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Learn the numerous different ways to update a task's progress.

Quick reference

Update Task Progress

Monitor the status of tasks by updating the progress field. 

When to use

We update task progress to ensure that the % complete accurately reflects how close to completion the task is. 

Instructions

Update Task Progress

In order to keep everyone informed as to the completion status of each task, we can track and update the progress. We do this by opening the task and modifying the task details. 

  • Click the 'i' icon next to the task. 

This will open up the task details pane on the right-hand side of the screen. The % Complete field tells us how the task is progressing. We can use the up and down arrows to jump between 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%. 

Changing a task to 100% marks it as complete and the task will show with a strike-through in the project plan. 

If we want to be more granular, e.g. maybe a task is 30% complete, we can simply type 30 into the % Complete field. 

  • Change the % Complete to 25%. 
  • Close the pane. 

We can now see a blue bar in the % Complete column in the project plan indicating that this task is 25% complete. 

Another way to update the progress is to type 25% directly into the % complete column and press Enter. 

Mark a Task as Complete

We mark a task as complete by changing the % Complete to 100% or clicking on the circle next to the task in the plan. 

The task will show with a strike-through and will be moved to the Completed tasks bucket in Board view. We can still see it in the project plan. 

If the task is a sub-task of a summary task, the summary task % complete will also update.

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  • 00:04 In the last lesson, we finished up by adding in a custom text field, so
  • 00:08 that we can denote which contractors are responsible for these particular jobs.
  • 00:13 And we also saw how we can add the percentage complete column and
  • 00:16 update the percentages.
  • 00:18 Now, I just want to spend this lesson talking a little bit more
  • 00:22 about tracking progress on our tasks.
  • 00:24 So we're going to jump back into get inspired on Pinterest,
  • 00:28 task ID number one by clicking on the eye.
  • 00:31 We can just type in a value into here to denote what percentage of this task has
  • 00:35 been complete.
  • 00:37 Also notice that we have some scroll arrows just here,
  • 00:40 which will change the percentage of the task for us.
  • 00:43 And these jump up in steps of 25%.
  • 00:47 So if I click the up arrow, you can see, because it was on 10,
  • 00:51 it's gone up to 35, 60, 85, and then it goes to a 100.
  • 00:55 So if I set this to, let's say, 50% complete and click close.
  • 01:00 You can see the bar updates just here,
  • 01:02 now, what about if a task has been completed?
  • 01:05 Well, there are a few different ways that we can show this in our schedule.
  • 01:09 Once again, we can open up the task details pane and
  • 01:12 we can change the percentage complete to a 100%.
  • 01:15 So let's scroll up to a 100, now, notice what happens as soon as I do that.
  • 01:19 Look at the task title, it now has a strikethrough through it.
  • 01:24 Also take a look in grid view,
  • 01:26 you can see that that task is now showing with a strike through.
  • 01:30 So that tells me that this task has been complete and
  • 01:33 I can see the bar is completely full.
  • 01:35 Now, if we go back to board view and scroll all the way down to the first task,
  • 01:40 which is going to be at the bottom.
  • 01:42 You can see that the task has now disappeared from the main task list and
  • 01:47 we have a completed section just here.
  • 01:49 Now, if we expand this,
  • 01:51 this is where I'm going to find all tasks that have been marked a 100% complete.
  • 01:55 If at any point, I decide that I want to bring this back to the main task list,
  • 02:00 I can simply open it up and change that percentage complete.
  • 02:04 So maybe I want to switch this back to 75%, click on Close and
  • 02:09 now, it's back in that list.
  • 02:12 If we go back to grid view, you can see it's no longer shown with a strikethrough
  • 02:16 and the percentage complete has updated.
  • 02:18 Now, another way that we can complete an entire task is simply by clicking
  • 02:23 on the circle next to the task ID.
  • 02:25 Notice as I hover my mouse over this circle, it says, mark task as complete.
  • 02:30 So if I click on this, it's basically going to do the same thing.
  • 02:33 It adds a strikethrough.
  • 02:35 It changes the percentage complete to 100%.
  • 02:37 And it moves it back across to the completed items bucket at the bottom,
  • 02:42 just here.
  • 02:43 And finally, if we go back to grid view,
  • 02:45 we can simply change the percentage complete by clicking in the field.
  • 02:50 So once again, I could double click just here, I could backspace and
  • 02:54 change this to 75%.
  • 02:56 And everything is going to update.
  • 02:58 So it's really important to keep the progress of your tasks updated.
  • 03:03 So that anybody who's looking at this project can see exactly which tasks
  • 03:07 have been complete.
  • 03:09 How far through certain tasks we are, and
  • 03:12 if the overall project is on track for delivery at the set date.

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