Tasks have six fixed statuses: Open, To Do, In Progress, Review, Completed, Canceled. The assignee (or anyone with task_update permission) moves the task through the lifecycle as work progresses. Statuses are fixed in the product — they're not workspace-configurable. Overdue tasks don't auto-change status; they're surfaced by visually highlighting the due date in red.

The six statuses

Open

The initial state when a task is created — it exists and is recorded but hasn't been triaged or claimed. Use Open as a "raw incoming" bucket if your team triages tasks before they get assigned forward.

To Do

The task has been triaged and is waiting to be started. The assignee knows about it; it's just queued. This is the most common "active backlog" state.

In Progress

Someone's actively working on the task. Moving a task to In Progress signals to teammates that it's underway and reduces duplicated effort.

Review

Work is done from the assignee's perspective, but it's awaiting confirmation — typically the task creator or another reviewer signing off. Useful when work needs verification before being closed.

If your workflow doesn't have a review step, tasks can go straight from In Progress to Completed — Review is optional.

Completed

The task is done. It drops out of active task views (or shows under a Completed filter, depending on your view setup).

Canceled

The task is no longer needed — work won't be done. Use this rather than deleting, so the task's existence stays in the record for auditing.

How statuses change

Status changes are controlled by the task_update permission. It's not limited to the assignee — anyone with that permission can update a task's status, including admins and master users.

In practice, the assignee typically does most updates as they work, with admins overriding when needed (e.g. cancelling tasks for someone who's left the team).

How overdue is handled

When a task's due date passes, the status does not automatically change to "Overdue." Remindax handles overdue visually instead:

  • The due date is highlighted in red on the task row.
  • The task can be filtered as overdue in views that support that filter.
  • Notifications for overdue items only fire if task notifications were configured for that case.

This is intentional — auto-changing status would make audit trails messy. The visual highlight is the signal that the task needs attention.

Where you see status counts

  • Dashboard Tasks panel — counts per status (Open, To Do, In Progress, Review, Completed, Canceled), with a recent-tasks list.
  • Tasks main view — both a filterable list view and a Kanban view, each respecting the status filter.

List view vs Kanban view

The Tasks module offers two views:

  • List view — a filterable table of tasks. Best for searching, filtering, sorting, and bulk decision-making about prioritisation.
  • Kanban view — columns by status, with tasks as cards. Best for visualising flow and spotting bottlenecks (too many tasks stuck in In Progress, for example).

Both views show the same tasks — just laid out differently.

Differences from reminder statuses

Reminder statuses (Upcoming, In Process, Completed, Expired, Inactive) track documents; task statuses track work. They're independent. There's no built-in link between a reminder's status and a task's status — they're separate systems.

For reminder statuses, see How reminder statuses work.

What happens next

  • Move a task through the lifecycle as work progresses — typically the assignee owns this.
  • Use the Dashboard Tasks panel for a quick "where are we?" view.
  • Filter the Tasks list or use Kanban view for managing your queue.

Edge cases & gotchas

  • Six statuses, not five. Open and To Do are separate — Open is "exists but not yet triaged"; To Do is "ready to be started." Use them deliberately or pick one to skip.
  • Canceled isn't the same as Completed. Completed = the work was done; Canceled = it won't be. Both are end states.
  • No auto-progression. Status changes are manual. Set up your team's habit to update status as work happens.
  • Overdue is visual, not a status. Past-due tasks stay in whatever status they were; their date just highlights red.
  • Status changes aren't logged with a detailed timeline. The task's activity area shows comments and major events, but not a per-field audit timeline of every reassignment or edit.
  • Statuses are fixed by Remindax. You can't add or rename them per workspace.

Related questions

  • What are the task statuses? Open, To Do, In Progress, Review, Completed, Canceled.
  • What's the difference between Open and To Do? Open is the initial untriaged state; To Do means it's been triaged and is queued for the assignee.
  • Who can change a task's status? Anyone with task_update permission, typically the assignee or an admin.
  • Does an overdue task auto-change status? No — the due date highlights red, but the status doesn't change.
  • Can I add a custom status? No — statuses are fixed in the product.
  • What's the difference between Completed and Canceled? Completed = work was done; Canceled = work won't be done. Both are end states.

Related articles

Tasks overview · Create a task · Assign and reassign tasks · How reminder statuses work