Task lists

When to use this

Use a task list for the work you do for every booking of a kind: confirm venue access two weeks before, send final numbers to your suppliers, check the deposit came in. You write the list once. BloomBoard adds its tasks to each event when it is booked, when it reaches a stage, or when you add the list by hand.

A list is a starting point. On each event you can add your own tasks, and change or delete any task for that event alone. The saved list does not change.

Each task is an ordinary event task. It shows in Today when it is due, it can be for someone on your team, and some list tasks tick themselves, for example when the deposit is paid.

Task lists appear when they are switched on for your studio, on Core and on Studio. An owner or admin writes the lists and adds or removes a list on an event. Everyone on the team can see the lists, tick tasks and add tasks to an event.

Task lists are not the checklists in an event’s Week-of view. Week-of tasks and checklists never show in Today or on an event’s Tasks chip.

Your task lists

Open Business → Task lists. It sits under Pipeline, next to Automations and Stages.

Each row says which occasion the list is for, when it is added and how many tasks it has, for example “Wedding · Added when the event is booked · 8 tasks”. Use the switch on a row to turn the list on or off. A list that is off is never added on its own, and you can still add it to an event by hand.

You start with two starter lists, Wedding and Corporate. They are off until you switch them on. Change their tasks as you like. The Wedding list, for example, asks you to visit the venue 60 days before, order sundries and hire items 30 days before, and book the team 21 days before, and it ticks Deposit received, Terms signed and Balance received by itself.

Select New task list, give it a name and an occasion, then select Create task list. The new list starts off, so you can add its tasks first.
Select Edit on a row to open a list.

Edit a task list

At the top, type over the name to rename the list. Use the switch to turn it On or Off.

Under When it is added, choose:

For: one occasion, such as Wedding, or any occasion
added: when the event is booked, when the event reaches a stage (then choose the stage), or only by hand

Under Tasks, each task has:

a name, such as “Confirm venue access”
Due: a number of days before the event, after the event, or after the list is added, or no due date. The words beside it read the date back, for example “(14 days before the event)”.
For: Nobody yet, or someone on your team
Ticks itself when: nothing (you tick it), the deposit is paid, the balance is paid, the terms are signed, a form comes back (then choose the form) or, on Studio, a saved email is sent (then choose the saved email)

Use the arrows to move a task up or down, and the bin to remove it. Select Add a task for another one. Then select Save changes. If something is missing, the line beside the button says what, for example “Task 3 needs a name.”

Changes reach lists added from now on. Events that already have the list keep their own copy of its tasks.

To delete a list, select Delete list. It is not added to new events again. Events that already have it keep their tasks.

Tasks on an event

Open the event. In the header, Tasks 3 of 12 says how many of the event’s tasks are done. It counts every task on the event: tasks from your lists, tasks added on the event, tasks from automations, BloomBoard’s own tasks and tasks brought in from Dubsado.

The chip turns amber while a task is due today, late or has no date, and green when everything is done. On a canceled, Lost or archived event it never turns amber: it stays gray while a task is open and turns green when everything is done. On a completed event it stays amber while a task is late, because Today still lists it. An event with no tasks shows Add tasks to everyone on the team.

Select the chip to open Tasks. The top line counts every task, for example “3 of 12 done, 4 due now, 1 with no date”. The tasks come in groups, in this order:

Added on this event: the tasks added here. This group always shows.
one card for each task list on the event, with its progress bar
From automations, for example “Added by the Wedding automation”
From BloomBoard: tasks BloomBoard adds itself, such as “Review payments after cancellation”
From Dubsado: tasks brought in from Dubsado

A list card keeps the order of the saved list. The other groups put the soonest due first and tasks with no date last.

Each task shows when it is due, for example “Due Mon, Oct 5”, “Due today” or “3 days late”, who it is for, and once done, who or what ticked it, for example “Ticked when the deposit was paid”. Due dates follow Units and dates in Business → Business details: “Due Mon, Oct 5” for US and “Due Mon 5 Oct” for Metric.

Tick the box beside a task to mark it done. Untick it to open it again. Everyone on the team can tick and untick every task.

Owners and admins can also:

choose a list under Choose a task list and select Add task list. Each list goes on an event once.
open a list card’s menu and select Remove from this event. The list’s tasks go too, done or not. BloomBoard says how many go and how many were changed on this event. Tasks added on the event stay. While the saved list exists, you can add it again, and its tasks come back as the saved list has them. If the saved list was deleted, they cannot come back.

Add a task to one event

Select Add a task by the Tasks title, or the Add a task row at the end of Added on this event.
Type a name. A name can be up to 255 characters.
In For, choose Nobody yet or someone on your team.
Under Due, choose one:
- No date. The task never shows in Today.
- On a date. The task stays on that date if the event moves.
- Before or after the event. Choose a number of days before the event or after the event, or choose on the event day. The date it gives shows under the field. The task moves when the event date moves. On an event with no date yet, the task gets a date when the event does.
Add notes if you like, then press Enter or select Save task. The form stays open for the next task. Press Esc to close it. If you typed something you did not save, BloomBoard asks first.

Tasks you add on an event tick only by hand.

The Smart date

When you type a new task’s name, BloomBoard suggests when it is due and fills in Due. While it thinks, a soft light moves around Due. It suggests only today or later: today, tomorrow, in 3 days, in a week, the event day, 1, 3, 7, 14 or 30 days before the event, 1 day after the event, or no date. If it is unsure, Due starts with today.

The moment you change Due, the suggestion stops. It never changes a Due that you set.

To suggest a date, BloomBoard reads the task name, the occasion and the days left. It puts “the client” in place of your client’s and contacts’ names. It reads nothing else from the client record.

