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Google Calendar will let you switch between creating events and tasks on the fly
Could this be the end of that awkward multi-tiered FAB?
Google Calendar is the home of many peoples’ everyday events and tasks, and it has a lot of cool shortcuts you might not have known about. Without Calendar, we would probably feel completely and utterly lost, even with all the other calendar apps out there. It’s important to make sure that calendar entries are as detailed as possible, whether it’s a work party that you feel obligated to go to or a simple household chore where, if you don’t do it, no one will. Previously, it was pretty easy to accidentally begin creating an event when you meant to create a task and vice versa on Google Calendar. Now, Google is working on a way to make selecting what type of calendar entry you want a lot easier on Android.
Google Tasks gets a proper home in Google Calendar for the web
Switch to a dedicated full-screen UI with one click
Getting things done in a corporate setting, or even on the personal front, requires proper planning and allocating time to specific activities. There are several popular calendar apps which facilitate this through reminders and to-do list integrations. Google Calendar is among the most well known of the lot, mostly because of how it ties into Android and Google Workspace simultaneously. Now, the company is giving Google Tasks a proper home in the Calendar app on the web, many months after the demise of standalone Calendar reminders.
ChromeOS could soon pick up a widget for Google Tasks
Check one more widget off your ChromeOS wishlist
Google’s ChromeOS is a lightweight operating system that fuses your Android apps with a computer-like user experience. The result is a balanced middle ground between multitasking on one of the best Android tablets and Windows computers let down by the limited interoperability between Android and Microsoft's OS. Like Windows, ChromeOS has a Shelf for all your essential apps and web pages. It's also home to the glanceable widgets we first caught wind of in August last year. Calendar’s glanceable now has a dedicated section for Google Tasks appended to it in the latest beta.
10 Google Tasks tips and tricks to keep you on schedule
Google's basic task management app has grown up
Google Tasks is a standalone app that helps you create tasks and subtasks, set reminders, and add detailed notes so that you can stay on top of your to-do list. Although the app isn't as robust as other task management apps like Todoist and Trello, Google Tasks is a great option for Google power users, thanks to the app's seamless integration with Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Calendar. The Google Tasks app works well on Android and iOS, while the web version can be used on PCs, laptops, and budget Chromebooks.
Google Calendar starts auto-hiding completed tasks for some
There is a way to bring back completed tasks, though
Google Calendar is among our favorite calendar apps because of its fantastic productivity tools and how deeply it integrates with other Google services like Gmail and Tasks. While it can be a one-stop shop for your daily schedule and to-do list, Google wants to clear some clutter. This is why it has started hiding your completed tasks from the Calendar view, but you have the option to bring them back.
Your Google Assistant and Calendar reminders are now Google Tasks, for better or worse
Workspace accounts are being migrated now, personal accounts later this month
Google finally took a step toward simplifying its task management system when it announced last September that reminders created with Google Assistant and Calendar would be integrated into Tasks. In March, some users started seeing the option to use Tasks when creating reminders, as Google prepared to make the transition mandatory. The forced migration has just kicked off, at least for Google Workspace customers.
Google Tasks may be coming to the ChromeOS system tray
It looks like Google is working on giving Tasks a spot next to your calendar
Currently, there isn't a convenient way to access Google Tasks from a desktop computer. While Google services like Calendar and Keep have their own fully featured web apps, Google Tasks is squirreled away behind a side panel menu inside those other services. You've long been able to work around this on ChromeOS by using the Tasks Android app, but now, it seems Google's working on integrating your Tasks right into ChromeOS's system tray.
Google Calendar may let guests invite themselves to your events
Instead of sending invitations, why not just share the event?
Among the many calendar apps on Android, Google Calendar is a pretty good one. It's got some quirks that limit its abilities when compared to its web client, but it's an easy reach and does most of the jobs you want done. Now, we're learning that it may scratch one of those hard-to-reach itches we've had for a long time when it comes to sharing individual events with other people.
Google Reminders' transition to Tasks is now rolling out
Reminders are moving to a single location at last
Google finally addressed a major complaint users have long had with its task management system in September last year when it announced that it would consolidate all reminders in Google Tasks. It's a long-awaited update for one of Android's most useful to-do apps, with the goal of making Tasks a central hub for all of your to-dos across Workspace. This transition, like all others, is gradual, and Google previously confirmed that voluntary migration for personal account holders would begin in March. That time has come, and some users have noticed a prompt on their screen to use Tasks when setting reminders.
Google announces when Tasks will become your home for all reminders
You will still be able to create Reminders from Assistant and Calendar
Google does a great job at confusing people by having multiple apps perform the same function in ways that don't necessarily correspond to each other. We've seen this in the past (and present) with the company's video-calling apps, although that issue has since been mostly resolved. The company has since decided to set out on another fix for people who use Reminders on any of its various apps and that is to transition them off of Google Assistant and Calendar reminders and onto Tasks. The move was announced in September, but it's only now that we've gotten a detailed timeline for these big changes. And as a reminder you'll see right here and now, every Google user is affected.
