Managing Epics
Epics group related tasks under one initiative so you can follow the whole effort in one place. This page shows you how to create epics, link tasks to them, track progress, and — when an epic is finished or no longer needed — archive it instead of deleting it.
New to epics? Start with Epics Overview.
Who Can Manage Epics
| You are | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Admin, Super Admin, or Executive | Create, edit, archive, restore, and delete epics; add and link tasks from the epic |
| Department manager | The same actions, for the departments you manage |
| Team member | View the Epics tab, the epic list, and epic details |
If you are a team member, the New Epic button, the edit/archive/delete icons, and the + New task / Link existing buttons are not shown to you. You can still open any epic you have access to and follow its progress.
Epics live inside Tasks. Go to Tasks and open the Epics tab.
Creating an Epic
- Go to Tasks → Epics tab.
- Click New Epic in the top-right corner.
- Fill in the fields below.
- Click Create.
If no epics exist yet, you'll see "No epics yet" with a + Create first epic link that opens the same form.
Fields on the New Epic form
| Field | Required | What to enter |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Yes | A clear, descriptive name for the initiative. Create stays disabled until you enter one. |
| Description | No | What this initiative aims to achieve. There's plenty of room here, so add the context your team needs. |
| Department | No | The department that owns this epic. Choose None to keep it organization-wide. |
| Start Date | No | When the initiative begins. |
| End Date | No | The target completion date. |
When the epic is saved you'll see an "Epic created" confirmation and the epic appears in the list.
Keep titles short and action-oriented — "Migrate to New CRM" reads better than "CRM Stuff". Put the detail in the description.
Department decides who can see the epic. An epic tied to a department is visible to the people who work with that department; leaving it as None keeps it organization-wide. If you manage a department, you can only create epics for the departments you manage.
There is no Status field when you create an epic. Every new epic starts as Active. To move it to Planning — or to any other status — edit the epic afterwards. See Changing Epic Status.
Opening an Epic
Click any epic card in the list to open its detail view. From there you can:
- Use Back to Epics to return to the list.
- See the epic's ID (for example EPC-1), title, status badge, description, progress bar with percentage, and total task count.
- Browse the Tasks list. Each row shows a colored status dot, the task title, its priority, and its status.
- Click any task row to open that task.
If you don't have access to every task in an epic, a line appears under the progress bar telling you how many of the epic's tasks you can see — "Your visible tasks (… of …) — others belong to departments you cannot see." The progress bar still reflects the whole epic.
Linking Tasks to an Epic
There are two ways to attach a task to an epic.
From the task itself
When you create or edit a task, choose an epic in the Epic dropdown. Select None to leave the task ungrouped.
- A task belongs to one epic at a time.
- You can change or remove the epic link at any time.
- Only epics in Planning or Active status appear in this dropdown. Completed, cancelled, and archived epics are not offered as targets.
From the epic detail view
If you can manage epics, two buttons sit above the Tasks list on the epic detail view:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| + New task | Opens the task form already filled in with this epic and its department, so the new task lands in the right place immediately. |
| Link existing | Opens the "Link existing task to epic" picker. |
In the picker, type in the Filter by title or ID... box to narrow the list, then click a task to attach it. You'll see a "Task linked to epic" confirmation.
The picker only offers tasks that are still open. Tasks that are already in this epic, and tasks that are done or cancelled, are left out. If nothing matches, you'll see "No matching tasks. Try a different keyword."
Filtering the Board by Epic
On the Tasks board, use the epic dropdown in the filter row. It starts on All Epics; pick an epic title to show only that epic's tasks. Set it back to All Epics to clear the filter.
See Kanban Board for the rest of the board filters.
Tracking Progress
Every epic shows a progress bar and a percentage, both in the list and on the detail view. Progress updates on its own as tasks move.
- Only tasks in the Done column count as complete.
- Cancelled tasks are left out of the calculation entirely — they neither count as complete nor drag the percentage down.
