Task Details
Click any task card on the board — or any row in the list view — to open its detail view. This is where all of a task's information, discussion, files, and progress live in one place.
The header
The top of the detail view gives you the task at a glance:
| Element | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Title | The task name |
| Task ID | The task's short identifier |
| Priority badge | Low, Medium, High or Critical |
| Status badge | The task's current status |
| Epic chip | The epic the task belongs to — click it to open that epic |
| SLA Breached badge | Appears when the task finished later than its target |
| ⋮ menu | Edit and Delete — each shown only if you're allowed to use it |
| × | Closes the detail view |
Tabs
The detail view has up to four tabs. The Comments and Files tabs show a count in the tab label, so you can see how much activity a task has before opening it.
| Tab | What's inside |
|---|---|
| Details | Description, tags, assignees, done conditions, subtasks, recurrence, time tracking and dates |
| Comments (N) | The discussion thread, with mentions, replies and attachments |
| Files (N) | Everything uploaded to the task |
| Time | Time logged by hand on this task, and a form to log more |
The Time tab appears only if your role allows logging time. Every system role except Restricted has this by default, and your organization can change it through a custom role — see Roles & Permissions.
Details tab
What you see
The Details tab is a read view until you switch to edit mode. It shows:
- Description — the full task description
- Tags — shown as small pills
- Assignees — the people working on the task. If your role allows assigning tasks, an Add button lets you add people and an × on each name removes them; otherwise you see the list as read-only. By default Admins and Executives can do both
- Request another department — a control to ask another department for help, shown to people who are allowed to use it (see Requesting another department)
- Done Conditions — everything that must be answered or approved before the task can be completed
- Subtasks (N) — the smaller items that make up the task
- Recurrence — whether the task repeats, and when it runs next
- Time Tracking — elapsed time against the task's target, shown when the task has time tracking
- Meta grid — Start Date:, End Date:, Reminder:, Estimated:, Created by: and Created:
Banners you might see
Some tasks show a short note above the details:
- A task that belongs to a process warns you that changing assignment may affect the process.
- A task set up as a race step tells you who is still able to pick it up, or who is already handling it.
Editing a task
Open the ⋮ menu and choose Edit to switch the Details tab into edit mode. When you're done, choose Save — or Cancel to discard your changes.
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Title * | Required |
| Description | Free text |
| Priority | Low, Medium, High, Critical |
| Status | Only the statuses you can move to from the current one are offered |
| Start Date | Date and time |
| End Date | Date and time |
| Reminder | Appears once an End Date is set: None, 1 hour before, 3 hours before, 1 day before, 2 days before |
| Estimated Hours | Expected effort |
| Epic | Link the task to a different epic, or choose — No epic — to unlink it |
| Tags (comma-separated) | Custom labels |
| Visibility (read-only share) | Share the task with other departments or people, or change who it's shared with |
Done conditions are not part of the edit view — see Done conditions.
Status has a few rules. A task waiting on approval shows Pending Approval (managed by approval workflow) and can't be changed by hand. A Done task offers only In Progress, which reopens it. A cancelled task is labelled Cancelled (final state). And when you're looking for a way to cancel a task, the helper text says it plainly: To cancel this task, use Delete.
Visibility is the read-only share. People you share with can read the task, comment on it and upload files — but they can't edit it until they unlock editing themselves. See Creating Tasks for how the share is set at create time.
Task statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Backlog | Captured, not scheduled yet |
| To Do | Ready to be picked up |
| In Progress | Actively being worked on |
| In Review | Waiting on a check by someone else |
| Pending Approval | Submitted for approval — set automatically, not by hand |
| Done | Completed |
| Cancelled | Cancelled — the result of deleting a task |
Your board's columns are set per department, so the column names you see may differ from these status names. See Kanban Board.
Subtasks
Break a task into smaller items directly from the detail view. Choose + Add Subtask, type the name, and press Enter or choose Add. Each subtask shows a status dot and its title; completed subtasks appear struck through.
Subtasks can be added to a parent task only — you can't add a subtask to a subtask — and not once the task is done or cancelled.
