Google Tasks' new bigger role: It can manage all your reminders, to-dos, lists

Google is rolling out three important updates to Tasks, the app for quickly creating lists and to-do notes that got a more prominent placement in the new design of Gmail unveiled last year. 

The updates to Tasks are meant to give users a single destination to keep track of important tasks in G Suite and aim to bring in all reminders from Inbox/Gmail, Calendar, and Assistant under one roof. Tasks can be accessed from the right-hand add-on panel in Gmail and Google Calendar, Docs, Sheets, and Slides.  

To make Tasks the one-stop shop for all upcoming reminders and tasks, Google is adding three "highly requested" features. These include the ability to set a date and time for tasks and to receive notifications; create repeating tasks; and import reminders into Tasks. 

"These features will help make sure all your to-dos are in Tasks, and ensure you can keep track of the deadlines associated with them," Google notes in the G Suite blog. 

After creating or editing a task, users should now see an 'Add date/time' field, where users can set a date and time when a task is due, as well as set it to repeat if necessary. 

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Users will also now see a prompt to copy existing reminders over to tasks after opening Tasks on the web or the iOS and Android Tasks app. Users can select the Tasks list they want to add reminders to, or create a new list for them. And there'll be a prompt to delete reminders once they've been copied to Tasks. 

The imported reminders include reminders from Inbox/Gmail, Calendar, or the Assistant and will carry across the same details for the title, date, time, and recurrence of the old reminder. Google notes this is a one-time import, not a constant sync. 

Additionally, the new Tasks created with a date and start time will also show up in the Google Calendar on the web at the time the task was set to. However, the 'Tasks' calendar needs to have been enabled for these to appear in Calendar. 

Also, users of the Tasks mobile app will now get notifications of each task on the date and time they were allocated for, again only if notifications have been enabled. 

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