Who can use this feature?
👤 Contributor, In-House Legal, or Administrator roles
🔑 Requires the 'full matter access' permission
In this article:
What are tasks?
Tasks form a vital component of every project management application, and LawVu is no different. You can think of tasks as a supercharged 'To Do' list.
A standard to-do list lets you add items and check them off as you complete them. LawVu tasks offer a more robust system than a basic to-do list.
While they follow the same general concept, LawVu lets you add more detail—such as dates, files, and discussions—and assign tasks to your team.
Where can I access tasks?
Every matter has a dedicated Tasks tab where all related tasks are stored and managed.
You can also access and edit them from the Planner:
Creating tasks on the fly
Start on the Add task button and type the name of your first task. When you finish, press Enter to begin adding another task.
Working in this manner allows you to quickly flesh out a list of tasks relevant to the legal matter you're working on. You can keep the information 'light' and then enter more details in the task panel later if needed.
Due dates and time zones
LawVu makes it easier to collaborate across time zones by automatically displaying task due times in each user's local time while giving you more flexibility when setting due dates.
How task due dates work
Due times are stored in UTC and automatically converted to your local time.
Daylight saving time changes are handled automatically, so no manual updates are required.
By default, new tasks don't include a specific time. Add one only if needed.
Tasks without a due time appear as all-day events when synced to calendars that support iCal.
All-day tasks appear at the top of your calendar, separate from tasks with a specific time.
Tasks with a due time are automatically displayed in each user's local time, ensuring a consistent experience for distributed teams.
Ensure your LawVu profile time zone matches your browser or local time zone. If they differ, task due dates and times may appear incorrectly or behave unexpectedly. A task must have a due date to appear in your Planner. When you set a due date, no time is selected by default. If your task needs a specific deadline, you can add a due time in the task panel.
Tasks without due dates are visible in the related matter or in your Tasks grid.
Tip: Make sure your profile time zone is set correctly so task due dates and times display accurately across LawVu and connected calendars.
Task due notifications
LawVu can notify you when a task is due, helping you stay on top of deadlines without needing to constantly monitor the Task Grid.
When a task reaches its due date, LawVu can send reminders through one or both of the following:
In-platform notifications while you're signed in to LawVu.
Email notifications sent to your registered email address.
This helps ensure you don't miss important deadlines, whether you're working in LawVu or away from it.
Manage your notification preferences
You can choose how you'd like to receive task due notifications.
To update your preferences:
Select your Profile.
Open Notifications.
Locate Task due.
Choose whether to receive notifications via:
Email
In-app
Both
Or turn notifications off.
Your notification preferences apply only to your own account and can be updated at any time.
Due Today notifications are sent as a daily summary of your tasks due that day, rather than as individual notifications for each task. Notifications are sent at approximately 9:00 AM in your local time zone.
Tip: If you're not receiving task reminders, check that the Task due notification is enabled in your notification preferences.
Create subtasks
You can add multiple subtasks within a single task by clicking “Create subtask.”
Each subtask can be assigned to yourself or another team member. All related subtasks are easily accessible from the task preview panel, so you can track progress in one place.
Assigning tasks
To assign a task, click the people-picker icon. You can either select a matter member from your recents list or search for them by name. Keep in mind that only matter members will appear in the search results, and business users cannot be assigned tasks.
You can assign a task by clicking on the task to open the task panel and editing the Assignee field.
These tasks will appear on the Planner for all matter members. However, you can switch the view to show only your tasks, tasks assigned to others, or none at all. This helps you focus on your own work or monitor your colleagues' tasks when needed.
Note: Task names have a 250-character limit, and descriptions have a 5,000-character limit. If a task name appears incomplete, try shortening it and moving the extra details to the 'Description' field in the task panel.
Completing tasks
When you complete a task, the status card and the progress indicator will update, but unless the Show completed toggle is on, it won't be visible in the Tasks tab.
The task panel
When you click on a task, the screen splits to show a two-panel view. Your task list remains on the left, while a detailed view of the selected task, called the task panel, appears on the right.
The task panel is a user-friendly interface that lets you quickly create, edit, and manage tasks.
Mark the task complete.
Create a sub-task when you need to delegate specific parts of a large case to different team members, ensuring clarity and accountability.
Duplicate a task to save time or delete it when it's no longer relevant.
Use the breadcrumb trail at the top of the panel to see the matter associated with the task.
Change its name to make it more specific and clear.
Assign the task to yourself or someone else.
Select the task type - standard, milestone, court date, or meeting.
Tasks appear in the Planner as soon as a due date is set. If you add a due time, it will be displayed in each user's local time.
Add a description explaining the task's purpose and providing more information for the assignee.
Attach files to the task so that all documents related to it are stored in one place.
Send a link to a website or email address, so you can provide instant access to external resources without needing to upload or attach a file.
Click the Participants icon to select other matter members you want to communicate with within the task by sending comments back and forth.
You will receive the 'comment added to task' notification if:
You are the task assignee.
You are @mentioned in the comment.
You are a task participant.
You did not write the comment (the system doesn't send self-notifications).
Your "comment added to task" notifications are enabled in your profile.
Note: You cannot add yourself as a Participant and won't see yourself in the 'participants' list.
Enable/disable notifications for comments added to the task.
Watch the animation below to see how to create and assign a task.
The More fields drawer is closed by default and will only open automatically if there is existing data in the Start date, End date, Estimated hours, or Hourly rate fields. When you click on it, you can add or edit:
The start and end dates for a specific period, which will be used in your custom reports.
The estimated hours to complete the task.
The hourly rate for the task.
Incomplete tasks
If you try to close a matter with incomplete tasks, a pop-up will appear. You'll have the choice to either Continue and close the matter anyway, or Cancel to complete the tasks first.
The Tasks grid
Under Hub/Tasks, you can display, in grid format, the tasks assigned to you across all of the matters in LawVu.
The grid gives you a complete overview of your workload and is designed to help you quickly access, action, and manage your tasks without opening each matter individually. Simply click on a task name to open the task panel on the right-hand side, where you can review and edit its details.
Tasks are automatically sorted by due date (soonest first), helping you prioritize what needs attention first.
Color-coded indicators highlight overdue, due soon, and upcoming tasks at a glance so you can quickly identify urgent work.
You can also complete tasks directly from the grid using the completion icon, instantly updating progress.
You can create advanced, multi-condition filters using operators such as Contains, Equals, and Does not equal to display only the tasks most relevant to you.
Use the search bar at the top of the grid to quickly find tasks by name, making it easy to locate specific work across your matters.
If you want a local copy of your tasks list, use the Export icon at the top right of the grid to download the list to Excel on your local drive.
Save tasks as templates
A key feature of tasks is the ability to save and reuse them as templates when creating certain types of matters.
Click this article for more details on saving and reusing tasks.