Tasks & Subtasks
A task is the basic actionable item in Locus. It can stand alone, belong to a project, sit under a section, or contain subtasks to any practical depth.
What a Task Can Store
In addition to a title, a task can have:
- A project and section position
- Next Action, Waiting For, or Someday / Maybe
- Tags, a flag, and estimated duration
- Plan, due, and defer dates
- A repeat rule, due notification, alarm reminder, and custom reminders
- Notes, attachments, and subtasks
- Event start and end times
A task belongs to at most one project but can have multiple tags. One attachment can be up to 20 MB, and one file-selection batch can contain up to 20 files. A mixed batch can partially succeed.
Status
| Status | Meaning | Hierarchy effect |
|---|---|---|
| Active | Participates normally in lists, Schedule, and availability | Children still evaluate their own and parent conditions |
| Paused | Temporarily not being advanced | Descendants are unavailable |
| Completed | Finished | Records a completion date and appears in Logbook |
| Canceled | No longer needed | No longer appears as open work |
Completing or canceling a parent can affect its subtree. Project status also cascades into project tasks. Read the confirmation prompt before a large status operation.
Subtasks and Order
A task can contain subtasks and organize its direct children as:
- Parallel: multiple subtasks can be available together.
- Sequential: later siblings stay blocked until earlier work is cleared.
“First Available” is not simply the first visible row. Locus searches for the first leaf that can actually be acted on while considering status, project order, parent state, defer dates, and action lists.
Available, Blocked, and Unavailable
- Available: current conditions permit action.
- Blocked: an earlier open item in the same sequential list is in the way.
- Unavailable: the task or an ancestor is paused, completed, or canceled; the defer date has not arrived; or the task is in Waiting For or Someday / Maybe.
First Available is calculated; Next Action is selected by you. See Action Lists.
Sections
A section is a structural divider inside a project, such as Research, Implementation, or Wrap-up. It must sit directly under a project and can contain tasks, but it is not a normal to-do:
- It does not enter task statistics or the Inbox.
- It does not carry dates, tags, action lists, attachments, or reminders.
- It can organize its direct tasks as parallel or sequential.
- You can set it Active or Completed.
Date and Parent Constraints
Locus keeps hierarchy dates coherent when you edit or move items:
- A child plan or due date cannot be later than the corresponding parent date.
- A child defer date cannot be earlier than the parent defer date.
- If a parent is flagged, children remain flagged.
- Moving under a new parent applies required project, action-list, and hierarchy constraints.
Locus can adjust conflicting values automatically. Review the saved result. See Dates, Repeats & Reminders.
Events and Ordinary Tasks
An event task has a start time and an end time. It can cross midnight and remain in a task hierarchy. A Locus event is different from an Apple Calendar event: the former is Locus task data; the latter comes from a calendar you permitted Locus to display.
Create, Edit, and Complete
All native platforms provide a full editor and fast list actions. Common operations include opening details, completing, flagging, moving, changing hierarchy, deleting, converting a task to a project, and reordering sequential work.
Mac
Common shortcuts include ⌘. to complete, Shift–⌘–L to flag, ⌘Delete to delete, and Option–⌘–I to toggle the inspector. With a task selected, Shift–⌘–Return adds a subtask and ⌘Return adds a sibling.
Deletion and Recovery
Deletion is not the same as completion or cancellation and does not remain in Logbook as ordinary history. Create a manual backup before major reorganizations. After an accidental deletion, avoid making many more edits or repeatedly opening unsynced devices until you decide whether to restore a backup.