Taskspect™ User Guide

Getting Started

When you launch Taskspect™ for the first time, you'll be greeted with a welcome dialog that lets you choose how to begin:

The first-run dialog lets you choose between sample data or a fresh start

Yes, show me around — Creates sample areas, projects, tasks, and time blocks so you can explore every feature right away
No, start fresh — Starts with an empty workspace containing only the Inbox project

Changed your mind? You can always install the sample data later from Help > Install Sample Data, or remove it by deleting the sample projects.

Overview

Taskspect™ is a task management app with three synchronized views that give you different perspectives on the same data. Changes made in one view are instantly reflected in the others.

Task View

Column-based project layout. See all your tasks organized by project, drag between columns to reorganize.

Timeline View

Gantt-style zoomable timeline. Visualize task schedules, drag to reschedule, resize to adjust dates.

Timebox View

Day planner with hourly time slots. Schedule your day by dragging tasks onto specific hours.

Keyboard-First

Every action has a keyboard shortcut. Press Tab to cycle views, ⌘N to create tasks.

Taskspect remembers your last active view, sidebar state, and all panel positions between sessions. When you relaunch, you'll pick up exactly where you left off.

Designed for widescreen: Taskspect uses the full width of your display. Projects, timelines, and schedules are spread across the screen so you can see everything at once.

Task View

Task View presents your work as columns, one per project. Each task card shows its title, due date, tags, checklist progress, and status at a glance.

Task View with projects as columns and task cards showing metadata

Working with Task Cards

Click a task card to open the detail panel for editing
Drag a task card between columns to move it to a different project
Right-click a task card for quick actions: move to Today, change project, start/complete/delete
Arrow keys — Press ↑ ↓ to navigate between tasks, ← → to move between columns
Use the Quick Add input in the Inbox column header to rapidly capture new tasks
Expand a task's checklist by clicking the checklist count on the card

Column Management

Drag column headers to reorder projects
Drag the column edge to resize; double-click to reset width
Toggle Inbox visibility with ⌘⇧I or via View > Toggle Inbox
Hide empty columns automatically via Settings > Task View > Hide Empty Columns

Timeline View

Timeline View displays tasks as horizontal blocks on a calendar grid, organized by project. It provides a Gantt-style overview of your schedule.

Timeline View showing tasks as draggable blocks on a date grid

Interacting with Timeline Blocks

Click a block to open the detail panel
Drag the body of a block left or right to reschedule (moves both start and end dates)
Drag the edges of a block to resize and adjust start/end dates independently
Press ← or → to nudge a selected task by one day
Use the Zoom controls (⌘+ / ⌘–) to adjust the time scale

Navigation

The orange playhead marks today's date
Scroll horizontally to navigate through time
Collapse or expand areas and projects by clicking their headers in the label panel
Drag the label panel edge to resize the project name column

Timebox View

Timebox View is a day planner with 30-minute time slots. Use it to plan your day by scheduling tasks into specific hours.

Timebox View with task list on the left and hourly schedule on the right

Task List (Left Side)

The left side shows your unscheduled tasks, organized by date group:

Inbox — Tasks in your Inbox (always visible regardless of filter)
Overdue — Tasks past their deadline (shown in red)
Today — Tasks scheduled for today
Tomorrow, This Week, Later This Month — Upcoming tasks grouped by timeframe
Someday — Tasks with no dates

Drag the right edge of the task list to resize it. Double-click to reset the width.

Scheduling Tasks

Drag a task from the left sidebar onto a time slot on the right to schedule it
Tasks stay in the left list after scheduling — you can drag the same task to multiple time slots throughout the day
Drag a scheduled block to move it to a different time
Resize a block by dragging its top or bottom edge to adjust duration
Double-click an empty slot to create a non-task time block (e.g., Lunch, Meeting)
Click the × button on a block to remove it from the schedule
When a task is completed or cancelled, its scheduled blocks are automatically removed

Time Blocks

Time blocks are schedule entries that aren't tied to a specific task. Use them for recurring activities like lunch breaks, commute time, or meetings. Double-click a time block's title to rename it, and click its color dot to cycle through colors.

Summary bar: The bar at the top shows how many tasks are scheduled, total planned time, and free time remaining. A red indicator means you're overcommitted.

Detail Panel

Click any task to open the detail panel at the bottom of the screen. The panel lets you edit all task properties:

Detail panel showing task properties, notes, and checklist

Title — Click to edit the task name
Status — Open, In Progress, Paused, Completed, or Cancelled
When — Schedule for Today, a specific date, or Someday. Tasks appear in the Today filter when their When date arrives and stay there until completed or rescheduled.
Deadline — Set a due date. Tasks past their deadline appear in the Overdue filter.
Project — Reassign to a different project
Tags — Add color-coded labels for categorization
Notes — Add freeform text notes
Checklist — Add subtasks and track completion

Press Esc to close the detail panel. If you have unsaved changes, you'll be prompted to save or discard them. Press Delete or Backspace to delete the selected task (undoable with ⌘Z).

