The starter guide to managing your tasks on Morgen desktop

Achieve more when you manage your tasks alongside your calendar

Traditionally, task management was the domain of to-do lists, task manager apps, and project planning tools. While these tools can be powerful ways of tracking what needs to be done, they tend to fall short when it comes to planning the time to execute those deliverables. To-do lists on their own are full of good intentions, but hard to prioritize and execute when they live in isolation.

Morgen brings your calendar and tasks together into one shared experience, allowing you to easily see your top priority tasks and find time to tackle them.

In this guide, we’ll share top tips for how to get the most from managing and time blocking your tasks in Morgen.

How to set up Morgen task lists

Unlimited Morgen tasks are available as part of every Morgen account.  

To see your Morgen Tasks, click on the checkbox icon in the left rail or use the Alt+A shortcut.

To help keep your tasks organized, all Morgen tasks live in a task list. Create a task list:

1. Open the task manager dropdown by clicking on … at the top of your Desktop panel.

2. Select + New task list

3. Type the name of your list in the open field that just appeared then click Enter

4. You can then assign a color to the task list by clicking … next to the list

You can always reorder your tasks lists.

1. Open the task manager dropdown by clicking on … at the top of your Desktop panel.

2. Select Reorder task lists

3. Drag and drop the lists into the order you would like to see them

Once you have tasks added and scheduled, you will notice 3 additional tasks lists are now visible at the top of your task list panel (unless they are empty). These include:

1. Overdue: Tasks that are open but for which the due date has passed

2. Upcoming: Tasks due in the next 7 days

3. Inbox: Tasks created in your calendar that were not assigned to a particular task list

These lists provide a great way to quickly check what you need to prioritize with some urgency.

Creating a Morgen task

Once you have a task list set-up, you can start adding tasks.  

Tasks can be created in 3 ways:

1. From the task panel, click the + symbol next to your task list. A blank task will appear below. Simply type in the name and hit enter to create your task. You can then add more details about your tasks if you click on the task name, including priority level, duration of the associated work, due date, and any additional notes.

2. From the calendar, create a scheduled task. Highlight an area in your calendar. By default this will open an event. You can change this to a task by selecting Task (rather than Event) in the upper right corner of the widget. You can then add additional details about the task, including if it is a recurrent task and what task list it should be associated with.

3. From the command bar, quickly create a task using natural language. Open the command bar with CTRL+K or from the top nav. Here you can specify the task to add, which task list to assign, the priority level, and the due date.

You can also add subtasks in Morgen. To do so, from your open task list, simply click on the + next to a task. This will then open a blank subtask. Learn more in this guide.

Time blocking by scheduling your task

One of the most effective ways to ensure you have time to complete your tasks, is to schedule them in your calendar.  

To create a scheduled task you can do so as described above, by simply creating a task right in your calendar.

Alternatively, you can schedule a task by dragging a task from your task list into your calendar.  

Here are some tips to make this process quick and easy:

1. Task duration: If you set a duration already for your task, when you drag it into your calendar, it will maintain that duration. If the task has no pre-set duration, you can adjust the task length in your calendar by pulling up or down from the bottom of the task.

2. Assign a calendar: If you have more than one calendar connected to Morgen, in your Preferences, you can assign a default calendar to tasks. When you put a task in your calendar it will then be linked to that calendar by default (this can always be changed in the upper left of the task).

3. Recurring tasks: Only scheduled tasks can be set as recurring. Once you have scheduled a task, click on it in your calendar to open the task widget. There you can set a recurrence pattern for the task.  

4. Busy/free: In your Morgen Preferences, you can decide whether you want your scheduled tasks to be considered Busy or Free by default. These settings can always be changed for each task in the task widget.

5. Private/Public: If you have shared calendars, choose whether you want your scheduled tasks to be Private (others will only see that you’re busy but not what you are doing) or Public (details will be visible to others). You can select your default in your Morgen Preferences.

6. Notifications: You will receive notifications for your scheduled tasks based on the notification settings for the calendar they are associated with. If you prefer, you specify the notifications you want applied to your tasks, particularly useful for important tasks.

7. Check it off: Finally, once that task is complete, we recommend checking it off. Not only will this help you track your tasks, it will also release a little celebration because every accomplished task, big or small, deserves to be celebrated. 🎉

How to view your tasks

You can tune your task views to make it easy to find the information you need quickly.  

Choose your views from the task dropdown menu (… at the top of the Task panel), including:

1. Show scheduled tasks: You can decide whether you want to have your scheduled tasks also appear in the task list view or not. Hiding them can help remove clutter from busy lists.

2. Sort tasks: Choose to sort tasks by Priority or Due Date.

3. Focus on one list: For those with lots of lists, you can choose to filter by lists to focus on just one list at a time.

4. Show archived tasks: Choose to see a list of archived tasks. This compiled list is a great option if you need to quickly look back on and report on the tasks you’ve done. You can always delete tasks from this list to keep it manageable for sifting through.

In addition to Morgen tasks, you can also integrate other task managers into Morgen, including Todoist, Google Tasks, Microsoft To Do, and Outlook email. These integrated tasks can be managed from your Task panel.

Guides for each integration will be added soon.