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Choose the area of this screen on which you want help:

Top Linkbar Dragging Tasks Between Lists Each Task Each Task Drag Tasks Here to Remove Their Tag Create New Task Bottom Linkbar

Each task

Description: The main part of the display of each task is the task description, but then it is the most important part of a todo list.
Edit: Clicking this button will switch this task into a form where you can change any of the details of the task. You'll see a form like this:

Just as you did when you created the task, you can change the description; add or remove tags (each tag is separated with a space); and set or clear a due date. As you type in each tag, a list of matches with your existing tags is shown below the tag box. If you highlight one of the existing tags and hit return, or click on one of the existing tags then it will be put into the tag box for you. Of course, if you don't want to use one of your existing tags then just ignore the list of matches and keep typing the new tag name. When you've finished making changes to this task just click "Save". If all goes well, you'll see a "Task Updated" message just below the task; and if something goes wrong you'll get an error message there instead. If you decide you don't want to change the task, after all, just click "Cancel" to revert to the original task details.
Abandon: If you've decided that you really, really don't want to do this task any more then you can click this button and it will be permanently deleted from tedium. But then sometimes it feels good to decide that, you know what, you're never going to get round to doing that, so it shouldn't be cluttering up your todo list. Click "Abandon" and watch it fade away to nothingness...
Completed: Woohoo! Look, that thing I needed to do, well I've done it. So enjoy that filip of feelgood as you click on "Completed" and cross that task off your list. And so that the feelgood feeling doesn't fade too quickly, the crossed out task will still be shown on your list for a whole day after you've completed it.
tags: All of the tags that you've assigned to this task will be shown here. Each tag will be a link that'll take you to the list showing all the tasks yet to be completed which have that tag.
due: If you've set a due date for this task, then it'll be shown here to remind you of when it needs to be done. And if you haven't set a due date, then this bit won't be shown at all.

Drag tasks here to remove their tag

Task lists which show all the tasks with a certain tag (or tags) have an area at the bottom of the list for each of those tags. This is to let you easily remove that tag from any of the tasks in the list.

If you click on any task and whilst holding down the left mouse button, drag the task over the tag name and release the mouse button then that task will be edited so that it no longer has that tag. And at the same time, it will no longer belong on the list, so it'll be removed from that too.

For example, say you have a "focus" tag, which you use to keep track of all the tasks you need to do in the next couple of days - the things you're focused on doing. Then, when you're looking at the list of tasks tagged with focus, you decide that too many things have crept into your focus list and it could do with a prune. Looking through the list, "Cut the hedge" and "Mow the lawn" can wait for a bit longer, so you drag each of them onto the "Remove focus" box and they'll be taken from the "focus" list. The tasks will still be there if you look at the "garden" tasks, but just don't have the "focus" tag anymore.

Dragging Tasks Between Lists

When you have more than one list on display on a page, you can drag and drop tasks between the lists.

Let's say that you've got a view showing two lists - one with all the tasks relating to your cleaning business, and another with all the things you need to remember next time you head into town. Your cleaning business list has a task to buy some more polish, dusters and carpet shampoo - stuff you'd normally get from the wholesaler on the outskirts of town. However, your friend has just phoned and you've arranged to meet in town for lunch on Thursday. So, once you've added the task to remind you of which cafe you're meeting as, you drag the "Buy polish, dusters and carpet shampoo" task onto the "town" list because if you're going into town anyway you might as well get your cleaning provisions while you're there.

Now your task to buy cleaning provisions will appear in both your cleaning business list and the things to get in town list, so when you check that list before leaving the house on Thursday you'll be reminded of what you need to pick up after lunch with your friend.

If you drag a task onto a tag list (a list of tasks with a given tag), then that tag will be added to that task, and if you drag a task onto a due list then the due date for that task will be set to the last possible date that would appear on the list.

Create new task...

description: Write what the task is in here! Obviously, you should include as much information as you'll need to be able to understand what the task is when you come back to it. It's also a good idea to keep your tasks small and manageable - it's much easier to get started on "buy cardboard boxes" than it is on "Organize and clear out garage".
tags: Type a list of tags (or keywords) for this task in here, separated by spaces. The tags can be anything that will help you organize your tasks, so you could use the name of the project to which the tag is related; or where you need to be to do the task (e.g. home, work, town...); or anything else that you might want to use to group tasks together; or any combination of these. For more details about tags, you should check out the so what are these 'tag' things tutorial.
to do on: Clicking on the link next to "to do on" will pop up a little calendar to let you choose a day when the task needs to be done. You can choose a different month by clicking on the '<' or '>' links at the top of the calendar, and choose different years with the '<<' and '>>' links. Today's date is highlighted in a darker grey to the rest of the dates, and if a date has already been selected it has a black box drawn round it. If you want to get rid of the due date, so the task won't have one set, choose the "clear date" link at the bottom of the calendar. Finally, the "[x] cancel" link will close the calendar window without making any changes to the due date already chosen.
Create Task: Clicking this button will create the new task given in the "description" field. If everything goes well, you'll see a "Task created" message just above the "description" field, and if the task belongs on the current list it will be added at the end. If there's a problem creating the task, an error message will be shown just above the "description" field.

Linkbar

The linkbar across the top and bottom of each screen is there to help you navigate around tedium. A few of the links are always shown, but most of them are ones that you choose. To change which links are displayed, you need to go to the customize the linkbar page, which you can find linked from the My Settings page.

From left to right, the links on the linkbar are as follows:

tedium logo: As well as making the top-left corner of the page look pretty, clicking on this will take you back to the Welcome page that you first see when you sign into tedium
All tasks: Does what it says on the tin. Takes you to the list of all of your uncompleted tasks.
Due lists: If you've chosen to show some of the "due" lists in the linkbar, then they'll be displayed here. These are links which show you the tasks that are due today, or by tomorrow, or this week, or next month, or...
Tag lists: This section lets you jump to the list of tasks tagged with one of the tags you've chosen. Set it up to show the tags you use the most, so that you can quickly get to see what needs to be done for those tags.
Views: If you're getting into the more advanced parts of tedium, you'll probably have started creating special views to show you more than one list of tasks at a time. If you want them to only ever be one-click away, then configure the linkbar to show them here.
My Tags: This link takes you to where you can manage your tags. It will let you see all the tags you've defined, and how many tasks there are which are tagged with each tag. Plus you can change the name of any of the tags, and delete any tags which no longer have any associated tasks (but only if you don't want them anymore - tedium doesn't care how many tags you have!)
My Views: This link takes you to a list of all the views you've created, and also where you can create new ones
My Reports: This link takes you to a list where you can see all of your reports and change their settings.
My Settings: This link will take you to the settings page. From there, you can customize the linkbar, and change your email address, timezone or password.
Help: Clicking "Help" will open a new window and show you the help page that goes with whatever page you're viewing at the time. From there you can also browse round the rest of the help pages, and tutorials.
Logout: This link will, surprise, surprise, log you out of tedium. Use it when you're done using tedium and don't want anyone else using the computer to be able to see your tasks.

Find more help in the Contents page