Google Tasks is a recent offering from the web giant, offering you the ability to keep a list of things to do. We’re going to explore several methods of accessing your tasks list, varying from your desktop to a gadget within Gmail itself.
Google Tasks on Your Desktop
Available for all platforms capable of running Adobe Air.
The first method we’ll be exploring is putting the tasks list on your desktop (which may or may not be to everyone’s fancy). We’ll be using Snippage to accomplish this.
- Once Snippage has started, either make new snip or expand to browser view with an existing one.
- Login to your Google Account from Internet Explorer – make sure Remember me on this computer is checked.
- In the browser view of Snippage, navigate to the following URL:
https://mail.google.com/tasks/ig - Size the snip to a preferred size.
Google Tasks Gadget in Gmail
Granted, Google offers a link to Tasks from inside Gmail, but why not save yourself a click and embed the gadget directly in Gmail (like iGoogle)?
- Make sure the Add any gadget by URL Lab feature is enabled. Head over to the Gadgets tab and add the following gadget: http://www.google.com/ig/modules/tasks.xml
- The iGoogle gadget should now be conveniently located in your Gmail sidebar – no more clicking to open the Tasks list required.
Google Tasks in the Firefox Sidebar
Want to keep track of your tasks while browsing? Users of Firefox can enjoy a feature to load bookmarks in the sidebar – which can be used for Google Tasks.
- Bookmark the following link: https://mail.google.com/tasks/ig
- Head to the Bookmarks menu, right click on the new bookmark, and hit Properties.
- Make sure Load this bookmark in the sidebar is checked, then hit OK.
Shortcut to Google Tasks with Chrome
For users who like to keep their desktop clear of “out of place” widgets, you can still get your Google Tasks as a shortcut on the desktop (anyone for distraction-free task viewing?). Don’t have Chrome? Download it here.
- Head over to the following URL in Chrome: https://mail.google.com/tasks/ig (if prompted to login, do so, and make sure Remember me is checked).
- Hit the Page menu (the one with the picture of a page) and hit Create Application Shortcuts. Select the options you want, and hit OK.
Google Tasks on Your Startpage
Google offers an iGoogle gadget for Tasks, and both Netvibes and Pageflakes offer a method to add a webpage as a widget/flake.
- Add the applicable “Web Page” gadget to the startpage.
- For Netvibes, browse to Essential Widgets and select Web Page.
- For Pageflakes, browse to Tools II and select Web Page.
- Point it to https://mail.google.com/tasks/ig
We’ve just highlighted five ways to access Google Tasks from a variety of methods. If you know of your own method, tell us about it in the comments.
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Great post!
Here’s the simplest solution to get Google Tasks: The Google Tasks AIR App!
You can update the post: http://jashsayani.com/my-softwares/google-tasks/
Thanks Jash. Awesome little app. Has may life a lot easier.
Google tasks works awesomely in Mozilla’s Prism too.
Check out trapcall.com. Anyway love makeuseof.com
What if I’ve multiple lists under tasks.. ?
Don’t forget your iPhone!
http://www.iphoneincanada.ca/tips-tricks/gmail-tasks-optimized-for-the-iphone/
thank you
Anyone have any ideas for “Google Tasks”-like desktop application that’ll run under Windows XP? I know that defeats the whole point of a task list on the web, but I can’t access Google (other than search and Reader) from work.
Great tips! Complementing, Google Apps users should point to the following URL:
https://mail.google.com/tasks/a/mydomain.com/ig
Thanks Seiti, I was trying to figure out how to do this for Google Apps. For an enhanced UI, try replacing /ig with /canvas
Tks so much, I knew somebody would post that on the comments.
I figured out a way to get GTasks on the Mac OS X Dashboard.
Download the Universal Google Gadget Widget Dashboard client from Apple’s download site (made by WidgetTop) and unzip and install to your dashboard.
You’ll first be asked to log in to your Google account… then go to the black configuration screen by clicking the small ‘i’, and paste in this string
http://gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http://www.google.com/ig/modules/tasks.xml&synd=open&w=320&h=280&title=Tasks&lang=all&country=ALL&border=%23ffffff%7C3px%2C1px+solid+%23999999&output=jsPretty cool, but Google doesn’t let me manage team tasks. Google Apps desperately needs a shared task management system. I chose HyperOffice for online collaboration, because I feel it is more suitable for a group/business context.
For a standalone Google Tasks app for your PC that provides Google Tasks inside an application window, check out taskalone at http://code.google.com/p/taskalone/
Great! For the life of me I could not find a link to see my google tasks by themselves (not in gmail or calendar). This post set me straight and I was able to use Fluid.app to make my tasks a system menu item in OSX. Sweet!
This is great, thanks to Seiti who put up the change for google apps users, legendary.
One more option for Android users: gTasks : http://sites.google.com/site/ssi4and/home
Cheers
You can also do a cool full page view in your browser:
https://mail.google.com/tasks/canvas
Thank you, this canvas view is the best.
Also there is a specific version for android:
http://mail.google.com/tasks/android
Does anybody knows how to hack the URL to choose the list being showed by default?
For example:
http://mail.google.com/tasks/ig?default=nEwList
or
https://mail.google.com/tasks/canvas?list=groceries
Wow thanks for the tips, very useful. Extremely fond of both Firefox and chrome methods :)
If you use Google Tasks with your Apps domain, here’s a nice interface you can bookmark to create an application shortcut to: https://mail.google.com/tasks/a/yourdomain.com/canvas