How to set a recurring task
The main purpose of creating recurring tasks is to periodically remind us of our obligations within the preset days and times. In GTD® it is called "areas of responsibility". This may concern both professional activities (like tax payment, personnel training, etc.) and personal chores (like house cleaning, checking child’s homework, going to the gym etc.). With a flexible setting of recurring tasks in MLO you can fully automate the display of these actions in your To-Do list.
The recurrence options are identical in MLO on all supported platforms. Some advanced options are not available in the iOS version, but you can configure them in the desktop version and then synchronize the data. Below we'll walk you through examples from the desktop version.
To set up a recurrence open Properties in the Edit mode -> Timing & Reminder section -> Recurrence.
Main options for recurring task
There are Main and Advanced options for repeating tasks in MLO. Main settings are mandatory, the task recurrence will not work properly without them. They determine the frequency and order of task recurrence.
Recurrence pattern
For each recurring task you can select or build your own recurrence pattern as a construction set. There is no need to limit oneself to standard repetitions daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.
Choose your recurrence option that fully reflects the cycle of your task:
- every weekday;
- weekly on certain days of the week;
- every first working day of the month;
- last Sunday of December of each year, which is especially important for the strategic planning of the coming year.
Next occurrence
For the correct display of the recurrence cycle, the following parameters are required:
- Due - the date of the next task recurrence;
- Start - when you can start to perform a recurring task;
- Time - if necessary.
Start and due dates may be the same or different. If you need to pay utility bills between the 15th and 20th of each month, set these dates as Start and Due.
End occurrences
By default the number of task occurrences is set to "Infinite". You have set recurrence, and the task will now be displayed at a certain frequency without time limit. But if you need to specify occurrence limitations, you can do it:
- by number of occurrences;
- by completion date.
Example: You have to take vitamins for 14 days. Set recurrence for daily and specify 14 days. The task will be reminded of every day until you complete the task the specified number of times.
In the meantime the properties will indicate the number of occurrences left:
Example: Suppose you have bought an annual subscription to the gym. You create a recurring task, for example, on Monday-Wednesday-Friday. For completion date you set a day when this subscription expires. Unless, of course, you are going to renew it regularly.
Advanced options
Advanced options are more fine-tuning options. If you are an experienced user of the MyLifeOrganized task manager and the suggested recurrence options are insufficient for you, there are additional options used to substantially extend the functionality of cyclic tasks.
Automatic resetting of subtasks when the task recurs
In MyLifeOrganized recurring tasks can have their own subtasks, which can be repeated or not repeated together with the main task. If a recurring task has subtasks, you can set how the system should deal with completed subtasks. In particular, when to display them next time.
There are three options for automatic resetting of subtasks when the task is repeated:
- Disable automatic reset: all completed subtasks of a recurring task when transferred to the next repetition remain completed.
- Reset all subtasks to uncompleted: at the next recurrence all completed subtasks become active again.
- Reset all subtasks to uncompleted, if all subtasks are completed.
Example: There is a recurring task "Meeting". Points to discuss are added as subtasks. All the solved points (subtasks) are marked in the system as completed and will not be displayed on the next task occurence.
Example: There is a repeating task "Pay utility bills" with subtasks: pay for gas, pay for electricity and so on. After you complete the parent task, all its subtasks become active again.
For which purpose can this be applied? For the most flexible approach to periodic tasks.
Example: There is a recurring task "Gym workout". As subtasks you add the workout sets for different muscle groups: chest + shoulders, back + biceps, chest + triceps, legs.
You should set "Reset all subtasks to uncompleted, if all subtasks are completed" and "Do not create a completed copy of this task on recurring" (to be described in the next chapter).
At the completion of any subtask, the next time you will be shown only the remaining three. Then two. And so on until you complete all sets. After the last subtask is completed, all workout options will be available again in the next recurrence.
A similar approach can be applied to writing blog articles, family rest on the weekend, doing housework any other activities.
Automatic recurring behaviour when subtasks are completed
In MyLifeOrganized, recurrence can work not only after you complete a recurring task, but also after you complete its subtasks.
There are three options for automatic recurring behaviour when subtasks are completed:
- Disable automatic recurrence (set by default).
- Automatically recur when any subtask is completed.
It’s convenient when choosing among a variety of options. When you complete any subtask, the parent task is considered completed and recurs. - Automatically recur when all subtasks are complete.
It is effective to use if the recurring task itself is generalizing and serves only to unify the tasks of the same type.
It does not matter which subtasks are marked as completed. Recurrence will work only after the main task on which the recurrence is set as completed.
Example: You may have a task "All taxes paid!", where the subtasks are a list of all taxes due for payment. When everything’s paid automatic recur will work, without the need to complete the main task.
Create / Do not create a completed copy of the task on recurring
For a recurring task you can specify whether to create a completed copy or not.
The cases when a completed copy is necessary:
- to track your productivity in the lists of completed tasks;
- to quickly create a copy of the task, but without recurrence.
Combination of options
You are not limited to use only a specific automatization option. From the options described above you can create any combination you need for each specific case.
Example: There is a periodic task "Personnel training", for which it is necessary to conduct classes on various topics with a certain frequency. Add these topics as subtasks and set the following options for the parent task:
- reset all subtasks to uncompleted, if they are all completed;
- automatic recurring on completion of any subtask.
When the time comes to conduct classes, choose any topic that is most relevant at the moment. At the completion of the subtask, the recurrence will work. But the next time the task is displayed, all the topics will be shown, except for that already studied.
After all the subtasks are completed, you will see the entire list again.
Skip occurrence
If for any reason you can't complete a recurring task, you can skip its occurence. In this case:
- the task is not be displayed in the list of completed tasks;
- the task that you can't complete this time does not clutter up lists of active actions.
You can skip the occurrence either by clicking on the task with the right mouse button with the choice of the corresponding function, or you can assign the hotkey to skip the occurence in the settings and perform it using the keyboard.
The option is especially useful when you do your evening review of tasks for tomorrow. If you see you will not be able to do some tasks tomorrow, you can move them to the next relevant date, not waiting for them to become overdue.
Rules for setting recurring tasks
It is necessary to stick to some rules so that working with recurring tasks would be convenient and would not give failures.
1. Edit in Task Recurrence window or by clicking Due Date in task area
After the task has become recurring, all changes to the settings must be made in the Task recurrence window. This is necessary not to break the cycle established earlier. To open the window, click the recurrence description line in Properties. Or, just click the Due Date in the task pane.
2. Correspondence of the next occurrence date and recurrence pattern
If you have set the date of the next occurrence with a weekly pattern, this date must correspond to the specified day of the week. If there is a discrepancy, the program will warn you that this day is not, for example, Tuesday. In this case, you can accept the suggested option of auto-correction or manually change either the date or the day of the week.
The similar thing is with monthly and yearly recurrence patterns. For example, if the date is set on the 1st day of the next month, and the recurrence is “every first working day of the month” - this date should be exactly the first working day of the month.
3. Do not set time and reminders if the option "Regenerate new task..." is selected
For example, you set "Regenerate new task in 1 day after each task is completed" and the reminder to 3 p.m. If you click to complete the task at 3:24 p.m., then the next reminder will appear at 3:24 p.m. on the next day.
You should set time and reminders only for tasks with the recurrence of every day, week, month and year.
Please note that in the “Hourly” pattern the only option we can set is "Regenerate next task x hours after each task is completed".