- An epic with no tasks (or only cancelled tasks) shows 0%.
If a task is genuinely no longer needed, cancel it rather than leaving it open. Cancelling removes it from the epic's progress maths, so your percentage reflects the work that actually remains.
Editing an Epic
- Go to Tasks → Epics tab.
- On the epic card, click the pencil icon.
- The Edit Epic form opens with Title, Description, Department, Status, Start Date, and End Date.
- Click Update.
You'll see an "Epic updated" confirmation.
Status only appears when you're editing. It is the one place where you change an epic's status by hand.
Changing Epic Status
Open the epic for editing and pick a value in the Status dropdown.
| Status | When to use it | Badge |
|---|---|---|
| Planning | The initiative is agreed but work hasn't started. | Grey |
| Active | Work is underway. This is what every new epic starts as. | Green |
| Completed | The initiative is finished. | Blue |
| Cancelled | The initiative was dropped. | Grey |
There is also an Archived state. You don't set it from this dropdown — it comes from the Archive action described below.
Moving an epic to Completed, Cancelled, or Archived removes it from the Epic dropdown on the task form. You won't be able to link new tasks to it until you move it back to Planning or Active.
Archiving and Restoring an Epic
Archiving is the safe way to clear a finished or dormant epic out of your list. It is fully reversible and keeps every task link intact.
Archive an epic
- Go to Tasks → Epics tab.
- On the epic card, click the archive box icon (tooltip: "Archive (recoverable)").
- The epic disappears from the list and you'll see an "Epic archived" confirmation.
Nothing is lost. The epic and all of its linked tasks stay exactly as they were — the epic is simply hidden from view.
See archived epics
By default, the list hides archived and cancelled epics so you only see live work.
Click Show archived at the top-left of the Epics tab to reveal them. The button turns amber and changes to Hide archived; click it again to go back to the default view.
Restore an epic
- Click Show archived.
- Find the archived epic and click the restore icon (tooltip: "Restore from archive").
- The epic returns to the list as Active, with an "Epic restored" confirmation.
Archive is the right choice almost every time you want an epic out of the way. Use Delete only when you're certain the epic should never come back.
Deleting an Epic
Deleting is permanent.
- Go to Tasks → Epics tab.
- On the epic card, click the trash icon (tooltip: "Delete (unlinks all tasks)").
- A red Delete button appears next to Cancel. Click Delete to confirm.
- You'll see an "Epic deleted" confirmation.
Deleting an epic does not delete its tasks — but it does unlink every one of them. The tasks continue to exist on their own with an empty Epic field, and the grouping is gone for good. If you delete an epic by mistake, there is no undo: you'd have to recreate the epic and re-link each task by hand.
If you manage a department, you can delete or archive epics belonging to the departments you manage. Organization-wide epics (those with no department) are handled by admins and executives.
Archive or Delete?
| Archive | Delete | |
|---|---|---|
| Epic still exists | Yes, hidden from the default list | No |
| Task links | Kept intact | Removed — tasks are unlinked |
| Tasks themselves | Untouched | Untouched, but no longer grouped |
| Reversible | Yes, via Restore from archive | No |
| Best for | Finished, paused, or dormant initiatives | Epics created by mistake or duplicates |
When in doubt, archive. You can always delete an archived epic later, but you can never un-delete one.
Tips
- One epic per initiative — resist the urge to group unrelated work under a single epic.
- Set realistic dates — start and end dates make an epic much easier to plan around.
- Review progress weekly — if the percentage stops moving, open the epic and see which tasks are stuck.
- Mark finished epics as Completed, then archive them — your list stays focused on live work while the history stays available.
- Cancel tasks you've dropped instead of leaving them open, so epic progress reflects reality.
- Use the epic filter on the board when you want to work through one initiative without the noise of everything else.
Related Pages
- Epics Overview — what epics are and how they fit into Tasks
- Creating Tasks — the task form, including the Epic field
- Kanban Board — filtering and moving tasks