Your first five minutes

Let's get you from a fresh install to one task of your own, with a reminder on it, finished and brought back again. It takes about five minutes.

#0 · Open the app

A fresh install opens on an empty sky, "my tasks". A sky is one whole Tasks file — every task in it.

Over it, once, sits "welcome to zenith tasks", with four tips and two switches, both off: "show me the tutorial sky" and "load demo content".

1. Switch on "show me the tutorial sky", so you have stars and nodes to try the steps below on.
2. Tap "start".

The tutorial sky, "✦ Learn Zenith Tasks", opens beside yours, and you are switched to it. It never counts toward the free limits, and you can remove it later in settings › "files". See The tutorial sky & demo content.

#1 · Open a bloom

The bloom is the rings that open where you touch, outward from your finger.

1. Touch the sky and hold still. A small glow grows under your finger.
2. After a moment the bloom opens, centred on your touch, with a spark, a small buzz and a sound.
3. Your tasks sit on its ring as stars — each star is one task.

Keep your finger down. In the standard mode, "hold & drag", the bloom lives while your finger is down. Lift on empty sky and it closes. See Hold & drag.

#2 · Go into a node

A node is a task that holds others. Its star has a centre dot, an inner ring and three small dots circling it.

1. Hold to open a bloom, then slide onto a node and keep still.
2. Its own ring opens on top, centred on it.
3. Slide back into the centre of the ring below, and the top ring folds shut.

#3 · Add a task

A column of buttons runs up the left edge while a bloom is open. This is the dock. Its first button is the plus ✚, "add".

1. Hold to open a bloom.
2. Still holding, slide onto ✚. A ghost star follows your finger, with a line like "N° · X× — release to choose".
3. Let go where you want the star. The "new task" sheet opens, with that spot kept.
4. Type in the "title" box, in the bar at the bottom of the sheet, and tap "add task" beside it.

A date typed into the title is read out of it. "call Sam fri 3pm" gets a reminder for Friday at 3 pm, and "water plants every monday" repeats. See Add a task.

#4 · Give it a reminder

1. Hold to open a bloom and slide onto your new star.
2. Still holding, slide onto "edit" in the dock and lift. The task's sheet opens.
3. Under "remind me", tap "tmrw 9am". The sheet now shows "reminder: …".
4. Tap "save changes".

A pale gold dot now sits on top of the star: a reminder still to come. See Due times & repeats.

#5 · Finish it, and bring it back

1. Hold to open a bloom.
2. Slide onto your star and lift. It goes out in a burst — the supernova — and is marked done. Its reminder is cancelled.
3. A pill near the bottom says what happened, with "undo", for 5 seconds. Tap "undo".

The task is open again, and its reminder is armed again. See Undo.

#You're set

You can open a bloom, go into a node, add a task, give it a time, finish it and take that back. Next, take a look round The main screen.

#See also.

Tasks, stars, nodes, skies, blooms & regions · The bloom · The edit sheet, top to bottom · Complete & reopen