You can manage your personal tasks in the notification-and-task dialog, known as the Confluence 'workbox', which drops down when you choose the icon  in the Confluence page header.

You can also create a list of tasks on a page, and assign them to your colleagues via @mention. Changes made in the workbox are reflected in the task list on the page, and changes made on the page are reflected in the workbox too.

There are a few ways that you and other people can assign tasks to you:

  • You can add a personal task via the workbox.
  • You can add a notification to your task list, via the notification workbox. This is useful if you want to get back to it later.
  • Someone can assign you a task from a task list on a Confluence page.
  • Other Confluence actions may create a task for you. For example, your Confluence site may be running a plugin that creates and assigns tasks.

On this page:

Related pages:

Managing your personal tasks in the workbox

The workbox displays your notifications and your personal tasks in separate tabs. The task tab shows the tasks assigned to you. When you update a task that originated in a task list on a page, the update is reflected in the task list too.

Screenshot: Your personal tasks in the workbox

PersonalTasks

To manage your tasks:

  1. Choose the notification-and-task icon  in the Confluence page header.
    • You can use the keyboard shortcut: Type g then n. (When in the Confluence editor, click outside the editor pane before pressing the keyboard shortcut keys.)
    • The icon above shows that you have 3 unread notifications.

  2. Choose the personal tasks icon:
  3. To add a task and assign it to yourself, type the task summary in the text box and choose Add task.
  4. To prioritise tasks, drag and drop them into your chosen order. (Click a task, hold down your mouse button to drag the task into position, then release the mouse button.) 
  5. To complete a task, or mark it as incomplete, choose the check box next to the task.
  6. To add notes to a task and see further information (for example, a related page) choose the task item. The task details dialog will open.

Adding your notifications to your task list

You can flag a notification as a task. This is useful if you want to take action on the notification later.

To add a notification to your task list:

  1. Choose the task and notification icon  in the Confluence page header.
    • You can use the keyboard shortcut: Type g then n. (When in the Confluence editor, click outside the editor pane before pressing the keyboard shortcut keys.)
    • The icon above shows that you have 3 unread notifications.

  2. Choose the notifications icon:
  3. Choose the notification that you want to add to your task list. The notification details dialog will open.
  4. Choose the 'add task' icon  to add this notification to your tasks. The notification will remain in the notification list too.

See Managing Notifications in Confluence for a full description of notifications.

Screenshot: The notification details dialog

ConvertNotification

Creating task lists and managing tasks on a page

Task lists on a page are useful for assigning and managing tasks in a team.

To add a task list on a page:

  1. Edit the page.
  2. Choose the task-list icon  in the editor toolbar, or press [ and then ] on your keyboard.
  3. Type the description of the task.
  4. If you want to assign a task to someone, type '@' and the person's name in the task description. (For more information about @mentions, see Using Mentions.) That person will receive a notification, and the task will appear in their personal task list in the workbox. If you @mention yourself, the task will appear in your personal task list.
  5. To end the list, press Enter twice.

Managing tasks on a page:

  • When viewing a page, you and other viewers can mark tasks as complete or incomplete. Updates to a task on the page will be transferred to the workbox too. (See above.)
  • To be able to update a task list when in view mode, you need permission to edit the page:

What if the update fails?

This section describes what you should do if Confluence displays an error message saying that your change to a task list could not be saved. The cause is probably one of the following:

  • Your session has expired. Resolution: Log in and update the task list again.
  • You do not have permission to update the task list. Resolution: Check your permissions. You need 'Create page' permission in the space. Please check also that there are no page restrictions that prevent you from editing the page.
  • The network is down. Resolution: Please try again when the network is available.

Screenshot: A task list on a page


Managing tasks with Confluence mobile

You can view and manage your tasks on your phone or other mobile device too. See Using Confluence on a Mobile Device for more about mobile platforms.

MobileTasks

Notes

  • In Confluence 4.3.3 and later, administrators can enable and disable the workbox on your Confluence site. They can also connect a JIRA site or another Confluence site, so that notifications from those sites appear in your workbox too. See Configuring Workbox Notifications.
  • The Confluence workbox is provided by a set of plugins. To remove the personal notifications and tasks functionality from your site, you can disable the following plugins. See Disabling or Enabling a Plugin for instructions. Disabling these plugins will disable the entire workbox. It is not possible to disable only tasks or only notifications:

    • Notifications and Tasks - Common Plugin

    • Notifications and Tasks - Host Plugin

    • Notifications and Tasks - Confluence Provider Plugin
  • If you want to re-enable the plugins, do so in the following order: Common Plugin, Host Plugin, Confluence Provider Plugin.
  • There is no option to disable the workbox for an individual user.
  • The workbox is not available in clustered environments. The plugin will be installed and enabled, but it will detect that the site is in clustered mode and will not display the dialog.

  • Completed tasks in the workbox are automatically deleted after 7 days.
  • You cannot disable the functionality that provides task lists on a page.

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