How easy is it to assign tasks in To Do?

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Like everything, it’s pretty easy when you know what to do and everything is setup. Let me explain exactly how to assign tasks in To Do…

Assign to field in the task options
Assign to field in the task options

First thing is to find the assign option.

(I’m assuming that you already know how to create a task, or can work it out. 😉)

In your list, select the task, to open/display the details.

See that option – Assign to

Easy right…

But when you click on it you see

Assign to dialog box (not a shared list)
Assign to dialog box (not shared)

Pretty easy to assign it to yourself… but not exactly what you want to do.

To have more than yourself to assign tasks to, the list needs to be shared with others.

(And that’s the reason that I’ve already written the post about sharing – It’s good to share including your To Do tasks)

Note: The type of Microsoft Account that you have, will define who you can share a list with. More details in the linked post.

Great, you’ve shared it with people…

Have they accepted?

Until they accept, you won’t be able to see them, or assign anything to them.

You can check by either clicking on the Share button or Assign to. Either way you’ll see more than just your name.

Assign to dialog box when the list is shared
Assign to with a shared list
The name of the assigned person replaces the option 'Assign to'
Assigned task

If you’re in the Assign to box – click on the other person to actually ask them to complete the task. Otherwise, close the Share dialog box and select the task and Assign to.

The next time you click on the task, you don’t see the ‘Assign to’ option, instead you see the name of the person that you’ve assigned the task to.

Assigned Tasks

If you’re the person that the task has been assigned to, then the list called ‘Assigned To Me’ is where you’ll see these tasks.

Assigned to me list
Assigned To Me

Keeping track of assigned tasks in To Do

You’ve assigned a task (or two) to other people. How do you know if they have completed them?

Well, you don’t know if they are in progress, but you will see (kinda) when it’s completed.

What do I mean by ‘kinda’?

Completed tasks are crossed out and moved to the completed section. i.e. they aren’t in the main list any more.

Completed tasks are moved, even if they have been assigned to others
The assigned task moves to completed when ticked done

Expand the ‘completed’ list, to see the task there – and the initials (or image) to show who it was assigned to.

Change the assigned task

Remove the person assigned by click on the X at the end of their name.
Change or remove assigned person

There will (I’m sure) be times that you need to either take back the task, or perhaps, change who it’s been assigned to.

Open the details of the task, to see the assigned person.

Remove the assignment

Hover over the name to see an ‘X’ on the right hand side.

Simply click on the ‘X’ to remove them. The option will return back to ‘Assign to’.

Change the assignment

While you can (as above) remove the person and then assign the task to someone else, there is a simpler way.

Click on the assigned name. The dialog box ‘Assign to’ opens (again).

Just click on the new name to re-assign the task.

Next Steps

Will you be using the assign tasks option? Share in the comments.

How about a great way to plan out your tasks for the day? (Psst that’s next week’s post)

Or if you’ve got questions then Book a Call with me for a chat.

Related Posts

how easy is it to assign tasks in To Do?, how to assign tasks in to do, assign a task in to do

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