Use a task to give one person a clear next action and due date. Create it manually for a one-off follow-up, or use a task template or automation for repeatable work.
Choose a task type
Type | Use it for | Example |
To-Do | An action or reminder. | Review an owner’s renewal decision. |
Email | Preparing an email follow-up. | Send the owner a renewal summary. |
SMS | Preparing a text-message follow-up. | Text a prospect about a scheduling question. |
Call | Planning or recording a call. | Call a vendor for a repair update. |
Link the relevant card or contact so the assignee can find the context. For communication tasks, check the intended recipient and use the available composer or calling controls when you are ready.
Creating a task is not the same as sending a message or making a call. Review the communication and confirm its actual outcome separately.
Choose where to create it
Start from a card or conversation when the task belongs to existing work. Use the header for a personal or ad hoc reminder.
1. From a card
- Open a card.
- Locate the Tasks section.
- Click Add Task.
- Choose the task type, such as To Do.
- Enter a title, review the assignee, priority and due date, then select Create when ready.
This is the most common way to create a task, especially if it's tied to a specific contact or property.
After saving, open the task and check its assignee, due date and Related Card. Use the related-card link to return to the workflow. If it is missing from a task list, check that list’s owner, date and status filters.
2. From the header
Not every task needs a card behind it. For a quick to-do that isn't tied to anything else, use the ad hoc option:
- Open the Tasks panel next to your calendar (click the checklist icon at the top of the header).
- Click the + (New task) at the top of the Tasks panel—not the blue global quick-create button.
- Choose To Do from the dropdown (your other options here are Email, SMS, and Call, for logging other kinds of activities).
- Fill in the Title, Assignee (defaults to you), Priority, and Due Date.
- Click Create when ready.
This is the leanest version of a task: no description field, no card, no related contacts up front. It's meant for something like "follow up with the owner" that doesn't belong to any particular process. Once it's created, you can still open it and add a description, link a card, or link a contact later if it turns out it does need that context.
Use manual tasks for follow-ups, reminders, or personal to-dos that aren't part of an automated workflow, especially for exceptions or one-off communications.
3. From a conversation
- Open the conversation you want to create a task from.
- In the Details panel, find the Tasks section (expand the panel first if it's collapsed).
- Click the + to add a task.
If your account has AI task assistance enabled, review any suggested tasks before relying on their owner, due date or context.
4. From an automation or a task template
For anything that happens the same way every time, you don't want to be creating tasks by hand. Aptly can generate them for you two ways:
From a task template. A task template is a pre-built task—including its description—that you can attach to a board or automation and reuse repeatedly. For conditional or dependent work—for example, creating Task 2 after Task 1 is completed—review the options in the task template and automation configuration. Task templates can be loaded in through automations or directly from the card.
When a template is triggered, the resulting task includes a Related Task Template section linking back to its source. This makes it easy to distinguish template-generated tasks from one-off tasks.
From an automation. An automation can create a task as one of its actions, typically as a step in a larger workflow (for example, when a card moves into a certain stage, or when a balance goes past due). In practice, most recurring, board-specific tasks come from an automation that fires a task template, which is how you get a consistent task every time a certain condition is met, with the same title, description, and merge fields already filled in with that card's data. You can create manual / adhoc tasks from automations or connect your automation to a task template.
For example, configure an Accounts Receivable workflow to create a “Review overdue balance” task when its criteria are met. A task template can include relevant lease information; check the related record and rendered values before relying on them.
Give the task a clear owner and deadline
Before saving, check:
- Title: start with an action, such as “Confirm the vendor’s arrival time.”
- Assignee: choose the person responsible for the next step.
- Due Date: set when that action needs to be finished.
- Priority: choose Low, Medium, High or ASAP to match the urgency.
- Context: link the correct card or contact and add useful instructions, comments or files where available.
Available fields can differ between the quick-create form and the full task editor. Open the saved task to add or review further details.
Add contextual fields to the description
Use the description’s / menu for supported merge fields, form inputs or Aptly-object references. Merge fields display values; form fields provide inputs. Their sources depend on the related card and its relationships.
For the detailed editor steps, see Add merge fields and form fields to tasks.
Check the saved task
Open the task after creating it. Confirm its title, owner, due date and related card. If you created a communication task, creating it has not sent the message or made the call.
To find your task later, use the card’s Tasks section or your To Do dashboard.