Requests turn up in chat all the time: "Can someone update the price list?", "The contact form is broken on mobile." If they stay as messages they scroll away and get forgotten. In Tandem App you can turn any message into a task on the channel's board in a couple of clicks, with a link back to the conversation it came from.

Making a task from a message

  1. Point at the message and open its ⋯ menu.
  2. Choose Make a task.
  3. The new-task form opens with the details filled in from the message: the first line becomes the Title and the whole message becomes the Description. The form says which message it came from.
  4. Adjust the title so it reads as an action, for example "Update the price list".
  5. Choose who it's Assigned to, and set a due date, priority and labels if they help.
  6. Click Create task.

What happens next

  • The task appears on the channel's Tasks tab, in To do.
  • A short line in the chat says that a task was created from a message, so the person who asked can see it's been picked up.
  • If you assigned it to someone else, they are notified.
  • The task page links back to the original message, shown as "from a message by" its author. Click it to jump to the message and its surrounding conversation.

Where it works

  • Any ordinary message in a channel, including replies in threads.
  • Not in direct or group messages, which have no task board. Forward the message to the right channel with Forward…, then make the task there.
  • Not on the short activity lines Tandem App writes itself, such as "uploaded a file".

You need to be able to edit tasks in the channel. Owners, admins, members and guests with Full access can; guests with Chat only or Read only access won't see Make a task in the menu.

Good habits

  • Make it a task as soon as someone asks. A quick 👀 reaction says "seen"; the task says "this will get done".
  • Reply in the thread with who has it and when it's due, so the asker doesn't have to check the board.
  • Keep the discussion in the task. Once the task exists, put updates in its comments; the assignee and the task's creator are notified.
  • Use labels such as client or bug so you can filter the board later.
  • With a client in the channel as a guest, their requests become tracked work rather than messages that slip by. See working with clients as guests.

Other ways to create tasks

  • Click New task on the Tasks tab. See managing tasks in a channel.
  • A workflow can create a task on a schedule, or when a message mentions certain words.
  • Your own scripts can create tasks through the REST API with a read-and-write token.