Using the Task Drawer in Quip

If you're like most people, you use checklists to keep track of all the things you need to do. But what do you do when checklists get scattered across different documents related to different projects? Well, over in your sidebar, you have one checklist to rule them all.

There, in your task drawer, you'll see the following:

• Every checklist item you're @mentioned in, from every doc you have access to.
• Any checklist items from documents you've linked to your task drawer (more on that in a sec).

Note that your task drawer and the checklists it pulls from are always in sync: if you check items off in one of them, they also get checked off in the other. It's all very swift and tidy.

How to create tasks

To add tasks to your task drawer or to assign tasks to someone else follow these simple steps.

• Add a checklist to your document by typing @checklist. Important note: a task must be on a checklist or it will not show up in your task drawer

• Then @mention either your name or the name of the person you want to assign the task to.

• Next if you would like to add a deadline or reminder date insert the date using @reminder and select the correct date. You are not required to insert a date to create a task. Tasks with a date will show up in order of due date and tasks without a date will show up at the bottom under Other. 

Adding tasks from a document

There is a second way to add tasks to your task list and that is through the task drawer itself. This is a really great way to add your personal to-do list without having to @mention yourself in each task.

This method will add all the checklist items to your task drawer from an entire document. That includes any tasks on the checklist that are assigned to someone else or are not assigned to anyone. As you can see highlighted in red below by adding tasks from a document there are now tasks assigned to Torie, tasked assigned to Penny, and tasks assigned to no one. 

To add tasks from an entire document go to your task drawer and click the down arrow and Add from document. 

You'll be asked what document you want to add tasks from. Start typing the title, and it should auto-fill pretty quickly.

You can add as many documents as you like. Just know that every checklist item from each document will be synced to your task drawer. (That might be a lot of tasks.)

If you want to unlink documents from your task drawer, go to the task drawer menu and select “Manage Linked Checklists...”

You'll see a list of all the documents you've linked to your task drawer. Click “Unlink” next to any documents you want to unlink, and all of the items from that document will be removed from your task drawer. (Don't worry, the documents themselves won't be affected.)

Pinning and hiding tasks

Hover over a task in your task drawer and you'll see two little buttons:

The pushpin button pins a task to the top of the list. Fairly self-explanatory.

The x hides the task from your task drawer. It'll stay hidden unless someone updates the checklist item the task is synced to. When it's updated in the document, it'll reappears in your task drawer.

If you need to see the tasks you've previously hidden, go to the task drawer menu and select “Show Hidden.”

If you want to unhide any of the hidden items, go for it. You'll see a “Show” button when you hover over it.

Finally, if you want to wipe the slate clean and hide ALL of your outstanding tasks, select “Hide All...” from the task drawer menu.