Is there a setting to auto-archive completed tasks?

cesar

Hello everyone! Long time user and lover of all things Meister here :)

I'm starting to migrate my personal project/task management system away from OmniFocus and into MeisterTask.

My question is:

Is there a way to auto-archive tasks that are marked complete?

Admin BSF.company

Hello @cesar, welcome to the community!

If I had to achieve the functionality you described, I'd do it through one of the automations available: the one named Complete & Archive

1. Define one column for "Completion + Archival"
2. Create an automation to "Complete + Archive" any task that lands in that column
3. Drag/drop or use the Menu Actions to move finished tasks to the "Complete + Archive" column

Check this short video I just recorded with a demonstration for you.

Best regards.

Andrés D'Andrea

cesar

Thanks, Andres! I really appreciate the video.

So it can only be done by creating a new section, and adding that automation. I'll have to think about this one - not sure I want to add a column just for that.

Admin BSF.company

Hi @cesar thanks for getting back, in reality, creating a new section (column) for that purpose is optional. I mean, you can do it with any of your existing columns.

To my knowledge, there's no way presently to archive a task just by clicking "Complete", you will definitely have to tie that automation to a column in your Kanban, or make a feature request for that specific functionality.

We could also request a second opinion:

@Jörg Koper, @Rooster McNugget, what has been your experience with this type of case?

In my example, I decided to use the column named "Won" to set up the automation.

I'm writing without too much knowledge of your use-case scenario, so it's somewhat difficult to know if I'm being assertive here.

It would be helpful to see a screenshot of your Kanban. Make sure to blur any sensitive details and leave visible only the structure of it if you're going to post it here (it will be publicly visible).

If you prefer, we could also move our conversation to a private space by using the messaging features.

Best regards.

Andrés D'Andrea

Joerg Koper

Hi @cesar and welcome to the community 👋🙂

@Andres D'Andrea's explanation is correct. It's a normal workflow in the kanban method, to first move a completed task to the "completed" area and then to archive it. I recommand that workflow too.

However, if you want to archive the task immediately, you can add the automation "Complete and archive" directly to the section (Completed, Done or Won etc.) as described by Andrés. You can also collapse the section with a double click to save space.

Maybe it would be a nice feature for a section, to archive tasks after a preset time automatically by itself. If you would like to see a feature like that in the future, I do also recommand to write a feature request 👍️

Best, Jörg

Rooster McNugget

Hi @cesar,

and thanks for the mark @Andres D'Andrea.

As you Andres and @Jörg Koper correctly descriped, you need to creat a column first or you use a "done" column (or similar). There is no other way to archiv taks automaticly as I know.

The way I do it is that I basically just move the tasks in my projects to "done". I do not archive the tasks. For "normal" tasks that I no longer need after completion, I delete them directly, i.e. they are not closed but deleted directly. I only archive completed tasks that may be needed at some point as proof or reference.

But that is different from working method to working method. You have to take the variant that fits best to your workflow. 😉

Best, Samuel

cesar

Thank you all for the insightful messages.

I have a few boards and some of them do well with a "done" column. But I have a couple of boards which I'm not using it as a Kanban workflow, but each column is its own separate little slice of life/projects. For now I'm happy just clicking them "complete" and then "archive." It's just one extra click, so it's not a huge deal.

Thanks again!