Automatically delete certain overdue tasks
benjanssen says:
I have a daily repeating task setup for a project I am working on that I want to remember to work on a little each day until it is complete. It's not a big deal if I miss a day, however, so it would be great if I could set this task up to automatically delete that day's task if I don't get to it. After all, it will show up again the next day already.
The same idea would work for a task with an expiring due date. For example, "Go to Free Museum Day" might be set up with a due date for a day on which the museum is having fee admission. If I don't go, the task doesn't need to be overdue but should be set up to automatically delete.
The same idea would work for a task with an expiring due date. For example, "Go to Free Museum Day" might be set up with a due date for a day on which the museum is having fee admission. If I don't go, the task doesn't need to be overdue but should be set up to automatically delete.
benjanssen says:
Vote for this idea! We need this one!
I agree. Now that RTM is so well integrated with calendars, reminders to go for a walk or go to the museum should be able to be in RTM but not cause a huge hassle.
(That's one thing about RTM that I haven't figured out yet -- how to more efficiently manage overdue tasks. They rapidly clutter up my view of what I need to do TODAY. Once something is overdue by a week, it clearly (to me) doesn't actually have to get done today.)
(That's one thing about RTM that I haven't figured out yet -- how to more efficiently manage overdue tasks. They rapidly clutter up my view of what I need to do TODAY. Once something is overdue by a week, it clearly (to me) doesn't actually have to get done today.)
(closed account) says:
The first idea (not having daily tasks build up if you don't get to them) can be easily handled by using "after" repeats instead of "every" repeats. That way, the task remains on the list without also creating a new one for the next day until you complete the first one.
As for handling overdue tasks, there have been discussions on how to cancel a task, discard a task, etc. You can just delete the task. What I do is tag it as Discarded, add a note explaining why it's been discarded, and then complete the task. A Smart List can easily pull them up for me if I want to see my discarded tasks.
I think a problem with implementing this idea is that you'd have to manually turn it on for each task that you want to auto-complete. You'd run into the problem of a task auto-completing when maybe you didn't want it to. It's still something I have to get done even if the due date is in the past. If it auto-completes, then it'll be off the list and I'll never see it, meaning the task will never get done. That has the potential of causing much more inconvenience than just dealing with overdue tasks.
As for handling overdue tasks, there have been discussions on how to cancel a task, discard a task, etc. You can just delete the task. What I do is tag it as Discarded, add a note explaining why it's been discarded, and then complete the task. A Smart List can easily pull them up for me if I want to see my discarded tasks.
I think a problem with implementing this idea is that you'd have to manually turn it on for each task that you want to auto-complete. You'd run into the problem of a task auto-completing when maybe you didn't want it to. It's still something I have to get done even if the due date is in the past. If it auto-completes, then it'll be off the list and I'll never see it, meaning the task will never get done. That has the potential of causing much more inconvenience than just dealing with overdue tasks.
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