This is the everyday flow for getting a task done — from picking it up to handing it in.
1. Start it
A task reaches you once its owner has published it — its status reads Ready to start. Open it and press Start. That moves it to In Progress and starts the clock. (If it is a team task you have not claimed yet, Claim it first.)
You will not see a task that is still a Draft; its owner is still writing the brief. If you somehow try to start one, it is refused with "This task is still a draft — it must be published before it can be started."
Start and Finish are shown to the assignee, and to a Task Manager or administrator acting on their behalf.
Need to stop for a while? Press Pause: the task goes back to Ready to start, the time you already worked is kept, and the button then reads Resume. If your company has it switched on, clocking out pauses your tasks too (they show Paused — clocked out) and clocking back in the same day carries them on. See Pausing a task and clocking out: what happens to your time.
2. Record your output — the answer
The Output tab is where you write what you did — the result, notes, links, measurements. It is separate from the description (the ask). Type it in and press Save output. You can save as you go; it is not final until you finish.
If the task is marked Output required, you cannot finish it until there is a non-empty output.
An output is never thrown away. When an output is cleared or replaced - by Withdraw & clear output, by a redesigned output form, or by a sub-task's result taken over with Use as my result - the old one is kept under Earlier outputs on the Output tab, with who wrote it and when. The assignee, while working the task, or its manager can put one back with Restore; whatever was there moves to Earlier outputs in its place.
3. Attach files
You can attach files in two places, and they stay separated:
- Content files (on the Overview tab) — reference material for the ask: a drawing, a spec, a brief.
- Output files (on the Output tab) — proof of the answer: a photo of the finished work, a signed sheet, an export.
You can also paste or drop an image straight into the editor — it is stored as a file, never bloating the record.
4. Finish
Press Finish. The task goes to In Review for your manager. Two special cases:
- If it has open dependent sub-tasks, finishing parks it in Waiting on sub-tasks until they are all done — then it completes on its own.
- If output is required and there is none, finishing is blocked until you add it.
Handed the rest to someone else? If the remaining work is in sub-tasks, you do not need to Finish first. Delegate hands your task over by default, and Wait for sub-tasks does the same for sub-tasks that already exist: your time on the task stops, it shows Waiting on sub-tasks, and it closes by itself when they are done. See Sub-tasks & delegation: how work rolls up the tree.
Cannot do it? Hand it back
If a task lands on you that you cannot do, press Hand back and give a short reason. It goes back to its owner for reassignment. This is not a cancellation — the task stays open, it just stops being yours.
Stuck halfway?
Waiting for a colleague, a part, a repair or a date? Do not leave the task running, and do not pause it without a word. What a task is, and what to do when you are stuck gives the right move for each case.
5. After you finish
Your manager reviews the output and either rates it (→ Done) or requests changes (which sends it back to you, In Progress, with a note). If nobody reviews within 48 hours, it auto-approves so it never gets stuck.
Your time on the task is on the right of the task page (Time worked) and, stretch by stretch, on the Time tab.
Next: Claiming a team task · Task chat, notifications and the subscribe star · Pausing a task and clocking out: what happens to your time.