Adding Items and Modifying Lists

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About this lesson

Add to-do items to the task list and update their progress. 

Quick reference

Adding Items and Modifying Lists

A task list contains tasks and to-do items for the team. Tracking tasks in a list helps us stay organized, track progress, and mark completed tasks. 

When to use

We use a task list in SharePoint whenever we want to have visibility of all the outstanding and completed tasks for the team. Tasks can be modified and their progress updated. 

Instructions

Adding tasks to the task list

  • From the task list, click New task. 
  • Complete the blank fields.
  • Type a Task Name.
  • Select a Start Date and a Due Date using the calendar picker. 
  • Type the name of the person to assign the task to in the Assigned To field. If this is left blank, the task will be assigned to you. 
  • Click Show More to see more options. 
  • Enter the % Complete. 
  • Add a Description of the task. 
  • If this task relies on another task to be complete before this task can begin, select the Predecessor task from the list and click Add. 
  • Set a Priority for the task. 
  • Set a Status for the task. 
  • Click Save. 

Editing Tasks

  • Select the task in the list and click the three dots. 
  • Click the three dots again. 
  • Select Edit Item from the menu. 
  • Alternatively, click on the task and then from the View ribbon, click Edit Item. 

Marking a Task as Complete

Marking a task as complete is preferable to deleting completed tasks. 

  • Click the check-box next to the task. 

Hints & tips

  • When adding a new task, Task Name is the only mandatory field indicated with an asterisk (*). Everything else is optional. 
  • If a task has a predecessor task, the predecessor must already exist in the task list before it can be selected. 
  • Tasks marked as complete are still viewable. Deleted tasks are not. 
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  • 00:04 So now that we've created our training task list,
  • 00:07 it's time to start adding in some tasks.
  • 00:09 And this is really, really straightforward.
  • 00:12 So if you take a look at the screen, I'm clinked on my training task list.
  • 00:17 Currently my list is empty.
  • 00:19 All I have on the screen on my column headings, task name, due date, and
  • 00:23 assigned to.
  • 00:24 And remember, I have those specific column headings because those are based off of
  • 00:28 the template that I've used to create this list.
  • 00:31 So to add a new task, all we need to do is click on the plus where it says new task.
  • 00:38 And this opens up some fields.
  • 00:39 And you can see in there any of the fields that have an asterisk,
  • 00:43 next to them are mandatory fields.
  • 00:45 And for this one, there's only one mandatory field which is task name.
  • 00:50 So let's add in our first training task.
  • 00:53 So let's say that we need to create a list of employees for
  • 01:00 these Microsoft 365 rollout.
  • 01:04 Start date, well, I have a little calendar picker that I can use to choose the date
  • 01:08 and let's say we're going to start this Next Monday, which is the 12th.
  • 01:13 Due date, again, let's use our calendar picker.
  • 01:16 Let's say the end of the month is the due date, so Friday the 30th.
  • 01:20 And then if I want to assign this task to somebody else,
  • 01:23 I can simply type in their name or their email address in here.
  • 01:27 Now I am just one person, so I'm going to assign this to myself.
  • 01:31 And we do have a show mauling underneath,
  • 01:33 which is going to give us a few more fields that we can complete.
  • 01:37 For example, the percentage complete for this task.
  • 01:41 Now this task hasn't started yet, so it is showing as 0% complete.
  • 01:46 But this might be something that I want to update so
  • 01:49 that everybody who looks at this list knows the status of this current task.
  • 01:54 I can also add a description and
  • 01:56 I can choose if any tasks are predecessors of this particular task.
  • 02:00 So if this task relies on a different task to be completed before this one can begin,
  • 02:06 then I can add the task in here.
  • 02:08 Now because this is the first task that we're creating,
  • 02:12 I have nothing listed in this predecessor's area.
  • 02:15 And what you'll notice is that the next time we create a task,
  • 02:18 this task that we're creating now will be listed in here.
  • 02:21 So we can select that as a predecessor, if we want to.
  • 02:24 At the bottom, we have a priority.
  • 02:26 So what is the priority of this task?
  • 02:27 I'm going to leave this on normal and then task status not started,
  • 02:32 in progress, completed, deferred or waiting on someone else.
  • 02:37 So currently this task is not started.
  • 02:40 Let's click on Save.
  • 02:42 And there we go, I've added my first task to the list.
  • 02:46 Now I know this is a new task that I've added because of the green icon that I
  • 02:51 can see next to the task name.
  • 02:53 I'm going to add in another task in exactly the same way off camera, so
  • 02:56 join me back here in a couple of seconds.
  • 02:59 So I've added in another task to this list.
  • 03:02 Now what if I want to go in and make changes or edit this task in any way?
  • 03:07 Well, there are a couple of different ways that I can edit this item.
  • 03:10 I could click the three dots, and then click the three dots again and
  • 03:15 I have an Edit Item button.
  • 03:17 Alternatively, I can open up the task I want to edit, and
  • 03:21 this is going to open up in read only mode.
  • 03:24 But if you take a look at the ribbons running across the top of the screen,
  • 03:28 I have a big Edit Item button which is going to allow me to edit that item.
  • 03:32 Now this is the task that I added off camera.
  • 03:35 There are a couple of differences with this one, for example,
  • 03:38 I've set it to 50% complete.
  • 03:40 You can see I have a couple of predecessors in here, so
  • 03:43 this is just listing all the tasks that I have.
  • 03:45 So what I'm going to say here is that I need to create
  • 03:48 a list of employees before I start assigning trainers to teams.
  • 03:52 So my predecessor is going to be create a list of employees,
  • 03:56 I just need to click on Add.
  • 03:58 Also note that I've set the priority of this particular task to high and
  • 04:02 the task status is in progress.
  • 04:04 So very simple to make changes to any of the tasks that you add to your list.
  • 04:09 Now what about when I complete a task?
  • 04:11 What about when it's 100% complete and I want to cross it off my list?
  • 04:15 Well that is, again, very straightforward.
  • 04:18 Let's take this first task, for example.
  • 04:20 If this is complete, I can simply mark the task as complete by clicking in the check
  • 04:25 box and it's going to put a strike through through the item to show me that that task
  • 04:29 is completed.

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