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Closed Task Status

1. • CommentAuthorLauraTDG
   • CommentTimeSep 29th 2008

    
   I just ran into an issue that is going to make my artists crazy. It goes like this:
   
   When an artist finishes a task, he changes the status to Closed. The task then disappears from his list of To Dos, unless he clicks "Include Closed Tasks."
   
   I use a list of all Closed tasks to see what needs to be billed. Because sometimes a single project might have many tasks, I need a way to keep track of which tasks I have already billed, and which ones are new to my to-bill list. Therefore, I created a new Task Status called "Billed." After billing, I change the task status to this.
   
   Enter the problem. Changing the status from Closed to Billed causes the task to reappear on the artists' To Do lists. This makes them cranky. Cranky artists are to be avoided at all costs.
   
   So here, at last, is my question: Is there any way to make custom Task Statuses mimic the built-in Closed status, so that items marked "Billed" would be listed (or not listed) the same as regular Closed tasks?
2. • CommentAuthorLauraTDG
   • CommentTimeSep 30th 2008

    
   I haven't found the solution I want (different levels of Closed-ness), but here is a solution I found that is working for the meanwhile (in case anyone cares):
   
   Instead of artists marking their projects Closed, I am having them mark them Ready To Bill, a new status I just created. I then bill from that list and mark the projects closed once the billing is done. It isn't a perfect solution because the tasks still stay on the artists To Do lists until I have billed them, but it's better than batting tasks around.
   
   I'd still love to know if I can have several task statuses that all function like Closed.
3. • CommentAuthorMaurice
   • CommentTimeOct 3rd 2008

    
   I think what you're looking for is similar to what I'd like--a way to use filters to exclude tasks. For instance, if I want to sort on priority but not see all the low priority items, an exclude filter would let me do that. Maybe it's a checkbox next to each filter pulldown to change the function from include to exclude.
4. •  
     CommentAuthorMichael
   • CommentTimeOct 3rd 2008

    
   Regarding modifying the attributes and triggers for a customized task status, unfortunately there is not a way to do this right now. The closed status is somewhat unique in nature. Regarding excluding items, we do have customized selection of items within drop downs on our list of features to develop. Here is a quick screenshot:
   
   
   
   When this is complete you will be able to create customized task filters that include or exclude certain items so that you only see what you are looking for. In the example above someone could create a task filter that includes everything except for "Ready to Bill". The task counts and daily email would still count the tasks until they are closed, but at least you would be able to filter around the tasks.
5. • CommentAuthorLauraTDG
   • CommentTimeOct 27th 2008

    
   That looks wonderful, Michael. It will be very, very useful for us. Will that feature eventually be available for all the Filter Options?
6. •  
     CommentAuthorMichael
   • CommentTimeOct 27th 2008 edited

    
   It will indeed and you will be able to include OR exclude by client, project, status, module, etc.