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Now / Later

This workflow is a simplified version of our Kanban workflow. In this workflow, tasks live in two buckets called Now and Later. Now bucket is where you plan tasks to work on now, while Later holds candidates to work on in the future.

Now / Later workflow

caution

This screenshot is from an older version of Lunatask. The app looks different these days, but the functionality of the feature showcased here is the same.

When the task is in Later status, it will belong into Later bucket. If the task's status is either Next, Started, or Waiting, it will live in Now bucket. To move tasks between the buckets, simply change their status.

When you create a new task, it will be added to Later bucket. From there, you can move it into Now bucket by changing its status to Next. You can do this either by opening the task and selecting the new status in the status picker, using the right-click menu on the task in the list or via the Shift+Arrow Right keyboard shortcut.

info

There are three ways to create a new task:

  • Click the "add" button at the bottom of the main menu on the left
  • Hover over the name of any section, and the button to add a new task into the section will appear
  • Press A on the keyboard. Alternatively, CMD+N (on Mac) and Ctrl+N (on other platforms) work as well.
tip

In the settings, you can change the initial status for newly created tasks. By default, it is Later, but it can be changed to Next. This is useful when you have a long backlog of tasks in Later you don't intend to work on in the near future.

Tasks in each bucket are sorted by something we call urgency. You can think of urgency as a set of rules that govern the order of tasks in the list. Learn more about urgency on our page dedicated to prioritization.

tip

The task with the highest urgency will be highlighted in bold in the list as the next task to work on. This can be disabled in the settings.

As in other workflows, start working on tasks from the top. If you have trouble getting started on a task, set a timer.

tip

No need to look at tasks that are not relevant now — once you plan the tasks to work on next, collapse Later section by double-clicking its name. This works for all sections in all workflows.