Using Google Task with Drafts

Google Tasks is Google task management tool, which is available on the web within Gmail, or as an app on iOS and Android.

Action Steps

Drafts offers native integration with Google Tasks using two available action steps:

Google Task

The “Google Task” action step creates a single task in Google Tasks. The default configuration creates a task in your default list, using the first line of the draft as the title, and remaining text (if present) as notes. An alternate list name can be specified in the action configuration, if you would prefer, say, to have an action which sends to your “Grocery” list.

List in Google Tasks

The “List in Google Tasks” action steps creates a task in Google Tasks for each line of the current draft. Very useful for bulk entry of tasks captured in Drafts.

This step works similarly to the “List in Reminders” action step, allowing a specific list to be hard-coded in the action, or dynamically specified by prefixing the first line of the draft with a #. If the specified list does not exist, it will be created. Notes can also be added by placing additional text on the line after a | (pipe) character. For example a using the “List in Google Tasks” action on a draft with the text:

# Groceries
Bananas
Apples
Grapes|Red Grapes only!

Would results in the tasks “Bananas”, “Apples”, and “Grapes” being added to a list named “Groceries” in To Do. Additionally, the “Grapes” task would have notes “Red Grapes only!” attached.

URL-Based Actions

It does not appear the Microsoft To Do app supports any special URL scheme commands at this time. Please let us know if you are aware of any we missed.

Scripting / Direct API Access

For more advanced integrations, Drafts provides the GoogleTask script object.

Using scripting, it is possible to configure more advanced task features, like due dates and reminders, but also import data from Tasks.

The GoogleTask object has convenience methods for creating and working with lists and tasks via script, but also can be used to access the entire Google Tasks API. Scripting is beyond to scope of this article, but the documentation has links to example actions. If you have more advanced integration needs, take a look at the possibilities.

1 Like

Is it possible to create an action that converts a drafts list into a single google task with subtasks instead of an entirely new google tasks list?

It would be possible with scripting, yes. The task endpoint of the API supports including a parent property to create subtasks. Do you have an experience scripting?

I do not but I am trying to learn! I found that option after I posted but I don’t know how to implement it yet. I know it can choose a specific task to move below a parent. Is there a way to put every list item below the drafts title as a subtask?