Recurrent tasks
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A recurrent task is one that is repeatedly re-created, according to a specified pattern.
When you complete a recurrent task, a new task is automatically created. Its dates are a certain amount of time later. This amount of time is derived from the recurrence pattern. When you complete this task another task is created in the same manner, and so on. The process occurs for a defined number of times.
To make a task recurrent:
- Click the Recurrent checkbox
- Enter the recurrence pattern, see details below.
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- Click OK.
The Recurrence Editor appears.
Time and recurrent tasks
To understand the timing of recurrent tasks, we start with the basic task diagram. Note that when we refer to dates here we mean the date and the time, e.g. 6/1/2017 at 9am.
A sequence of recurrent tasks is shown below.
Click image to enlarge/reduce.
- The first recurrent task is created.
- When this first task is completed, a second task is automatically created.
- When the second task is completed the third task is created following the same process.
Its due date (2 in the image above) is calculated as the due date of the first task plus the recurrence pattern defined in the Recurrence Editor.
The start date for the new task is calculated by subtracting the duration from the task's due date.
For example when the recurrence pattern is the 28th day of every month, the due date of the new task is calculated by moving forward in time until the 28th of the month is located. This might be in the same month or the next month.
If the recurrence pattern is the 28th of every two months it moves forward again to the 28th of the following month.
This process continues until the maximum number of occurrences has been reached (or forever if a maximum has not been set).
Notes
- The second recurrent task's dates might be quite close to the first task's date, depending on the recurrence pattern and the actual dates.
- If you need recurrent tasks to be separated by a fairly exact amount of time every time, e.g. a month, set the pattern to a large number of days. In this example, it would be 30 days.
- When the first recurrent task has a start date but a blank due date, the recurrence pattern is applied to the start date. When neither the start or due dates have a value, a new recurrent task is created with blank start and due dates.
- When you complete a recurrent task in a closed case the Stop existing workflows for closed cases setting applies, see Workflow settings. If it is ticked and you complete a recurrent task in a closed case, no new task will be created.
For example, when the recurrence pattern is the 28th of every 1 month and the first task is due on July 20th, the second task will be due 8 days later on July 28. However, the due dates of the third, fourth and any subsequent tasks, all similarly due on the 28th of each month, will each be separated by a month.
Similarly, if the recurrence pattern is the first Sunday of every 1 month, the due dates of the first and second task will be a few weeks apart, with the due dates of the subsequent tasks separated by a month.