FAQs and Pro-Tips

I don't want tasks showing on my Google/Outlook calendar.

When you drag a task to the calendar, it automatically gets scheduled to your primary calendar by default. However, there are a number of Timeboxing settings you can use to control this.

If you don't want those tasks to end up on your primary calendar, there's a setting in your calendar settings that lets you change which calendar tasks get scheduled to: "Default calendar when scheduling tasks".

You can also link a channel to a calendar so that any task in that channel will automatically be timeboxed to that calendar. To do is, click on the calendar in your "Calendars" page and click the channel you wish to link to it. This setting will override your “default for tasks” calendar.

Another common technique we recommend is to consider creating a separate calendar in Outlook or Google to schedule your working sessions on. This way you can timebox your tasks and see how they fit in amongst your other calendars in Sunsama, but leave your other calendars uncluttered with Sunsama tasks. Then, simply set that new calendar as the default for tasks.

These are great options if you don't want to clutter your primary work calendar with blocks where you are just working or don't want colleagues to see what tasks you are working on.

I don’t want my colleagues to see my tasks on my calendar.

Review the related Timeboxing settings for more information. Additionally, consider the approach listed above to timebox your tasks to a separate calendar.

Zooming into your calendar.

From the main dashboard view of the app, you can click the + sign in the top left corner of the calendar view in order to zoom in. If you timebox your tasks, this will give you more real-estate to work with.

On the mobile app, you can zoom in and out by pinching and squeezing the calendar view.

How do I split a task into multiple blocks, or schedule a task across multiple days?

After you timbox a task once, click on the colored timestamp on the task to open the calendar pop out. Use the working sessions pop out to quickly add more blocks or sessions across multiple days. Refer to this page for more information.

Sorting the task list

When you import tasks from the calendar to your task list or timebox a task to the calendar, Sunsama will automatically sort your list for the day chronologically.

You can manually adjust the sorting. For example: if you place a task with no scheduled time between two tasks with start times, Sunsama will try and keep that unscheduled task in the same spot when it auto-sorts your task list.

If you want to order your task list differently from how Sunsama sorts it, you should manually re-order it after timeboxing.

At any point, you can have Sunsama sort your task list chronologically by using a sorting command in the command palette. Access the command palette with keyboard shortcut CMD K. Then type “sort” to reveal a few options to sort your tasks.

• Sort Chronologically: This will order the selected column's tasks by time and move all your unscheduled tasks to the top or bottom depending on your user preference for "Task rollover position".
  If the order of your tasks gets messed up, this is the quickest way to get it back in order.
• Sort scheduled tasks above/below unscheduled tasks: Sort your tasks chronologically and move all unscheduled tasks to the top or bottom.
  These two options are great for timeboxers who want to quickly identify tasks that still need to be scheduled to the calendar.
• Sort unassigned tasks to top/bottom of list: This is a great option to quickly locate your tasks that have not been assigned to a channel.
• Sort tasks with no planned time to top/bottom of list: This will allow you to quickly locate tasks that you have not yet set an estimated planned time for yet.

Should I create a recurring task or repeating calendar event?

Consider using repeating calendar events in your underlying calendar for tasks that are at the exact same time each instance (e.g. meetings). We recommend importing these type of events as tasks.

For tasks whose schedule may be flexible each instance, consider using recurring tasks in Sunsama.

Completing a task before it’s scheduled end time

If you schedule a task to your calendar in Sunsama, and you mark that task as complete in Sunsama ahead of the working session's scheduled end time, Sunsama will update the corresponding calendar event.

• For example, if you schedule a task from 1pm to 2pm, and you complete the task at 12pm, Sunsama will delete the future working session(s). The motivation here is to clean up your calendar for you. Since you've marked the task as complete, we assume you will not in fact be working on it from 1pm to 2pm anymore.
• If you schedule a task from 1pm to 2pm, and you complete the task at 1:30pm, Sunsama will update the scheduled event such that it goes from 1pm to 1:30pm for the same rationale.
• We only do this for tasks scheduled to your calendar (and not for calendar events you import to your task list), because we don't want to potentially send out calendar updates for meetings and such.

What happens if I move a task to another day if it's already been timeboxed?

If the task's working session is in the future today, and you move the task to a future day, the working session will be removed.

If the task's working session in the past today, and you move the task to a future day, the working session and a breadcrumb of the task will remain on today's list. This is the same behavior as a timeboxed task rolling over to the next day.

If you move a task to a day before today, all future working sessions will be removed as the task will automatically be marked complete.

If the task is on a future day and timeboxed to that day, and you move the task to any other day, the working session will be removed.

How do I turn off reminders/notifications for my Sunsama tasks?

Find the "Calendar reminders for timeboxed tasks" setting in your Timeboxing settings.

Calendar event color of working sessions

In your account settings, you can have working sessions to show as either:

• Color by channel: to show the event in the color of it's associated channel or context or in the color of it's associated calendar if no channel is set.
• Color by calendar: to show the event in it's associated calendar color regardless of whether it's in a channel or not.

Use "Add to calendar" on iPad

There are known issues that prevent dragging and dropping tasks to the calendar on the iPad and other large touchscreen devices.

If you use one of these devices, you can timebox a task by clicking the ... menu on any task, then clicking "Add to calendar".