Task status and completing tasks
To do, In progress and Completed, who sets them and when a task fades.
A task has one of three statuses: To do, In progress or Completed. The status is your promise about your own work, so you set it, and Roma moves it only when you ask for work on the task. A task you complete stays in view for ten seconds, then fades out of a list that hides completed tasks.
The three statuses
To do. Every new task is born here, including one the operator starts working on right away.
In progress. You started. Tap the icon once, or tell the operator "start it".
Completed. Done. Roma stamps the moment, so you can ask the operator what you finished this week.
There is no cancelled status. A task you will not do is deleted, and a deleted task stays recoverable for about 30 days (deleted tasks, notes and lists).
How to set a status
Tap the status icon at the left of a task and it advances one step: To do, In progress, Completed, and back to To do. On the Mac and in the browser, ⌘S opens the status picker on a focused task, and the task's right-click menu offers Set status with the three to pick from directly. In the task's detail the status pill at the top does both. On your iPhone, tap the icon, hold the row and pick Set status, or use the pill in the task's detail.
To set several at once, select the tasks first. On the Mac and in the browser, Set status from a selected card's menu applies to every selected task. On your iPhone, pick Select from the list's settings menu and use Status in the bar below.
The operator writes a status when you say so: "mark the invoice done", "reopen the passport task". A task captured with "mark it in progress" in the same message is born In progress. Creating is covered in create a task.
What Roma moves on its own
Status follows your commitment, never the operator's activity. There is exactly one automatic move: when you ask for a draft or some research in a task's conversation, the task goes from To do to In progress, because you commissioned work on it. Nothing else moves a status. The operator's first turn on a task you typed leaves it To do. A draft prepared in the background leaves it To do. Roma never completes a task on its own, never reopens one and never moves a status back. A status you set yourself always stands.
Completing a task
A task is completed the moment you tap. It stays where it was for ten seconds, so a slip is one tap away, then fades out of a list that hides completed tasks. Tapping again inside that window reopens it and cancels the fade.
Each list has its own rule for showing completed tasks. Open the settings menu at the end of the bar, then View settings → Show › Completed tasks, and pick Always, Last day or Never. Never is the default on every list, your Tasks list included, and the rule is saved on the list, so every device shows it the same way. Always shows every completed task the app holds, which in the browser and in the Mac app is the last seven days. The task's own detail, your favorites and a view that shows completed tasks still show it.
Completing a task also takes it out of a list's count: the number on a list's card and on a board column counts open tasks alone.
On a task you share with someone, the people on it can be told when you complete it, under Settings → Notifications → Completed shared tasks.
Status in sorting and on the board
Sort a list by Status and the order is To do, then In progress, then Completed. A list sorted by Last edited does not reorder when you complete a task, because a status is not an edit.
Group a board by Status and you get three columns. Drag a card into another column to set its status, and drag the column headers to arrange the three as you like. The icon still cycles in the same order wherever the columns stand. The board is in list, board and table layouts.
Status on other lists
Status is a kind of property any list can have. Add one under Edit list → Add property → Status, and the list's items get the status icon, the tap cycle, the completed rule and the open count. On the Tasks list the Status property cannot be deleted or turned into another kind. On every other list it can. A Select you name "Status" with your own options (Backlog, Doing, Shipped) is an ordinary select, not the task status: it groups a board and filters a list, but it has no icon to tap. The kinds are in properties.
Questions people ask
Why did my task move to In progress by itself?
Because you asked for work on it. Asking for a draft or research in the task's conversation marks it In progress, since you commissioned the work. Nothing the operator does on its own moves a status.
Where do my completed tasks go?
They stay on their list, hidden by the list's completed rule. Open the settings menu, then View settings → Show › Completed tasks, and pick Always or Last day to see them. The task's detail and your favorites show a completed task either way.
Can I undo completing a task?
Yes. Tap the icon again within ten seconds and the task reopens in place. Later, show completed tasks on the list and tap the icon there, or ask the operator to reopen it.
Can the operator complete tasks for me?
Only when you tell it to. "Mark the invoice done" completes the task. Finishing a draft or some research never does, because only you decide when a task is done.