Task Lifecycle

Every task has a status that tracks its progress. You can change status through the detail panel or the context menu.

Statuses

Open — The default state for new tasks
In Progress — Work has started (shown with a colored dot indicator)
Paused — Temporarily on hold (shown with a pause icon)
Completed — Done. Moves to the Logbook filter
Cancelled — Dropped. Also moves to the Logbook

Changing Status

There are three ways to change a task's status:

Detail panel: Click a task to open it, then use the status dropdown to select a new status
Context menu: Right-click any task card for quick status actions:
- Start — Set to In Progress
- Pause / Resume — Toggle between Paused and In Progress
- Complete — Mark as done
- Cancel — Cancel this task
- Reopen — Set a completed or cancelled task back to Open
Keyboard shortcuts: When a task is selected, press S (start), P (pause), C (complete), X (cancel), or O (reopen)

Context Menu

Right-click any task card in any view to access quick actions:

Move to Today / Remove from Today — Schedule or unschedule the task for today
Status actions — Start, Pause, Complete, Cancel, or Reopen
Move to Project — Reassign the task to a different project
Delete — Permanently remove the task

Undo: Most actions including task deletion can be undone with ⌘Z.

Sidebar & Filters

The left sidebar provides two sections for navigating your tasks:

Focus Filters

Filter tasks across all projects by their scheduling status:

Today — Tasks whose When date has arrived (today or earlier) plus tasks with today's deadline. Tasks stay in Today until completed or rescheduled to a future date.
Upcoming — Tasks with a future date
Anytime — All open tasks (default view)
Someday — Tasks with no When date and no deadline
In Progress — Tasks currently in progress or paused
Logbook — Completed and cancelled tasks
Overdue — Tasks past their deadline (appears when overdue tasks exist)

The active focus filter stays highlighted even when you also select an area or project.

Areas & Projects

Below the focus filters, the sidebar lists your areas (e.g., Work, Personal) and their projects. Click a project to filter the view to just that project's tasks. Click it again to clear the filter.

Drag areas in the sidebar to reorder them
Drag projects within an area to reorder them
Click the gear icon (visible on hover) to edit an area or project's name, color, and description
Collapse or expand area sections by clicking the arrow

Toggle the sidebar with ⌘\ or via View > Toggle Sidebar.

Inbox: Inbox tasks are always visible regardless of the active focus filter. Inbox is a processing queue for new, unscheduled tasks — it doesn't get filtered by date.

Drag and Drop

Drag and drop works consistently across all views with orange visual feedback:

Task View: Drag cards between columns to change projects. Drag column headers to reorder.
Timeline View: Drag blocks to reschedule. Drag between rows to change projects. Drag edges to resize.
Timebox View: Drag tasks from the sidebar to schedule. Drag the same task to multiple time slots. Drag blocks to reschedule. Drag edges to resize.
Tags: Drag a tag from the sidebar onto a task card in any view to apply it.
Sidebar: Drag areas and projects to reorder them.

Areas & Projects

Tasks are organized in a hierarchy: Areas contain Projects, and Projects contain Tasks.

Areas

Areas represent broad categories of responsibility (e.g., Work, Personal, Health). Create a new area with ⌘⌥N. Each area has a color that tints its project columns. Edit an area by hovering over it in the sidebar and clicking the gear icon.

Projects

Projects are collections of related tasks within an area. Create a new project with ⌘⇧N. Projects appear as columns in Task View and rows in Timeline View. Edit a project by hovering over it in the sidebar and clicking the gear icon.

Inbox

The Inbox is a special project that captures tasks not yet assigned to a project. Use the Quick Add bar in the Inbox column header or ⌘N to quickly capture tasks. Inbox tasks are always visible in all views regardless of the active filter.

Search

Press ⌘F or click the search box to filter tasks by name across all projects. The search works in all three views and matches against task titles and tag names. Press Esc to clear the search.

Import & Export

Import CSV

Import tasks from a CSV file via File > Import > Import CSV. The import wizard lets you map CSV columns to task fields, preview the data, and choose a target project. Auto-detection attempts to match common column names. Dates must be in YYYY-MM-DD format.

Export CSV

Export all your data to CSV via File > Export > Export CSV. The export includes all tasks across all projects with their properties, tags, and checklist items.