Done conditions
If the task has done conditions, they appear in the Details tab with a check circle, a label, the condition type and a * when the condition is required. Answering a condition turns it green.
All required conditions must be met before the task can be marked Done. See Completion Conditions.
Done conditions are set when the task is created. The detail view lets you answer them, but there is no way to add, change or remove a condition on an existing task.
Recurrence
Turn the task into a repeating one from the Recurrence section — pick a schedule, and optionally an end date or a maximum number of runs. See Recurring Tasks.
Requesting another department
When a task needs something from another department, you can send that department's manager a request without leaving the task.
- On the Details tab, click Request another department.
- Pick the department under Select a department…. Only departments that have a manager are offered, and the task's own department is left out.
- Optionally type why you need it in Reason (optional).
- Click Send request.
You'll see "Request sent to the department manager". That manager is notified and decides on the request from the Approvals tab — see Approvals.
If nothing can be picked, the form says "No other department has a manager to receive the request." Ask an admin to assign a manager to the department you need.
By default this control is open to Admins, Executives and department managers. Your organization can also give it to other people through a custom role — it goes with the permission to assign tasks. See Roles & Permissions.
Time tracking
Arketic tracks time on a task for you. The Time Tracking panel shows elapsed time against the task's target, a progress bar with a warning threshold, and — once the task is finished — whether it was completed on time or late. When the target comes from a policy, the panel header reads SLA — {policy name} instead.
See Time Tracking.
You can also record time by hand — see Time tab. The two are kept separately: logging time does not change the target, the progress bar or the time badges on the card.
Marking a task done
At the bottom of the detail view you'll find Close and a green Mark Done button.
- If required done conditions are still open, the footer shows "{n} condition(s) pending" and Mark Done stays disabled until they're all met.
- If the task has an approval condition and you aren't one of the people who can approve it, Mark Done sends the task to Pending Approval instead of Done, and you'll see a Task pending approval message. See Approvals.
- If your role doesn't allow completing tasks, Mark Done is disabled and hovering it shows "You don't have permission to complete tasks".
- Mark Done is hidden once a task is done or cancelled, and for shared users who haven't unlocked editing.
- On a race-step task you'll also see an "I'll do it" button so you can claim the step.
Deleting (cancelling) a task
Open the ⋮ menu and choose Delete. A confirmation appears warning that this action cannot be undone; if the task is part of a process, you get an extra warning first.
Delete is shown to people whose role allows deleting tasks — by default Admins and Executives — and to the manager of the task's department. Your organization can also give it to other people through a custom role.
Deleting is how you cancel a task — there's no manual "Cancelled" status to set. Deleted tasks move to Cancelled and disappear from the board. A task that is already done or cancelled can't be deleted.
Comments tab
The Comments tab is the task's discussion thread — the best place to keep questions, decisions and context attached to the work itself.
Writing a comment
Type into the Write a comment... box and send it with the round arrow button, or press Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on Mac). A plain Enter adds a new line.
A comment can be up to 2000 characters. A live counter sits under the box and turns red as you approach the limit.
If your role doesn't allow commenting, the box is disabled and the send button shows "You don't have permission to comment".
Mentioning people
To pull someone into the conversation, type @ in the comment box — or use the mention (@) button. A list of matching people appears, showing each person's name and email. Pick someone with a click, or with the arrow keys plus Enter or Tab.
Once posted, the mention is highlighted in the comment, and the person you mentioned gets a notification telling them you mentioned them in that task.
You can't mention yourself, and people who aren't allowed to see the task won't be notified — mentioning someone never gives them access they didn't already have.
Attaching a file to a comment
Use the paperclip button to attach one file to your comment. Files can be up to 50 MB; anything larger is refused with File is too large (max 50MB).
The file uploads right after the comment is posted, and then appears as a file row under the comment where anyone on the task can preview or download it. You can delete a file you uploaded yourself.
Replying
Every comment has a Reply action. Choosing it opens a small composer directly beneath that comment, and your reply is nested under it so the thread stays readable.
