Google Tasks: Top 10 Tips for Getting Things Done!

While most to-do apps try to cram in as many features as possible, Google Tasks takes a refreshingly minimal approach with a clean and distraction-free design. And this is perfect for two types of users. Those who just want to capture and track tasks with minimal friction, and those looking for a seamless integration with Google Workspace tools. And in this video, I'll go over seven little-known tips that help you stay organized using this underrated app. Let's get started. All right, first off, before I found out about this hidden feature, I would keep two Google Calendar windows pinned in my browser because I thought that clicking this Switch to Tasks button was the only way to access a standalone Google Tasks window on the web. Although this looks fine, there is this annoying bug where pressing C is supposed to create a new task, but sometimes it creates a new calendar event by mistake. And when we exit out by pressing Escape, it goes back to the calendar view. Like Google, we're not trying to play Russian roulette here. So instead, we can paste this URL in our browser. I'll leave this in the description below. And we can now have a clean standalone Google Tasks view on web, zoom in a little bit, and we can pin this, bookmark it, and most importantly, this won't revert back to a calendar view for no reason. Now, if you're anything like me, most of your work tasks come from emails. So from within my Gmail inbox, I have several options. From within an email, I can press the keyboard shortcut Shift-T to add the email as a task in my Google Tasks sidebar. And pro tip, you always want to rename the task to start with an action word. Adopt Jeff's new email workflow. And this is a lot more meaningful than whatever the default subject line was. And after assigning a due date, don't forget to archive this email by pressing E or clicking the archive button up top here, because remember, the same task should never exist in two separate locations. By the way, if you really want to master email management, I've got a complete task zero for Gmail system over at my Workspace Academy. I'll leave a link down below. Back to our inbox, with the task sidebar open, we can also drag emails over to the task list as well, or select multiple emails and click the add to task button up top to add multiple emails as tasks. And of course, from within our Gmail mobile app, we can press the three dots and click add to tasks from here. The best part about this workflow is that all the emails are linked within the task. So if I were to click that link, for example, from our standalone task list, the email is opened up in a clean standalone window so that after I deal with it, I can close a window and I'm not sucked back into my email inbox. Next up, in keeping with the theme of Google Tasks deep integration with Google Workspace, I absolutely love how I can send any message from a Google chat conversation to my task list by clicking the three dots, add to tasks. And of course, this works on both web and mobile. When I'm commuting or eating lunch, I receive a request over chat. I can't properly respond to it right then and there, and I also don't want to forget about it. So the most efficient thing to do is to send it to my task list and deal with it when I'm back at my desktop. Now, if you're passive aggressive, which I'm obviously not, I deal with conflict so well, I'm like the best at dealing with conflict. From within a group chat in Google chat, we can add a task within the group at a due date. And after assigning someone as the owner, the corresponding task will appear in their task list, which again, I would never do because I'm a mature and grown up professional and I would never avoid confrontation regardless of what my performance review says. Pro tip, from within the group tasks view, we can choose a manual sort, sort by date or my preferred sort in this specific situation, sort by assignee or owner. By the way, if you're enjoying these practical tips, you can join my free newsletter to receive an insanely actionable Google workspace tip every week. Link down below. Moving on, from within Google calendar, first, make sure the tasks view is enabled under my calendars. And when it comes to the workflow, there are two ways to go about this. And honestly, it comes down to personal preference. Option one, you first add visible blocks on your calendar, like deep work. So your colleagues know not to disturb you. And on top of that, you add time specific tasks to remind yourself of the work you need to complete. Option two, you capture tasks as all day tasks by default and assign a due date. Then during your daily inbox review sessions, I'll talk about this in a bit, you review upcoming tasks, create calendar blocks for those tasks and check them off your task list. I personally prefer option two just because it's more flexible. And honestly, we should be reviewing our tasks throughout the day anyways. I talk about that a lot more in the Workspace Academy. So check that out if you want. Next, let's talk about Google Tasks biggest unfair advantage over other to-do apps, the Google sidebar. When you're in the flow of work in Gmail, Drive, or even Google Slides, capturing tasks is just one click away. Pro tip, from within Google Docs, free users can rely on the sidebar as normal to add tasks. But Google Workspace business users can create a checkbox, left bracket, right bracket, space, type the action item and assign tasks right from the document itself, which is a game changer for project meetings. The reason I'm making such a big deal about the sidebar is that if we could capture tasks the instant we think of them, i.e. reduce friction to zero, we'd never forget anything. And the sidebar takes us one step closer to that dream scenario. While we're here, a few more things to keep in mind. I like to sort my tasks by due date to stay chronological. I stick with just using one master task list to avoid context switching. And for repeating tasks, the only way to delete them is click three dots and delete all occurrences. Whether you're an Android or iPhone user, I highly recommend adding a Google Tasks widget right on your main home screen so that you can add tasks with just two clicks. One to add a task and second to assign a due date. Although we mainly focused on the web version in this video, I'd say 70-80% of my tasks are captured through the mobile app, since new ideas usually hit me at the gym, during my commute, or when I'm trying really hard to fall asleep. Alright, last and well, maybe least, we can create tasks through Google Gemini. From within the web app, we can type at tasks, select Google Tasks, create a task, bring the action item will be added to our task list. Quick heads up, you need to make sure your Gemini time zone matches that of your Google calendars because there's currently a bug where tasks created in Gemini follows your Gemini time zone instead of your Google calendars. Also, if you don't see the Google Tasks option, head on over to Settings, Extensions, and make sure your Google Workspace extension is turned on. This is available to free and paid users. And yes, I totally agree, using Gemini on the web to create tasks is unproductive. But through the Gemini mobile app, we can enable voice commands and through natural language describe the task and tell Gemini when the due date should be. Bonus tip for Google Workspace users. I know it's tempting to capture tasks, ideas, and thoughts all in Google Tasks, but trust me when I tell you I've made this mistake, it gets way too messy and disorganized. Instead, make sure to only capture action items in Google Tasks since those always have a due date. And ideas, thoughts, and quick notes should be captured in Google Keep, where we can add labels and include more context. Again, if you want to learn my entire workflow, check out the Workspace Academy. If you enjoyed these tips, check out my Workspace playlist next. See you on the next video. In the meantime, have a great one.