Tasks (Notes) field as text block

[BFGagliolo]

I use the task option to keep track of items that need to be performed for clients. More work on the task section would be great. One simple change would be to change the NOTES field to a text block like the REFERENCE field is on a time entry.

[Adam]

Hi BF,

The Codes & Notes fields in items like Clients, Projects, Tasks, etc. are short and are meant to be short.  If you were to list a paragraphs amount of stuff one every single line of an export, it would be very messy.  These fields are meant to be short and simple.  Some people use the fields for special items (e.g. Matter codes & descriptions, etc.) and is just for quick info without taking up too much space.

[BFGagliolo]

I understand, can you add a extended notes field to the tasks?

[Adam]

If you need to write long notes to your client, that should be done in the Reference field.  Otherwise, for example, if you had a long note in the Task and printed that on the invoice, on every line that that Task is on, it would repeat the long text every time.  I don't think that is what you would want.

[BFGagliolo]

I do see what you are talking about on the invoice with the "task" name and notes repeating on every time entry. I guess what I am trying to do is keep track of open tasks for a client that still need to have work performed. I use a different system today for this feature and wanted to move this to the time entry system. What I would love to see is a "Task" list at the same level at the "Time Entries" and not have to go Setup >> Database >> Tasks to edit the entries. I would also love to see an extended notes field that did not print on the invoice. This would allow me to enter tasks that need attention and still record time related to the tasks.

[Adam]

I think you finally stumped the panel.  I really don't have any solution for your question.  You are somehow trying to track a series of Tasks.  Since nothing is "closed" out at any point, we do not have a way to do that.  Usually people just work on something until it is done.  I would think that you would just bill your work, whatever it is on some regular basis (e.g. weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.).  When you Invoice, it would just pull any new entries.

You can make items "hidden", such as Clients, Projects, Tasks if you do not want to see them any more on the picker lists.  They will always show up in the database maintenance screens.

As for your questions about Editing.  We only allow editing from the Setup -> Database section.  While you can add things on the fly from Entries, you cannot edit them.  You should not have to be editing records all the time, if ever, after adding them.

I guess I do not have an understanding of how you work as it sounds very different than regular Time Tracking.

You can "turn off" many of the fields from printing on the invoice by going into the Setup -> Invoicing -> Export -> Description Fields and turning them Off.  That would allow you to put a short note in the Task for your own info, without displaying it on ever line of the invoice.  However we probably would not be adding any large multiline text box in the database items.  I will add it to our "wishlist", but can make no promises.

[BFGagliolo]

Thank you for the good product. I can work around the "task" limits by using other tools to track open tasks. I was just hoping to only need the time tracking tool to also keep track of my open tasks. As I work for a client there are always additional future tasks that need to be captured so I can work on in the future. Thank you for being open to adding new features to your product.