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

If you have a lot of 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.

Creating new tasks

Adding a new task to your Harvest account

You can create new tasks for the account by taking the following steps: 

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.
   • You'll still be able to change the billable status of the task per project, if necessary.
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.

Creating a new task directly on a project

It's also possible to create a new task directly from the project form. When creating tasks this way you may wish to head over to Manage > Tasks to set defaults for the task such as billable rate and whether or not the task should be added to all existing or new projects. 

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.

Creating 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

Tasks can’t be directly imported into Harvest. Instead, if your plan supports imports, 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.

How editing a task affects projects

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 an existing task to all projects

Adding an existing task to all existing projects

You can set an existing task to be added 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 your 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.

Adding an existing task to all future projects (common task)

If you'd like to set an existing task to be added automatically to all future projects as well, you'll need to designate it as a common task.

1. Go to Manage > Tasks.
2. Click Actions > Edit next to the task name. 
3. Select the box next to This is a common task, and should be added to all future projects.
4. Then Update task. 

Removing a task from the list of common tasks

If you'd like to prevent a task from being automatically added to all future projects, you can remove it from the list of common tasks. The task will remain on all projects it's currently assigned to. 

1. Go to Manage > Tasks. 
2. Click Actions > Edit next to the task name. 
3. Uncheck the box next to This is a common task, and should be added to all future projects.
4. Update task. 

Archiving tasks

Archiving a single task for the entire Harvest account

When you archive a task from Manage > Tasks 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. You can archive a task if it has time tracked to it.

To archive a task for the entire account:

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.

Archiving tasks in bulk for the entire Harvest account

To archive multiple tasks at one time in the account you can take the following steps. When bulk archiving tasks, any tasks with time tracked to them will be archived, while tasks without time tracked will be permanently deleted.

1. Go to Manage > Tasks.
2. Select the checkbox next to the tasks you'd like to archive.
   • 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.

Archiving a single task on a specific project

Archiving a task directly on a project will affect only that project. The task will remain in the account and will be active and available for tracking on other projects. To archive a task for a single project:

1. Head to Projects. 
2. Select Actions > Edit next to the project name. 
3. Scroll down to the Tasks section and select the X next to the task you'd like to remove from the project. 
4. Scroll down to Update project. 

Restoring archived tasks

Restoring a single archived task for the Harvest account

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

Restoring archived tasks in bulk for the Harvest account

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 for the entire account, you also need to restore it on any projects it was assigned to. This will allow you to track time to the task on those projects once again. 

Restoring an archived task on a specific project

1. Go to Projects.
2. Select Actions >Edit next to the project you’d like to edit.
3. In the Tasks section, click Restore next to the task’s name.
4. Then, click Update project at the bottom of the page.

Deleting tasks

Deleting a single task

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 deleting tasks

To delete multiple tasks in your account at once take the steps below. Any tasks with time tracked to them will be archived, while tasks without time tracked will be permanently deleted.

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.