Filter allows you to view tasks one category at a time.
The Due Date Filter allows you to view only tasks that are due on a particular date or date range.
The Start Date Filter allows you to view only tasks that start on a particular date or date range.
The Completed Filter allows you to:
- Hide tasks that were completed more than 24 hours ago.
- Hide all tasks that are completed.
- Show only completed tasks.
The Assigned Filter allows yout to view only tasks that have been assigned to a particular person. (Note that this filter's drop down will be hidden unless at least one task in your list has an entry in the "assigned to" field).