Google Tasks hops on the Material You bandwagon
Dynamic theming is trickling down to Google’s less important apps
Getting things done on time is something you may struggle with if you can't plan. Thankfully, Google has some of the best planning apps to help keep things organized — Calendar, Keep Notes, and Tasks. These aren’t Google’s core apps like Gmail, Search, Chrome, etc., so it is no surprise that some of them are rather late receiving Material You visual updates. Now, it is time for the Tasks app to adopt Google’s updated visual design principles, and the changes are quite prominent.
Google Tasks is about to become your go-to app for managing reminders
Assistant and Calendar reminders are going away for good
Google is no stranger to keeping around multiple apps for the same goal. Whether it's messaging tools, email clients, or video chat platforms, keeping around similar services can be pretty confusing for end-users. One by one, Google has been slowly cleaning up its software division, shuttering Hangouts and Duo with more popular and modern replacements. Today, you can add one more category to the list: to-do lists.
Google Calendar will be losing support for location-based reminders
Some new strings within also reveal the lack of Google Keep integration
There's no shortage of options if you wish to set a reminder on your Android phone. In fact, you could argue that there are a little too many — Google Keep, Tasks, and Assistant Reminders currently all allow you to set one in their own unique ways, which can get a bit confusing. Last month we saw evidence suggesting that Google's been working on cleaning some of that up, starting with the replacement of Assistant Reminders with Tasks in Google Calendar. An APK teardown of a recent app update is now revealing some more details about these upcoming changes.
Weekend poll: How do you keep track of reminders on Android?
Tasks, Keep, Assistant Reminders — or something else entirely?
Reminders are vital to the smartphone experience. Gone are the days of tying a string around your finger to remember to pick up milk on the way home. These days, your phone can ping you with any reminder, recurring or one-time-only, even months or years after you’ve set it. Canceling subscriptions, completing chores — it’s all too easy on Android. In fact, the hardest part can be picking a single reminder service worth using.
Google might be shaking up its approach to reminders on Android, starting with Calendar
Could the company finally streamline Keep, Tasks, and Assistant Reminders?
If you want to save a reminder on your phone, there's no shortage of options. Google Keep remains as popular as ever, with specific dates and times attached to each note. Tasks offers a streamlined interface and an easy way to check off items as you go, but it's hidden behind Gmail on desktop. Assistant Reminders, meanwhile, creates an entry just from a simple voice command, but it's annoying to access your list of upcoming items. Google might be working on improving this messy situation, though we'll have to wait and see exactly what the company has planned.
Google Tasks now lets you use stars to highlight all the chores you keep brushing off
An all-new way to prioritize your most pressing assignments
Although Google has no shortage of ways to keep track of your to-do list — Keep and Reminders among them — Tasks is probably the most streamlined and straightforward method. Built right into Gmail on desktop (and available as a dedicated app on your phone), Tasks makes things simple, without any of the fluff or complicated organization tools you'll find on other apps. That said, today's update goes a long way in making your most important to-do entries a little more obvious.
Google Tasks finally supports recurring tasks natively, like a proper to-do list app
You can stop relying on Google Calendar to set end dates.
Google Tasks has often been criticized for missing features and feeling generally incomplete, which seems ironic for an app designed around organizing and completing tasks. However, one of the oldest oversights is about to be rectified as recurring items will finally have options for adding end dates from within the app, because everything is bound to come to an end someday.
Google Tasks doesn't get a lot of attention, and it's not hard to see why. It has very little functionality, and Google Keep can do everything it can do. Tasks might be getting a little more useful, though. Google recently outed a new version of Tasks sidebar in a blog post, and it has a few handy additions.
Google is actually improving an app icon for once
Tasks is getting a new, more professional-looking logo
The Google Tasks app launched in 2018. With to-dos that sync across all of your devices, you can manage, capture, and edit your tasks from anywhere, at any time. While apps like Gmail and Google Keep allowed you to make and edit to-dos, Google Tasks is dedicated solely to that purpose. It integrates with Gmail and Google Calendar, too, making it great for those solidly invested in the Google ecosystem. One small problem with it, though: the icon kinda sucked. Thankfully, Google is now improving it.
Google Tasks is about to make it even easier to sort through your most important to-dos
Starred tasks are coming, along with their very own tab
Google has no shortage of ways to manage your task list, with the standalone Tasks app chief among them. Although the service hasn't quite caught on with a general audience — if its meager install count is anything to go by — it's still actively improving with each update. The Android app is getting a new addition soon, one that should make even the strictest of task managers feel a little more in control of their to-do lists.