With the number of MeisterTask users on Android growing every day, we’re always working on ways to improve task management on your mobile device. Read on to find out more about our latest updates to the app.
If you haven’t already used MeisterTask for Android, there’s never been a better time to give mobile task management a try. With these latest app updates, you can look forward to improved performance, a wider range of functionality, and smoother, faster projects from the palm of your hand. Here’s what’s new:
1. Reactions to Comments
While this isn’t a new idea — the concept of “liking” comments feels as old as time — we recently decided to add comment reactions to MeisterTask for Android. This is a quick and easy way to let your colleagues know that you’re keeping up with the latest task activity, even while you’re on the go.
With reactions to comments, you can let team members know you’ve read their comments and acknowledge their input without taking up valuable space in the task activity stream. There are five different comment reactions to choose from, simply tap the “smiling” emoji with the + sign next to the comment, then select the appropriate reaction from the popover.
Other peoples’ reactions to comments you have made will be shown on the notifications screen.
2. Apple Login
Although the digital world may appear split between Apple enthusiasts and Android evangelists, many MeisterTask users actually use both platforms to manage tasks and projects across their various devices.
To make things easier for our cross-platform users, we’ve added the option of logging in to your MeisterTask account on Android using your Apple ID. To do this:
- Open MeisterTask (if you’re already using the app with a different account, you’ll need to log out first).
- Underneath Sign in with Facebook, tap show more.
- Select Apple from the popover menu.
- Log in to MeisterTask using your Apple credentials.
3. Task Relationships
Tasks don’t exist just on their own: in a project ecosystem, many different tasks come together to form a larger workflow or development scale. As the completion of certain tasks can depend on the progress of others, being able to visualize the dependencies between tasks is a significant advantage for project members.
Task relations aren’t set as standard in projects. In each project you wish to set task relations for, you’ll need to activate the setting in a desktop version of MeisterTask before using them on Android. To do this, go to the project you wish to set relations for, then Project Properties > Power-Ups > Task Relationships.
Once you have activated the power-up, you can add relationships to your tasks from Android. If you want to add a relationship between tasks in different projects, task relationships need to be activated in both.
Types of Relationships
Tasks can have a number of different relationships to each other.
- Is related to. The selected task is closely related to the linked task.
- Is duplicate of. The selected task is a duplicate of the linked task.
- Blocks. The linked task cannot be completed until the selected task is completed.
- Is blocked by. The selected task cannot be completed until the linked task is completed.
If a task is being blocked, a “no entry sign” icon will appear on the task tile of the blocked task.
Add a Task Relationship
- Open a task, then scroll down and tap on Relations.
- Tap Add Relationship.
- Select the type of relationship you want to set for the selected task.
- Select a task to link to. Use the search field to look for the task if it doesn’t appear on the list.
If a task already has relationships, you’ll be able to see this in task’s details. You can remove the task relationship by long-pressing the relationship on the task screen, then selecting “Delete”.
4. New Attachment Features
Attachments are an important part of task management for many MeisterTask users on Android. We’ve made a couple of important changes to the way attachments work, detailed below.
Set a Favorite Attachment
In MeisterTask, we use attachment icons as thumbnails so that you can easily recognize certain tasks when they are listed on your project board. As standard, the attachment thumbnail shown is from the last file that was added to the task.
However, this sometimes results in the wrong image being shown, which can be confusing and/or annoying for people looking at the task. For example, if you’re a graphic designer attaching dozens of images to a task, you’ll probably want to use a good overview image as the task thumbnail, rather than a button or another small design element.
That’s why, to make sure your tasks are as easy to understand as possible, we’ve added the option for you to decide which attachment thumbnail should be shown.
To set an attachment icon on Android:
- Open a task and find the attachment you want to pin as the thumbnail.
- Tap on the attachment to open it.
- Tap the star in the top right of the screen to set that image as the thumbnail.
- Tap the star again to deselect this attachment as the thumbnail.
Or:
- Open a task and find the attachment you want to pin as the thumbnail.
- Open the dropdown by long-pressing the attachment thumbnail.
- Click Set as favorite to set that image as the thumbnail (Remove as Favorite to deselect).
The selected attachment will be displayed as the task thumbnail until it is deselected or a new thumbnail is selected in its place. Only attachments with thumbnails can be selected.
Please note that you won’t be able to use this feature if the task is a recurring task, the task is archived or trashed, or if you only have comment or view-only permissions for the project the task belongs to.
Link Attachments in Comments
In tasks with longer comment threads and multiple attachments, it can sometimes be difficult to keep the discussion on-topic. This is particularly true when referring to attachments: “In the attached file” is a useful phrase, unless of course there are two or more attachments on the task and you don’t know which attachment is meant.
To reduce the confusion, we’ve made it possible to create links to attachments in comments using the forward slash (/) key. This creates a shortcut to the attachment in question without the need to re-upload.
Currently, mobile users will only be able to open links to attachments that were created on a desktop version of MeisterTask. The ability to create links to attachments on Android will be added in the coming weeks — we’ll let you know as soon as that’s ready.
5. Restrict Invitation Suggestions
As standard, project admins are able to invite anyone who uses MeisterTask as part of their “team” to a project. As this is not always desirable, we’ve added the option for Business Team Admins to restrict invite suggestions from the accounts interface. This is relevant for people who use MeisterTask with users from multiple organizations, such as consultants.
Example: If the consultant is the team owner, members of the different teams they consult may be suggested as new project members for each others’ projects. This could become confusing and lead to information falling into the wrong hands. In cases such as these, invitation suggestions can be restricted: project owners will only be able to invite members to a project via the new user’s email address (the one linked to their MeisterTask account).
To restrict invitation suggestions. Go to My Account > Settings to change your preferences.
The Pursuit of App-iness
That’s it! With these updates, we hope you and your team will get more out of mobile task management with MeisterTask.
We’re always looking for improvement suggestions. If there are any features you’d like to see in upcoming app updates, or if there are ways we could make MeisterTask on Android better for you, we’d love to hear them. Why not leave a comment or tweet us @MeisterTask?
