How to use Google Calendar tasks

Create tasks, give them calendar time, and keep deadlines separate from the time you plan to work. Includes fixes for missing tasks.

To use Google Calendar tasks, open Calendar, choose Create → Task, add a title, set when you intend to work, and save. Turn on Tasks in your calendar list to see dated tasks alongside your events.

Create a task on your computer

1. Open Google Calendar and click Create, or select an empty calendar slot.
2. Choose Task and enter a concrete action, such as “Draft client proposal.”
3. Set its start date, time, and the time you expect to spend on it. Choose a task list.
4. Add a Deadline if the work must be finished by a different date, then save.

You can also create tasks from the Tasks side panel in Gmail or Calendar. In Gmail, Add to Tasks turns an email into a task with a link back to the message. Google’s task creation instructions cover both routes.

Scheduled time, deadline, or event?

These settings answer different questions:

• Scheduled time: when you plan to work. For example, reserve 45 minutes on Tuesday for that proposal.
• Deadline: when it must be finished. The proposal might be due Friday even though you plan to draft it Tuesday. The deadline appears in Calendar’s all-day area.
• Event: a calendar commitment, such as the client call, with event features including guests.

A task can have a duration; it is not limited to an all-day reminder. Calendar also offers Free/Busy availability for tasks. Work or school accounts can have Do not disturb and Automatically decline meetings options. Check the settings available to your account before relying on them to protect time.

Add repeats and subtasks

Use a task’s date/time settings to choose a repeat pattern. For a larger task, open its menu and choose Add a subtask to break it into steps. Google does not allow tasks with subtasks to repeat, so make recurring steps separate tasks when necessary. Recurring tasks also cannot have an end time; Google documents that limit in its Calendar task instructions.

Use tasks on iPhone or Android

Open the Google Calendar app, tap Add → Task, enter the task details, and save. You can also organize tasks in the standalone Google Tasks app. Keep both apps on the same Google account.

In Calendar’s menu, enable Tasks to display dated tasks. Tap an existing task to edit it or mark it complete. The Android instructions and iPhone instructions show the controls for each platform.

Fix tasks not showing in Google Calendar

Work through these checks before recreating anything:

1. Check the date. Undated tasks stay in the list. Look on the scheduled day and in the deadline day’s all-day area; those can be different dates.
2. Check visibility. Enable Tasks in the sidebar on desktop or the Calendar menu on mobile.
3. Check the account. A task saved under a personal account will not appear just because you are viewing a work account’s calendar.
4. Check completion. If you have hidden completed tasks, an item disappears after you finish it. Review the task list before adding a duplicate.

Turn a task list into a workable day

For a few tasks, choosing times directly in Calendar may be enough. Try estimating tomorrow’s work and placing it around your meetings using our time-blocking template.

When the list is longer, the harder job is deciding what fits and what should move. ClaroCal drafts a day from the tasks you add to ClaroCal and keeps its scheduled blocks in two-way sync with Google Calendar. It does not import your Google Tasks list. See the Google Calendar comparison for the difference between choosing each task’s time and having a daily plan drafted for you.

Last reviewed 14 September 2026.