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How-To Guide

Tasks

Tasks are extracted automatically from your captures. Set deadlines, snooze what can wait, and never let anything slip through the cracks.

How tasks work

Tasks in rivo are action items extracted from your captures. When you write "Need to send the proposal to Jennifer by Friday," rivo creates a task with the title, links it to Jennifer, and sets the due date to Friday.

You can also create tasks manually from the Tasks page, but most users find that captures generate all the tasks they need.

Auto-linked

Tasks are linked to the connections mentioned in the capture — the person, project, or company involved.

Source tracking

Every task shows which capture it came from, so you always have the full context.

Completion

Mark tasks complete with a single tap. Completed tasks are preserved in history.

Automatic task creation

rivo looks for action language in your captures to create tasks. Here's what triggers a task:

What you writeTask created
"Need to send the proposal by Friday"Send the proposal — due Friday
"Follow up with Kevin next week"Follow up with Kevin — due next week
"Jennifer wants to see mockups before the next call"Prepare mockups for Jennifer — no due date
"Tom needs the permit application from Maria"Get permit application from Maria — linked to Tom + Maria

No date? No problem. Tasks without due dates still appear in your task list and can surface in the Inbox as "Forgotten" if they sit idle too long. But tasks with dates are much more useful — they show up in "Due Today," "This Week," and "Overdue."

Overdue, Stale, and Forgotten

These three statuses help you catch tasks that need attention:

StatusDefinitionWhat to do
Overdue Past the due date Complete it, reschedule it, or snooze it
Stale No activity for 14+ days (regardless of due date) Check if it's still relevant — act on it or close it
Forgotten Idle for an extended period, no due date set Either add a due date to make it actionable, or close it

A task can be both Overdue and Stale. An overdue task that also hasn't been touched in 14 days will appear in both Inbox sections. This is by design — it really needs attention.

Snoozing tasks

Sometimes you can't act on a task right now but don't want to lose track of it. Snoozing removes a task from the Inbox temporarily.

  1. Open the task by tapping it in the Inbox or Tasks page.
  2. Tap "Snooze" and pick a date — tomorrow, next week, or a custom date.
  3. The task disappears from Inbox sections until the snooze date.
  4. On the snooze date, it reappears in the appropriate section (Due Today, Overdue, etc.).

Snooze is not a reschedule. The due date doesn't change when you snooze. If a task is due Friday and you snooze until Monday, it will reappear Monday as "Overdue." To change the actual due date, edit the task.

Tasks and connections

Tasks are linked to connections in three roles:

About

The task is about this connection. "Review Lisa Park's inner page templates" is about Lisa Park.

Waiting on

You're waiting on this person. "Get permit from Maria" means you're waiting on Maria.

Assigned to

This person is responsible. Usually refers to team members handling the work.

These links mean tasks appear on each connection's detail page. Open Jennifer Westbrook's page and you'll see all tasks related to her — whether she's the subject, the person you're waiting on, or the assignee.

Pro tips

Be specific about who and when. "Send proposal to Jennifer by Friday" creates a better task than "do the proposal." The more context in your capture, the more useful the extracted task.

Use the Tasks page for a full view. The Inbox shows tasks by urgency. The Tasks page shows all tasks with filtering, sorting, and the ability to see completed items.

Close tasks you won't do. It's better to close a task you've decided against than to let it sit as "Forgotten." A clean task list is a useful task list.