Effectively managing task schedules is crucial for ensuring project success and team collaboration. This article explains how to set up due dates and times, use start dates and times, and create recurring tasks for ongoing work.
Task due dates, due times, and date ranges
Set a due date, due time, or a date range to let your teammates know when a task should be completed by.
To add a due date, navigate to Due date and either type a date or select it from the calendar. To add a due time, click the clock in the calendar and add a time.
Start dates and start times
Start dates and start times are available on Asana Starter, Advanced, Enterprise, and Enterprise+ tiers, as well as legacy tiers Premium, Business, and Legacy Enterprise.
Start dates and start times enable teams with complex workflows to effectively schedule tasks across multiple days or even down to the minute.
To add a start date and time:
- Click the Due date field
- Click or type your desired start date and due date
- Click the clock icon at the bottom of the calendar to select start and due times
You will see your date range included in the task.
Task dates will default to today's date if:
- You set a start time without a date or a due time
- You set a start and due time without a date
- You remove the due date after the time range is set
- You only set a start time or start date
Recurring tasks
If you have a task that you need to complete on a regular basis, you can set it up as a recurring task.
When you set up a recurring task, it will only appear on your calendar the next time the task is due, not every single time the recurring task is due in the future. Once you mark a recurring task completed, it will duplicate itself for the next time the recurring task is set to be due. The interval you've set for your task's recurrence will determine the new due date.
All fields (except task comments) are copied over when a recurring task copies itself, including subtasks.
To set a task as a recurring task:
- Click the Due Date field
- Select Set to repeat
- Click on the days that you would like the task to recur
- You will have the option to set the recurring task on a weekly, monthly, yearly, periodical, or customized basis.
If you set a parent task to repeat, do not set any of its subtasks to repeat as well. Doing so will result in the recurring subtask duplicating exponentially.
Due dates for periodically recurring tasks are determined by the date the task was last completed.
Recurring tasks tips
- If you want a task to repeat on weekdays, set the task to repeat Weekly, then check the MTWTF boxes
- If you want a task to repeat quarterly, set the task to repeat Monthly and select to repeat every 3 months
- If you want a task to repeat bi-annually, set the task to repeat Monthly and select to repeat every 6 months
You can stop a recurring task from repeating ever again by clicking on the remove repeat option. Alternatively, removing the entire due date from the task will stop the task from recurring.