Summary Tasks on the Board, List and Calendar

 

Sheet and Gantt are only available on Team and above, learn more.

Summary Task Definition

A summary task is a task that has subtasks. For example:

1. Summary task

Creating summary tasks is easy. On the task card, enter the parent task name. You'll then be able to add subtasks accordingly.

 

To see summary tasks on the board, list or calendar, the summary task box under the tasks filter must be checked, or all of the task filter options must be unchecked. You might have made a summary task on the Gantt chart, but it will reflect across all project views.

 

Summary Tasks on the Board and List

A summary task can be identified on the board and list views by its associated Gantt color. A summary task on the board will have a curved edge, with a triangle shape in the top left, and the associated subtasks will have a straight edge, as seen below:

 

 

Summary tasks on the list are identified the same way. The picture below shows what it looks like on the list.

 

 

If a Gantt color isn’t selected, teal blue will be automatically selected for the summary task and the associated subtasks won’t be indicated with color.

 

Summary Tasks on the Calendar

On the calendar, you must have the task card open to see the summary task color. If no color is selected, the summary task will appear in teal blue. Again, you'll be able to identify calendar summary tasks by the small triangle in the upper left-hand corner. 

 

Managing Summary Tasks on the Board, List and Calendar

You can manage and view your summary tasks by clicking on them. You'll see the following information on the open summary task card:

Progress

The progress of all of the subtasks combined. For example, if you have a summary task with four subtasks, and one subtask is 100% complete while the other three are 0% complete, the overall progress would be 25%. You can mark all subtasks complete by clicking the large checkmark next to the total number of subtasks.

Collaborators can’t create new subtasks, but they can mark a summary task complete.

Assigned To

The "assigned to" field displays the person that the summary task is assigned to, which may or not be the same or different from the subtask assignees.

Subtasks

Here, you'll see the names of the subtasks along with the assignees. You’ll also have the option to mark subtasks as complete and change their start and end dates.

Please note that the summary task due date will change if you update the last subtask. In addition, all task link rules that have been set in the Gantt will also apply.

If your summary task is more than one level deep, you'll see the summary task symbol next to each summary task in the hierarchy.

You can add more subtasks by clicking the add subtask button. You can also create additional levels in the hierarchy by creating a subtask, selecting it, and creating additional subtasks.

If a new summary task is created, you'll see that summary task represented on the List, Board, and Calendar with the symbol next to it. You'll also see it on the Gantt and Sheet view.

If you're interested in learning about summary tasks on the Gantt chart, you can read our corresponding article.