Replies support mentions and attachments exactly like top-level comments. When a comment collects more than six replies, the extra ones are folded away behind Show all replies (N) — choose Show less to collapse them again.
Editing and deleting
You can Edit your own comments. The comment turns into an inline editor, and saving asks you to confirm the change. An edited comment is marked with (edited) next to the timestamp, so nobody is surprised when wording changes after the fact.
You can also delete your own comments, after a confirmation.
Files tab
The Files tab holds everything attached to the task.
- Upload by dragging files onto the upload zone, or choose browse from computer. Selecting several files at once uploads them one after another.
- Files can be up to 50 MB each, with up to 25 files on a task, and they stay only in this task. Files supplied by a process don't count towards the 25.
- If the task has a File done condition, a banner at the top of the tab shows how many are still pending, which file types are accepted, and which uploaded file satisfied the condition. A file you upload here counts towards the first open File condition whose accepted types match it.
- Each file row shows a type icon, the file name (click it to preview), the size, who uploaded it and when, plus Preview, Download and Delete actions.
- You can delete a file you uploaded. Admins, Executives and the manager of the task's department can delete any file.
- Files supplied by a process carry a From process badge and can't be deleted.
Time tab
Use the Time tab to record, by hand, time you spent on the task — for example work done away from your desk. It sits alongside the automatic Time Tracking panel and does not replace it.
Logging time
- Open the task and choose the Time tab.
- Under Log time, enter the Duration (min) — a whole number of minutes. This field is required.
- Optionally fill in Description — what you worked on.
- Click Log time.
You'll see the confirmation "Time logged", the form empties, and your entry joins the list below. If you leave the duration empty, you get "Enter a duration in minutes".
The duration is in minutes, not hours — enter 90 for an hour and a half.
The list of entries
Below the form, the tab lists every entry logged on the task, newest first, whoever logged it:
| Element | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Entry count | How many entries there are, for example 3 entries |
| Total: | The sum of all entries, for example Total: 2h 15m |
| Each entry | The duration, the description if one was given, who logged it and the date |
Until someone logs time, the tab reads "No time logged yet."
Entries can't be changed or removed from this tab, so check the number before you click Log time.
On the Dashboard tab, hovering a bar of the Weekly Velocity (8 weeks) chart shows the hours logged in that week — see Team & Dashboard.
Shared tasks
If a task was shared with you from another department, a blue banner appears at the top:
Shared with you from another department — read view. You can comment and upload files.
You can read the task, comment and upload files straight away. To change anything else, choose Edit this task and confirm — after that, an amber banner reminds you that your changes apply to the owning team.
Who can do what
These are the defaults for an open task:
| Who | View | Comment & upload | Edit | Delete |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assignee | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Task creator | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Department manager | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ (their departments) | ✅ (their departments) |
| Executive / Admin | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Shared user (unlocked) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
An assignee who can't edit the task's fields can still answer done conditions, add subtasks, set recurrence, log time and mark the task done.
:::info It also depends on your role's permissions Editing, commenting, completing, moving, assigning, logging time and deleting are each a separate permission. Your organization can switch one off for a role, or give it to other people through a custom role — see Roles & Permissions. Two things to know:
- Deleting needs its own permission — by default Admins and Executives have it — or you must be the manager of the task's department. Being the creator, or unlocking a shared task, is not enough.
- A control you are not allowed to use is hidden or disabled. Mark Done and the comment box stay visible but disabled, with a tooltip that says you don't have permission. :::
A task that is already Done or Cancelled can't be deleted by anyone.
Tips
- Keep the discussion in the task. Comments stay attached to the work, so the reasoning is still there months later.
- Mention instead of chasing. An @mention notifies the right person without pulling everyone else in.
- Attach the evidence. Put the file that proves the work is done on the task, not in a chat thread.
- Let time tracking run. It feeds performance reporting automatically — see Performance. Use the Time tab for work the tracker can't see.
- Use Edit → Epic to move a task under a different initiative without recreating it. See Managing Epics.