Administrators and Managers with special permission can add, edit, archive, or delete tasks from Manage > Tasks. Once a task is added to your account, it can be added to any project. Then people can track time to it.

If you have several tasks in your account, using your browser’s search function can be a handy way to quickly track one down in this section of the account.

Adding tasks

Add a task to your Harvest account

1. Go to Manage > Tasks and click New task.
2. Name the task.
3. Enter a default rate, if applicable. You can adjust it when you are creating or editing a project.
   • Only Managers with permission to view rates will be able to see the billable rate information.
4. Check This task is billable by default if the task is always billable.
5. Select This is a common task if you want it to be automatically added to all future projects.
6. Check Add this task to all existing projects if the task should also be assigned to your account’s existing projects.
7. Click Save task.

Add a task directly to a project

1. Go to Projects and click the Actions menu to the right of the project you’d like to edit.
2. Select Edit to get to the Project Edit form.
3. Scroll down until you see the Tasks list. Add the desired task from the menu.
4. Save your project.

Subtasks

There isn't a way to create subtasks in Harvest. However, some people find it helpful to create tasks with the subtask as part of the task name. For example: "Design: Logo", "Design: Home Page."

Importing tasks

Also, tasks can’t be directly imported into Harvest. Instead, Administrators can import blank time entries (with 0 in the Hours column) via a CSV file, and Harvest will create any tasks that don’t already exist in the account. More information on importing, including a video walkthrough, is available in our article on importing data.

Note that after importing, you may want to go to Manage > Tasks to edit the new tasks’ defaults, such as billable rates. You can find more on editing tasks below.

Editing tasks

You can edit tasks under Manage > Tasks by clicking the Actions dropdown next to the task name and selecting Edit.

Updates to your tasks affect your projects differently:

• Edits that affect all existing projects
  • Changing Task name
• Edits that affect future projects only
  • Updating a task’s Default billable rate
  • Selecting This task is billable by default
  • Selecting This is a common task

Adding a task to all projects

You can add a task to all existing projects by following these steps:

1. Go to Manage > Tasks.
2. Click Actions for the task and select Add to all projects.
3. Confirm by clicking the Add to all projects button.
4. If any of the current projects use task billable rates or a task-based budget, make sure you then go to your Projects section to edit the project itself and set those fields correctly in the project edit form's Tasks section.

If you'd like to the task to be added automatically to all future projects as well, you'll need to set it as a common task from Actions > Edit.

Archiving tasks

You can archive a task if it has time tracked to it. To archive a task:

1. Go to Manage > Tasks.
2. Click Actions to the right of the task’s name and select Archive.
3. Click Archive task to confirm.

Once you archive a task, it will be archived on all the projects it is currently assigned to, and people won’t be able to track time to it anymore. All time tracked to the task will stay intact and will be available for reporting and invoicing.

Restoring tasks

Restore a single archived task

1. Go to Manage > Tasks, and click View archived tasks in the upper right.
2. Click Restore next to the task’s name.

Restore archived tasks in bulk

1. Go to Manage > Tasks, and click View archived tasks in the upper right.
2. Click the checkbox next to the tasks you wish to restore.
   • You can click on the checkbox next to Task to select all of your archived tasks.
3. Click Restore selected tasks and confirm your choice.

If you restore a task, you also need to restore it on your projects, if necessary. This will allow you to track time to the task on that project. To restore a task on a project:

1. Go to Projects and click the Actions menu to the right of the project you’d like to edit.
2. Select Edit to get to the Project edit form.
3. In the Tasks section, click Restore next to the task’s name to re-add it to the project.
4. Then, click Update project at the bottom of the page.

Deleting tasks

You can only delete a task if it has no time tracked to it. To delete a task:

1. Delete all time entries for that task OR move all time entries for that task to a different one.
2. Go to Manage > Tasks, click Actions next to the task name, and select Delete.
3. Click the Delete task button to confirm. You cannot undo this action.

Bulk archiving or deleting tasks

To archive or delete multiple tasks on your account at once:

1. Go to Manage > Tasks.
2. Select the checkbox next to the tasks you'd like to archive or delete.
   • You can click on the checkbox next to Common tasks to select all of the tasks that are automatically added to your new projects.
   • You can click on the checkbox next to Other tasks to select all of the tasks that need to be manually added to your projects. 
3. Click Archive or delete selected tasks and confirm your choice.

Any tasks with time tracked to them will be archived, while tasks without time will be permanently deleted.