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How To Create A Task



Tasks are the to-dos that keep work moving — follow-up calls, permit pulls, material orders, punch list items. They can be assigned to yourself or a team member, tied to a project or contact, and set to block a project from advancing until they're done.

There are two ways tasks get created in Exterio:

  • Manually — covered in this article
  • Automatically, via a campaign or workflow — see the Campaign and Workflow overviews

When you'd use it

  • A homeowner asks you to call back Thursday and you need it on someone's list
  • You need a permit pulled before the crew can be scheduled
  • You want to guarantee a step happens before a project moves to the next stage

Before you start

  • What you can see on the Tasks page depends on your user permissions. Some users see only their own tasks; others see everyone's.
  • The Tasks tab on a project only appears if it's enabled in your project tab settings. An admin can turn it on.

Task fields

Every task uses the same fields no matter where you create it:

Field What it does
Task name What needs to be done
Status Where the task stands
Due date A date, or a specific date and time
Assigned to Yourself or any team member
Linked project or contact Reference for whoever completes it
Required task Blocks the project's stage or status from advancing until complete

Option 1: From your dashboard

Fastest option for day-to-day work.

  1. On your dashboard, find My Tasks.
  2. Click Add Task.
  3. Fill in the fields above.
  4. Save.

Option 2: From the Tasks page

Use this when you're working through your list or managing the team's workload.

  1. Click Tasks in the left-hand menu.
  2. Click New Task in the top right.
  3. Fill in the fields and save.

Option 3: From inside a project

Use this when the task belongs to a specific job — it's connected to that project automatically.

From Next Steps:

  1. Open the project.
  2. Under Next Steps, create a task.
  3. Fill in the fields and save.

From the Tasks tab:

  1. Open the project and go to the Tasks tab. This tab shows every task associated with the project.
  2. Create a new task from there.

Tasks created inside a project are project-specific.

Tips and gotchas

  • Required tasks are the feature worth understanding. Marking a task required means the project can't move to its next stage or status until the task is complete. This is how you enforce process without chasing people — final measurements before a proposal goes out, signed contract before scheduling, permit approved before the crew rolls.

    Use it deliberately. Every required task is a gate, and a forgotten one stalls a project while everyone wonders why the stage won't change. If a project seems stuck, check for an incomplete required task.

  • Link the task to a project or contact. A task that just says "call back about the estimate" is useless to the person who picks it up. Linking gives them the full history in one click.

  • Assign it to a person, not to nobody. Unassigned tasks are the ones that get missed. If you don't know who yet, assign yourself and reassign later.

  • Use date and time for anything appointment-like. A date alone is fine for "order materials this week." For a scheduled callback, set the time so it lands in the right place on their day.

  • If you're creating the same task on every project, automate it. Repeating manual tasks are a signal you should be using a workflow instead.