Change or delete a task on this event

Select the pencil beside a task, or its name, to open the same form in its row. Changes apply to this event only. On a list task the form says so, for example “Changes apply to this event only. The Wedding list stays as it is.” Select Save changes when you are done.

A task that ticks itself keeps doing so after you change it.
A new Due replaces how the task moves. A list task set to On a date stops moving with the event.
A task whose date counts from something else, for example from when the list was added, opens as On a date. It keeps its rule unless you change Due.

If you leave the form before you save, BloomBoard asks Leave without saving? first. It asks when you select Cancel, press Esc, close the Tasks panel, open another task, or follow a link to another page. Select Keep editing to go back to the form, or Leave to drop your changes. If you reload the page, your browser asks instead. With nothing changed, the form closes at once.

To delete a task, select Delete task in the form. BloomBoard asks first. For a list task, the message says the saved list still has it.

Some tasks have limits:

A task an automation waits for cannot be deleted while that automation runs or is paused. The form says, for example, “The Wedding automation waits for this task. Tick it to go on.” Once the automation stops, or moves on past the task, you can delete it.
BloomBoard’s own tasks can only be ticked, unticked or deleted. Everyone on the team can open one to read its notes, which say the money in plain words, for example “£125.00 is still owed or may need a refund.” Only owners and admins can delete it.
A person who left your team stays on their tasks, shown as “(no longer on the team)”. A person brought in from Dubsado without a login shows “(no login)”. They stay until you choose someone else.

Who can do what

Owners and admins add tasks, and change or delete any task.
Staff add tasks, and change or delete the tasks they added. Those tasks say “Added by you”. Staff tick and untick every task.
Only owners and admins add or remove a task list on an event.
Older tasks do not record who added them, so only owners and admins can change them.

Ask the assistant

Ask the assistant: “What tasks are late?”, “Add a task to call the venue two weeks before”, “Remind me on Friday to order the peonies” (a task for you due Friday, shown in Today), “Tick off order ribbon”, or “Add my Wedding task list to this event” (owners and admins). It will not tick a task an automation made: tick that one in the Tasks panel.

On your phone

The event screen in the phone app shows the same Tasks chip. Tap it to see the event’s tasks, in the same groups.

Tap the circle beside a task to tick it.
Tap + to add a task. Tap a task to change it, if you may change it.
The sheet has Task, For, Due and Notes, with Cancel and Save. Under Due, choose No date, On a date or Before or after. On a date opens your phone’s calendar. For Before or after, type the number of days, then choose before the event, after the event or on the event day.
Tap one of BloomBoard’s own tasks to read its notes and tick it. Owners and admins can also delete it.
A tick on the phone also updates the Today card.

Adding or removing a saved task list stays on the web.

When the dates change

A task due a number of days before or after the event moves when the event date moves, whatever added it. A task on a date stays put.

An event with no date yet gives those tasks no due date. They get one when the event has a date. A list task due “after the list is added” counts from the day the list went on the event.

Tasks that tick themselves

A task that ticks itself shows what ticked it. If the fact is already true when the list is added, for example the deposit is already paid, the task ticks at once and reads “Done before the list was added”.

Nothing unticks on its own. If you untick a task, it stays open until you tick it again.

If you take a list off an event and add it back, a form or saved email counts only when it comes after the list went back on.

Today

Tasks that are due today or late show in Today, in the morning digest and on your phone, like any task. On the web, Today also lists the tasks due in the next 7 days under Coming up, each with its day and a tick box, and the morning digest ends with one line such as “4 more tasks this week”. You see your own tasks and tasks for nobody yet. A task for someone who left the team, or for someone with no login, shows as for nobody yet, so someone always sees it. Today also appears for studios with task lists on and automations off.

Tasks of a canceled, Lost or archived event leave Today. BloomBoard’s “Review payments after cancellation” stays, because money may still be owed or due back. On such an event the Tasks panel says so, for example “This event is Lost. Its tasks do not show in Today, except BloomBoard’s money review.” You can still add and tick its tasks.

Moving a card on with tasks open

When you move a card forward on the board, for example from Lead to Accepted, BloomBoard checks every task on the event. If tasks are due today, late or have no date, you see how many are still open and up to three of their names, soonest due first.

Select Move anyway to move the card.
Select Not yet to leave it where it is.

This happens when you drag a card, when you use a card’s menu, in the list view and on your phone. Moves back, and moves into Lost or Canceled, never ask. Moves made by an automation, by a client accepting a proposal or by the Week-of view never ask either.

Common issues

I can’t see Task lists. They may not be switched on for your studio yet.
A list was not added when the event was booked. Check the list is On, that its occasion matches the event or is any occasion, and that it is added when the event is booked. Events brought in by an import never get lists on their own; add them by hand.
A task has no due date. The event has no date yet, or the task is set to No date.
The chip turned amber on an older event. The chip counts every task on the event, including tasks from automations and imports, and a task with no date. Tick the task or give it a date.
I can’t change a task. Staff can change only the tasks they added. Ask an owner or admin.
I can’t delete a task. An automation waits for it. Tick it instead, or stop the automation first.
A Smart date looks wrong. Change Due. The suggestion never changes it back.
I want this task on every booking. Add it to the list in Business → Task lists. A task added on one event does not go back into the saved list.
Terms signed did not tick. It ticks when your client signs the proposal online. A proposal you mark as signed yourself does not tick it; tick the task by hand.
I can’t archive a form or delete a saved email. A task list waits for it, for example “Used by 1 task list”. Change that task first.
I deleted a stage and a list stopped being added. A list added at that stage is now added only by hand. BloomBoard says so when you delete the stage. Open the list and choose a new stage if you want.
A task did not tick when the form came back. Check the task waits for that form. If the list was taken off and added back, only a form that came back after that counts.